Justice Served

06 | My Crown Will Fall

Chapter Six
Jayce Mirella

I don't walk because that's for slowpokes, and I'm trying to be as fast as I can. I didn't want to chance spending too much time in a neighborhood like this because I know that neighborhoods like this have shit like the 'neighborhood watch,' and that's the last way I want to get caught.

My women's size five sneakers make impact on the healthy grass as I push myself closer and closer to the entrance of the home. It doesn't take long before the dark African black-wood front doors appear right before my eyes. I can tell the difference between this expensive wood from any other wood. I remember following my father to work one day and seeing him in his element at the factory he used to work at.

There was a broad range of expensive and beautiful wood in there, wood that looked similar but had their distinct differences. My father lost his middle finger cutting that wood. It's hard to forget the way he kept calm and smiled down at me, acting as if he wasn't going through excruciating pain, and I had the most mortified look on my face as his severed finger grazed the front of my shoes while he continued to bleed endlessly.

I won't pretend that I wasn't able to recall the way he had comforted me as his co-workers patched it up because going to the hospital to stitch it back on or take care of the wound was too expensive, and he wanted to buy me new shoes for my birthday that was two days away.

No one, no one can replace the love my father showed me.

There's a bobby-pin in the pocket of my black hoodie, but something compels me to twist the doorknob first, kind of like the inkling I had to pick up my mothers call the day my father died without knowing why, so I do so. To my surprise, the door is already opened which is weird and should be a red flag but I don't take it as a red flag.

Instead, I foolishly choose to believe that this is a sign that I should break in because the residents must have forgotten to lock the door or maybe their security system malfunctioned. In the upper right corner, I see a camera but it doesn't look like it's on at all. Furrowing my eyebrows, I stand on my toes to reach for it but I'm too short so I jump and grab at it.

The device falls apart immediately without any manipulation done to it all so I frown a little bit in confusion. Was it just there for show? None of this made sense. This mansion, in the best neighborhood in Manhattan, has a security system that doesn't work and breaks apart at the slight touch with the front door unlocked and easy to open. Did this deter me, and make me want to back out because anything could happen at this point?

No. If anything, it encourages me.

Maybe someone else broke into this house knowing that the owners wouldn't be around before Blue and I could get to it first. If anything, this did nothing but my job that much more easier. You know how that saying goes, don't look a gift at a horses mouth or some shit like that. Sayings aren't my thing.

I drop the broken camera, and gently push the door open with a small lingering feeling of hesitation. It's dark inside so it's hard to see anything, obviously. Despite how dark it is, I turn around and softly push the door closed until I hear a click, confirming to me that I've closed the door. I begin to feel around to find a light fixture of some sort, but it's hard when with every step you take it feels like you're entering deeper and deeper into an empty abyss.

I continue to take steps inside, my hands outstretched and trying to feel for the things around me. I eventually step on something hard and halt in my movements for a few seconds. The house is empty, and I know it is because the people who live here are never here during the weekends but I'm still paranoid.