NaNoWriMo Day 18- The Shoes of Baltimore

Jamie followed his mom upstairs quickly after she went to bed. He wanted her to hear him go in the room and lock the door. That would help her sleep more peacefully. And by the time he would open the door to leave, she might just think he was going to the bathroom if she heard it. She would most likely be in a deep sleep.

He put on his headphones and zoned out. Jamie still had trouble believing he was going to be working for Trevor Gatz.

So far, other than DeSean just being nosy, there hadn’t been any issues. Ultimately, he knew his friends might find out. Trevor had a lot of people working for him, and there were rumors that even some of the kids in the school were working for him. If Rodney and DeSean saw him hanging out with the kids they suspected were working for him, they would put two and two together.

What he was ultimately worried about was his mom finding out. They had been on good terms recently and he was hoping that didn’t get screwed up.

He didn’t know how’d she react. At first, she probably just wouldn’t believe it. But if she did or had proof that he was doing something on that level, he would be out of the house forever.

Then Jamie started to wonder how long this was going to go on for. With a gangster like Trevor Gatz, it’s not like you could put in your two weeks notice. And Jamie wasn’t sure exactly how long his service would be needed, but he didn’t think you had that long of a shelf life if you were running drugs or doing whatever Trevor had you do.

Jamie started to get scared. At first, he was just thinking about the money and didn’t think it was a big deal. Maybe he was trying to trick himself and make it seem easy. He had some idea that he might just do one or two jobs and be done. But that most likely wasn’t the case, and Jamie was now trying to figure out how he could get out of this. However, he knew he just couldn’t ghost the meeting tonight. If he didn’t show up, it’s not like Jamie was hard to find. And even if they thought he wasn’t home, they might end up paying his mom a visit.

When the clock said 10:55, he knew it was time to leave.

But he couldn’t move. He was petrified. He watched as the clock ticked to 10:56. He was out of options.

He walked out the door and closed it quietly. He started to walk down the stairs, but then stopped and walked to his mother’s room. He debated telling her everything. Maybe there was a way she could help him. Maybe she knew a way out of this. He stood there until the clock said 10:58. That’s when he forced himself to go out the front door and make the walk to meet up Trevor. He went to the front door and opened it as quietly as he could. Since he was the last one up after his mom, he was supposed to have locked it earlier. That was the rule in the house. Last one up locks the door. But she didn’t on purpose so his mom wouldn’t her him unlock it. He opened it and closed it. He thought he would be gone just for a few minutes, so it didn’t matter if it was unlocked. Besides, if he came back and there was any trouble, he might have a weapon from Trevor Gatz.

Jamie walked to the spot where he met with Trevor yesterday. But he didn’t see any car in the spot where Gatz’s Escalade was yesterday. He looked around to see if maybe he was parked somewhere or had decided on another spot. There were a few cars lined up on the street (most people didn’t park here because windows getting smashed in were a common occurrence), but he didn’t see anyone in the cars. Jamie walked over to the spot and sat down on the curb. He looked at his phone. It was 11:00.

Jamie thought maybe whoever he was supposed to meet showed up later. Or maybe he was running late. But Jamie still felt uneasy about this, because he was under the correct impression that Trevor Gatz ran a really tight ship. If he had a time that he had planned, Jamie bet that you better be doing whatever he asked you to do at that exact time or else.

Jamie waited. And waited. And waited.

He looked down at his watch and it was 11:10. The next time he did, it was 11:15. When 11:23 rolled around, Jamie decided that he would wait for two more minutes. When it hit 11:25, he waited until 11:30 just incase he had misheard the time and it was supposed to be 30 minutes later than he had thought. But the time came and went, and there was no one.

Jamie walked back to his house, opening the door and tiptoeing up the stairs. His mom’s door was still closed. He hoped that she had slept through and didn’t check in his room. He still was technically at the agreed upon curfew, but she would have thought it was weird that he had went up to bed and then left. She would definitely be questioning what he was doing. He went to his room and opened the door and closed it. He stood by it, waiting for his mom to perhaps get up and question what he was doing. But after a few minutes, he didn’t hear anything.

Jamie didn’t realize this, but he was actually hoping that she would question him. He was wishing that she was asking what he was doing. He would have told her everything. He would have explained how he was breaking into cars just to get change to by a dessert. That would break her heart. She probably would have just given them all the money if she knew they were doing that. But after she heard he was now involved with Trevor Gatz, that would really hurt. Though, she would have a plan. She always did. He thought there would be someway that she could get him out of it. She would also do it in a way that Trevor wouldn’t find out about. Even if he had people keeping tabs on him or even her, she would find ways to lose them. She would take him to another state and start over if she had to. Even with all her tough talk that she was one day going to kick him out if he gets in anymore trouble, she still would have done something to stop all this.

But then Jamie started to ask himself what could she do. There really wasn’t anything. And she could end up killed.

Jamie kept going back and forth on whether or not to tell her. Ultimately, he decided against it. He decided that it as better for just one of them to be in trouble rather than both.

He didn’t fall asleep until 3 in the morning. He was groggy and tired heading into school.

At least this would make his story seem more plausible if DeSean questioned him about how the project went. Jamie was too tired to even look up some hoe improvement terms to throw them out there to make it seem like he was actually working with his mom on some project. People tend to stop questioning something or avoid a subject when you start using words or talk about things they don’t know or understand. When he got to the lunch room after his first couple of classes, Jamie didn’t see Rodney or DeSean at their usual table. DeSean was normally always the first person there. He would even sprint to get to lunch sometimes.

But Jamie didn’t think too much of it. He sat down and started to eat his lunch. Rodney quickly entered the lunch room and sat down across from him.

“Sup man?” Jamie asked.

They slapped hands.

“Not a whole lot.” Rodney looked around. “Where’s DeSean?”

“I don’t know,” Jamie said surprised. “He hasn’t been in here yet.”

He started to look around with Rodney.

“Maybe he got held up in class. Or maybe they gave his ass lunch detention for always running in the hall.”

Jamie laughed.

“Yea, maybe he just didn’t show today.”

“That could be true,” Rodney said.

They talked about plans for the weekend and agreed that they would need to put DeSean in the loop. He never showed up, so they thought he was just sick.

When Jamie walked back from school, he saw a couple of cop cars lined up near his house. He thought maybe one of the neighbors got in a domestic dispute again or somebody’s car got stolen or broken into. But when he got closer, he could see his mom standing outside, talking with an officer. He also noticed DeSean’s mom was there.

When she saw Jamie walking up, his mom waved him over and motioned for him to hurry. He broke into a light jog, and began to worry as he did.

“Jamie, have you seen DeSean at all today?”

Jamie shook his head. “Not since yesterday at around dinner time.”

Jamie’s mom nodded, which seemed to confirm something she had already told DeSean’s mom and the officer.

“Yes I’m sorry, that was the last time I saw him as well.”

She looked at Jamie again, with a sad look.

DeSean’s mom then turned to Jamie and asked him if he had called him or sent any messages to him today.

Jamie shook his head. “No ma’am. We were wondering why he wasn’t in school today when he didn’t show up for lunch. Is something wrong?”