Memories of a life lost

''CRASH!!!''"' A sudden burst came from the kitchen of apartment 1000 of Finche Pointe. If people had rush to the slightly open door to the dark complex, which none ever seemed to as this was a usual occurrence in the complex,they would have walked into a mess of mixed emotions and troubled souls. As beer was splattered along the usually clean white walls and glass covered the tiled floors, those who entered would have seen the owner of this such place sprawled out on the floor, looking as glum as a man can. As Blackie lay on the floor with his unshaven, clothes ragged, wash-out self, he thought of the earlier day. The day had played out as such.
The morning had been slightly unusual for him, as not only was his refrigerator empty but there had been a large ruckus from one of the near-by apartments that had awaken him earlier than any other man should be awaken. But with such an untimely set of circumstances he simply got out of his king sized master bed, walked across the wood floor and stared blankly down at the ongoing cars from his bed room balcony. Many times when Blackie would look on he would notice an odd taxi sitting outside the building or a strange set of tractor trailer near random stores or restaurants. However, on this early morning he saw nothing, in fact, there was nothing but silence over all of Finche Pointe and even the city, for as much as he could see. In fact as Blackie sat stared into the blank nothingness that was the world, it reminded him of a past life he had. A life where times of silence were the times where business was the best. Times when life could not get any better, when crime was only stopped by the feeling of guilt after one had done such and those told to stop it simply helped keep the balance of crime and justice based off a dollar amount. Blackie recalled in his own life the bonds of friendship that he once had with a brother. The two would be fall-out for each other and shared in the wealth of their not so innocent deeds. He thought of how the two were the most respected by all who knew them, movie stars looked to them for advice, and "friends" sought them for specific jobs to be done. However, as Blackie kept recollecting, the haunting images of the times also started taking him over. As they gained fame and power, the times got easier. Simply problems could be handled by easy means until finally the power hungry brothers could settle their own problems by means of a more simple way of weaponry. As Blackie sat in the mind crazed silence he thought of the sound that broke the silence all those years ago. A silence that came from him own hand and the sound that silenced his own brother and friend.

Tha TAT

When walking down the way the more and more people walked up to Blackie asking him the same question. "You going to Blatatatatata?......." With his usual morning headache and spacey attitude the dazed and confused bystander that was James Johnson simply nodded and zoned out as they would ask. As he got closer to the local tatoo parlor he thought to himself who would honestly want to work at a such a disease spreading, low-paying place such as this. As he walked up to the long line of hopeful individuals, Blackie saw the mess of folks he knew would be waiting. As Jonny Guliano and Miranda Lowe stood conversating about god knows what and his dumbass of a cousin Frank with his daughter waiting to see just what the Blatitattat could honestly give to them for the future. "Eh I'll come back later" was his state of mind, as he saw some of the people he honestly did not want to talk to so turned around and went home. Another lame day for Blackie.

#4

The day seemed long and tiring as Blackie walked to Queens'. The apartment building was clammy and hot and was unsuitable for the drinking conditions that Blackie enjoyed on most other days of the week. As he walked he decided to call Oj. Oj Smith a local friend of Blackie's seemed to always be depressed and during this type of day Blackie saw this as an opportunity to get the gun out of Oj's hands and take him to Queen's, seeing as a lap dance always cheered up the customers who went there. As they sat and enjoyed their time with their "dates", a mysterious figure that everyone seemed to know walked in, walked to the booth, they were sitting in, and ordered drinks for himself and the two other gentlemen. As Oj sipped on his beverage and enjoyed his dance, the two men stared at each other as if one was one gonna shoot the other at any second. After a long silence the known "movie star" as they later found out, cocked his head up and said, "so Blackie." Blackie simple looked back gave a nod in the direction of the door and raised his eyebrows. The two sat there for another couple of seconds and finally the man laid a small piece of paper on the table and walked away. Blackie stayed to finish his drink, picked up the note, said bye to Oj and walked out. The day was long and as Blackie walked out he saw a large quantity of police sitting outside the local bowling alley. As he walked over to investigate, which on a normal day he would never do as he thought bowling was a lame and useless sport as you could not bet on it, he saw Jose Guapo with a bottle of "shine" in his hand. As the two talked about the recent robbery and shooting that had happened at the bowling alley they decided to head to Blackie's place to finish off the bottle before calling it a night.

#3

As the day went on and the carnival started going on the day seemed to be going well for Blackie. However as the sun started going down Blackie and his pal Brockman decided it was an excellent day for a brew and a smoke. As they walked toward the man selling drinks two decently attractive women talk to them trying to find a place to go to spend the evening. To Blackie's disappointment the two also inform them that the man selling drinks and his entire inventory had just been destroyed in a coincidental fire. The irony behind this was that the two slightly drunk and overly hungover gentlemen could have avoided wasting energy by simply looking straight in front of them at the high amount of foul smelling smoke coming from the recently known "liquor store" of the carnival down the street. As the night came started to take over the skies the posse dispersed leaving Blackie to a night of sober sleep and lonely living. To the disappointed of all involved this night was nothing but boring, tiring, and of course......sober.

#2

It seemed to be a nice day as Blackie woke up on this warm morning. When he woke up and started his morning routine he looked down from his apartment in Finch Pointe and saw through the window of Nails, Naturals, and Weaves the wild ruckus that was the women of the salon and the babe who he thought looked "pretty good" which meant he saw her as a fine lady and wanted to know more. But seeing as he only knew her name as "sugar" he thought he would just continue the day the same as usual. As the day went on Blackie saw the new excitement of the carnival that had inhabited the area just down the street. As he started walking toward the rusted shack of a carnival he stopped to talk to J.J. Carlyle about the need to waste money on different types of Gatorade, invited him to his Finche Pointe apartment sometime and kept walking. He knew this type of day was going to be exciting because as he walked he saw Joseph Johnson daydreaming about something weird tapped him on the shoulder, and with no response kept striding toward park. Although this would be seen by most as a disgusting waste of money Blackie looked at it as an entertaining way to spend the day. While downing beers, he could easily enjoy one of the sandwiches of which he had no idea of what it was but enjoyed the rare meal none the less. Afterward, he could stand by the balloon man as he was entertained by the children who one after one would be disappointed by the balloon vendors and without fail would run crying to their parents. As they walked by he would simply give them some of the tickets he had acquired from his many trips to queens and keep watching. The carnival was not something he enjoyed staying at for the fun of it because the people around those parts were usually dinjy and were not appealing to Blackie as he would say "they are just not my type of people."He would talk to the owner of the freak show and it seemed as though they were always making agreements or deals about something and would shake hands and swap amounts of money at the time of departure. Whether or not the carnival was a place for business, a way to pass the time, or simply a way to enjoy a ride or two, the carnival seemed to make Blackie's day a little more interesting.

Listening to the horns from the stuck traffic behind the stalled 18-wheeler, the day didn’t seem too much different when Blackie woke up around 11:15 on this usual September day.After a heavy night of drinking, the laid back owner of apartment 1000 of Finch Pointe started his usual routine of getting dressed and laying out on the deck watching the street fly by.James Johnson or “Blackie” to almost everyone was an occupant of Finch Pointe for almost 6 years. No one knows the exact reason why the name Blackie has been his identity but the rumors are abundant. Whether or not it was for his fashion sense of always wearing black, the fact that his apartment seemed to have an overall night-like sense about it, or if you knew him you would know that a drink always occupied his lips more than anything else, either way he was a figure like no other. His occupation was unknown by most but he seemed to always have an abundant amount of money and women seemed to wander in and out of his luxurious apartment of Finch Pointe. If you were to call Blackie on any given day and one of these anonymous females happened to be with him he would simply say “I am with a client” and hang up. He talked only when he felt he needed to but when the weekend came around it was always Blackie’s apartment that seemed to attract the most people from all around the city.He lived a life of luxury, never complaining about anything and would often be a great person to sit outside with and share a cigar on a summer night. However, Blackie also could make a person mad if seen at an inopportune moment. He would often be seen arguing with the owner of Queen’s Palace or fighting with some of his “clients” during late hours of the night. People who stayed around the local package store would often see him tripping over himself or walking out of the place carrying large quantities of alcohol. Either way “Blackie” would always be dressed to impress, groomed to perfection, would never turn down a chance to share a beer or smoke a cigar, and on this occasion was simply sitting on the balcony of apartment 1000 in his satin robe drinking a cup of scotch and never the less watching the street fly by.