He turned around and walked down the corridor.
“Poop…” John said and started laughing.
Jason ignored him, he treaded down the stairs. The first thing that he had to do was call for Chinese food. As soon as Jason reached downstairs he went into the refrigerator in the kitchen to pull out a bottle of Dasani water. He opened up the top and took a quick swig, then he closed the cap back up and put the bottle back in the refrigerator. Afterwards, Jason walked out of the kitchen and went and sat down on the couch in the middle of the living room. He pulled out his Samsung Galaxy Note III from his pocket and turned the screen on and went to the dial pad on the phone. Jason had ordered Chinese food so many times before for him and his family that he knew the number off head. It was his little sister Cecilia who always wanted him to order, whenever Lisa was at work and the Mohamed was with them, he would cook some random African dish that could not be pronounced, and just like Jason’s cooking, it wasn’t very appetizing.
“The apple don’t fall far from the tree.” Cecilia once said after Mohammed had finished cooking and Jason was sitting down at the kitchen table eating. She hated everything that he cooked, but Jason seemed to love it, whenever his father cooked something he would always get seconds or thirds. His father…
Then Jason quickly remembered, HIS FATHER. This morning he just left his house without telling him or his mother where he was going. It was now late in the afternoon, he must be worried sick!
Instead of the Chinese Food, Jason dialed his dad’s number first. The phone rang once... Twice… On the third ring he picked up.
“Jason… Where are you?” His dad said in his weird Liberian accent.
“Oldhead I’m just over at Christy’s. Everything cool? You want me to come?” He asked.
“No, that is fine, I was just asking. Did you eat?” He asked.
“I’m finna order some Chinese right now.” Jason said.
“Oh okay. What time are you going to leave?” Mohammed asked.
“Later on this evening. Why? You want me to do something?”
“Yes, stop by at CVS and pick up your mother’s Trazodone.” He said.
“I gotchu oldhead!” Jason said.
“You want me to get it now?”
“No that is fine. She takes it at night before she goes to sleep, so you can just pick it up in the evening when you are coming home. Go order your Chinese Food and eat, how is Christy doing?” He asked.
“She’s high out her mind!” John appeared and said.
“Uhh… She’s fine, she’s just catching up on some sleep.” Jason said.
“Okay… When she wakes up tell her to give me a call, I would like to talk to her.”
“Got you!” Jason said. Then he remembered that Christy was still… up there.
“What you wanna talk to her about?” He added.
“Just wanna say hello. I haven’t spoke to my daughter in a while.” Mohammed said.
“Ard, I’ll tell her to call you when she wake up.”
“Alright. Thank you. I will see you later on this evening. I am not going to work today.”
“Ard oldhead. I’ma holl at you.” Jason said, then he hung up.
Now, Jason had to call for the Chinese Food, he already knew the number by heart. He dialed it, on the first ring the lady picked up.
“Hello, China Express, may I take your order please.” She said.
“Hello yeah, how you doing, may I please get… umm…” Jason thought for a moment.
“What would Christy want?” He thought about just going upstairs to her room and ask her, but then he remembered about two years ago before he was introduced to Christy, in the cafeteria at lunch he saw her eating Chicken Lo’ Mein. So he decided to just get that. He told the lady on the phone what he wanted.
“Okay 25 minutes.” She said, then she hung up.
Jason then got up and walked to one of the outlets on the side of the flat screen TV, he saw an Android charger there, he knelt down and plugged it up to his phone, then he rose back up on his feet and walked to the couch in the middle of the living room and sat down.
“What now broseph?” John appeared and asked.
Jason looked at him and shook his head,
“Nothing.” He said.
“Just sit here and wait for the Chinese Food to come.”
“That jawn not coming for another 25 minutes.” John said.
“I know.”
“I’ma just sit here and wait… Part of being Muslim is learning how to have patience. You can’t get anywhere in life if you don’t have…”
“That jawn still lit in the basement.” John said.
He was referring to the half blunt that Jason left on the basement floor earlier. It wasn’t a roach, a roach is smaller. That was still a blunt, though it was just half.
“I know you wanna smoke again bruh.”
“Shut up… You don’t know me!” Jason said.
“I know enough…” John said.
“You really don’t.”
“I really do.”
“What do you know?” Asked Jason.
“Your likes and dislikes.” Replied John.
Jason stared at John and gave a short pause,
“Since you know me so well… Tell me what I like and what I don’t like.”
John smiled maniacally. “Come on bruh…”
Jason gave a straight face.
“You don’t know me foreal.” Jason said.
“I know you thinking about that half blunt that you left in the basement.” John said.
Jason didn’t say nothing.
He wasn’t really thinking about it exhaustively, it was just on the back of his head. Like a bunch of cobwebs stuck to a wall.
“You’re wrong.”
“Am I?” John said as he lifted up one eyebrow.
Now Jason’s curiosity was sparked. He wanted to know how much John knew about him
“What else do you think you know about me?” Jason asked.
“I know how much you love Christy.”
Jason squinted his eyes and clapped his hands.
“Good job, It’s good to know that you be listening attentively to our conversations.”
John vanished from the couch where he was sitting next to Jason, then he appeared hovering in front of Jason’s face.
“Naw like… You really love her. You would die for her.”
Jason turned his head to the side away from him. “How did he know that?” He thought.
“I also know your deepest fears and desires.” John said.
“No you don’t.”
John smiled again and lifted an eyebrow up.
“Your biggest fears are rejections… And losing Christy.” John said as he continued to smile.
“HOW DID HE KNOW THAT?” Jason thought.
Now he knew that John was in his head somehow. But how?
“How do you…” He began to ask.
John then vanished from in front of Jason’s face. Jason turned his head and looked around to see if he was going to reappear at some other location like he always does, but he didn’t.
Jason then got up from the couch. He knew the Chinese Food was going to come soon, He turned around and walked to the basement door in the kitchen. He opened it and started to descend down the stairs. As he was descending, John appeared hovering next to his left shoulder.
“Didn’t I tell you?”
“SHUT UP!”
Jason reached the last step. And then he began to head for the washing machine that was on the other side of the room. The blunt was still laying on the ground, it wasn’t lit no more. Jason bent over halfway and picked it up. He sat down on the cold cemented floor and sparked up the blunt with the lighter that was also laying on the ground.
John then appeared hovering over the floor next to Jason. He turned his head and looked at him as he sparked the blunt, he shook his head and smiled.
“Don’t look at me!” Jason said.
He lifted the blunt up to his mouth and took a quick drag. Immediately he began to cough. It was more potent, Jason wondered as to why? He thought more about it as he took another drag.
“I’m floating.” He said to nobody.
Jason’s eyes became dim and his head started turning as he took another drag. The half blunt was now a roach. Jason held it up to his face and stared at it.
“I love you.” He said to it.
“I love you too.” John said and started laughing.
Jason turned to him. “Where did you come from?” He asked.
“I ain’t hard to find bruh,” He said.
“I be around.”
Jason took another slow deep drag. As soon as he withdrew it from his mouth the doorbell started ringing.
“CHRISTY’S MOM!” Jason thought.
His eyes bulged out of his skull and he threw the roach to the side of the washing machine. Then he started looking around to find a window that he could jump out of. He found one to the left of the bathroom. As Jason started walking towards it a thought then appeared in his head.
“Why would Christy’s mom need to ring the doorbell at her own house?”
The heavy intoxication led to his incoherent thought thus leading to that vacuous postulation. He turned around and began snickering to himself. Jason then started to ascend up the stairs. He continued to snicker as he was going up.
“Yeah that was pretty dumb bro.” John said.
Jason didn’t even turn his head to look at him, he kept climbing up. Once he got into the kitchen the doorbell rang two more times. Jason picked up his pace. He got to the door and opened it up. Standing there was a young Jackie Chan. Jason handed him the money and told him to keep the change. Then the man gave him the white plastic bag of food and Jason closed the door. He turned around and started heading upstairs. Jason almost tripped and dropped the plastic bag as he got halfway up the stairs. He laughed out loud as he caught his balance. Then Jason reached the top stair and started walking down the corridor upstairs. His head was still woozy and everything was spinning around him. He stood outside Christy’s door and knocked twice and waited. No answer. Jason knocked again and waited for a couple seconds… Still no answer. Jason then put his hands on the doorknob and turned. Once the door opened, Jason was able to see inside. The first thing that he noticed when he stepped in the dimly lit room was Christy. She was sprawled out on the bed with her head on the pillow and her legs spread, and she had no clothes on.
Then she got up off the bed and started to walk towards Jason. He dropped the plastic bag and started to back away.
“What are you doing?” He asked.
“I want you to take me down Papi.” She said.
Jason continued to back away until he touched the wall and he couldn’t back up anymore. Once Christy saw this she dropped to her knees and put her hands on Jason’s zipper and started to pull it down.
Jason turned his head to the side and closed his eyes. He couldn’t dare look. Jason knew, deep inside that this was wrong. He knew that right now Christy was not in her right state of mind. He knew… But for some reason he just couldn’t stop.
“I’m gonna put it in my mouth okay daddy?” Softly she said.
Jason nodded his head slowly up and down as they were turned to the side. He then closed his eyes and allowed for Christy to continue. As Jason shut his eyes tight he started to see something in the distance. It was a small bright light, and then it came closer and closer. Until an image of Arnold appeared. As the image came closer and closer Jason could now see and hear. Arnold’s mouth was open and screaming “NOO!” And tears were falling out of his eyes. That was when Jason knew that he couldn’t continue. He held onto Christy’s head and pushed her away then he zipped up back his pants. Jason then bolted out of the room and down the stairs and out the front door.