Her Black Cross

‘’We’re sorry.’’ The two girls had their heads lowered looking anywhere but to my face. At least they had the mind to apologize for what they had said. That was good for the time being.

‘’Get up,’’ I ordered them and when they did as they were told; I went to them and hugged them. We were family and that was our way to solve problems and tighten our bonds. Sure, if the same problems reoccurred, then we would act differently and there would be a punishment, but till that happened, we were good to go.

Under my light grip, Jay winced and I pulled back sharply. ‘’I'm sorry-‘’

‘’No, it's okay. Not your fault,’’ She replied quickly.

‘’Now that I actually looked at you I can say that you really look... nasty.’’ I had examined her body up close and what I saw was horrible. The cuts and the bruises as well as her broken hand; they were too much.

‘’You should see the other girl,’’ she laughed. I gasped and felt my eyes widen in horror. If they had done something terrible to the others, Helen wouldn’t let it go down like this. ‘’Kidding! I'm just kidding.’’ Jay smiled gently to reassure me, but there was something behind her eyes that led me to believe that she wasn't telling me the truth.

I sat back down next to Anna and looked at her wearily before turning to the two girls. ‘’What did you do?’’ I asked, trying to sound casual as they sat back down.

‘’I got bruised up pretty bad. I would love to say there are no broken bones, but that would be a lie. I’m good now though so don't worry.’’

‘’Yes, but how?’’ I rolled my eyes.

Jay shrugged and winced again while Jay-Jay kept her mouth shut the whole time. ‘’Just my own stupidity, nothing big,’’ Jay muttered.

‘’Right.’’ I gazed into her eyes, searching for an answer, and finding nothing but my own reflection.

‘’You know that I will find out one way or another what went down so why not tell me now before you regret it later?’’ I asked, searching her eyes and I saw her hesitate for a moment before she turned to look at Jay-Jay.

‘’Don’t turn to me, you know I’d say the truth up front,’’ Jay-Jay said to the other girl.

‘’Okay-okay.’’ Jay took a deep breath before she started explaining. ‘’She passed by me at our turf and she muttered something like where’s-the-head-bitch- and that how we started arguing (if you could call that arguing). Then her friends showed up and we got into a fight, the result was us like this–‘’ she pointed to herself and Jay-Jay, ‘’and them even worse.’’

I was amazed by the fact the fight started because Mia was bad-mouthed. Finally, this gang acted more like the family it was. The thought of it brought a smile to my face while my mind travelled back to the time when the same thing had happened. Another gang’s head had done the same thing and I had started a fight to keep Mia’s name clean. I remember Mia running towards me and having my back while we were beating their sorry asses. Mia was always by my side, always.

‘’Okay, you two can stay home for the time being and relax. I will take care of it,’’ I said to them with a smirk on my face as I turned to leave with Anna close behind me. I really had to take care of things, like how Mia always did for me. I’ll always protect the gang we’ve built because it was our family, and family was above everything else, everything…even the love I held for her? I still wonder.