Every now and again, JT clamored up, but it had been so long since it happened. She was not a happy camper, well she wasn’t a camper at all really, but she wasn’t a happy goddess right now. He could hear it in her voice. What a coward he was not to face her, but he had to work up the nerve. After hearing her out, listening to her make fun of the opal and call his grandfather by a crazy nickname that totally didn’t fit his dominant reputation, he silently prayed to Zeus, asking for strength to face her, and it worked.
He finally summoned up the courage to turn around and look at her. There they were, those beautiful purple eyes. Even if she was mad, annoyed, or just not in the mood to see him, those eyes were still the sight of dreams.
“I have the opal because it’s really hard to tell a story when I’d rather be asking for forgiveness, but I’ll get to that,” he told her with a somber look on his face. He tossed the rock in his hand one more time and then rubbed it counterclockwise.
“Just look… and you’ll understand.” The request left his tongue with a touch of hope, and maybe desperation.
As the two looked into the opal, the world around them faded, and together they would watch JT’s horrid past.
--
Back in the heart of New York City, NY, the most puzzling of places held some of the most dangerous, hardened criminals. Only five miles from the courthouse in Downtown, the heart of one of the most crime riddled cities was a small building that almost looked suspicious for being so unsuspicious. The place was a pale blue, looking like a residential house. In fact, it was a residential house. Mama Gigi, well that’s everyone called her, lived in this house… but the real fun, well that was all downstairs in the basement.
In New York City, basements weren’t exactly common. The city was right at sea level, so the odds of having a basement that wouldn’t flood were slim to none. Underneath Mama Gigi’s house, the basement did not flood, much money was put into seeing that it didn’t. The Underground Mafia was housed here, and it was aptly named of course. JT had a little run in with them in his younger days. His mother’s revolving door of men that she either tried to settle down with or fucked just for rent turned dangerous one day when she brought the wrong man home, and that led to JT’s first visit with the UM of New York City.
When he was seven his mom brought home a man that made some really big promises about taking care of her and Jacob, but of course it was all a big lie. He ended up forcing JT’s mom into prostitution and became very abusive to both of them. In his sleep, a young JT unlocked their bedroom door and snuck in, butcher knife in hand. The boy had enough of his shit, and knew that the only way to get his revenge was under the veil of night and with the element of surprise on his side.
In seconds, it was over. JT was a murderer at the age of seven and he barely made a sound. He slit his throat and drove the knife straight through his heart as if he’d done it before. He woke his mother up who completely panicked. She frantically packed all of their belongings and dragged him out the door. While in his car, she explained to JT that he was a dangerous man and people would be looking for them, so he did the only thing he could think to do, he sought out the UM of New York City. He needed them, for protection. In return for this protection for he and his mother, they asked him for one thing: loyalty.
When they found out that he’d gone off to an unknown location, they were disappointed. As a boy, he was a stone cold killer, carrying out any task asked of him. They lost an up and coming star, and had to figure out what to do about it. His mother called him while he was on break from Camp and told him that they demanded she work for them in his place. He had to go home and settle it once and for all. He couldn’t allow them to drag his mother, no matter how bad of a mother she was, into his mess.
On the train ride back to New York City, JT sat alone, and even kept the seat next to him so that he wouldn’t have to interact with anyone. Talking was the last thing on his mind, even for a social butterfly like Jacob. It was shocking that he still had teeth since they were grinded together the entire ride. He knew exactly who he needed to see, the one man heartless enough to drag someone’s mother into a personal beef, Giovanni, who JT call Gio.
Talk about the worst kind of man, if you could even call him that. He was a sloth, albeit a well dressed one, but he was disgusting. One of those tough-talking guys who wasn’t really about shit. Always had people do everything for him so he felt like he was somebody. If JT could just catch his fat ass alone, there would be a lot less business for Frenchy’s down the street in third street. The little shack of a structure housed the world’s most amazing, greasy fried chicken a man’s heart could clog an artery on. In fact, it was so good, JT considered stopping to eat at Frenchy’s on the way there, but shook the thought off again as the conductor finally announced that he was ready to make the final stop.
At that point, any speck of gray left in JT’s eyes was washed away by the icy blue that scanned the room like something straight out of Transformers. As he made his way to baggage claim, his limo was there to pick him up and the one man can trust was right along with him.
“Mr. Plaskett,” JT muttered as he gave him a nod once in the limo. Sean gave but a nod and opened up a duffel bag on the floor. All the money he was going to need for this trip, and his knife. JT didn’t do guns as he felt like they were the tool of a coward. It could be a mistake, but he didn’t plan on making any of those. His best friend had been with him as a child, and they rose through the ranks together. He always remained loyal to JT though, even if he almost never spoke.
With the help of Sean, he was able to find out the exact moment when he could get Gio alone. In fact, it was thanks to Sean that this whole thing was possible. Sean had propelled himself to new heights in JT’s absence and was now Gio’s right hand man. Every night at exactly 10:26pm, Sean would go to the restroom, leaving Gio alone awaiting his return to finish their nightly game of dominoes. Gio hated when people talked during the game, so naturally Sean Plaskett was the best person to play with. It was the last thing they did before going to sleep in the basement under Mama Gigi’s house.
At exactly 10:13pm, JT gave mama Gigi a kiss after spending some time talking with her and catching up. If he didn’t, then she would suspect something was wrong and not let him in the basement. He tucked her in and walked into the basement, just one door separating him from a man that ruined his childhood and was now trying to ruin his mother’s life as well. He steadied his breathing in the way that only JT could and just simply waited. All sorts of thoughts ran through his head as the seconds blinked by on his digital watch.
After an agonizing thirteen minutes, JT slipped into the room at the exact moment that Sean left to the restroom because he knew that Gio’s head would be turned. Without so much as a word being spoken, or a question being asked, JT was across the room with a sharp knife right at Gigi’s throat. His eyes bulged, not used to being vulnerable, and he knew JT well enough to know that if he tried to scream, his throat would be in pieces before so much as a sound let out. He shook in terror; the fat under his eyes even seemed to press back into his skin for fear of death.
“What the fuck… were you thinking?”JT’s question hung in the air, the weight of the tension suppressing his rage temporarily. Sean listened from behind the bathroom door, knowing that it would be over soon, and he would take over the number one spot in the UM. With Sean in charge, this would all be over. For now, Gigi’s round stomach sucked in and out as he knew that his life was hanging by a thread. Just when he found the words he wanted to say, his ability to speak ceased. A pool of warm dark blood spilled onto the floor, and when the smell arose, Sean knew it was safe to come out. JT simply wiped the knife onto Gio’s jacket as he lay there in a heap, like someone dressed up a sack of lard and spilled syrup and ketchup on it.
For a long while, the childhood running mates stared at each other. After the moment of eerie silence wrapped in understanding passed, the words that filled the room next were a surprise to JT. Sean spoke, for the first time in years,
“She’s free.” A flash of emotion passed over JT like a passing ray of sun into a small crevice in the earth. JT put up the number “2” with his fingers, not for peace, but to symbolize their old partnership. He joked with Sean that they were the only two needed to get a job done. While everything was different for them now, nothing was different in the end. Sean would be running the New York City UM, and JT would be trying to get his life together an ocean away.
A strange thought ran through JT’s mind, he wanted to hug Sean. He never did, and the man just granted his mother freedom. He did try before, but he didn’t succeed. Sean backed away from him as little boys and simply said “We can hug right before we die, it is bad luck.” JT had to laugh at his good friend, his only friend, for he had hugged plenty of women and didn’t have bad luck… well maybe he would stop hugging. He shook off the thought so as not to offend his friend, put his knife in his pocket, and simply nodded.
For the next several months, JT spent some time working on the one thing in his life keeping him from being “normal” or so he thought, he hung out with his mother. They spent many days relaxing at home, enjoying the safety that Jacob now afforded them. He took his mother everywhere, trying to show her the life that she could have if she would get things together. Sean even came with them to the Downtown Museum, but he didn’t speak a word. Life was good, but JT knew that he couldn’t stay here forever. His mother implored him to return to Camp Half Blood and be something special. He knew he couldn’t do it, at least in his mind, but he figured for once in life, she might actually be right.
--
As the scene faded, the opal faded along with it. Only good for one use, as promised. JT was trembling, hating reliving these moments over again just now. Not that he didn’t do it often. Every night he thought of these things, played them over and over again like he was a living DVR. His past haunted him before, but the thought of losing his mother, as horrible as she was when he was younger, was too much to think about. For the first time in a long time, many years now, he cried. He threw his arms around the one woman who never hurt him, and just cried.
Tags: Nike
Words: 2112
Comments: I hope that novel wasn't too unbearable lol.
