Going for the kill

“I ain’t goin to no crazy man’s house,” pointed out Dante.

“You think we’re in trouble?” asked Alice in her soft voice.

“Man I dunno, all I knows is I’m wit my boy, Dante, on this.”

“What it do, JD.” Dante, Kim, Alice and J’Davian were all students at Joseph W. Grier Academy, a high school in Detroit, Michigan. JWG Academy is a straight up hood school, on the rough streets of Detroit. In that school you either roll heavy or you don’t roll at all. These four teens were selected and invited to have dinner at their teachers house. Now, their teacher Mr. Williams is the scariest teacher at JWG, he’s fat, mean, and a flat out creeper. No one at school likes him or what he stands for, and now all of a sudden he wants four teenagers to have dinner with him at his small brown house, one of those houses with bars on the windows and a broken screen door that flaps back and forth in the wind.

“What you got for lunch, JD?”

“Umm pb&j and watermelon, what bout you?”

“Uh, a turkey and cheese sandwich, but that won’t be enough,” Dante’s stomach growled.

“Where y’all wanna sit at,” said Kim.

“What about that table over there” wondered Alice. The four friends were wandering around around looking for a nice spot to have lunch, being one of the warmer days in Detroit they decided to eat outside.

“Ah damn! The seats all wet.”

“Chill, Dante, you good bro.”

“Whatever, so why do you think we have to go to Mr. Williams's house,” asked Kim.

“Yeah like what’d we do wrong?”

“I didn’t do a thing man!”

“We know, JD, we know,” said Dante.

“I’m just saying, when they accused me of stealing they were dead wrong!”

“I know I certainly didn’t do anything wrong,” said Alice smugly.

“Of course, miss goodie two-shoes never does anything wrong, always perfect and always a kiss up.”

“Shut up, JD. I am not a kiss up.”

“YES you are,” replied the entire group.

“Okay, no need to shout.”

As the day went on the teens came up with more and more ideas for why they had to go to Mr. Williams’ house. The bell rang and the halls became flooded with students who were eager to leave. It was a friday afternoon, warm and very pleasant so most students quickly found their rides and went home. But the four friends had different plans.

“Get in.”

“Man, JD, your car stinks.”

“At least I gotta car, Dante.”

“Yeah for real how old is this thing?”

“Well, my Pops got it in ‘96 so I don’t know, Kim, you do the math.”

“17 years old!”

“But it works.”

“Yeah, a working piece of crap.”

J’Davian’s car was a 1996 baby blue Buick, the back seat was almost gone and the air conditioning didn’t work, which he never used anyways sense he lived in Detroit. But hey a car’s a car and his car works.

“My dad had a baby blue car. I liked it, but then he sold it.”

“Was is that number five?”

“Excuse me?”

“Your dad has gone through more cars than I’ve gotten F’s.”

“You get F’s all the time, Dante.”

“Man shut up. You can’t be talking.”

“My dad does not ‘go through’ cars,” said Alice who sounded concerned.

“Uh, yes, he does,” shot back Kim.

“No he doesn’t.”

“Alright whatever, someone just give me the address please.”

“1638 Poplar Drive.”

“Thanks. Alright baby be nice...come on, come on baby start!”

“Having some trouble there, JD?”

“Nah, I got it.”

Finally the car started and J’Davian drove down the road, speeding and not stopping at stop signs the teenagers were making record time.

“Turn left, I know a shout cut.”

“I’m not turning left, getting lost and stranded out there left alone just the four of us only to be found by some raper who’ll look excited to see us. The he’ll rape us and kill us or throw us into the river. No sir, no sir. I will not turn left.”

“Aight man chill, it was just a suggestion.”

They arrived at the old brown house, with an old rusty fence that had a “Beware of dog” sign on it. Part of the steps were rotted away and falling apart, but that didn’t stop the kids from going up to it to knock on the door.

“Yo! Anyone home?”

“Hey man not so loud,” whispered J’Davian.

“Mr. Williams, you there?”

“It doesn’t look like anyone has lived here for years, Alice.”

“Hey hey hey children. Come in please it’s getting dark out,” rumbled Mr. Williams with his loud voice.

“Haha hey, Mr. Williams.”

“Kim, my favorite!!”

“Mr. Williams, I’m not your fav,” asked J’Davian sarcastically.

“Uhh, no. Hahahaha.”

They all joined him inside for dinner and found that his house was surprisingly nice. At first they all sat in the living room and made small talk about anything that came up but then the conversation got a little more interesting. The pace picked up and voices were raised, no shouting or anything but certainly loud. Instead of changing the subject the teens decided to hear, Mr. Williams, out and to actually listen to what he had to say. To be honest what he had to say was very fascinating and somewhat inspiring. He didn’t bore his students for once he had finally captured their attention. They even joined in at times and spoke when they felt it was necessary but hey never interrupted.

As talk went on dinner soon became close to being ready and everyone was starving. Wondering when and what they were gonna eat crossed their minds several times before dinner was brought in front of them. They all gathered around the dining table and held hands to say grace.

“Heavenly Father, bless this food we are about to receive to the nutriment of our bodies. Watch over us with your grateful eyes, O Lord, and guide us with your steady hand on to the path of righteousness. Lord God, we pray to you and only you that you will keep us safe and our loved ones safer, we pray that no criminal gets hurt no matter the crime they’ve committed in the past, present, or future. In your son's name we pray. Amen.”

“Amen,” replied the group.

“Well said, Mr. Williams, well said,” said Dante.

“Shall we start?”

“Of course!”

“Ah J’Davian always trying to sneak your snack by me in class.”

Roasted ham, green beans, rice, and corn on the cob was laid out in front of them with five glasses of water.

“Man this looks delicious. Thanks, Mr. Williams,” said Dante

“Yeah thanks,” added Kim and Alice at the same time. J’Davian didn’t say anything because he was too busy piling food down his throat. The dinner went on and more conversation was held but nothing like the previous one they had. As the teens quickly finished off their seconds, Mr. Williams, started to speak.

“Do any of you know why I called you here?”

“No sir,” they all said.

“Well basicly I invited you’ll here not only to test my cooking but also to test my mind. See I’m doing this social experiment to see how students react when teachers are around. And I wanted to see if y’all would act any different because you’re having dinner with a teacher at his house.”

“Well,” asked Kim.

“Well what?”

“Did you learn anything?”

“Yes. Quite a lot to tell the truth. Certainly more than I expected but that’s life you know.”

“Cool. Yeah we all kinda thought we were in trouble,” mentioned Alice.

“Oh, no that was not the case.”

Dinner was done and the plates were cleared off the table and put into the dishwasher. At this point it’s around 8:30pm and mostly dark out. The thank yous were being said and the four teens grabbed their coats as they headed for the door. They walked out with, Mr. Williams, right behind them. Then out of nowhere. Screech the sound of burning rubber, they heard a car but saw nothing. POP, POP, POP,POP,POP,POP! Gunshots went off. J’Davian fell to the ground along with Kim. In the distance you could still hear the car speeding away.

“JD, JD! JD talk to me,” shouted Dante.

J’Davian had been shot three times. One in the thigh and two in the lower chest, while Kim had been shot only once in the upper thigh. Coughing up blood J’Davian began to speak.

“Dante,” he whispered.

“Yeah.”

“Take care of my sister, don’t let nothing happen to her. You got me,” he groaned as he fought to breathe.

“Yeah, of course bro I got you.”

“Yes we need an ambulance at 1638 Poplar Drive there’s two teenagers that have been shot here due to a drive by shooting.” Dante heard Mr. Williams say to the police.

“And, Dante.”

“Yeah.”

“What it do.”

“What it do Jd. What it do.”

Later that night at the hospital the doctor came out. Dante was sitting next to J’Davian’s mother and his little sister. The doctor walked toward them and Dante got up. Without saying a word Dante knew, he just knew. He immediately fell into J’Davian’s moms arms and started to cry. All three of them were sobbing and couldn’t stop themselves.

“Why? Why my son God,” said J’Davian’s mom.

Mr. Williams walked over and embraced Dante.

“I’m sorry son. I know y’all were close.”

“Close! We were more than close we were brothers. Me Jd, we’ve known eachother since we was one. And now, now he’s gone! That’s my brother in there and he’s dead, he ain’t nothin no more but dead,” still sobbing Dante tried to catch his breath.

“I know this must be hard but...”

“Man you don’t know nothin!” Dante ran out of the room his eyes filled with tears, his mind wondering what’s next.

The next few days of school were rough for Dante. People were staring at him knowing what happened some even tried to give their condolences but Dante just kept walking. Kim was fine and she got released from the hospital three days after she had been shot. No one really was the same after that night, not Alice, Kim, Mr. WIlliams, and especially not Dante. Days then weeks then months went by, and Dante got better but he always felt like a piece of him had just been ripped out and never put back in.