Page 7 of The Prodigy

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Malika

Nobody.

The man asked Jakari who I was, and he said…nobody.

If I wasn’t zip-tied in a strange kitchen,thiscloseto being murdered, I would have felt some kinda way about that.

I’d always been a nobody.

It was a painful experience when I was younger, but I got over it. I was 25 now, not 14, so it was long past time to be worried about popularity or cool points.

It’s just…Jakari took me back there. All the way back to the hallway at school, my locker, the gym, the cafeteria. I was invisible to him and his friends. I was sometimes even invisible to my own damn friends.

I convinced myself I was an introvert, but the older I got, the clearer it became to me: I loved people and I loved socializing. I’d just never had a friend who made me feel comfortable enough to open up and be myself.

Those days were long gone, now.

My hands were shaking so hard, it took me a full two minutes to screw the top off my water bottle. I drank half before stopping myself, because if I drank too much, I’d need to pee, and that would mean calling attention to myself. I had enough street smarts to know it was best not to cause any trouble right now. No inconveniences. I needed to be quiet, small, andnota problem.

Maybe then, he wouldn’t kill me.

My stomach was too queasy to eat anything, so I just stared at that apple Jakari left for me. It was the perfect shade of red, not a spot to be found. I don’t know why, but I fixated on that damn apple, grounding myself in the ordinariness of it. Everything about this moment in time was terrifying, but that apple?

It was just a piece of fruit.

I hadn’t been to church in years, but for some reason, I found myself thinking about the original sin. Wondering how amazing life would have been if Eve had never taken a bite out of that damn apple…

I heard voices, then footsteps, and then Jakari was here again, looking down at me from his standing position. The other guy stood a few feet away, leaning against the counter.

“Alright,” Jakari said. “First of all, what’s your name?”

I told you at the bar,I thought.

“It’s Malika.”

“Malika.”

It was the first time my name had ever come out of his mouth.

In any other context, I would have been giddy at the sound of it.

“Lemme ask you something, Malika. What exactly did you see?”

My heart thundered in my chest. “Are you gonna kill me?”

His quick glance at the other guy gave me my answer. My eyes welled up with tears.

“Just answer the question,” Jakari demanded.

I wanted to lie. I really did. But I was too afraid.

“I saw you raise your arm and shoot that man.”

They exchanged another look.

“So you didn’t see him raisehisarm?” he questioned, his eyebrows raised. He didn’t seem angry. More like…worried.

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