Jagger
Engine. 1.2-liter. Volkswagen Polo. Late model. Climbing the hill to my home. With Mikayla in my arms, waiting for me to finish my sentence and Ava Sinclair dead on the floor one room over, I place Mikayla in the seat beside me and rise.
“Someone’s here.” In a few strides I’m at the opposite side of the sitting room, opening the China cabinet by placing my finger onto the handle. The partition slides open.
“Could be friend of hers,” I say while grabbing my .357 and the .38 special that now has a place next to it.
“Okay… but…”
“But, you go upstairs and lock yourself in my bedroom. I’ll come up when done.”
She purses her lips and cocks her head. “No, I’m not leaving you…”
“Kayla!” I bark. “I just said you are ready. Easy to know certain things. And do certain things. But if the people arriving now are part of my organization then you are not ready at all. Go.”
She takes the gun. Mikayla steps back on her heels and then stops.
“Go!” I bark.
There’s footsteps behind us. My gun is pointing the accurate direction before I even turn to see what she’s staring at.
Fucking Zane Solarin. And he has a woman at his side with dark skin. Her hair is gray but her face doesn’t have many wrinkles. She’s holding a cane.
“Lalumi…” Mikayla murmurs just as I place my gun down at my side. My woman hasn’t taken her eyes off her old caregiver, so I rub my hand along her shoulder before softly removing the gun from Mikayla’s hand, that’s now hanging down at her side.
The woman nods. MamLalumi enters. Mikayla runs toward her, and around Ava’s dead body, in second to give her a hug.
Zane stares at me and then the dead body. “The moment you mentioned Princess Mikayla, I messaged for them. We came as fast as Chumi’s car would go. They refused to drive in mine. But is this woman… did you do this…”
“I did it.” Mikayla speaks up.
“I don’t want to hear that,” he says. “I’ve been breaking a lot of rules today, might as well turn a blind eye, too.”
Behind them, is another man. Mikayla’s eyes narrow
“You! You are not welcome here,” Mikayla shouts as she lets MamLalumi go. I hold my gun up again? Clicking the hammer back ready for her statement.
“Princess Mikala, this is elder Chumi,” Zane advises. “Please, we all need to sit down,” he glanced nervously at Ava, “somewhere other than in this room and talk.”
“Not with Chumi, he’s with Qaaim,” Mikayla says. “You were the one who co-signed his statement when I was in Nivean. Jagger, you can put your gun down. But I’m sorry he will have to stay outside.”
I reluctantly do as told.
“Princess Mikayla,” Chumi holds up a hand. “I’ve been waiting for you to be the confident royal that you are. When I spoke, I expected the daughter of the great King Bannan to speak up for herself. Instead you gave in.”
Mikayla scoffs. “Qaaim had Abayomi murdered. Half the people hate me for it. I… gave up the throne.”
“Pft! Queen Makuachukwa would have never done that. You are not listening to your ancestors!” He shouts.
“And again, I mean no disrespect, Elder Chumi, Princess Mikayla, MamLalumi, take it to another room.” Zane cuts in.
I step back so Mikayla can take the lead. The silence between everyone seems to last forever before she nods. “Watch your step,” she says before heading into the dining room.
Mikayla sits at the head of the table. MamLalumi is to her right, and Mikayla has moved over a bit, as she holds her hands. Zane is to the left and Chumi is opposite him. I allow my Magnum to glide through my trigger finger, the revolver twirls in my palm as I stand, anxiously waiting for the truth.
“Young woman,” MamLalumi speaks up, “you have broken my heart every day for twelve years…”
Eyebrows furrowed, Mikayla ruminates over her words. Her eyelids flutter shut and understanding floods her beautiful face. “I begged the spirits to leave me alone. Lalumi…I’m sorry, MamLalumi, I didn’t want my new parents to give up on me.”
“Girl, you were ten years old. They’d already had you for most of the first half of your life by that time. Why would they give up on you?”
Mikayla’s eyes meet mine, her cheeks redden and she glances down. “I cried all the time. Woke up in the middle of the night.”
“You did that for five years. That was your choice, too.”
She places her head down onto the table and cried into her hands. My gun stops spinning instantly. I need to shoot something. My mother’s crying rings in my ears. When I blink, I’m crouching next to Mikayla. She isn’t pushing me away but returning my hug.
“You’re strong.” I kiss her forehead instinctively, then I stand up, stalk around, and twirl my gun again.
“I had beaten up a boy at school. He talked bad about me. Because of all the therapy and because one of my cousins was trying to be nice to me or something… I can’t recall. He said something. I snapped and broke his nose. That night. I had the dream. And when it was done, I begged the spirits to leave me alone.”
“My sweet Mikayla, you believe the spirits wanted you to suffer, to be in fear?”
Her voice breaks. “MamLalumi, I don’t want to remember the dream. Please… it’s bad. It’s bad. I feel it in my gut!”
I lean against the wall and fight my own tears. She was five years old when she saw her mother die. That’s what happened! Fuck, I would hate myself if I’d showed her the photos now. I just needed her to remember! I needed her to use that as motivation to murder Qaaim. To step into my world and become my equal. But, this is so much more important than the two of us.
I love her more than anything, but I initially saw her enlightenment as a means to an end.
The end of Qaaim Mthembu and the start of our lives. My selfish ambitions would have left her nation without a leader…