Ah hell Nah! Jericho shouted. My mother is not moving in with us! Do you know what that means if she does? No more naked Saturdays! No more sex in the kitchen Sundays. Hell, no more sex-

I get your point! I shouted back. But she’s lonely, Jericho. She needs you. She needs us. I gave him a pouty expression, poking out my bottom lip and batted my eyelashes. Please, Jericho.

Hell no! He said and walked away. Elizabeth laughed over the phone when I told her the story. “I told you, darling. I know my son.”

“Did he call you today?” It’s been two weeks since Jericho's birthday and I made sure he was keeping in contact with his mother. To avoid turning me into a nagging wife he would listen and call her. Ever since then Elizabeth and I were starting to become close, to Jericho’s annoyance. She'd call me everyday and we would talk about any and everything.

She chuckled. “Yes, he called me.”

“Good, I would have opened up a can of whoop ass.”

She laughs. “Mona, you're so very good for him. He needs someone like you in his life,” she told me. “Oh! All My Children is on! Sorry darling, I have to talk to you tomorrow.”

I laugh. Nothing can get in the way between Elizabeth and her soaps. “Alright, I'll call you tomorrow when Jericho's around so we could annoy him. Right now, I need to get my shopping done.”

“It's a date,” she says and we hang up.

I got out of the car and guess who I ran into. Detective Owens. Am I like a cop magnet or something? Why do they see fit to harrass me. I'm not even a black man. “Mona, we need to talk.” What the... Detective Owens looked scared. He kept gazing around over his shoulder as if someone was going to pop out of nowhere and attack him. I knew that if something or someone was able to rattle this man, it was definitely serious.

He was off duty wearing just a white shirt and jeans which made him look ten years younger. The last time I saw him is when he took me to a crime scene at a warehouse unannounced and I got to witness the aftermath of a ‘Death Trap’ massacre for the first time.

“About what?” I said and crossed my arms.

He ran a hand through his hair. “I’m in deep shit, Mona. Really deep shit.”

“You're a cop and I don’t understand why I'm even relevant in whatever “shit” your in.”

“He’s going to kill me if I don’t do this...”

“What are you-

The detective grabbed me and placed a wet cloth over my nose and mouth. I inhaled something that burned my nostrils, my tongue went numb and the next thing I saw was darkness...

I woke up in a bomb shelter, laying on the cold floor. My head was pounding and my tongue was still numb. I sat up, realizing my wrist were chained to the walls. Gazing around, my eyes lay upon dozens and dozens of pictures plastered onto the wall. I gasped in shock. These pictures were of me and Jericho, together.

“He’s gonna kill us you know,” Detective Owens said, he was chained to the wall a feet away.

“You fucking idiot!” I shouted. “You abducted me-

“He would have killed me and sorry, honey, but I wouldn't sacrifice myself for you.”

“You’re a bitch and a coward,” I spat, icilly. “Who...” I trail off as the door to the room opened, revealing our captor. Oh God! No! It couldn't be! The hairs on my neck raised as the sound of his combat boots hitting the floor seemed so loud as he drew near. He went straight for the detective.

“Thank you, detective,” he said, deep voice ringing throughout the room. “I have what I want now.”  He pulled out his pistol, putting it to the detectives temple.

“No-

The detectives words were silenced as he pulled the trigger. I screamed as blood and brains sprayed everywhere...