“Home Sweet Home!” Lakea thought out loud.
“This is just temporary.” Felicia promised Lakea as they got out of the car and grabbed her bags.
“Uh huh.” Lakea said rolling her eyes and sucking her teeth.
She loved agonizing her mother any way she could. She didn't want her to know she liked living in the projects now, so she could act out and blend in. She didn't have to achieve so much or live up to any expectations. Why should she? She was already broken, right? Besides, Lakea had lived in one of the roughest places in the city, hell maybe the world. This would be no different. She would adapt, watch her surroundings, and always be ready to do whatever it took.
As they walked up the steps on the right side of the courtyard on their way to their apartment a big, red-bone woman, with a big butt and mouth full of gold teeth approached them. Her name was Monique and she and Felicia had been friends for the past few months. Monique was the one who had gotten Felicia the apartment in her building. Monique had ten kids. Her oldest four were two sets of twins; one set fifteen and the other thirteen. Her two youngest were twin three month old boys. All of her children were very smart, but they were bad. The perfect match for the Johnson Trio.
“Hey girl.” Monique said pushing Felicia on the arm and turning to look at Lakea. “So this is your daughter. She is beautiful, all exotic and shit. Hell all your kids look like they daddy, a damn Arab. Hoe you fucking Habib from the corner store?” Monique said as she and Felicia laughed. Lakea spoke and then her and her mother continued to their apartments. “You better keep your eye on her around here honey! Oh, but I forgot about her crazy ass brothers and my sons, so we have nothing to worry about.” Monique yelled as she walked around the corner to her building.
When they walked into the apartment Lakea was shocked, it was so nice. They had lived very well as kids when their father was alive, and even better when they lived in Harbor Town before Jeff, but after that they was just living. Now they had one of the freshest apartments in the complex.
Felicia had decorated with black curtains and they had a black sectional that sat in front of the window and stretched from one wall to the next. They had a huge zebra rug and matching throw pillows on the couch, and a black and glass coffee table with secret compartments. Felicia had even gotten the matching end tables and zebra lamps. Framed pictures of the kids, Etta James, Billie Holiday, and Josephine Baker lined the walls. On the opposite side of the room there was also a 52' big screen TV just like the one grandma Mo had. Lakea figured her mother and Ray-Ray's weed business was doing well or she had found another boyfriend with money. Either way, Lakea was enjoying her new place in the hood.
Ray-Ray and Quan were happy to have their sister back. All three of them sat up all night in Lakea's bedroom they had fixed up in Hello Kitty everything, and talked about everything that was going on. Lakea met her cousin Miriam, Monique's thirteen year old daughter, and found her new best friend. That Christmas on Simpson was one of the best Christmases Lakea had since they left Harbor Town. She got five pair of Levis, a Letterman jacket, six cute tops, some gold hoops that said Kea in the middle of them, a herring bone necklace, two pair of Jordans, and the new pink Timberlands. Everybody was happy.
Felicia's new, old sugar daddy had splurged on everyone, giving them everything they wanted. Lakea's birthday was even better. Her mama let Jeremy come over and spend the night. It was the best two days of Lakea's life. They stayed inside the whole time cooking, watching movies, and playing games. Jeremy was such a gentleman he didn't even try to have sex with Lakea. He knew her story and he knew she wasn't ready yet, but they did share intimate kisses and he held her through the night. It was so special. That was also the first time she smoked marijuana. Her house was always filled with weed, she just never smoked it. She did that night and she loved how it made her feel. Lakea had so much fun on Christmas break she didn't want to go back over grandma Mo's house for school, but she knew that she wouldn't be there much longer after she followed through with her plan. She wasn't really worried.
The first day back to school after Christmas break, Lakea came in looking for a fight. She had heard about this girl name Tia, who transferred to Fairley right before the break. The girl was supposedly talking shit about Lakea and said that she was going to whoop her ass and take Jeremy. So when Lakea came out of the lunch room after breakfast and walked right up on Tia sitting face-to-face with Jeremy she went crazy. She ran into Tia, punching her in the face with solid right jabs. She could feel the bones break in her face as she punched her and struck her with her forearm. Blood was all over Lakea's hands, but she didn't let up. She grabbed her in her hair and dragged her away from the table screaming.
“You was looking for me, huh bitch? Who you gone whoop bitch?” Lakea yelled as she stomped her in the face. Lakea then sat in Tia's chest and began to unleash punch after punch, strike after strike into her face. Blood splattered all over Lakea's brand new Letterman coat. That made her rage more, and pound harder. “Get the fuck back Jeremy!” Lakea yelled as he tried to pull her off crying, bleeding Tia. Lakea continued to pull and yank Tia's hair until all the tracks came out, along with a patch of her real hair and scalp. Just then Coach Black grabbed Lakea up by the waist off of Tia. She still managed to get one last kick to the face as the coach tried to get her away and into the building.
The crowd outside screamed and cheered as Lakea was drug to the office and the nurse had to go and check on Tia. Tia's cousin who stood by and watched her get beat helped her up while telling her she was going to call her brother. That's what Jeremy was afraid of. He knew that it was not over with that ass whooping, and he knew it was all his fault. Now he was going to have to protect Lakea because he knew Tia's brother, Red was about to come after her.
Red was the wild boy of Tulane. He loved to beat up, shoot, stab, and basically just hurt people. Anybody; women, men, children, old people, babies, he didn't care. Red was a junkie, so his judgment was never clear. A powder head through and through. He snorted up to an eight ball a day by himself. That's why he was so crazy. The dope made him paranoid. Hell one time he beat up his own mama and broke her arm because she wouldn't give him $20. It was for all of those reasons that Jeremy began to mentally prepare for what he was going to have to do.
After the fight, Jeremy left immediately and went straight to Lakea's house. He knew she would be suspended or worse expelled, so she would be coming home soon. He also knew that no one would be at her house this time of day so they would be alone. He wanted to spend some time with her before everything fell apart, which he was sure it would once her mama and grandma found out how much trouble she was in. The only problem with that plan was, Red was already in the house waiting on Lakea with a gun and knife he got out of the kitchen. When Lakea got there, she and Jeremy hugged.
“Well, they gave me a two week suspension and I have to do in-school suspension for a month.” Lakea said unlocking the door as Jeremy followed her inside.
“That's not as bad as I thought.” Jeremy said locking the door behind him.
He didn't even think to check the house. Lakea went straight to the couch and flopped down. Fighting took so much energy out of her.
“I'm so fucking irritated at you, Jeremy, even though I love you. Why you have to be sitting by the bitch?”
“I'm sorry, baby. I wasn't thinking. You know there's no female walk this earth can compare to you.” Jeremy said while sitting on the floor and rubbing Lakea's cheek.
“Ima go get the bong so we can smoke and you can ease yo mind. Your ass can really snap off sometimes. You beat the fuck out that girl!” Jeremy said getting up off the floor and going down the hall to Lakea's room to find her stash.
“I need something to drink. You want one?” Lakea yelled to Jeremy as she got up off the couch and approached the pantry door. Little did Lakea know, Red was standing on the other side of the door with his knife in his hand.
“Yea a Sprite.” Jeremy yelled back as he entered Lakea
's room and went into her closet looking for the bong.
Just then Lakea turned back to the pantry and opened the door. There she stood face-to-face with another demon who would change her life forever.
Red yelled, “Bitcchhh!!!!!” as loud as he could and lunged forward with the knife, stabbing Lakea in her side. Lucky for her she was trained in so many fight techniques because she was able to use her sharp reflexes to turn her body slightly to the right so the knife missed her vital organs.
Red pulled the knife out and jumped at Lakea trying to stab her again. Lakea spun around with a round house kick, knocking the knife out of Red's hand then she unleashed a furry of punches. Red punched Lakea in her right titty when she tried to do a running kick on her. The impact of his punch caused Lakea to double over and cry out in pain. Jeremy still in the closet heard her scream and came running.
When Jeremy got to the living room Lakea was punching Red in his nuts and kneeing him in the head. Four knees to the head later Red was on the floor as Lakea stood over him looking at Jeremy with blood all over her face. Just then Red pulled out the .22 he had in his waist and pointed it directly at the back of Lakea's head. At that very same moment Jeremy pulled out his .380 and dove forward knocking Lakea down as Red let off three rounds right where she was standing. After rolling Lakea under the couch Jeremy lay on the floor face-to-face with Red. At that moment his life flashed before his eyes. He knew that this could have been the end of him. Its either jail or hell he thought. He wasn't going to hell yet.
Lakea screamed as Jeremy and Red pulled the triggers of their guns at the same time. She closed her eyes and held her breath. Afraid to open her eyes and see her love dead. However, Jeremy was okay, Red wasn't. Lucky for Jeremy, Red's gun didn't fire. Jeremy had hit him with the first shot in the left side of his face causing him to squeeze off a shot in his direction. Red was missing the whole left side of his face. Red the terror was no more. Jeremy stood over his body, making sure he was dead. He didn't have time for that jumping up and grabbing people horror movie shit. Instantly, Lakea began to panic, she didn't know what to do and all this happened in her grandma house.
“I will tell them the truth.” Jeremy said hugging Lakea and looking into her eyes. “I love you with all my heart and will always love you, no matter what.” Jeremy promised.
Those were the last words Jeremy said to Lakea before he told the truth and was sentenced to five years for involuntary manslaughter. Jeremy was only going to have to serve three years in a juvenile facility, so he would be out by his eighteenth birthday. Lakea didn't care, she was sick without him for an hour. Lakea was not charged in the crime, but prison was not all her mama was worried about. She knew that Red's family wanted both her and Jeremy dead, so sending Lakea away again was the only thing left to do. This time though, Felicia was sending Lakea up north to Saginaw, Michigan. A completely different world.
Chapter 5
Lakea could still see the look in Jeremy's eyes after he pulled the trigger. The memory was still so vivid she could smell the blood, feces, and urine from Red's body. Two weeks had passed and Lakea was still having nightmares about the incident. She wasn't remorseful for taking part in killing Red to save her own life. What really bothered her most was seeing Jeremy being carted off to jail and her having to live secluded like a hermit the rest of her life. Since Jeremy was sentenced and had begun his three year bid in the juvenile facility, Lakea had been held up in her mama's South Memphis apartment. Smoking weed and writing songs. Suddenly she had gotten her desire to write again, probably because she was so hurt and lonely without Jeremy.
It was late April when Lakea's mama Felicia decided it was safe for her to come out in their neighborhood only. She knew that no one from Red's neighborhood in BHZ would dare come for her in South Memphis. However, she was still determined to send Lakea away as soon as she got the money. Sending them away had become a theme for Felicia. Instead of dealing with her children and their problems, Felicia would just pack their ass up and ship them away. Out of sight, out of mind was the way she lived. She had already sent Quan away last year after he was almost arrested for making a volatile chemical in his room. The smell had made everyone in the building sick and some women threatened to call DCS if Felicia didn't do something. So she sent Quan to Frayser to live with her sister Violet for 4 months. Ray-Ray had been sent there for as long as a year too. That is why Lakea wasn't surprised that her mama was still preparing to send her off. She just planned on making her rep known in this neighborhood before she left. She was going to make Felicia wish she had sent her away a long time ago, since she didn't want her around anyway. Lakea also planned on showing those kids up north just what the dirty south meant. She couldn't wait
Lakea leaned on the rail in front of her apartment as the sun beamed down on her head. It was late April in Memphis so that meant that it was pretty warm, 70 degrees to be exact. Lakea had on a red halter maxi dress with nothing underneath it. She loved to fell the wind against her body and was enjoying this time out of the house without her mama right there watching and timing her. A lot of children were outside and Lakea could hear dogs barking and growling in the distance. She knew that meant that her brother Ray-Ray and her cousin Lil Shun, one of Monique's oldest twins, were fighting dogs on the train tracks behind their building.
“You want a chair?” Quan asked standing in the door. “I mean that way you can get your ass out the air.” He laughed and then suddenly stopped making a serious face.
“Yea boy and bring something to drink.” Lakea said fanning herself.
Quan came back with them both a chair and a Big K cola and they sat in front of their door and chilled. Just then the dog barking abruptly stopped and yells and screams could be heard from around the building. Lakea and Quan stood up. They knew that Ray-Ray and Lil Shun were around there and that when they were together it always resulted in trouble. Quan and Lakea knew it was about to go down. At that second Ray-Ray and Lil Shun came running around the building at full speed. When they got in front of the building they split up. Ray-Ray went up the right stairwell and Lil Shun went up the left. They met up right where Lakea and Quan were standing.
“What the fuck y'all running for?” Lakea asked opening the door just as a mob of kids appeared around the corner. There had to be five or six boys Ray-Ray's age and about seven or eight girls ranging in the ages of 7-17, all different sizes.
Lil Shun banged on their friend Bucky's door for help. He opened the door already hyped bumping Player Fly, Getting' It On. When he heard what was going on he came out of the house with a bat and sent his sister to get his cousin and Lil Shun's brothers and sisters. These were the preparations for an epic brawl. The crowd stood in the courtyard right under Lakea's house cursing and throwing rocks. In the house Ray-Ray explained to Lakea that they were fighting dogs and his dog bit one of the girls standing there. After that the big brother just wanted to fight.
“It was too many of them muthafuckas though, so I didn't want to fight. Then when my dog fucked his dog up, that bitch nigga really wanted to fight. That's when Lil Shun hit that muthafucka across the face with the dog chain and we took out running.” Ray-Ray said putting on his Timberland boots and workout gloves. Quan prepared himself too by stretching and wrapping a thin metal chain around his fist. Those kids didn't know what was about to happen.
When the door swung open Lakea, Ray-Ray, and Quan rushed out to meet Lil Shun, Bucky, Bucky's little sister, and five of Lil Shun's oldest siblings. Now the battle would almost be fair. By this time the mob had made it up the left side of the porch.
“Pussy nigga come jack!” Yelled a tall dark-skinned boy with dreads. He had a wooden stick in his hand and his face was bleeding.
“That's the bitch nigga I hit with the chain!” Lil Shun yelled laughing.
Lakea and everyone on her side laughed while walking towards the mob. Their laughter made the boy with the dreads mad so he rushed into them and hit Bucky across his head with the stick. And then the
brawl was on. Lil Shun kicked the boy with the dreads and the stick over the rail 15 ft to the ground and then Lakea's gang rushed the mob pounding and hitting them with broomsticks and bats. They were able to push the mob down the stairs and back into the courtyard. All of the little kids under 10-years-old ran and hid because it was getting serious. Blood and hair weave was everywhere. Lakea had a fat girl on her knees, kneeing her in the face. Then another girl started punching Lakea in the back so she stepped over the fat girl on the ground, straddling her neck, using her strong leg muscles to hold her in place. With her hands free she hit the other girl with a massive right hook and she was knocked out cold. Then Lakea started dragging the big girl by her hair, face down until she was hit by a boy in the back of the head. He hit her so hard that he knocked her to her knees. Then things got serious. Ray-Ray saw what happened, so he ran over and grabbed the boy from behind, slamming him face down on the concrete. Blood splattered everywhere. At that moment everyone stopped fighting and the girls started to scream. There was a lot of blood pouring out of the boy's nose and mouth. All of his teeth lay in a pool of blood.
“I'm done, bitch nigga.” He mumbled while lying face down, spitting out blood. That was the last disrespect Ray-Ray was going to allow. As the boy lay on his stomach Ray-Ray put his foot in the center of his back grabbing both of his arms and pulling them up and back. You could hear the bones in the boy's shoulders and arms break and he screamed in agony.
One of the other teenage boys with the mob rushed forward with a brick and tried to hit Ray-Ray in the back of the head. Instead his face met Quan's fist as he hit him with a power punch that sent him tumbling backwards. Then another fat girl with the mob rushed forward trying to hit Ray-Ray with a metal pole. Lakea close lined her with such force, her feet flew up over her head and she hit the ground with a loud THUD. Lakea was on her as soon as her body hit the ground; hitting her and banging her head on the concrete. Sirens could be heard coming from over the bridge. Someone had called the police.
A BROKEN GIRL'S JOURNEY Page 4