A city, like any other city

with honking noises from the car

the lights shining when the sun goes dark

 

a street like any other street

filled with laughing children,

birds singing,

the ice cream man’s truck ringing

 

a house like any other house

with a sloped roof

a basketball hoop in the backyard

a garden in the front

 

but what is the difference

the difference

the difference is what went on in that house

on that beautiful evening

Let me introduce you to the scene

 

A man sitting on the right side of a loveseat in his living room

Wearing a V-neck with a wine stain on the bottom left of the shirt

watching the 7:00 basketball game

his son sitting next to him

watching that same basketball game

 

Heat v.s. Knicks

Heat is the lead 47-42

Both wearing the Heat jersey

Face painted red and black

cheering as Lebron scores points

 

One room down, the Kitchen

the women married to the man sitting on the loveseat chair is preparing dinner

making her famous sweet potatoes

the smell fills the air and reaches even the man and his son

who are still watching that game

and her not so famous macaroni & Cheese

that she thinks she cooks so perfectly

because her family,

her family eats it every week and compliments it

even though they sit on the toilet seat for an hour after

 

some of the melted cheese is left on her left cheek

her hair tied up in a messy bun

with bangs falling to the left side

into the melted cheese on her left cheek

still cooking over a hot stove

the sweat on her forehead makes its way down to her nose

 

Up the stairs, to the left, another room

filled with Frozen soundtrack

a seven year old girl singing along

“Let it go” “Let it go”

in her pink princess costume with a shiny tiara on her head

she looks in the mirror

twirls three times and looks back in the mirror again

and just smiles

 

Down the stair and to the back door

there are two men making their way inside

with gym shorts on; just coming back from the gym

they make their way inside and into the kitchen

they watch the women cooking for a bit

 

on to the next room; the living room

they see a man and his son

sitting and watching the last minute of the game

they watch for a few seconds

Heat wins the game 91-102

and then they hear music

 

they make their way up the stairs

and to the room with the princess costume girl

they open the door ever so quietly

but the door screeches as it opens

 

the girl hears the door open

and says “daddy how do I look?”

no response yet

the door completely opens

 

the two men see the girl and the girl sees the two men

she looks at them

20 seconds later she asks “what’s that?”

pointing to something one of the men was holding

the men look at each other and smile

20 seconds go by

the longest 20 seconds

 

Boom Bang; All is quiet

Red is the color that fills the whole house

an unforgettable smell fills the whole room

an image beyond your wildest nightmares

worst than the bogeyman that haunts your dreams

 

the little girl is red

the women is red

the father is red

the son is red

the house, mostly empty

the tv disappears

the jewelry disappears

the value of the house disappears

 

A few hours later

Yellow and black around the whole house

Police line: Do not Cross

 

A detective

She enters the scene

kitchen: red

Living room: red

bedroom: red

making her notes; she leaves

 

Two years later

ORDER in my court

Two weeks later

I hereby sentence you to lifetime imprisonment

on four counts of first degree murder

 

the detective in the crowd

looks at the judge

stares at the murderers;

hatred fills her eyes

looks to the ceiling

and smiles