The Choice between Honey and "Sugah"

["Sugah"]

-this is an excerpt from a conversation between a Jasmine Rodriguez and an unknown man. She showed up shot execution-style not long after along with her Mother Carmen Taylor, and then a series of murders started hitting Vice City.-

 

-a strawberry-blonde latina sits whispering to someone in official-looking suit while holding a cherry-flavored blowpop.-

"So...like, she was a good kid, y'know? Got good grades. Was gonna go to college."

"Ms. Taylor..we don't need her whole backstory. Tell us about your sister.....Honey, right?"

"Yeah. my little sister Honey. Well, first you should know... We ain't full sisters, y'feel me? We got different dads. Never sat right with me, but her dad left before she was born and she gave mama all sorts of hell, she was a damned hard baby. Shoulda knew then she'd be trouble. Anyway, so she grows up thinkin' for herself, an' me an' mama were blown along. She fought in school when she had to, she didn't put up with shit...she'd walk the younger kids home and back to school every day. Honey'd keep the bullies off....till high school."

-the blonde took a pause to drink from the bottle of water in front of her, give her blowpop a few licks before talking again-

"So mama and I were tellin' her not to run the streets an' shit, an' she didn't for the most part. But then she got a boyfriend, and he was no good for her, got her hooked on heroin before she graduated high school. Ricardo...."

-the man looks up with dark eyes for a long moment, fixing the other woman in a stare that obviously made her uncomfortable before he moved back and revealed the gun in his b elt by doing so, making the woman stiffen with an epiphany drawing on her face.-

"I ain't gonna live after this...am I."

"Now why would I kill you when you were about to give me such a juicy part of the story? Continue Ms. Taylor or it won't be a quick death."

-The woman sighs, then nods with resignation as the man had muscle with him.-

"Ricardo turned up dead not long after getting her hooked, shot with his own gun, but we couldn't find Honey anywhere...it's been a year, still haven't been able to find her, and even if i did know where she was..i wouldn't tell you, puto."

 

-A thin woman rolled into a camping site somewhere quiet, she shut off the RV and hurried back to the bathroom to throw up. Her arms had track marks and she looked around the bathroom at the used syringes, bent and dirty spoons and other signs that she was a drug-user before pulling out what looked like a rosary and a pistol of some sort. "Okay, Honey....time to climb out of the rabbit hole. First...off of the shit, then you're going to learn how to shoot a gun, instead of a needle. For them." She proceeded to clean everything up in her  bathroom and marched it out to the campsite's trash. The next week she spent huddled in her RV with the door locked throwing up and feeling like she'd never recover. When she finally did stick her head back out the door, everything seemed different...colorful again. She ran out and threw herself into the grass giggling madly as she rolled around, getting grass stains everywhere before she sat up, her lips pursed in thought. "Cops are probably looking for me already...should I change my name yet....no not yet....Right....now to figure out how to shoot." she stood up and wandered back towards the bathroom and the gun which she stared at for a long moment, blue eyes narrowed in thought. "....what the hell." She picked up the gun and made sure the safety was on before rolling up her jeans to stick it in her boot before she drove back towards Vice City.

When she got there, she kept a low profile for several weeks while going to the shooting range and a gym where she started learning how to box, though it was slow going with her tiny frame, and her trainers seemed to constantly remark about her healing track marks: "Hey honey, you sure you should be doin' this? Looks like you ain't got the strength to be normal." "Fuck off." is all she'd ever say. One day, a shorter black man decided to hold her bag for her and coached her accordingly while making her laugh with his deep voice. She left the gym smiling at finding out his name was Tyrone, unaware she was being watched. Her apartment wasn't far away, but that didn't stop them from grabbing her from behind and throwing her up against the wall, yelling away at her in Spanish, which she barely understood, but when she turned around she turned around swinging just like she'd been taught. When one of them fell over the other two pulled out their guns so Honey turned tail and tried to run, and for such a small woman recovering from a heroin addiction, she was quick. Gunshots echoed in the neighborhood as she took a wrong turn and ended up in a dead end.

"Dead end, puta eh? Now come quietly." she heard from behind her. She didn't even blink, pulling out her gun as the men came to a stop and shooting at the man who also shot at her and then the other who was staring at her in shock because she had a bullet in her shoulder and still shot him. When she was certain they were both dead or at least unconscious, she looked at her shoulder with a hiss, unaware of another person running up to her. "C'mon sugah, c'mon, gotta go now." It was Tyrone, who hurried her out of the alley and into his ratty car while she held a hand to her shoulder, and her other hand had a white-knuckled grip on her pistol.

Tyrone drove her to the nearest black market 'doctor' willing to do surgery on her, and stayed there until she recovered. She didn't ask how Tyrone knew about him, or why he came after her but she didn't let him take her gun or see her track marks for some time. "So...what now?" she asked quietly. "We leave Vice City..you're wanted Sugah...for three murders. Seems like you were born t'kill people." "Does that upset you, baby?" She teased. "Nah, I'd marry you if I could, Sugah..you look like a damned angel, but act like a devil." "Why do you keep callin' me Sugah?" "Because..can't call you Honey anymore, the cops will be lookin' for you for the rest of your life, and it just sounds better."

"It does, doesn't it....alright, fine. From now on, people can just call me Sugah." She giggled and leaned over to kiss Tyrone's cheek affectionately, then proceeded to pester him with questions, jokes, and general insanity for the very long drive to the next city.