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Shadow Purger
Chapter 65 - Visitation Hours

Chapter 65 - Visitation Hours

Tory and I walked through the ivory-colored halls of Saint Hospital until we reached CJ’s room. He greeted us with a wide smile while lying in his bed.

“There go my bros. What up?”

He dapped us using his left arm, with his right side being wrapped up from surgery. The visitor’s pass around my neck hit against my chest as I sat in the chair beside him.

“How you doin’?” I asked. “Recovery goin’ good?”

He avoided the question and looked at the TV hanging on the wall, his grin vanishing. “Aight, now that y’all here, could somebody tell me what the hell goin’ on with Cable TV? Every channel is some old ass black-and-white show—even on the sports network.”

“Yeah, we heard ‘bout that,” Tory acknowledged, standing near the end of the bed. “But speakin’ of strange stuff, we wanted to talk to you about somethin’.”

“I hope it’s ‘bout those damn powers y’all got.” Me and Tory glanced at each other with wide eyes before CJ continued, “Yeah, I know all ‘bout that. Social media might think it’s fake, but I was there. I know the truth, even if I was unconscious at the time.”

Tory and I didn’t know what to say. I looked over at him and saw his intense stare at whatever was on the screen of his cell phone.

“What is this?” he grumbled.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, worried. It must’ve been something serious if it overtook the fact of CJ knowing about our powers.

“Bro, read this garbage.” He gave me his phone. “Great, now my personal life is being affected by all this.”

I spoke the title of an article on the screen. “Rising Afro-Dominican streamer, PlotArmor69, jumps on the current ‘fake fight’ trend to increase his following.”

“I ain’t gotta fake nothin’,” he complained. “My followin’ is organic. Now I’m gonna have people in my streams claimin’ I’m clout-chasin’ and all that. Dammit.”

I handed the phone back to him and said, “At least they think it’s staged.” My attention then turned back to CJ. “About the whole powers thing, though…Jasmine has them too, but she’s not the same person. She’s the complete opposite actually, and we were wonderin’ if you knew anythin’ about this change or any info we could use to help her get back to normal.”

He leaned his head back on the pillow and appeared concerned, staring up at the ceiling lights with a sigh. “I can’t help y’all. I’m sorry.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

There was another sudden outburst from Tory before he walked to the room door. “Brother’s callin’ me. I’ll take it outside.”

His exit left me to question CJ alone. “You gotta know somethin’. You two were together for a good while.”

“I know that, but she’s done with me and has every right to be. I messed up, aight? My friends, my arm, my girl… I let this street life get the better of me, and it took them away. Do you hear what I’m sayin’? I lost good people, and I might not be able to play Football ever again.”

Hearing those last words was alarming. Being on a pro Football team was all he ever wanted since junior high, and even back then when most of us wanted a future with wealth and fame, CJ never cared for materials and popularity. He genuinely just loved Football, and not even his asshole attitude could shadow his passion.

He turned to me and spoke again, “Bro, all I can tell you about Jasmine is that her parents are on her back twenty-four seven and keep her on her toes. They robotic as hell—ain’t no room for error with them. She can’t have fun and be free like the rest of us ‘cause her folks think people like me and you are below them. They probably would’ve dismissed me a long time ago if I wasn’t a top prospect.”

Looks like Jasmine’s house was the next stop.

“Alright, cool. Rest easy, bro. It’s all gonna turn out good in the end.”

I stood out of the chair and dapped CJ before making my way out of the room, but he called my name to turn me back around.

“Whether I make it out of here the same or not, take care of Jasmine for me. She’s special. She ain’t like these other girls. I wanna know somebody’s lookin’ out for her whether I’m stuck in this place for a minute or headed off to college. Give me your word that you got her.”

I paused, taking in his seriousness before nodding with a reply. “I got her.”

Departing with a smile, I navigated through the hall to reach an elevator before receiving a call on my cell phone.

“Hel—”

“Where are you guys?” Ashanti cut off my greeting. “I heard you and Tory were fightin’ Jasmine at the community college?”

“Damn, there’s a video out there already?”

“Not a video, but word on social media is she kicked y’all asses. Where y’all at, anyway? I’m ‘bout to leave my house.”

I had to question if her coming outside was a good idea, with her being on lockdown and all, but I decided to leave my thoughts in the wind and tell her where we were.

“The hospital, but we’ll meet you in the complex. It’s a lot of weird stuff goin’ on and I think we should all be together.”

“Okay. I got three hours before my mom gets-”

For some reason, the call was disrupted, and my phone completely shut down seconds later. It was strange, but I shrugged it off and entered an elevator—a shelter to ease my mind and take a deep breath. Things were quiet on the way down and brought a sense of peace—if just for a moment, but I knew it was only the calm before the storm.

☾☼☽

Tory and I were making our way down the block to reach the complex when we spotted Jasmine carelessly skipping in the middle of the street. People driving by hollered in frustration with one even throwing their half-emptied drink at her.

It didn’t matter, though. She was in her own world, unaware and unbothered with a sadistic grin across her face.

“Let’s grab her now,” Tory suggested. “Let’s do it before we lose track of her.”

“What about Ashanti?”

“Bro, we can get to her after we snatch Jasmine up. C’mon, let's go.”

And so, the chase was on. Where would it lead? I had no idea, but it was time for the fun and games to end.