The Richardson's

It was late afternoon, the door to the padded cell had just opened. The sun rays from the window opposite the room crept in, to reveal a woman in her early 20's, laying on the bed, her black short hair illuminates her brown eyes which matched her light and brown skin.

"Come on, Sarah," said the guard who stood at the doorway.

Sarah slowly turns to look at him, frowning. The thought of slamming his head against the door amused her. She knew that she would have to serve extra time at the mental institution if the same incident that occurred last week were to repeat itself.

Sarah gets up slowly, giving her body a little sway as she walked towards the guard, shrewdly hugging him.

"Sorry for breaking your nose" she whispered.

The guard leads her down the hallway at the end, a female guard standing behind a glass frameless counter hands out some forms for her to fill through an opening within the counter.

Sarah recalls when she was sent to a juvenile detention center 4 years ago, her mom had just abandoned her. she was young then and people stared at her and she fidgeted as she filled a form at the counter.

She's different now, she thought.

The guard hands Sarah's belongings to her, which were just a backpack and some clothes. They looked at each other for a long moment before Sarah walked away.

Outside the mental institution, Sarah takes a moment to breathe in the air and enjoyed the sun rays on her face. she hears the faint laughter of children around the corner as she moves towards them the laughter becomes louder. The children stopped laughing when they sited her.

"Want some clothes," she said. Sarah smiled, looking at the children who nodded in agreement.

She hands the clothes to the children and waves at them. As she walked on down the road the smell of street food made her hungry. But what could she do? She had no money on her, standing in front of the food vendor would make her stomach rumble more. She thought.

Across the street directly in front of her, she saw a truck pull to a stop and a black man got out with hands clutching his belt. She noticed the tattoo of three dots on his fist and remembered her mom tattooing three dots on her and her sister's fists as kids.

"It's a family mark," said the mother, who raised her head looking at little Sarah whose eyes were red from crying with sweat licking at the hair on her brow.

Sarah's head pounded in thought as she waved the man for him to come over. The man crossed the road, approached Sarah, and handed over a phone to her. Sarah reluctantly answered the phone for a moment. Handling the phone back, she grins at him. The man is taken aback.

"Do you have any cash on you?" said Sarah

The man gave her a hundred dollars and goes to the car, he starts the car and watched as Sarah crossed the road with a smile on her face munching on the snacks. He gestured to Sarah to wear her seat belt as he drives through the evening.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The man drove to an abandoned lot, there he reached for the suitcase in the back seat and gave it to Sarah.

"The big guy said in there is everything you need," said the man. He points to the suitcase.

Sarah gets out of the car and pulled out the gun she's been hiding inside her shirt since she took it from the prison guard while she hugged him.

Gbam! Sarah shoots the man in his head, blood splashed all over the window and slowly ooze down.

"No hard feelings, he said no witness," said Sarah pulling her hoodie over her head as she walks into the quiet night.

The streets were empty and cold, Sarah has been walking for some time. But while walking through this quiet neighborhood, she wondered if she had missed her way or the address written on the paper she saw in the briefcase doesn't exist. The houses she passed were huge: lights glowed softly in Windows. When she finally came to the address, she stopped and stood before an apartment building.

"Now's when the fun starts" she sighed.

The door opened, a woman and a man comes out hand in hand chattering, the woman wobbled, leaning on the man. she stops them and shows them the address, the stench of alcohol was all over them. The woman smiled and pointed at a window

"That's the place"

" Thank you". Sarah watched the two of them stagger onto the walkway.

"Lovers," Sarah said. She turns around to see a security man in the lobby. He wasn't there before. Would he search her? He hadn't seen her before surely he will question her and she has a lot of incriminating things with her. She thought.

Sarah hurriedly goes to the back and climbs the fire escape up to a window. she peeped through the window to make sure no one was coming, she lifted the window carefully and threw her suitcase and backpack inside. She slowly entered so that she wouldn't step on the flower vase and closed the window. She walked through the hallway looking for the number of the room.

'Aha!' Sarah exclaimed.

Sarah knocked on the door withstanding the DONT DISTURB sign hanging from the door but there was no response, tired and frustrated she bends over to bring out her lock pick kit.

She successfully opened the door and entered the apartment.

"A fancy two-bedroom apartment, modest but elegant," said, Sarah

She moved towards the kitchen, suddenly there's a scream and the sound of something hitting the floor. Sarah turns to see a woman in a cotton gown with earplugs on.

'Sarah!' the woman gasped. 'Omg, it's you' the woman moves to get a packer avoiding the particles of the broken mug on the floor.

'Where did you come from' said the woman as she cleans up the particles

'The window' said Sarah still startled by what just happened. She hugs Sarah.

"You are cold, tea?"

"Yes please"

She serves Sarah hot tea.

"How do you know me," Sarah asked the woman.

"I saw your picture and got a message that you will be coming here, I'm Peggy by the way". Peggy takes Sarah's suitcase and backpack and led her to a nicely air-conditioned room.

'let me fix you something to eat' said peggy. She leaves Sarah alone in the room. Sarah looked at the paintings on the wall, nodding.

"Peggy must have a thing for art," she said.

Sarah comes out of the bathroom and sees a plate of food on the cupboard near the bed. She's elated and starts eating. She engorged the food as this was the first meal she's had all day. Suddenly there's a vibration on the bed she reached for her phone and sees a message with the caps MEMORIAL.

B R R R R R R IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!

An alarm clock clanged in the room, the door creaks open and the footsteps of a maid echo in the quiet room. The curtains are pulled aside to reveal a woman on the bed, her hands lifted delicately in the air.

"This damn alarm," said the woman as she knock down the alarm causing the clangs to stop. She sits upright and removes her sleep mask to see a maid holding a tray of water and a box of pills, the maid gives the tray to the woman and hurriedly picks up the alarm.

"Take it away" the woman gives the tray to the maid. She stood up in black pajamas and stretched her arms above her head and yawned. She walked over to the windows and opened it, and immediately felt the sun once more on her body. She could see the pool, the Whitestone bridge, the garden, and how busy people were, going out and coming in of the house.

"Kathy boooo!" Screamed Cassandra, who had recently returned from Paris where she studied fashion designing at Institut Français de la Mode, standing next to the pool as she waved her hands vigorously in the air.

Kate, hearing the nickname, stared at her. Once when she was 13, her mother had called her Kathy boo after being impressed by her horse-riding skills. She shook her head as she draws the windows in and closed them.

She quickly goes into the bathroom upon hearing Cassandra's voice as she climbs up the stairs. The door is flung open, Cassandra comes in holding a garment bag and a magazine.

"Kathy boooo" she called out.

"Yes," Kate answered from the bathroom. Cassandra lays the garment bag on the bed and sits down

"Have you seen who's news is on the front page? and also in bold statements" she giggled. She reads out: Kate Richardson daughter of late business mogul Felicia Richardson celebrates as she raises the Richards group into one of the top 10 companies in the world.

Kate comes out in a towel, with her hair wrapped up in a bun, her skin still with drops of water on it. She opened the walk-in closet and takes out a pair of white heels.

Cassandra still excited read out "Wait wait here is the good part she's considered as one of the most influential CEOs and is also regarded to be the image of her mother independent, elegant, and a successful woman. Kate placed a faint smile.

"Wait! That's it?" she is puzzled "they leave out the fact where I'm the one behind her elegant looks!" Cassandra throws the magazine at the door.

Suddenly, there's a knock on the door. Cassandra pauses for a moment, then got up and walked to the door. She opened the door to find a woman of about 50 years, wearing a skull cap wig and a long strapless gown holding two glasses of champagne in hand.

"Aunt Patricia" she smiled.

"Come on in" Kate beckoned.

Patricia hands over the glasses of champagne to Cassandra who placed them on the table. Kate and Cassandra hug Patricia, for a moment in the room there's silence. Patricia gets emotional after hugging the girls.

"I'm so proud of you girls" she smiled. "I wish your mom was here to see the wonderful women she raised".

Cassandra hands her a handkerchief as she drinks up the glasses of champagne.

Kate pulled her to the kingside bed and wraps her arms around Patricia's shoulders.

"That's why I scheduled my victory party to be held alongside mom's memorial," said Kate.

"you know if you apply your special trade skills to the family business, the other families wouldn't dare to go up against us," said Patricia in a Sotto voce.

For a moment Kate's expression was so surprisingly hostile, two years ago after the death of her mother she had vowed to never participate in the garbage business.

"And that's what got her killed," she said in an enraged tone. Patricia rolled her eyes and leaves the room. Cassandra looked at Kate with a worried frown and suddenly felt cold. She cheers kate up as she gets ready for the party.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Sarah had woken up an hour ago, ready for the unwelcome surprise of the day. After a cold shower, she recalls the message from the previous night, feeling indifferent about the message she laid on the bed and pulled the duvet over her head.

She had lain in bed for a while, full of anxiety as she looked at the clothes on her bed. Nobody in her family knew she was here. she couldn't think of anyone who would send her the message.

Why now after all these years. She thought as she gets up all agile.

She puts on a black shirt ripped at the hem, a leather jacket that has the words DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES, leather jeans, and 5-inch heels.

"Now for the finished look", she winked at her reflection in the mirror. She puts on a black cap and black shades. She tiptoed towards the door, she could hear Peggy doing her Zumba workout routine happily singing along to the Whitney Houston classic hit song "oh I wanna dance with somebody". Just as she was about to open the door, Peggy comes out of her room.

"Where are you headed?" she asked as she gently wipes off the sweat on her body with a hand towel.

Sarah turned to look at her and is instantly fascinated by how hot Peggy looked in her workout outfit.

"I have a date with the dead".

She stepped quickly into the outer hallway and slammed the door and moved headlong down the stairs.

"I need some Zumba" Sarah muttered as she swung through the door in the lobby into the streets.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Sarah arrives at the luxurious home of the Richardson's with other guests, the maids at the Massive 12-foot mahogany doors welcomed Sarah in with smiles and a glass of La Landonne. She looked around and noticed how oddly dressed she was.

No one would notice her because they were all busy chatting and enjoying the classical music.

She looked up and is startled to see Cassandra coming down the L-shaped stairs. She hasn't seen her sister in 4 years. A maid hands Cassandra a glass of champagne and a spoon.

She clinks her glass "Ladies and gentlemen, will you raise your glasses to the woman of the hour". She said modestly. The guests applaud as Kate walks downstairs gracefully, the tempo of the music reduced as she stops at the landing partway.

Sarah loathes the sight of kate. She closed her eyes for a moment, the music triggered a memory of her as a child screaming with fear and panic as two men dragged her away from her mother who stood still. She struggles to lose their grips and runs to the mother, she kneels before her and begs for her mercy.

"Why do you always make things hard," said her mother gripping Sarah's cheeks.

Sarah opened her eyes again and saw to her right kate walking towards her with Cassandra at her side. She quickly escapes into the kitchen causing Cassandra to notice the sudden movement.

"Come this way!" Said, Kate

"Yes, ma!" Said Cassandra in a mimicking manner. She follows Kate down a hall into a room. Kate stopped abruptly; with a bewildered look on her face.

"Why!" Kate asked.

"Why what?" Cassandra answered.

"Why would he come here with his friends?" said Kate pacing around the room.

"You mean his crew," said Cassandra.

"I hope they wouldn't cause trouble," said Kate.

"Um, you didn't happen to see Sarah at the party," said Cassandra.

"What!" Kate's eyes widened.

"Oh," said Cassandra. She had completely forgotten to tell Kate about the message she sent to Sarah.

"I sent a text," she said.

"For your sake, I hope she doesn't come" Kate cast a dark look at Cassandra, who quietly leaves the room. Kate's phone rings.

"Hello," she said

"Kk-kate" the caller stammered.

"Yes"

"Thank God, I have been trying to reach you".

" Who are you?"

"It's me, Felix, I don't have much time--meet me at the office tomorrow" he hangs up.

"ok," said Kate. She could detect fear in his voice and felt uneasy because he had disappeared after her mom died. She rushed out of the room and bumps into Patricia.

Sarah finds two women in the kitchen gossiping about her mother. But it wasn't their fault. Her mother was a woman of happenings. She felt sad while looking at a framed picture of her mother, she lays it flat on the table. She leaves the house.

NOTE

*Crew-the group of soldiers under the capo's command.

Saturday mornings at the supermarket were always busy with people. Sarah had been standing in the queue for 25 minutes, the sound from the tannoy system made her a headache. The woman checking out in front of her was having credit card payment issues with the young lady at the checkout counter.

"Take it, take it!" the woman yelled, "try it again".

"I'm very sorry but your card has been declined," said the young lady, who seemed upset.

"That's a lie, do you think am stupid" the woman sputtered.

At that moment a middle-aged man who was the manager approached the woman and gently holds her by the arm.

"Please ma, come this way" he smiled.

"Don't touch me!" She yelled as she slapped the manager across the face and gripped him by the neck.

A security man tried to pull the woman away from the manager and restrained her.

"She's not right in the head, gives me the creeps," said the young lady who looked startled.

Sarah passed the items to the lady, who passed each of them over an electronic scanner which beeped several times. The lady stared at the figures on the cash machine reader and read them out, her gaze was on the woman being escorted out of the supermarket.

"Do you take cash?" Sarah said.

As Sarah walked out the door of the supermarket, a kid in a sweatshirt ran past her. Suddenly a man comes out from a jewelry store.

"Thief" the man shouted. The kid turned and saw the man running towards him.

"Out of my way!" The kid called out, brushing past a woman on the pavement and crossing to the other side of the road.

He ran towards a black car which had its left door opened but was apprehended by a passerby. The car drove off. In no time the cops were already at the scene. Sarah standing across the street recalls when she was sent to the juvenile detention center for drug abuse at 17 by her mother. A year later she was out with nowhere to go until the big guy gave a call. She became a hustler; running jobs for the man upstairs. She had no friends. she believed everyone stabs each other in the back, a friend today can be an enemy tomorrow just to save his/her skin. She watched the cops shove the kid inside the police car and drive away.

"You have to be smart to rob someone and not get caught" she chuckled as she heads home.

Peggy's apartment was just a street away from the supermarket, when she got home Peggy was not around. She laid down the bag of items on the long wooden kitchen table and unpacked the items into the fridge. She looked inside the bag to make sure everything was accounted for before closing the fridge.

Suddenly she heard the sound of the door opening, Peggy comes into the kitchen with packs of meat.

"Shit! I forgot the meat" she said as she laid her back against the kitchen table.

"Don't worry I got you" Peggy smiled. she placed the packs in the fridge. "I take it your date didn't go well"

"Forget it" she mumbled. Just then her phone rang, she goes into her room to have a private conversation.

"Yes"

"I need you to track down a Felix wright and shake him for information," said the familiar caller.

"Who's he"

"Your mum's lawyer"

"Wait, the consigliere"

"Yes"

"What am I looking for"

"A flash drive"

"Leads?"

"He has a friend I will send you a text"

"Secrets?"

"None".

"Hmm, a man without secrets". She smiled "this should be interesting"

"I know you went to her memorial"

"Huh"

"Call me when the job is done"

"Bye". Sarah received a text on her phone: MEET UP WITH BOBBY AT THE BROOKLYN WAREHOUSE AND HE WILL LEAD YOU TO HIM.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Bobby Marino aka Bobby the baker as his friends call him and Sarah was not on good terms. Once she had shot a hole in his left hand after she caught him putting his hand up a female worker's skirt.

"Bitch!" Bobby screamed in agonizing pain.

"Learn how to keep your hands off, if not I will be drilling holes in your body," said Sarah. She pointed the gun at him again, she could see the fear in his eyes.

"And that's how you take control," Sarah tells the girl who had been hiding in the corner.

Bobby, a renowned baker who owned several bakery stores and restaurants across the country. He had several books published and appeared on various tv shows. He was a money spender, always handing out cash. Bobby had several sharp ventures that he kept off the books.

He got orders for ammunitions coming in from all over the country, he did not fear the righteous boys because he had most of them on his payroll. A made man who had been working for the big guy since he took him off the streets. He was indebted to the big guy.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The afternoon sun came with a soft breeze, Sarah arrived at the warehouse, there were two trucks containing bags of flour being offloaded by his workers. She sought Bobby's whereabouts from one of the workers, who directed her to an office in the warehouse. She goes to the office and opened the door.

"Break his legs, tear him apart.." he paused, bobby surprised by the presence of Sarah in the office, was on the telephone. He hangs up and gestured for Sarah to sit on a chair in the corner of the office.

"You still stock guns in flour bags?" She said.

"What do you want," said Bobby in a hostile manner. He was a rugged man with perfectly tanned skin.

"The big guy sent me" she chuckled softly "I see you haven't been able to get me off your mind".

"No, I got big plans for you," he said looking at his bandaged hand. He tossed a piece of paper to her.

"Well get in line" she winked at him as she walked out of the office.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Sarah stood in front of a store as she wondered why the address on the paper would lead her to a watch store. She expected a house. She opened the door and went inside. The watch store was empty, except for the white man on the counter sleeping. She moved quietly in the store looking at the artifacts and watches, then an alarm rang. The man woke up frightened by the sound of the alarm and startled to see her in the store.

"I'm sorry I didn't notice you come in," he said.

"No, you were too busy drooling" she pointed at his mouth. The man hurriedly used a handkerchief to wipe off the saliva.

"How can I help you" he smiled "do you want a watch?"

"No, Mr?"

"David"

"I want to know where Felix wright is" she smiled.

Suddenly, David reached for a wooden wall clock and threw it at Sarah, she flung her hands upwards to shield her face and had shut her eyes when she had seen the wooden clock sailing through the air towards her. When she opened her eyes he was no longer at the counter, she heard the back door open. On impulse, she ran out of the store through the back door which led to an alleyway. He was already halfway down the alley. she ran after him.

"Hold on, you bastard!" screamed Sarah.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

David ran into the blue eye pub. Sarah entered the pub breathing heavily, there were three men in the pub; a bartender and two men who stared at her with scorn, sitted at the bar.

"You are not welcomed here," said the bartender.

Sarah looked at him and noticed the birds on the horizon tattooed on his arm, she then realized that the bar belonged to a rival gang. One of the men stood up and approached her.

"Leave little girl" the man sneered.

"Not until the idiot comes out," she said mildly irritated as she looked at him straight in the eye. The man launched a blow at Sarah, she quickly evaded the blow and kicked him in the crotch.

"Ohhhhhhh" the man groaned and fell to the floor.

Suddenly, the other man struck his fist against her jaw. Sarah Is taken aback. He pulled her by the hair and slammed her head on the bar.

"Ahhh" Sarah gasped, she felt a sharp pain. The bartender quickly wrapped his arm around her neck, she immediately reached for a bottle of whiskey on the bar and hits the bartender on the head which rendered him unconscious. Sarah spun around and struck a particle of the broken bottle into the stomach of the other man, who had attempted to attack from behind. There was a thud on the floor.

"You are trying my patience" she sighed "Aren't you going to come out".

David crawled out of the counter.

"Please, please don't kill me" he whimpered.

"Come, come here" she beckoned.

David shook in fear as he moved closer to her. She tugged at his collar.

"You have two options, it's either you tell me! where Felix is or I slam your head on the bar"

"His office, office, yes his office" he stammered.

"He better be," she said.

He watched in shock as she left the pub.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Sarah had been to Felix's office when she was little with her mom, Felix had been the family advisor, who was always consulted before decisions were made. She could remember the three-story building and the rusty elevator that always broke down, her mother would climb the stairs up to the office because it felt safer.

Nothing much has changed. She thought as she picked the lock of the door to the office, she brings out an M1911 gun.

"Mr. Felix" she called out but there was no response. The office was dark and oddly quiet, she tucked the gun behind her shirt and began searching through the drawers of the table cabinet. Then she heard footsteps down the hallway. Click-clack. Click-clack. The footsteps grew louder. She quickly goes to hide behind the couch. The door was pushed open and the light flipped on.

"Hello, Mr. Felix" a woman called out, upon hearing the woman's voice, Sarah slowly pulled out the gun. The door creaked. The woman turned her gaze to the door. Sarah saw this as an opportunity to escape; at the speed of light, she hits the woman on the head with the gun.

Sarah looked down at the woman on the floor.

"Kate!" Sarah said in a bewildered manner.

"Sarah," said Kate in a weak tone, just as she passed out.

NOTE

*Capo- the Family member who leads a crew.

*Consigliere- the Family advisor, who is always consulted before decisions are made.

*Family- and organized crime clan.