Page 39 of Mr. Calloway

My phone vibrated again, but this time, I answered. “Hello,” I whispered.

“Dionysus, we’re following you. Where are you going?” Zeus asked.

“Zeus, nigga, just keep following me. I’m in the trunk.”

“Nigga, you what?”

I smacked my lips. “Never mind. Just keep following me. I’m getting Samara, dead or alive,” I finished and hung up.

All I know is once this car stopped, I was hopping out shooting because there was no way Mars wasn’t coming home. If it meant I had to go toe to toe with people in Jesus clothes, so be it.

Samara

A groggy feeling consumed me as my eyes slowly opened. “What-what is happening?” I asked, my voice quivering.

My body was tied to a bed, while Devon and The Mighty One stood over me. I was confused because I thought Devon wasn’t truly one of them; yet, he stood before me as if this was the plan all along. His head rolled toward the Mighty One before he bowed.

My mouth began moving quicker than my brain. “What is wrong with you? All of you are bat shit crazy.”

His head snapped my way. “No, we all just believe something you know nothing about. See, that’s the thing withourpeople. We pick and choose what and who we want to devote our time and energy to. Just like you believed my story of my wife. I sold it to you like it was real, and you, Samara, believed. It was something you needed to hear in order to feel comfortable. Dad, I’m not sure what’s so special about?—”

“Dad? What type of sick shit is this?”

“Enough!” the Mighty One stopped him. “She doesn’t have to believe, but her ass isn’t going anywhere. See, at first, I thought it would be easy, you know, like your mother. However, I see that you think differently. Clark said?—”

“Clark!” I shouted.

He smiled. “Yes, Clark Mercier, the Dean of the school you went to. His disdain for your found family is why it was so easy.”

Right then, it all made sense that my mother knew the timing of my flight. She knew more than she should have about me. From the letters I’d sent her to Clark, having access to my personal information was exactly what got me where I was. To think my mother was so desperate for acceptance from these people that I became a casualty destroyed me inside. All my hopes and longings never came true, and the little girl inside me who was crying had fallen silent because she understood that part of her life would stay unfulfilled.

The reality was I was just like everyone in the Zoo. We all had our own struggles in some way, and that shared experience brought us together. That was what made us a family: no one’s circumstances were unique. God intentionally brought me to Dio, uniting people who yearned for a family. However, maintaining that bond was our responsibility.

I had nothing left. I felt defeated because I didn’t have time to give Dio any information, and it was clear that I wasn’t walking away from here alive. If by chance my mom, dad, or Dio found me, this cult was going to meet the maker they had so desperately been waiting to see.

The Mighty One clapped his hands, and women entered the room. They were dressed in all-white garments as they brought in baskets of roses and began tossing them onto the bed and me. Something was in these petals because shit started to happen. My eyes scanned the room as The Mighty One stood there with a sinister grin on his face. My breathing became labored, and my eyes fluttered. I didn’t want to die. I just wanted to go home.

June

PRESS PLAY

We had been riding for what felt like over an hour when Zeus merged off the highway and into the woods. I knew the niggas were talking shit, but I couldn’t hear them. I had given my helmet to Z because going back home to get hers would have wasted time. When Zeus finally stopped, so did we. Everyone hopped off their bikes, glancing around.

“Man, let me pull my gun out. Somehow, I thought the last time we would be in somebody’s woods was when Chevy called himself getting baptized,” Foe grumbled.

Zeus turned to look at me. “I think we need to walk through there.” He pointed.

“Hell nah. What type of scary movie shit is this!” Diamond shouted.

While everyone went back and forth about walking through the woods, the sound of a bullet entering a chamber made everyone turn. Zaria stood there with that pretty-ass choppa I got her in her hand.

“For a bunch of niggas who're from the hood, y’all sure doing a lot of talking,” she hissed as she moved past the guys and me and headed off into the woods.

“Damn, Chev. She gets down like that?” Streets said to me as he cheesed.

My eyes cut at him. “Don’t get dropped,” I said as I followed behind Z.

I couldn’t lie; every time she was like this, it made me want to fuck her so nastily that the shit would be considered a crime. However, I wasn’t about to let her stick her neck out for any of these niggas. I jogged up to her as she moved through the brush and trees like a true lioness. By the time I caught up to her, we had both stopped and were staring like deer caught in a headlight.