As I headed back down the steps into the full force of the party. My face lit up a tiny bit as I tried to shake the thoughts of what Joshua could be saying to sweet Anne out of my head. I didn’t dislike Anne for having been given the order to follow me. After all, Trinity had every reason to do so. If she truly knew the truth about who I was and what I was trying to do, then she would probably hate me. I closed my eyes for a moment taking Aisu’s to see what I could find, from what I could she was a few yards away from my east. Looking up at two people, one a skimpy dressed woman that I recognized from the time that Aisu had come here. She was sitting beside a nervous looking man who was giving her a good chunk of money. She reached into her bosom and took out a very small clear bag, and slipped it into his blue suit pocket. From the brief glance I could see it had a bit of white powder in it.
I opened my eyes and began to follow the woman as she stood up from the side and patted the man on the head. I saw Aisu dart out of sight moving towards the darker areas, I could not see Vitani anywhere tonight. She was too proud to take on a smaller form and she always let off a dark presence whenever Katherine summoned her. I followed the woman as she counted her money before sitting at the downstairs bar. I kept my contact lens camera pointed at this woman, who counted off what looked to be 400 dollars, she slipped one hundred into her purse. And then slipped the bartender, another young woman, 300 dollars. I narrowed my eyes slightly at this trying to see if they maybe were handing something else off. “Aisu,” I thought, gripping my gemstone. “Go tell daddy and Officer Cooper that I think the servers and bartenders are dealing. Small white bags with a white powder, have them focus on my camera’s for a bit.”
Once she gave me the okay. I began to follow other servers around, these girls all wore similar dark blue dresses, their cleavages clearly on display, however no matter how much I tried. I could never get a good look at what they were doing. Either being too late, or too early, but what I did know is that they seemed to get a cut of about a fourth of whatever they charged people and seemed to charge people differently. They also would bring back trays of drinks to make it seem like they were just taking money for expensive drinks orders. This seemed to be a rock solid operation in this nightclub. So instead of following the woman that seemed experienced in this, I set my eyes onto a younger girl maybe around 21. She looked a bit nervous, her hands shaking a tiny bit as she moved through the crowd with ease. She was not wearing the more exposing dresses of the more confident servers. So it might be easy to catch her.
I had to keep it simple, look like a child just looking around at the scene. The place was beautiful tonight, I would expect no less for an anniversary party. However, once the lights dimmed down back to the stage, I knew I had a chance to move quickly. Thanks Aisu I could see well in the dark and now that this younger girl with dark raven-like hair was in the shadows. She seemed more confident. Right as Aailyah and Trinity took the stage in their matching dresses. She found an older woman and leaned against her side. I took a position to the side of them and closed my eyes to hear them a bit better. It was hard to hear them over the two beautiful voices of Aaliyah and Trinity who sounded amazing as a harmony.
“How much, darling?”
“500 hundred for 15 or 700 hundred for 30, it’s our special for a special night.”
“A special night indeed.” In the darkness, I saw this girl reach into her bag and carefully pull out a small plastic bag, maybe the size of ones that were used to hold sewing needles or buttons. Instead it was filled with a small ammount white powder that she slipped it into the woman's dress pocket. I could only hope that they saw what I had seen. “Did they get that Aisu?” I thought to my best friend.
There was a small moment of silence before she responded. “They saw the bag, they just couldn’t see what was inside.” I let out a small sigh at that. “Your daddy suggests moving a bit closer, but he likes the idea of following this girl. She is not experienced in this just yet, but he wants you to hang back about 20 feet. He says you are making it too obvious that you are following people.”
I nodded my head as I chose to move backwards to the distance, my eyes locked onto the girl as she headed over to the bar. She handed in her money and kept her share before returning to this woman and her friends with a tray of drinks. As well as passing out a few more to other people. She did not move again until the crowd erupted into cheers for Aailyah and Trinity. I clapped as well and even gave a few loud whistles. Trinity took a moment to tell the crowd about her and Aailyah’s friendship. My target moved to a more secluded spot of the downstairs area, following another older woman. If I had to guess, she was probably more popular with women rather than men. The light raised up a bit and I think now I had her in my clutches.
“What are you doing all the way down here?” I froze in my chair and turned around to find of all freaking people. Katherine was standing behind me with two drinks in her hand. “Cindy.” She sat down at this empty table with me and crossed her leg. “Care for a drink, don’t worry it is wine or anything that a child like you can’t handle.”
“Your daddy wants you to leave now!” Aisu hissed at me.
Easier said than done. “U-Um” I began barely able to even speak. “I am just sitting down here to watch my cousin perform.” I forced a smile on my face and thanked her for the bright red drink. “She is a beautiful singer, isn’t she?”
“She is,” Katherine said, turning her head back to the stage as Aailyah and Trinity began a much softer song, a cover of You’ll Be in my Heart. “I would dare say she is a better singer than Trinity, one sings with strength and power but has no heart. The other sings from the heart, and truly loves it.” I knew who she meant the second she said that.
“H-How are you enjoying the night?”
“Overly bored and annoyed,” Katherine said as she swirled her sharp smelling wine around in her cup. “I came to support Mr. Wallace’s big night. I am his most important business partner. A point that he failed to mention in his little speech earlier.” She looked back towards the upper floor, where Mr. Wallace was staring down at his daughter. A proud look across his smiling face. “I suppose it makes sense, he loves that girl with all his heart. WIll do whatever it takes to make sure she has a better life now that he has her. Makes me jealous sometimes just watching that.”
“How come?”
She looked down at her drink. “You should know, if you truly know my daughter. How much do you know about me?”
“Not much, bad rumors and interesting tales.”
Katherine didn’t respond to that. “Well then enjoy the show, and don’t worry. Your little guardian for tonight is too busy blushing to pay attention to you. Why Trinity has her friends followed around is a bad way to keep them.” As she rose to her feet, her heels only added on to her already tall frame. She then added. “By the way, if I truly have trained you in the past like you keep claiming, perhaps we should spare one day, maybe it will jog my memory.”
Katherine began to leave, gracefully walking through the crowd like she was queen of a palace. She had forced her way into being the queen of this powerful empire. I let out a sigh and when I turned back to see if my target was still dealing. She was nowhere to be seen.
“Damn it.” I mumbled, I lost focus. All because of that woman. “I should have just listened.”
I couldn’t find that girl again no matter how hard I looked, neither could Aisu. Maybe she had been pulled to the back by the older girls for being too obvious. However, by the time Aailyah’s and Trinity's song had ended and they received a standing ovation for their song. I had to make my way back upstairs, and I made it right as Joshua left a still heavily blushing Anne back at the bar. As he passed me he bumped into me, I pretended to fall down and in that moment I took hold of his gemstone and he grabbed me. I felt a tether tighten between us and I heard his voice in my head as we reconnected this mental bond. “How did it go?”
Once I rightened myself and thanked him out loud. I replied with a sigh. “It didn’t go good, Katherine distracted me and now that girl is gone. I don’t think I can really see anything else tonight, this girl was the only one that seemed new.”
Joshua walked down the steps and replied in my head. “It's alright, you are new to this, just remember you need to keep your eyes on everyone, even the smallest person could be helping in this operation. For all you know, you might have been a bit too obvious and Katherine noticed it. Also keep your eyes on a few servers upstairs, cause this is where I think the top dollars are.”
When I returned to my seat, there was another tray of drinks waiting for the others. “Where did you disappear too?” Tatiana asked as she sipped on a bright pink drink with an orange slice hanging off the rim. “Thought you might have gone home or something.”
“I just wanted to watch my cousin up close.” I noticed that Anne was back to looking in my direction. It was gonna be hard to move without her noticing and following me again. “She's amazing, and I guess Trinity is okay too.” That got a few quiet laughs from the others… well except from the two girls that kissed Trinity’s butt. As I caught up with this group for a few minutes while the DJ took his turn to show off his skills. A much more erotic song with dancers that my daddy would probably murder me if I ever dressed or danced like. My eyes were locked onto the girl that I had been following before. She was now sitting on the lap of a beautiful woman with long brown hair. This girl was definitely very popular with the older woman that came here, and I couldn’t help but see her drop something into the woman’s purse. “Aisu,” I thought gripping my gemstone. “Do you think that you can help me with something?”
“What is it?”
“How confident are you in digging through a woman’s purse for a small plastic bag filled with a white substance?” I thought as a large smirk began to appear on my face.
“Very confident.”
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I was overjoyed with myself right now. It had taken a very long time as Katherine, and Mr. Wallace were sitting at the bar and I couldn’t risk them seeing Aisu. However, the moment came when Mr. Wallace was making another announcement. This one about his new business partner, Katherine Bloodthorn. I probably rolled my eyes about twenty during his and Katherine’s very long speeches. I also learned that apparently they were planning to open Order and Chaos nightclubs across the east coast, starting with their new locations in Philadelphia, Atlantic City NJ, Atlanta, as well as one in New Orleans. During that time, Aisu came back with a small bag in her mouth, filled with a certain white substance that I made sure to get a good look at for my camera contacts. I put in my own purse for safekeeping as well, since I doubted anyone would search a 13 year old girl’s purse for cocaine. I just needed to make sure that I handed it over to the officer once it was done so they could confirm it. Now that my mission was a success, I had a chance to truly relax. Trinity had knocked the roof off with a very loud performance Irreplaceable. The band had started to take its turn on stage with another rocking performance of three songs. Ones that had people dancing to them, others that gave the adults time to talk amongst themselves. Mr. Wallace was shaking a lot of people’s hands as was Katherine, and I could only imagine what deals they were making.
The night was actually going pretty as I got to know the others a bit more. It was just a nice evening so far, Joshua had alerted me that he had found some interesting information and heard some interesting things from the backstage workers. Just adding on more to the list of things that could potentially get this location shut down for as long as three months. THat would lose Katherine and Mr. Wallace a lot of money as this seemed to be the real money maker of all his locations. That would force Katherine in a corner to get things back up or move things faster, and knowing how precise that woman was. A mistake would happen, and when that mistake happened. My daddy, myself and Joshua would confront her.
And if she fall, and if Mr. Wallace is later arrested for his crimes. It was checkmate, and the only thing that stopped this from being a truly good thing was the idea of what might happen to Trinity if she was the figure behind the mask. We still had no proof that it was her, we needed more evidence but if it was revealed. I could only hope that my daddy would be able to get her moved to Tarun Island to be rehabilitated in the prison on the island, instead of having her rot away in a jail on the mainland.
Or put to death.
That was when the trouble started. Aaliyah and Trinity had not taken the stage yet and it was very much worrisome. Everyone seemed to notice that something was off with the music. It kept going on and off like a broken record and no one seemed to know what was happening. It was very much worrisome. “What is happening?” Tatiana questioned as the music went off again only to fail three seconds in. I could see that Mr. Wallace had been talking with a man in a suit, and I saw him mouth the words. “Fix it!”
Something was wrong and I needed to know what was happening. Right as I stood up to see what was happening, a woman walked over to the area I was sitting at. “Cindy,” she said, looking at me. She was a short woman with a diamond shaped head and dark brown eyes and hair, she was wearing a black suit like some of the other waiter staff. “Trinity Wallace is requesting your presence backstage.”
“O-Okay,” I said standing up and quickly following the woman down the steps through the murmuring crowd that seemed just as confused as I was. The backstage area was through the kitchen, and I found workers running around in confusion. Each talking to each other, some were working at a fuze box that seemed to be sparking like crazy. One large spark got everyone moving back from it to avoid the sparks that came shooting from it like the breath of a dragon. I was taken past it to an area that was blocked off by three large walls on wheels. I poked my head inside and saw Trinity was pacing back and forth, her hands clenched together. I saw Aiilyah sitting on a couch that had been brought to this area, sighing as I stepped inside of their makeshift dressing room. It was also equipped with two large mirrors, two hair salon chairs, and make-up baskets. A small table that held water and small snacks.
“What is happening?” Trinity stopped pacing and turned towards me. Her make up seemed darker in the places that her tears of what were probably more rage than sadness streaked down her face.
“What do you think happened?!” I held back the need to make a joke to try and cheer her up. “Someone sabotaged my performance, ruined my night, ruined my last song!” Each word that escaped her mouth was filled with anger and hatred, like a witch angrily cursing someone that wronged them.
I looked towards Aaliyah as Trinity went back to pacing back and forth. “Something is wrong with the fuse box that controls our music, one of the workers said that something is broken but they can’t find what it is.”
“That is bad,” I thought to myself. “What do you do if they can’t get it working?”
“Maybe cancel-”
Aailyah tensed up as Trinity slammed her hand on the table that held heir drinks, sending a few glass bottles flipping off the side and shattering on the flooded floor. “We are not canceling! I am not canceling! I already told you that Aailyah, they just need to work faster!”
“They are trying their best but it is not working, plus that fuze keeps the doors automatically locked.” Aailyah said. “They are trying to get those back online first before anything else.”
Trinity sat down on the couch and began to panicky rock back and forth. “Not tonight, not tonight!” She mumbled to herself over and over digging her hands into her hair. “This isn’t fair, why do things always go wrong for me?!”
It hurt to watch such a proud girl starting to break down like this. “What were you gonna sing?” I asked, looking at a much more composed Aaliyah.
“Survivor,” Aailyah explained. “She wanted one more song that could reach her mom in Heaven. To show her that she was okay, and still going strong.”
A thought then came to my mind. “What about the song, Don’t worry about a Thing, the one by Tori Kelly?” I asked hesitantly, causing both girls to look at me. “How fast do you think you could learn that one?”
Trinity and Aailyah shared a look with each other. “I know the lyrics from that movie sing,” Trinity said, wiping her eyes a bit with the back of her hand. Only managing to speer makeup on her face. “W-Why?”
My mind went back to about three years ago. I had recently seen the movie and there was something about the character Meena that I really liked. So for the first time in a very long time, I tried to learn how to play the song that she sang at the end of the movie. Mrs. O’Brian helped me as well, maybe if I could learn to play a song on the piano it would help me get over other parts of my issues with Katherine. I still really liked the piano but I never wanted to play it again. I could never get past the opening of the song, and anytime I messed up. Even though no one was hitting me, my knuckles would sting like Katherine had tapped them with that damned cane of hers. I had given up on it after a month and a half of trying, however there was something that Joshua told me the other day, when we played the piano together. “Let's see if we can turn what the enemy meant for evil, and turn it to good.”
“Trinity,” I said, walking over and taking her hands. “Do you trust me?”
“What?” She asked, looking up at me.
I gave her a small smile. “Do you trust me?”
Trinity went quiet for a moment. “Y-Yes.”
“Okay, then please stop crying, and stand up proud like the lioness you are. Fix your make up, and get ready to sing.” I lowered my voice a bit and whispered. “And sing from your heart, not to prove how strong you are.” I looked over at Aaliyah and walked over to her. “Get her ready, and no matter what. Stay by her side, she needs you.”
I walked out of the opening and grabbed my gemstone. “Joshua!” I thought to the larger boy. “I need a really, really, really big favor please.”
“What’s up?”
“I need you to convince that band to play the song. Don't you worry about a thing, and I need your help… cause I am gonna play too.”
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As I sat at this piano, I found my hands starting to shake as I stared at the many keys. The lights had dimmed down a bit as it had taken a bit to get things ready, and now Joshua joined me at this piano. “I can’t do it,” I thought to him as I held my head down for a moment. Even before playing my knuckles were starting to hurt. All I could hear was her horrible commands and I could feel her eyes of everyone in this nightclub staring at me. “Do you think maybe you could just do it.”
Joshua cracked his knuckles a bit. “I probably could, but I am not gonna let you leave that easily.” He wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “You came here for a lot of things, revenge and murder mostly, but you also came to get closer for the one person that has hurt you more than anyone in this world. A petty woman that doesn’t even know that you are here. So play what is your final tone to this woman, and shake off the chains that she wrapped around you for years, even if we just break one of them. That is better than breaking any at all.” Joshua smiled at me, as he set his phone on the Piano as well. It didn’t show any sheet music as I was just playing the opening part of the song and he would handle the rest from there. I looked up and saw that he had put my dad on facetime. “Besides, I think another old man would like to hear you play as well.”
He was muted but just seeing was enough to give me strength. As soon as I said that I was ready, Joshua nodded at the conductor and the lights dimmed, only showing the piano, Trinity and Aailyah. Trinity had given Aaliyah the honor of opening this number as a solo. Her quiet and soft voice being perfect before everyone else would try and blow the lid off this place. My hands began to slowly play the opening, each move slow and precise. Her voice as lovely as it always was, her hand wrapped around Trinity who seemed more calm than before. Each key I played got better as I carefully found my rhythm, a rhythm that I had lost so long ago. I could never take my time when she taught me, could never play as I wanted to play. Each stroke of the keys seemed to move me closer and closer to a place I didn’t think was possible. Each one acting like a small chisel slowly breaking away the one chain that held me back ever wanting to play an instrument that I had always loved. By the time Trinity and the rest of the band joined us, I felt that chain instead of me snap and a newfound burst of energy seemed to take over, as well as a smile that felt better than any of these drugs sold here could possibly provide.
I felt free.
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The crowd roared with cheers. My forehead was sweating and I felt a bit light headed as I had gotten caught up in the music. It seemed that Trinity and Aailyah were true performers as they did what many would think was perfect. I don't think anyone noticed Aailyah’s small mishap but she recovered so quickly that I don't think anyone would have cared. The crowd stood on their feet, I could hear Ms. Porsha practically screaming down her. “That is my baby!” I even saw Katherine on the balcony beside Mr. Wallace clapping her hands, an intrigued look in her eye as she smiled down at Trinity. I let out a gasp as Trinity grabbed my hand and pulled up to stand beside her and Aaliyah for a very long bow. “Thank you,” she whispered as we rose back up and she threw her arms around me and Aaliyah in a very long group hug. “Thank you so much.”
“You two did all the work.” I said with a small grin. “I just had a small idea and you rocked it out of the park.”
Aaliyah opened her mouth to speak but then stopped. Her eyes went wide and before I could see what was wrong, she pushed me and Trinity out of the way. I heard a very loud bang, a scream of pain, and then watched in absolute horror, as Aaliyah dropped to the ground. Clutching her stomach, as a gun was fired into the air.
And before anyone else could say anything, before other screams could join in with Mrs. Porsha long wail. The doors to the nightclub opened up and it was flooded by a lot of people, including a small girl.
With a very familiar looking single edged blade, and a black mask over her face.
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