Glass Goddesses, Concrete Walls - Chapter 1 (sample)

Glass Goddesses, Concrete Walls (Sample)
by Keith Kareem Williams

Diana and the Gun - Part 1

I jumped so suddenly from my sleep that I couldn't remember what I had been dreaming. I don't know how she'd gotten into my apartment in the middle of the night. I don't know why I didn't hear her walk into my bedroom. I don't know how she even managed to lift the handgun that looked heavier than she was or why she had it pointed at me. Everything just seemed surreal as she ranted on and on in a freakishly super villain-sounding monologue. Her threats were riddled with weird emotional outbursts in a murderous tone, all swirling around in a hurricane of rage and tears. I guess it served me right for being arrogant enough to assume that she would go away quietly when I decided to break things off between us.

"Put the gun down!" I yelled at Dany, even though I was sure that she wouldn’t listen. Judging by the way she had been talking for the past fifteen minutes, she sounded prepared to use it, first on me and then on herself. Still, it was worth trying to talk her out of it. I definitely didn't want to die but the initial panic had subsided. The only thing left was the peaceful acceptance that this was going to happen, whether or not I wanted it to. I can't even explain or fully understand why I was so calm, considering that I was facing my own execution. The half-empty bottle of Wray & Nephew over-proof Jamaican white rum on my nightstand probably had a lot to do with that.

"Don't yell at me! I'm the one with the gun!"

"Ok, so let me ask you nicely. Put the gun down. Better?" I asked sarcastically. Obviously it wasn't better because she stormed over to where I was sitting on the edge of my bed and pressed the barrel against my forehead. At least she looked good doing it, dressed as she was in a tight, black party dress and high heels. For a split second, I forgot to hate her. I could smell that she wore the perfume that I liked on her too. I had already sworn to myself that I would never sleep with her again but if she hadn't been trying to kill me, I might have touched her everywhere she liked and eventually gave her what she usually wanted. I hate to admit it but there was something wildly sexy about her standing over me with the gun…more so if this was sexplay and not serious.

"Go ahead. Beg me not to kill you."

"Why? If you're going do it, you're going do it. Why beg?"

"You have that look on your face like I won't," she said and raised the gun high up in the air. I should have tried to grab her arm then, a mistake I would regret in a second because what followed was the barrel of the gun smashing against the side of my head. I suppose that love tap was meant to show me how firm she was in her resolve. My brain felt like it bounced around like a football inside my skull.

"That wasn't necessary," I groaned.

"Yes it was because you still think I'm playing with you. You always think I'm playing with you."

"No, I don't think you're playing with me. I know you're serious. I just don't feel like begging."

"So you don't care if I blow your damn head off?"

"Of course I care. You think I woke up thinking I was going to get shot today? I'm just not begging you." It would also have been a shame to get blood all over everything. Earlier that evening I had put my best linens on the bed. Of course, that was a miniscule dilemma on my list of problems at the moment but my mind always had a tendency to be plagued with random thoughts at inappropriate times.

"For a man who's always claimed to love his life so much you don't seem to love it so much now."

"This doesn't have anything to do with how much I love my life. Whatever's going to happen is just going to happen. I've always accepted that, even as a kid," I answered defiantly. My perilous predicament made me think back to a time when I had been terrified to die, once upon a time.

***Hope you enjoyed this. My question is, after reading that opening, would you turn the page to see what happens next? Leave a comment and let me know. I may just post more so you can understand where I'm going with this book. As usual, fasten your seatbelts. ***