A Bittersweet Hood Dilemma 2: A Naptown Love Story

by Natavia

  “I’m about to go around the back and smoke! Your mutha sleeps like a bear. When she snores it sounds like a volcano is about to erupt,” he said, making Tokyo laugh.

  “Don’t talk about Patra like that! I’m telling her in the morning!” Tokyo said then my pops waved her off. Tokyo changed the channel to “MTV Jams” and my pops started dancing. His bony knees popped out of his robe as he two-stepped then started doing some type of reggae dance.

  “You see this, gyal! Kauzie is a mad mon! He is mad because he doesn’t move like this!” my father said. Tokyo was laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes.

  “Come on, Pops! You are going to make her bust her incision!” I said to him.

  “Kauzie, can you move like that?” Tokyo asked me.

  “Yeah, that’s how I knocked you up! That’s the only type of dancing I’m doing! I don’t know what this nigga is doing!” I said, making my pops laugh.

  “You know your mother doesn’t want y’all to leave! This house is too big for just the two of us! We need some other noises in this house,” my pops said. I knew it was coming and as much as I wanted to make my mother happy I just couldn’t. Real niggas put their families in a house. I couldn’t have my woman and daughter living under my parents’ roof. That shit bothered me! I don’t even like the fact that we are staying here. I still can’t believe a bitch made us give our house up. Sometimes I wished I was just a street nigga that didn’t give a fuck! I would’ve been kilt that broad! But I have shit in my life I’m trying to build. I have a daughter and a shorty that are more important to me than sitting up in jail.

  “Tokyo makes too much noise between the sheets! I don’t want Mama beating my ass because she thinks I’m hurting Tokyo,” I said then Tokyo elbowed me.

  “My jungle, mon!” my pops said then walked out of the living room.

  “Your pops smokes too much kush!” Tokyo laughed, taking Kylee away from me.

  “How is your foot? Are you feeling okay?” I asked her.

  “Yes, much better! I’m out of that house and I’m holding our daughter. I feel so relieved. Being pregnant was the worst but I would do it all over again to make you happy,” she said to me. Tokyo is going to fuck around and have me marrying her!

  “That was the sexiest shit I heard come out of your mouth. After your six weeks is up, shorty, I’m telling you some real shit! You better wear some kneepads, shoulder pads and a helmet! Oh, and don’t forget the cleats! I’m doing nothing but straight fucking! I don’t want you to hurt yourself because I’m going in all of your holes! I’m backed up!” I said.

  “You want me to dress like a football player?” she asked, laughing.

  “Yup! I already asked my mother if she could watch Kylee for two days after your check-up. I’m dead-ass serious,” I said. She kissed my lips then looked at me with lustful eyes. “You ain’t saying shit, nigga! I’m ready for that touchdown!” she said.

  Chapter 20- Tasira

  I was in the backseat of a car and I couldn’t move my hands or legs. I looked around, gathering my surroundings and realized I was in Osari’s car. My head was pounding and I felt myself sobering up. I have been smoking PCP and sniffing dope. I be so high at times I don’t know how I get around. I do remember waiting for Quron to come home then Osari showed up and that’s when I blacked out.

  I had something wrapped around my ankles and hands. “Where the fuck are you taking me, Osari?” I asked him.

  “I’m taking you to hell!” he said then the car came to a stop. I looked out of his window and realized we were in the country area of Annapolis where there were nothing but cornfields and old barns. I laughed until I couldn’t laugh anymore.

  “You have really lost your fucking mind! What are you trying to do? Scare me because I fucked up Quron’s life and made him move out of his house! Well, Osari, your little plan isn’t working because when you let me go, I’m going right back to that house and wait until my man gets home!” I said.

  “You are one crazy-ass bitch! Do you know how you sound right now? That wasn’t Quron! You fucked a complete stranger’s life up! You could’ve killed his baby, bitch!” WHAP! WHAP! Osari slapped me in the face twice. I felt blood dripping from my nose. My lip stung and I felt it swell up as he got out of the car. He opened up the door then dragged me out of the car by my hair. He took me into an old abandoned barn with the roof missing. The only light we had was the light from the full moon.

  Osari looked at me with hate in his eyes, “What does that snake mean on your wrist?” he asked me.

  “It’s just a tattoo!” I said to him. He slapped me three more times as hard as he could. I started crying from the pain.

  “Lie to me again! What the fuck does it mean?” he asked me.

  “I was the girlfriend of a gang leader!” I said, spitting out blood.

  “What did you have to do to get it?” he asked, his eyes burning a hole in me.

  “Nothing!” I screamed then he started laughing.

  “You lying bitch! You had to sacrifice your mother! Dez is in a gang and he knows shit about all of them! I asked him about it and he tells me the gang is called Serpents. I could’ve gotten killed when they stabbed me! Mama could’ve gotten killed! The fucked up part about it is that she is fucking blind and couldn’t defend herself! I lost my father because of you!” Osari said as his voice trembled and tears came down his face.

  Osari came home from school when my mother was ready to get raped by the gang I was in. I was hoping she would’ve been home alone. Osari was trying to fight them off and he’d gotten stabbed really badly. My father walked into the house from work and saw his son lying there, bleeding to death and tried to fight them off of Osari. My father was stabbed also but he died instantly. Osari flat-lined twice when he was rushed to the hospital. Osari has stab wounds all over his body because of me.

  “You are alive and so is mama! What the fuck are you crying for? Toughen up and let me the fuck go! I don’t have to explain shit else to you! I was eighteen and I was in love! I would’ve done anything to make Scar happy! It’s life, Osari, and I keep telling you that some things are meant to be sacrificed!” I told him.

  “If you love Scar that much, why are you obsessing over Quron? You don’t know what the fuck you feel!” he said to me.

  “Quron showed me a different type of love! He showed me a world Scar couldn’t! He showed me how a man was supposed to love a woman! I felt like I was healed when I was with him. I have done a lot of things when I was with Scar that I wasn’t proud of! But Quron made me feel like I had another chance at life! That’s how deep his love was for me! But he reminded me what love can do when he cheated on me and got that bitch pregnant!” I said with tears coming down my eyes.

  Osari pulled out his phone then dialed out. Once someone answered he gave the person our location. When he hung up he grilled me. “I don’t feel an ounce of regret for what is about to happen to you!” he said to me.

  “Oh, shut the fuck up! I don’t give a shit how you feel!” I said, laughing at him.

  “You know how hard it was for me to get over seeing my pops murdered? He was your fucking father too!” he spat. I rolled my eyes.

  “Shit happens! I can’t take it back! Mama is blind, Osari! If she would’ve just laid there and didn’t try to fight them she wouldn’t have known who it was! It could’ve been daddy fucking her for all she would’ve known!” I said to him. He kicked me in my mouth so hard my teeth cracked then slid down my throat. I cried out in pain.

  I lay down in the old hay with my hair matted to my bloody face. My mother once told me I was born with a wicked heart. Maybe she was right because I still don’t have any regret for what I did years ago. I closed my eyes and prepared for what Osari had planned for me. I know my brother and I know that he will not let me live knowing what I have done. I closed my eyes as my mouth throbbed from his vicious kick to my face.

  I heard a car pull up then I opened my eyes. I looked around and Osari was no longer in the barn
. The moonlight was now dimmed and the barn was dark. Osari came in then dragged me out of the barn into the headlights of a car.

  “Where the fuck is my baby mama at?” Osari asked someone. “Did he just say ‘baby mama’?” I asked myself.

  “Tassana, get out of the car!” the voice said. I knew that voice. It was impossible! It couldn’t be him! I sat and watched that house burn down to the ground! It was impossible for Quron to survive. I was completely sobered up but I needed my fix! I was hearing things and I needed something to calm my nerves.

  Heavy footsteps came towards me then my body lifted up off the ground. “You miss daddy?” Quron asked me face to face. I closed my eyes then started crying because I had completely lost my mind.

  “Open your fucking eyes, Tasira! I’m not fucking dead! My little brother was in that house! I have been in jail for the last five years!” he said with venom in his voice. I looked at Osari, pleading for help. Quron was deranged and I couldn’t be left alone with him. I have seen his other side and there’s nothing pretty about it.

  “What the hell are you looking at me for? Bitch, I’m not helping you!” Osari said to me. Tassana stood next to him with fear in her eyes. She looked like she felt sorry for me. Too bad my time was up because I was going to kill her eventually! When Quron pulled me passed them I spit my blood in Tassana’s face.

  “I hope you and your baby have a fun day in hell!” I said to her. She leaned closer into Osari and he wrapped his arm around her. I hated that my brother fell in love with her! I knew he was in love with her when he didn’t kill her.

  Quron threw me in the trunk of his car.

  “Whatever you do, you better make sure she doesn’t pop up! You foul for what the fuck you did to my baby mother! If I didn’t have no love for you I swear, nigga, one of us would be dead by now!” Osari said to Quron.

  “I can respect that. Tassana knows I didn’t mean any harm. I didn’t lay a hand on her. You shouldn’t be so difficult, lil’ nigga!” Quron said, chuckling.

  “You taught me that!” Osari said to him. Quron’s car started pulling off. I wish this nigga would hurry up and do what he had to do! The ride started getting bumpy and my body rolled around in the trunk. I was hitting my already pounding head. I knew I was going to die and I didn’t feel nothing! I wasn’t sad nor was I in tears! I didn’t even feel guilt!

  The car stopped then the door slammed. I heard Quron’s heavy footsteps getting closer. He opened another door then I heard what sounded like digging. Soon, I also heard a bunch of other noises. The birds started chirping, so I knew it was now morning. After what seemed like forever he finally opened up the trunk and my eyes squinted from the sun. His handsome face stared at me and I could still see the love he had for me in his eyes.

  He pulled my hair away from my bloody face. “You are so beautiful! The prettiest roses have thorns! I used to always hear that shit and now I know what it means. You really fucked up!” he said, pulling me out of the trunk.

  “Just get it over with, Quron!” I said.

  “I’m not going to kill you, Tasira! That’s too easy! I want you to think about everything you have done to the people who loved you. I was going to ask you to be my fucking wife,” he said with a tear falling from his eye.

  “As much as I hate you I still love you!” he said as another tear fell from his eyes.

  “You did this to me! You should’ve never gotten that bitch pregnant! You were even fucking her in our home! You dirty, filthy son of a bitch!” I yelled at him. He bit his bottom lip then grabbed some tape from his back pocket. He put tape over my mouth then carried me to a long, wooden box that looked like a coffin. It was buried in a deep hole. It looked to be deeper than six feet. He opened it up and I almost passed out as a ton of snakes slithered around inside the box. I tried to kick and scream, but I couldn’t.

  “I spent a lot of money for them! The best investment I ever made!” he said then laid me in the box. He then slammed the lid shut. I started hyperventilating as I thought about being buried alive.

  I heard dirt falling on top of the box as I tried to scream. A snake wrapped around my leg while another slithered on top of me. I tried to move but there wasn’t any room for me to do that. My hands and feet were tied as I lay in the coffin with tears coming out of my eyes. I knew I was going to die but not like this!

  “You like snakes, don’t you? Now you can spend some time with them!” he said as more dirt started falling on top of the box. I could no longer hear him clearly as he buried me. I must be under the ground now. It was pitch-black and all I heard were the sounds of hissing. I pissed myself then started throwing up as fear settled into my stomach. I choked on my vomit because my mouth was covered up. I was sweating and I couldn’t breathe as my body convulsed. My airway was cut off! A snake wrapped around my neck and squeezed as a small skinny snake went into my nose. I struggled to breathe as I took my last breath…

  Chapter 21- Osari

  Two months later…

  I was finally taking Tassana to meet my mother. I haven’t heard from Tasira so I’m assuming that bitch is dead. My mother is always asking for Tasira but I couldn’t tell her what happened. All I told her was that Tasira was on drugs really bad and I haven’t heard from her. Hopefully, one day, she will give up and just think the streets got to her. I helped Tassana out of my car. She was now eight months pregnant and she was huge.

  “Look at me, Osari! I’m fucking big! I can barely walk! Oh, God, my ankles are swollen!” she fussed. I laughed.

  “Chill out, shorty! You are still beautiful!” I said. She pouted.

  “You know I’m a sucker for that shit!” I told her. After we signed into the home my mother stayed in we waited to be escorted to her room. Tassana looked like she was ready to pop at any given second.

  “I’m tired.” She yawned. She just pulled a twelve-hour shift and got off from work a few hours ago. She thought she was going to lose her job but they never said anything to her for not coming in the night Quron had her.

  “Aren’t you supposed to go on maternity leave?” I asked.

  “Yes I am pretty soon,” she said. A caregiver came to escort us to my mother’s room. Her room was set up like a small apartment and it was beautifully decorated. She loved flowers and had them everywhere. This is one of the reasons I grinded. I couldn’t afford this place if I didn’t! It was ten g’s a month for her to stay here and it was worth it. She had someone to come in to do her hair and nails. She was better here than living with me.

  “Is that my baby boy?” my mother asked, as I kissed her cheek.

  “Yeah, it’s me,” I said. My mother was so light that she looked white. She had brown freckles on her cheeks. She kept her hair in curls and they came down her back. Her nails were purple and she was wearing a pink Adidas sweat suit. On her feet was a pair of white Reeboks.

  “Who are you trying to look good for, Ma? I swear these men in here better not be trying to sneak in your bed!” I joked then Tassana elbowed me.

  “I’m still a married woman, Osari! Now, why is she so quiet! Come here, Tassana, and sit next to me,” my mother said to her. Tassana wobbled over to the chair like a penguin.

  “What are you acting shy for?” I asked Tassana.

  “Hush it up, Osari! You are always starting something!” Tassana said.

  “You have a beautiful, happy voice, Tassana!” she said. Tassana started to blush. If anyone could see the good in someone it would be my mother.

  “I am happy, Mrs. Snowden. I feel great. I’m just waiting for our son to bless us with his presence,” Tassana said.

  “Yeah, Ma! He needs to hurry up and come because Tassana is about to break the chair!” I said, making Tassana’s face drop.

  “Ignore him, chile! Osari is a little special! His mouth always got him into trouble! He takes after his father!” my mother told Tassana.

  “Show Tassana a picture of your father, Osari. I have one on the table,” my mother said. I grabbed the picture then
handed it to Tassana.

  “Oh, wow, Osari, you look like a lighter version of your father! Was he Muslim?” Tassana asked because of what my father had on in the picture.

  “Yeah, he was,” I told her.

  “He was a strong man. A family man. I miss him so much,” my mother said sadly. Not a day goes by that she doesn’t mention my father. I want to tell her that her daughter is the reason he is gone but I can’t bring myself to hurt her like that. Tassana must have read my mind because she looked at me sadly. I made a few phone calls as my mother and Tassana chatted their lives away. Kyree sent me a message asking me how I’d been. I messaged back telling her I was good. I have been seeing her here and there, and we spoke occasionally on the phone. I didn’t tell Tassana about it because she would raise hell. She just stopped bringing her up and I would like to keep it that way.

  Tassana excused herself then went to the bathroom. I sat down next to my mother.

  “What do you think, Ma?” I asked her.