Bai’s Death Ballad pt1

“Well, at least that’s finally fuckin’ over,” Hyd mumbled into the silence, and then sighed from her place behind the wheel as she turned the car onto Halsted. Her exhaustion bled into her driving, which meant the vehicle cruised at an agonizingly leisurely pace. – Not to say that couldn’t be pleasant. Any other night, Bai would light a spliff, turn on some tunes, and vibe while he watched the city lights start to smear across the night sky. 

But tonight, The Forest loomed at the edges of his vision. It had been stronger just a couple hours ago during that absolute fiasco of a job. He’d felt himself reach its edge, had feared he would be dragged in. Now, the twisted old branches of that place were like wisps of black smoke. Every now and then, he thought he saw a shadowy root snaking out from within the dash, or at the corner of the window, but when he looked nothing was there. Of course. The sneaky old bitch liked toying with him. 

“Can’t say I liked how we got them, but I guess results are results,” Hyd continued after a long pause. 

Bai finally tore his eyes away from his phone screen to lazily fling a crooked smirk her way. “Don’t tell me ya startin’ ta get sensitive in ya old age.” 

“Fuck off. 30 ain’t even that old, you asshole.”  

Despite her words, she was relieved he’d spoken up, he could tell. Hyd wasn’t the type of person who was used to filling silence; sticking to the outskirts of conversation and making keen observations was more her speed. It was part of why they worked so well as a team. Bai did all the shit-talking, shit-stirring, and general shit-disturbing while Hyd stayed level-headed and found a way to capitalize on the chaos. But that A-team synergy was disrupted when Bai took the rare chance to shut the fuck up for a change, and it never failed to disturb her.  

“All the shit you give me since I hit my 30s; you best believe I’ma hit it right back to ya when you do.” 

“I ain’t gonna make it ta 30,” Bai boasted as if this were some triumph.
“That’s a fucked up thing to brag about, Bai.” 

“Just speakin’ the truth, homie.” 

His attention was back on his phone, but he could feel the air stir from the force of her eye roll. He didn’t pay her displeasure any mind, though. He needed to focus on this song selection, if only to give him a credible reason for not being as talkative as he normally was. A quick glance up at a passing street sign told him they were already halfway to his place, despite their old geezer pace. 

“Speakin’ of age,” Hyd trilled, making yet another valiant (and embarrassingly enthusiastic) effort to pick up the conversational slack. “It’s already a couple hours after midnight–” 

“Don’t.” 

She ignored him. “--so you’re 27 now, right? This the day?” 

Fuck it. Bai selected the song that had been playing on repeat in his mind all night, and the car was soon filled with the shimmering intro to En Vogue’s “Don’t Let Go”.

“Goddammit, you are so wrong for this!” Hyd laughed, and at the same time smacked the wheel repeatedly with the palm of her hand, as if she wished it were his forehead. Relieved she’d been distracted away from the topic of birthdays, Bai crooned along to the song, giving all the vocal flourishes; holding his hand up for a perfectly executed little diva quiver a la Whitney Houston. “You’re goin to Hell.” 

“We awready in Hell, baybee~!” Bai called out in the nasaliest, most obnoxious voice he could muster, and then leaned over the console to rest his head on her shoulder. 

“Get off me,” she ordered, but made the mistake of laughing, thus immediately undermining her own authority. 

“Hold me, Hyd, and don’t let gooo~” he belted, making her wince from the volume. 

“Bai!” she called over his noise, “Seriously! It’s your birthday! What we doin??” 

“Bitch, you ain’t even s’posed ta know it’s my birthday.” 

“Eh-eh! Fix it.” 

“Homie*, you ain’t even s’posed ta know it’s my birthday,” he obliged.

She gave a satisfied nod, and continued before he could continue with the song. “What’s your deal with your birthday anyway?” 

“Ok, so, like, here’s the thang. Birthdays are pointless, right?” 

“No,” she disagreed right out the gate. 

Bai didn’t miss a beat. “S’just a day ta make people feel obligated ta talk to ya, which means they think you’re obligated ta talk to them, n’ then they give ya some cheap bullshit ya don’t need. The only gift ya get on ya birthday is a reason ta go to a thrift store.” 

Hyd shook her head mutely without presenting a counter-argument, so he went back to singing. But the air in the car had become charged with unspoken words piling up behind her teeth. There were truths there teetering on the edge of her tongue, all of them getting cold feet just before they could manage to tumble free.

By the time she was turning onto his street, Bai gave up his attempts to ignore the unexpected awkwardness. In fact, he could no longer tolerate it, and reached out with his knife’s blade side-eye to try and extract the hidden element into the open. When she still refused to talk, apparently having resigned herself to remaining silent, he prodded with a sardonic edge, “Yes, Hyd?

“Nah, I was just thinkin I ain’t heard this song since I was a kid.” 

“Oh, is zat all?” he drawled, unconvinced, and pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his back pocket. While he put one of the sticks between his lips and felt around in the dark for a lighter in the cupholders, he could feel Hyd pawing around similarly for whether what she wanted to say was worth it or not. 

It took until she’d pulled up in front of his building and thrown the car into ‘park’ before she’d finally decided to just come out with it. “Well, s’just…” she heaved a heavy sigh, like she’d just surrendered some unknown battle. “Look, I know how you can get, n’ I’ve got a strong stomach, so I never say anything. But tonight…was different, Bai.”

“Ehn yehn?” he muttered around the cigarette, lighting it. 

“Yeah, like…” She sent him another sidelong glance, and he absolutely hated to find concern there in her eyes. “You were more unhinged…” she ventured. And then with more confidence added, “You went overboard. Unnecessarily.” 

Bai scoffed. “Well, I think it was real necessary. We weren’t gettin anywhere with the ‘humane’ methods, right?” 

“...Right…”

“N’ we got what we were sent ta get when I did things my way, ye?” 

“...I mean, yeah, but,” she tried to interject, but he spoke over her. 

“So then it ain’t no thang! S’just some artistry, baby gur-” 

“Don’t call me that.” 

“--homie!” 

“No, Bai, I think it is. I… don’t know how to describe it. You acted different,” she said again, and suspicion was beginning to creep up Bai’s spine as he listened with one hand waiting on the door handle. “Like, tonight you finished ‘im off and that wasn’t even part of the plan. – N’ then you looked back at me, and I thought I’d have to fight you next.” 

Bai’s smirk softened almost imperceptibly around the edges. Well shit. Maybe he’d slipped more than he’d thought. But he couldn’t have her sniffing down this trail. Couldn’t have the other syndicate members thinking he was a liability. He wasn’t, he insisted to himself. Not yet. 

To cover up the fact that it felt like he’d swallowed a rock, Bai doubled down on the swag act. “Are you tryna say you found me intimidating?” he purred, almost gossipy, his lips peeling away from his teeth with pleasure. 

“Uh…Yeah...Sure,” Hyd agreed with a healthy helping of skepticism towards where he was taking this. 

“Like you was bein’ hunted?” 

“Yeah! Like-” 

“Like you didn’t know what I was gonna do to ya next?” He stared unblinkingly at her with that wolfish grin still tugging at his features, too wide and flat-eyed to be friendly.  

Hyd stared at him a minute as she tried to parse out what the Hell was going on, but quickly gave up. “You cut that shit out,” she warned with one of her own venomous looks. But when she caught his brows bouncing suggestively, the tension broke. Hyd’s eyes rolled impatiently, “Man, forget it. Fuckin’ creep.” 

“Wow,” he retorted, deadpanned, and then gave an acquiescing  side-nod of his head, “...But fair.” He opened the door, ready to get out. 

“You play too much.” 

Bai took a long drag of his cigarette and peered back into the vehicle just long enough to say, “I’ll get outcha hair, then. Tell Viv I said ‘hey’ n’ that her jerk chicken made my mouth and my poops very happy.”

“Why would you say those in the same senten–no, Why say it at all. I don’t give a fuck about your poops.”

“Well, ya should. Das what friends are for.” Bai shut the door then, and said through the window, “I hope your poops are blessed. Truly.”  

As he turned away from Hyd’s raised middle finger, he thought he was home free. Just the thought of being alone filled him with relief and dread in equal parts. Looking up at the converted warehouse, he had the depressing realization that he didn’t know if he’d be leaving his apartment alive tomorrow or not. …But technically everyone runs that same risk simply by being alive, he reminded himself. There’s nothing all that special about your life being in the balance; it’s just a fact. 

“Seriously, are you okay?” Hyd had rolled down the window and was now peeking out at him with that irritating look of concern again. 

Bai let his head fall back, casting his face to the sky to demonstrate how done he was with this conversation. “Hyd, I swear to the LORDT–”
“You don’t believe in Him.” 

“--I’m goodt. Can’t a guy get tired once in a while? We been goin since before dinner, n’ I ain’t ate since lunch.” 

“Yeah, I guess, you hangry bitch.”

He was willing to let their conversation end on that note when she spoke up again. “You sure you don’t wanna go out somewhere to celebrate?” 

This time Bai kept slowly side-stepping towards the door of his building as he replied, “Why go out when I got Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, Sophia, n’ a whole-ass cheesecake upstairs??” 

“Shit, you call me old,” Hyd grumbled in response – which was great, cuz he could hear her abandoning her instinct to not leave him alone. Finally. “Alright, I’m out. If you change your mind or wanna do something after the sun comes up, hit me up lil’ brotha.”

“I won’t. Loveyoubyeeeeeee~” Bai flapped his arm around in a sloppy wave and continued on his way to the building entrance without looking back. He felt Hyd’s eyes on his back the entire way. He didn’t hear her drive off until he’d stepped inside and shut the door.