May 21, 1999

A knock at the door got the attention of Jade. She sat up in her bed. This time Jade was alone in her hospital room.

"Jade Lewis," a nurse entered the room with two female officers, one being Officer Terry James.

"Yes?" Jade answered, taking notice of the three women.

"Hello, Jade. I'm Nurse Bauer. Do you remember me?"

"Of course, I remember you," Jade smiled, but her smile began to fade when she saw the look on the nurse's face.

"So, we've run tests on you. As you know, we've done a rape kit. You have several vaginal tears. The DNA that came back isn't the DNA of someone known. However, his DNA matches the DNA of several other rape victims, who also happened to be physically assaulted. Those victims remained quiet about their experience, but you, Jade, could be the one to speak up. Not just for them, but for you."

Jade closed her eyes, feeling shocked and slightly triggered.

"So what do you say?" Nurse James asked her patient.

Jade let out a shaky sigh, "his name is Asaad and he's my ex-boyfriend. Full name: Asaad Rasheed."

The nurses' breath hitched, which Jade took notice of. Jade squinted her eyes and raised her eyebrows at the nurse in suspicion. Office Terry James gave her a look as well.

"Excuse me," Nurse Bauer left the hospital room, closing the door behind her.

"Are you sure?" The other officer asked Jade.

"And you are?" Jade questioned while fluttering her eyelashes.

"Officer Lauderdale."

"Officer Lauderdale works at the department with your brother and I. She was in the scene when you-" Officer James folded her lips. "Appeared."

"Asaad Rasheed is a repeated criminal in California. How isn't his DNA sample not in the system? Are you sure?" Officer Lauderdale asked Jade.

Jade gave her an irritated look, then squinted her eyes. "How could I not be sure?"

"I'm just double checking," Officer Lauderdale politely smiled. "I wasn't trying to be insensitive. We just want this man locked up. We've been trying to get him locked up for years. He's committed so many crimes around California as a whole. One woman did, in fact, press charges against him for rape, but he just claimed they were together and it was rough sex. He got off in the charge. This is why his DNA should be in the system.  Do you want to press charges against THIS- this person?"

Brandon knocked on the door before reopening it. "Are you decent?"

"Yes, Brandon," Jade slightly chuckled.

Brandon turned the corner and looked lost when he saw his best friend and another officer who works in his department.

"What the hell is going on here?" Brandon looked at Terry.

"I'm pressing charges against Asaad," Jade looked at Officer Lauderdale, then averted her eyes towards her brother.

"What? Jade, I thought we-" Brandon tilted his head, looking at his partner. "Let me holler at you right quick," he motioned Terry over. "Can you give us a second?" He asked Officer Lauderdale.

"Alright," Officer Lauderdale shrugged. "I'll be back." She then walked out of the room.

"Terry, how come I wasn't informed about this?" Brandon questioned. "And Jade, we talked about this. We're supposed to see what's really going on before we go any further."

"Wait for what, Bran? So he could victimize someone else. Officer Lauderdale has stated that he's a repeated criminal that they've been trying to get locked up for years. He has a long rap sheet," Jade explained.

"This ain't no normal case..." Brandon trailed off. "How come you didn't tell me?" He looked at his partner. "You didn't tell me about you showing up here today."

"I just found out right before leaving, Brandon. I volunteered to come when the station was called because I knew you'd want the information about what went on. You weren't around and they didn't want you involved because she's your sister. It may get personal, so I came in your place. I knew you'd want that," Terry explained.

Brandon sighed, feeling like a butthole for coming out of a bag on Terry. "I apologize for my actions, Terry. Thank you." He gave her a hug. "You're a great work partner and friend. Thanks." He pulled away, then looked at Jade. "Jade, I don't know about this."

"Brandon, do we just sit back and wait for him to mess up other people's lives," Jade complained. "I'm going through with it."

Brandon came closer to his sister, "Your statements won't hold up in court. We need DATES, Jade. What are we going to say? My ex raped and killed me on the night of May 17, 2017!?" Brandon questioned.

"Wait... What are you sayin'?" Terry spoke, taken back because this was the first time she heard about the killing portion. All Terry knows is Brandon and Jade are siblings and about the video. "Killed?"

Brandon's eyes closed, feeling bad that he just dropped the bomb. He opened his eyes, giving Jade an apologetic expression before he slowly turned to his partner.

"Brandon, what the hell is going on? What is this? Are the two of you okay?" Terry asked with a voice of concern.

"We are sane. Come on, Terry, you knew me before we officially entered the police force," Brandon reasoned.

"Give me a moment..." Terry backed away to a corner to think.

Jade took a deep breath, shaking her head at her brother's outburst. She dropped her head. However, Jade isn't upset about his outburst, it was just unexpected. "What do you suppose we do?"

"You'll be risking your- our career, but we need to come up with a story with some type of concrete evidence. Get a great lawyer, but we need a story before the lawyer is hired. I think I know of one too. She doesn't live in the state, but she does have jurisdiction here. If that happens, we don't know what will happen with this case," Terry spoke.

"Okay, maybe we'll do that," Brandon nodded, then looked at his sister. "Of course, this is Jade's decision."

"You're the law, I'll follow your lead," Jade slowly nodded, feeling unsure.

"What we need is footage... Other than the night of you digging yourself out of the grave, is there any other footage?" Terry asked Jade.

"We had cameras all on the outside of our home years ago. How come nobody checked when I came up missing?" Jade asked her brother.

"Jade, there was NO footage. I don't know what happened, but it seems like the cameras weren't working that day. The day before, yes. That was the last time we saw you on camera. The day of... Nothing. We searched and searched. Nothing. We hired people. It sounded and liked fishy when we saw it, but we couldn't do much." Brandon explained, sniffling from his nose watering, right along with his eyes. "That's why I'm in my current position. I wanted to solved this case. I wanted to know where my sister was. If she was alive or dead. We felt powerless," Brandon wiped his teary eyes.

Jade sat there in silence. Suddenly a lightbulb went off in her head. "Do we still have the cameras? I remember we kept the boxes just in case the cameras conk out. Do we have the serial numbers?"

"What?" Terry gave her a look.

"Listen, I was in school for engineering. Computer engineering. Obviously I haven't done it in a while, but I was good at it. I think I could still do it IF we have access to everything." Jade explained.

"But from a serial number?" Terry questioned.

"The serial number is to trace it back to where the cameras were purchased. We grew up in that house, but I remember mom and dad updating the cameras and they changed companies about two years prior to what happened," Jade remembered.

"A year and seven months prior, Jade," Brandon told her. "Our parents mentioned that at that at the time. You're the technology expert and they didn't know what to do. You were ending that semester and another semester away from graduating. How will that help? The dates are still messed up."

"I know, but I could tweak the dates."

"Jade, our family no longer owns that property. It won't work," Brandon told her.

"Shit," Jade closed her eyes. "Who's the current owner?"

"The guy who found you," Brandon replied. "He's the only one who was there when we arrived at the scene. He's the one who called the police."

"I want to thank him in person. That is whenever I get out of here," Jade told her brother and she nodded.

"Okay," he smiled.

"We need time to figure this out," Jade spoke.

"Yeah, we do. So we'll have to hold off on the pressing charges thing," Terry stated.

"I agree. I've been saying this from the jump," Brandon told them.

Terry walked to the door to get Officer Lauderdale. They both made their way to Jade.

Officer Lauderdale cleared her throat. "So maybe we'll have your brother bring the paperwork for you to fill out."

"She was on the phone with Lieutenant," Terry made eye contact with Brandon.

"Yeah, well finally have him. Our officers will be praised because this man is ridiculous. Not only is he a repeated criminal that has somehow been getting away with crimes we KNOW he has committed, but he's also a habitual rapist and woman-beater. I can't wait," Officer Lauderdale calmly cheered.

"Um, Jade has decided to not follow through," Brandon spoke up.

"What?" Officer Lauderdale looked at Jade in shock. "After all of this? Officer Lewis, you agree with this?" She asked with widened eyes.

"At the end of the day, I have to stick beside my sister. It's her decision," Brandon told her. Officer Lauderdale shook her head in disappointment. "However, I'll get her the papers, just in case she changes her mind," he added.

Officer Lauderdale let out an exasperated sigh. "Jade, is this true?"

"Yes, it's true," Jade nodded.

Another officer called out an address through the walkie-talkies.

"For breaking in and entering," they announced.

"We got to go," Officer Lauderdale announced. "Copy that," she responded in her walkie-talkie.

"Make sure you get your medical records," Terry looked at Jade as she spoke. "That nurse acted as if she knew Asaad before she rushed out of the room."

"I will. Thank you," Jade smiled.

The two officers left the room, leaving Brandon and Jade alone. Bored, Jade decided to pick up her new phone. It didn't take her long to figure out how to use the new iPhone. After all, she is an engineering major.

"I wonder how my friends are. Is Facebook still popular?" Jade looked up at her brother.

"Um, somewhat. Mostly older folks use that. That shit was dying out before you- went away. Our parents have an account," he chuckled.

"They do?" Jade's eyes widened. "They were always talking about how they didn't want to be involved in this young people's technology."

"Well, they made one to spread awareness about your disappearance. They joined all types of groups of people with missing family members."

"Oh," Jade quietly responded.

"Twitter and TikTok are the new popular social media sites. Instagram is mostly where people look and post thirst traps with lame ass captions," he chuckled.

May 23, 2024

The doctors consistently ran tests on Jade to be sure that her health was fine. Health as in mental health, but EVERYTHING came out fine. They took multiple drug tests during her stay and found nothing. Other than her being brutally beaten, she was fine. She has mostly healed from her beating. With that being said, the doctors just believe Jade was under some type of psychosis and needed time away from her family. Whether it was drug-induced or not.

Today is the day that Jade is being released from the hospital. As per protocol, Jade was wheeled outside with a wheelchair. Unfortunately, the media got their hands on the video and story. Someone has been mouthing off. But who? Brandon's officer friends helped escort Jade outside in a safe manner as they were being bombarded with questions. Once Brandon opened the door, Jade stood up from her wheelchair, the cameras flicked even more. Jade took a seat and Brandon closed her door, then jogged over to his side of the car, and got inside.

"So..." Brandon caught his breath. "Welcome to 2024. People are addicted to the Internet and clout. Somebody has been yappin' off about this entire thing. I knew it'd be sooner or later. I know there'll be too many people invested in this entire situation too," he sighed. "They gon' probably cancel your ass for bein' dead," he laughed.

"Cancel?" Jade's breath hitched. "Kill me?"

"No, it's just some dumb Internet shit. Anywho, our father, mother, siblings, their spouses, and kids are all at Kitty's house, waiting for you to arrive."

"WHAT!?" Jade's eyes widened. "Bran, I just want some sleep and some good food."

"But they are waiting on YOU, Jade. They haven't got to see you or spend time with you in years. Especially Kitty..."

Kitty is their other sister. Her real name is Kitana. Before Jade's death, Kitty and Jade weren't on great terms. Kitty got on her sister about her boyfriend. Jade and Kitty had been out all day on a girl's night and Asaad called Jade back to back. Kitty has told Jade that Asaad is too obsessive, and that's a dangerous trait. Jade being young and in love never listened.

"I miss Kitty so much. I miss everyone," Jade teared up.

"Yeah, she lives about an hour away too, so hold tight," Brandon chuckled as he pulled off. "Jade, your story won't make sense and I don't want to pull them into this too. So, what do you think we should tell them? I've been brainstorming and I've got nothin'. They keep askin' me what happened to you and I never gave an answer. All they hear is what's in the news, which just so happens to be part of the truth."

Jade perked up at the thought of seeing how her family had grown over the course of years but instantly became worried. She didn't think they'd come.

"I don't know," Jade shrugged her shoulders. "All I know is the truth. They always knew when I lied to them. You were always the best liar."

"Damn, I don't know whether to be offended or pleased," Brandon gave Jade a goofy look.

Jade chuckled, "I think- I think both are fine."

"I'll figure something out because they gon' look at you like you're crazy," Brandon spoke while strapping himself in.

"Brandon, they'll look at me crazy regardless of the answer. I've been DEAD for seven years," she spoke with her eyes bulging out of her head as she spoke her last sentence.

"Damn, you're correct," Brandon nodded.

"So roommate is home with them?" Jade raised her eyebrows at her brother, looking at him goofily.

"Jade, roommate is- roommate is there," he chuckled, pulling off. "Why are you lookin' at me like that?"

"He fine," Jade bobbed her head.

"He's alright, but I got my eyes on this one shorty. She fine too," Brandon nodded. "Roommate knows that it was a thing of the past."

Brandon is bisexual and his parents are unaware of his sexuality. He's always been afraid of what his parents may think, but Jade believes that they won't react in the negative way that Brandon thinks they would.

"Why the hell you call his ass roommate if y'all don't even live together?"

"We did some years ago, but now I got my own shit, sis," he chuckled. "I ain't tryna to settle down with no nigga. I want me a family."

"You can use a surrogate," Jade suggested.

"Mm, nah. That ain't what I want. Me and roommate haven't even been on that type of shit in eons anyways. We are strictly boys now and I'm serious about the woman I've been trying to court, but she doesn't stay in my city, " he told her. "She lives near Kitty, so you'll meet her in due time."

"Does she know?" Jade inquired.

"Know what?" Brandon asked confused. "That I'm takin' her seriously? I guess."

"No, that you also like and been with men?" Jade asked her. "Tell her before you two become more serious because that mess can break a woman down to her weakest."

"I haven't told her and I don't want to. She'll still look at me in that way and I haven't been with a man in a long ass time. However, I'll have to eventually because she'll feel betrayed. I see women talk about that shit all the time in TikTok," Brandon shook his head. "My life is complicated, but it's nothing compared to yours. At least you're breathing again."

"We'll probably cross that bridge when we get there. I just miss everyone. How come I wasn't visited?" Jade turned to her brother.

"First of all, put your seatbelt on," he chuckled. "Second of all, I told them not to. I told them you needed rest and it was doctor's orders. I told them it'd be too much stress on you. Besides, the media will hound them just as much. Kitty lives in a nice little gated community, so she has security. It's been hectic for the past few days over this way. You need a new scenery."

"Brandon, what we need to do is find Asaad. He needs to pay for what he did," Jade blankly stared ahead at the road.

"Jade, we're working on it. California is so large. L.A. alone is huge Do you know that there are plenty of missing girls and women from L.A. who are walking unknowingly walking past their relatives? Not to mention, he may not even be here. If I were his cousin and on his side, I'd tell my cousin to get the hell out of dodge. Matter of fact, I think we should pay him a little visit."

•

DeLane woke up on the couch feeling terrible because he and Loyal were passing blunts and drinks back and forth to each other before the house party even started. It was the first time DeLane threw a party at his new home. They had fun, but everyone was just taking shots back to back. DeLane fell over onto the floor, then picked himself up, slouching on the couch.

"Ayo, De!" Loyal tapped his brother.

"Man, what?" DeLane said, feeling irritated. He's clearly hungover and Loyal is extra loud.

"Your house is on the news," Loyal told his brother. "They showed the video."

DeLane flicked his head in his brother's direction, "wha- what? How? Who did this?"

"Nigga, do it look like I have psychic powers?" Loyal laughed. "Damn man... You've always been a lightweight. You could've slowed down. You ain't have to try to match my speed," Loyal chuckled. "I tried to take your ass to your room, but nah... Your ass was pissy drunk. The helicopter woke me up this mornin'. It's late now."

DeLane sat there thinking, "This ain't good, Loy..." De shook his head. "Maybe someone from the party got a hold of it?"

"Nah, I was mingling and shit, but ain't nobody got to your shit. They only came inside to use the bathroom," Loyal threw his brother the keys.

"Man, I feel terrible."

"I would too," Loyal gave his brother a devious smirk. "More embarrassed than anything though. Your ass was tryin' to fuck on some woman and you couldn't even get it up." Loyal frowned upon looking at his brother and DeLane held his hands up in defense. "Hey, her words, not mine."

"She probably went to tell everybody that shit too," DeLane put his hand on his head in embarrassment. "I ruined my reputation already..."

"You weren't sober either. Not to mention you're such a lightweight. I understand clearly. You weren't in the right state of mind," Loyal replied. "However, I did hear her talkin' to one of her homegirls and she didn't cry the hint. She said you led her to the room, and gave you some head, but ain't shit else happened. You still couldn't get it up."

"Nigga, you act like I got E.D. or some shit. That was my first time in a long time getting fucked up. All those damn drinking games and shit. I usually only get myself to where I feel a buzz. Nigga, I live alone and far away from civilization. I need to stay alert. Did you at least get lucky?"

"Did I? These bitches are desperate as hell. I got lucky a few times too," Loyal laughed.

"Well, at least one of us did. Shit, it sounds like you got lucky enough for the both of us," DeLane laughed boisterously.

"I mean... You needed that because your ass has been upright as hell. Here take some aspirin and here goes some water. Bread too," Loyal sat it down on the side table.

DeLane took the aspirin and threw the water back like it was a shot. His teeth harshly but into the piece of bread. "I thought bread only helped to prevent hangovers."

"Nah, it helps when you're hungover too," Loyal plopped down on the couch beside his brother. "That was clever. Everybody had fun. No cellphones or nothing, but you got to be careful..." Loyal trailed off.

"Yeah, the footage is circulating everywhere now. These officers will be knocking on my shit soon. Especially that Officer Lewis, nigga."

"Lewis, you say?" Loyal perked up at the last name.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, apparently- apparently, the missing girl's last name is Lewis as well. Probably her husband, he probably had something to do with her disappearance. Let's go and review the entire footage from that night," Loyal harshly patted his brother on the back, standing up.

"Nah, man. I can't right now. My head hurts," he waved his big brother off. "Besides, they could also be related in some way. We have the same last name too, but we ain't married."

"De, man... When I said be careful, I didn't mean the cops. Fuck them. You ain't did shit, but what you were supposed to do. You called them. When I said be careful, I meant about the people that were here last night. These mothafuckas were snortin' all types of shit. It's usually a white substance, but that shit was pink De. What the fuck was that? I had to kick a few of them out. These Cali girls are wild as hell."

"Damn, I heard about that shit. I just thought it wasn't real. Apparently it is just leftover drugs that drug dealers cut into powder. It's making its rounds around the states. Especially with these celebrities," DeLane shook his head. "Yeah, you did right. I don't want that shit in my house or on my property. Mothafuckas too open and comfortable to be doin' some shit like that."

"AT your house. The only people that came inside were the ones I fucked and the one you- you know?" Loyal scratched his head.

"Fuck out of here!" DeLane yelled and Loyal went into a laughing fit as he walked away.

"This shit don't make no sense..." DeLane shook his head.

Loyal walked back into the living room. "De, I don't know your password. Get your ass up here so we can figure this shit out."

"A'ight, I'm comin'!" DeLane spoke with clear agitation.

"Damn, so much has changed in 24 hours," Loyal made a smart remark, getting DeLane upset again.

"Yo, if you mention that shit one more time, I'm gon' beat your ass. Stop playin' with me, man."

Loyal laughed at his brother's threat. DeLane can fight, but he never could beat Loyal, even though most times Loyal wasn't serious. He never used his entire strength on DeLane or any of his siblings when they tried fighting him. He loves his siblings so much that his anger issues didn't fully show when it came to the physical parts. He slowed down especially when his twin was killed. Loyal felt that he already lost his better half, he didn't want to lose pieces of his heart, his siblings. He especially didn't want to accidentally kill any of them. After all, it was his fault that his twin was killed.

DeLane and Loyal began thoroughly reviewing the footage from the night Jade crawled out of the ground.

"And you haven't been getting any alerts about anybody being in your front or backyard, right?" Loyal turned to his brother after he saw Jade crawl from the ground.

"Nigga, I get alerts, but it's ALWAYS an animal. I always checked because I was paranoid as hell on such a large property. Again, I lived alone." DeLane reminded his brother.

"Alright. This shit is still mind-boggling," Loyal pulled out the new cellphone that DeLane gifted him. "This technology is a bitch. There's proof of almost everything. It's hard bein' a criminal these days," Loyal put his phone away.

DeLane squinted his eyes at his brother, "It's SUPPOSED to be hard, idiot!" He shook his head, "this nigga," he mumbled. DeLane yawned loudly.

"You still tired?" Loyal raised his eyebrows at his brother.

"Nigga, I'm tired as hell."

"You've been knocked out all damn day and your ass is still tired?" Loyal's face had confusion written all over it.

"I was drunk. There's a difference. I ain't got like that in a long ass time," DeLane stretched his body after standing on his feet. "You could finish watching this shit. I'm going to my actual bed to get some quality rest."

"You don't want to watch the entire footage?" Loyal inquired.

"No, I was there to witness it all," DeLane walked off.

Loyal continued to watch the footage as DeLane went to his bed for some sleep. Little does DeLane know he's missing more information that he wasn't around to hear. He never caught the name of the woman, nor does he know how she actually looks. She was covered in dirt and bugs when he saw her. DeLane didn't even catch the woman's first name because the audio was a bit distorted. All he knows is there was something creepy going on at his property. He's been slightly paranoid from all that has occurred. DeLane keeps a gun under his pillow and many hiding places in his home. Of course, they are all registered.