Chapter what?

My first stop when I got into the city that night was the old apartment I used to share with my girlfriend.

Unfortunately, Icouldn't remember where it was located, so I had to look it up first. Not in a phonebook, I'd never allowed myself to be listed, I wasn't that stupid. Just never figured that I would get shot in the head and start to randomly forgetthings like where I find my old digs I would have to find someone who knew where it was. I had a guy in mind, someone I knew from way back. All the way back to my group home days.

I banged on the door for five minutes without getting a response, but I wasn't about to give up. The fact that I actually could remember this guy and where he lived was more than I could say about a lot of things. I was not giving up.

"Come on, Jermelle, open up! It's Sammy May, and I wanna talk to you!" I yelled, still pounding on the door.

At last I heard a groan from inside. "May's dead, been that way for a long time. If you're a cop I'd expect better than that! At least say you're Elvis or JFK or some other dead white guy I might actually open the door to see!" he shouted back, and I knew instantly that he was drunk on his ass.

Since I had confirmed that he was actually there, I stepped back and kicked the door in.

Jermelle was lying on his couch, half passed out. The TV was on and the floor was a junkyard. About fifty bucks worth of empties littered the place, mixed in with piles of clothes, pizza boxes, Twinkie packages, and a half ton of Playboys. There were beer and possibly even bloodstains on the walls. And to top it all off, a half-naked teenaged girlhad passed out near Jermelle's couch.

I leaned to one side to get a better look at her, thinking that it had been a while for me... However, she looked young, very passed out, and very blonde. Exactly the way my best friend had always liked his one-night stands, and there was nothing I hated more than leftovers. Besides, I usually went for older women.

Girls did nothing for me.

Jermelle is the ultimate party boy. He gets invited to every fiesta worth going to on the south side of town, and then some. Unfortunately, like many other party boys, waking up the next morningcame hard for morning in particular wouldn't be any kind of picnic.

He groaned, turning over onto his back and squinting up at my silhouette. With the light from the door at my back he probably could only see a big dark shadow looming over him, but I kinda liked the idea of that. Intimidation is key with most of the guys I know.

"I gotta ask you a question, Smith," I said, sounding lightly amused.

He snorted in reponse. "Yeah, well, I don't know nothin' so save your breath."

"I ain't a cop, J-Smith. It's me, Sammy."

He rubbed his eyes with his fingers. "Sammy May's dead. Got himself shot six months ago. Heard his girlfriend turned on him and took him down. Ya might wanna go tell her he's still alive, that would probably scare the living shit outta her," he said, laughing.

I just shook my head. "I thought you didn't know anything? Sounds like you know just about everything, Jermelle."

Jermelle gave me a weird look, like I was an alien from another planet or something. "Shit fool, everyone knows how it went down with May. Hell, seems like I was the last person to find out about it. Unless you've been living under a rock, you know how Sammy lost his cut, lost his girl, and lost his turf, all inthe samefive minutes. It's a freaking horror story, man. Gives a lot of big name guys around here the creeps."

"They think that a few bullets would kill me? I'm too crazy to go down that easy."

He laughed when I said that. "Man, you got that right. Sammy was crazy. He was a fuckin' loonytoon. But, God, was he funny to watch. There was this one time he punched out a cop who tried to write him a five dollar parking ticket. Five bucks! Can you believe that? The dude went to jail over a five fucking dollar parking ticket cause it was like an insult to his pride to let any pig tell him he couldn't park his car wherever the hell he wanted! That nutcase," he reminisced, chuckling at the memory.

I shifted my weight slightly from one foot to the other, feeling a little uncomfortable as I tried to bring up that memory. "Yeah, I don't really remember doing that. I don't remember a lot of things, like where I live. See, I kind of got shot...in the head...and there're things I still remember, and things I don't. So, if you could tell me my address, or where my ex is currently living, I'd appreciate it."

He laughed at me again. "Man, if you were May, you'd know I never give anything away for free unless there's a gun to my head."

I pulled out my nickel plated Colt and pressed it against his head, and he suddenly stopped laughing. "Shit, I shouldn't a said that. Okay, what do you want to know?"

"Get up, Smith, you're drying out as of today," I said, obviously used to being the one in charge of this friendship.

Jermelle slowly sat up, his hands raised and his eyes never leaving the muzzle of my gun as he stood. He looked hung over, but I didn't have time for his headaches and nausea. I had revenge to get.

Once he was standing I took off my shades.

"Now look me in the eye and tell me I'm not Sam May."

He looked at me and started laughing again. "Shit, you are still alive. How the fuck did you pull that off? I heard you were shot to hell."

"To hell and back. Now are you going to tell me where I live or not?"

"Ah come on, man! Put the gun down and give me a hug! I thought my best friend was dead for like five months, that's hilarious, put the gun down," he laughed, spreading his arms and acting like he was about to actually try to hug me.

My eyes narrowed ever so slightly and I took an uncomfortable step back. "I was going to put it down, until you said you were going to hug me. I know one thing for sure, I didn't wake up from my coma a fag. You just keep your hands to yourself, Smith," I ordered.

Jermelle absolutely cracked up. The guy was seriously almost crying at my expense. "All right, man, whatever you say. I thought you were more secure than that, but whatever. What happened to you anyway? Where've you been all this time?"

"In a hospital down south of here," I said, slowly lowering my gun and putting my shades back on.

Jermelle rolled his eyes. "Whatever. You don't wanna tell me, that's cool. Come on, let's go get something to eat. I'm buying. I know you never turned down a free meal, May."

I shrugged, sure that was probably true.