“OWWW!” she screams. Outside, I hear shouting.
“The gunman deh inna the house!”
I glance through the curtain. A man outside, aiming a pistol. Black shirt, eyes wild. I raise one gun, calm.
POP!
One shot to the head. He drops without a sound. The woman beside him tries to run.
POP. POP.
Both thighs. She hits the ground screaming, crawling in the dust. “Informa,” I mutter. Then I look back at Lorie. She’s trembling. Tears wet her face. I kneel slightly, still pressing down on her wrist.
“Mi fi kill yuh enuh…” I say low, almost like a whisper, “but mi wah yuh live. Fi see mi youth. Fi see the wedding pictures.”
She gasps. Whole body shaking. I smile and squeeze again.
POP. POP.
One to each knee. She screams. Loud. I pull out my phone and call Jordane. He picks up quick. “Yuh good?”
“Yah… how out deh look?”
“People just a run… police nah reach yet. Just hurry.” I hang up and walk out, not looking back. She lucky. Coulda be har head.
Outside, I slide into the driver’s seat. Jordane already in. I don’t say a word. Just start the engine. We drive off fast, but quiet like a ghosts.
ZARA
“Mi nuh know how Nickoi work wid you enuh,” my mother mutters, watching as I finally hold up the dress. It’s a clean white, one strap piece, simple but elegant. Not too extra, not tooboring. The exact balance I’d been hunting down all day. She said this was the last store she was checking. She meant it.
“Mommy, yuh did serious when yuh seh this a the last store?” I ask, knowing well she’s at her limit.
She hisses, snatching the dress from my hand. “How yuh mean? The amount a store weh yuh drag mi inna and yuh nuh like nothing, wah nuh too short, too long… Mi cya bada.”
I chuckle, following behind her as she heads to the cashier. She turns to the worker. “She cya try on the dress?”
The girl smiles, polite but firm. “I’m sorry, we don’t allow customers to try on white clothes.”
My mother exhales like a full sigh weigh down her back. “Alright,” she says, then turns to me. “You want nothing else?”
I shake my head, eyes drifting toward the jewelry. My fingers tap gently on the glass display and just like that, mi remember mi nails! Mi affi call Wendy when mi reach home so she can expect me. Plus, mi need fi text Clova ‘bout Wednesday plans. Gosh… so many things to sort out.
“Wah gwaan Michelle? Mi hear seh yuh deh inna the place!” Gary’s voice bursts from the side and mommy spins around, grinning.
“Gary!” she laughs, hugging him tight.
He pulls back. “Watch yah, mi foreign friend! A when yuh a head back up?”
“Mi fi go up Monday, but mi madda wah mi stay fi Christmas… problem is, mi have work,” she replies with a soft smile. “So mi might affi do a early Christmas wid har.”
Mi heart pinch. So soon? Mommy a go lef mi?
Gary nods. “Yeah man, do that. So yuh good?”
While they chat, a store clerk walks over to me. “Hi beautiful, yuh see anything yuh like?”
“Mi just a gwaan look through,” I tell her, eyes still scanning the necklaces.
