The Circle: Dayvid

by Ty Marshall

  “Don’t fight it, you lil bitch,” Redd demanded through clenched teeth as his grip over her mouth tightened, muffling her screams even more. He tugged at her shorts aggressively until the sound of them ripping filled the room; he did the same to her panties exposing her bare bottom. “If you scream I’ll kill you, you little bitch. Do you understand me?”

  Nova didn’t reply. She just continued kicking her feet trying to wiggle free.

  “You think I’m playin,” Redd asked taking his forearm and putting most of his weight across her neck, cutting off her air supply.

  Nova tried her hardest to get air into her lungs but was unsuccessful. Feeling like her windpipe was being crushed; she thought she was going to die. Nova began coughing uncontrollably as he finally released the pressure allowing her to take in air. No longer able to fight, Nova felt him pry her legs open, bruising her thighs in the process. She felt the tip of his erect penis as he tried jamming himself into her a few times before finally succeeding. Nova felt a pain in her stomach as he rammed himself in and out of her grunting and groaning with every pump. Tears rolled down her face as she suffered in silence trying to take her mind to another place while he defiled her body. After a few minutes, she felt him pull out of her and ejaculate on her legs and stomach, spilling his seed on her bed as well.

  Redd rose to his feet, sweat dripping from his brow and fixed his pants. “Get up and go clean yourself up,” he instructed her before walking out of the room leaving a sore and crying Nova in his wake.

  ***

  Nova bounced her leg up and down nervously as she watched the traffic go up and down her block. She had been waiting for weeks for this night to come. David had too, he loved spending time with Nova everything about her was perfect to him. From her around the way girl cool and her deep conversation to her thick curves and beautiful features. Tonight she looked absolutely flawless to him, standing outside her house awaiting his arrival, wearing a yellow spaghetti strapped sundress. Her hair was pinned to one side letting her long flowing curls hang. She didn’t need any make-up, her skin was blemish free, smooth and golden. Nova had a round beauty mark on the side of her right eye near her temple that enhanced her beautiful face. She wore her cherry lip gloss that accentuated her full lips and sported the diamond stud earrings Dayvid had bought her weeks before. For her sixteenth birthday, Dayvid had plans on taking her out for dinner at her favorite spot. He initially wanted to take her to one of those fancy spots he used to hear about but that really wasn’t Nova’s style so she refused. It wasn’t hard to tell by the expensive gifts and knots of money that Dayvid was doing okay for himself financially. Running the streets at night and doing robberies with his sisters was bringing in some nice cash. The Porters spent most of their nights sticking up drug houses and anybody who they knew had it for that matter. Dayvid didn’t mind spending his paper on his girl either. Nova knew whatever Dayvid was doing was not safe or legal just by the large amounts of cash he would have on him, too much for any sixteen year old. However, she would never ask too many questions. They had a silent understanding. Nova knew her boyfriend was respected in the streets already at his age and she liked it. She felt safe with Dayvid and that was what mattered to her.

  The two lovebirds decided to go to Sterling’s. They had the best coddies and Nova wanted some for her birthday. Afterwards, the two had plans on getting a room at a nice hotel downtown. Tonight was the night Dayvid hoped Nova would let him explore her body. He had remained patient when it came to sex with her. He knew she was a virgin and never wanted to pressure her into giving him her body before she was ready. Her mind was what always attracted him to her. She was smart and that was sexy to him. He wanted to create forever with her, so he would wait however long it took for the opportunity to touch her body. Tonight was going to be special and the butterflies in Nova’s stomach reminded her with every flutter.

  “What up Slim, you look too good to be standing out here all by yourself,” Dayvid flirted as he approached her.

  Nova’s face lit up seeing her handsome beau approaching the steps. “Oh, I’m good. I’m waiting on this fine ass, light skin nigga to come get me, so I can spend all his money for my birthday,” Nova playfully teased.

  “Oh yeah, he sound like a bamma. I’ma wait wit you so I can rob em when he show up,” he joked as he grabbed her off the steps and twirled her around. Dayvid already stood over being six foot tall and slim, but solid and cut up at sixteen. Nova felt light as a feather in his arms. She loved her man-child and all his sexiness. Any time he would wrap her in his arms she felt all was right in the world. “I got something to match that pretty dress you wearing,” he said putting her back down on her feet, reaching in his back pocket pulling out a rectangle shaped box. Nova smiled, showing all of her pretty white teeth knowing it was a piece of jewelry in the box.

  “You didn’t have to Dayvid, you’re always buying me something,” she cooed as Dayvid opened the box and pulled out a diamond tennis bracelet.

  “Be quiet and give me your wrist,” he said.

  Nova extended her arm on cue, so that he could clamp the bracelet on her wrist. “Oh my God,” she said in amazement.

  “I’m supposed to buy you nice things. That’s what a real man does for his woman.”

  “I love it Dayvid!” Nova wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed.

  “And I love you.”

  Their young love was rare and true. Their hearts were like two magnets. It was as if they were born to be together, even at the age of sixteen they knew they wanted to be together forever.

  ***

  “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” Dayvid whispered. “I’ll wait however long it takes,” he assured her.

  Nova was lying on her back on the bed in the hotel as Dayvid kissed and licked all over her body. He stared up at her between placing wet kisses on her love flower. Her light moans seemed as though she was enjoying it but Dayvid could feel the tension in her body. Her legs weren’t relaxed and he knew her well enough to know she wasn’t giving in to him freely.

  “No, it’s no pressure from you, there is just some things that I have not been all the way honest with you about,” she spoke nervously as her voice began to crack.

  Dayvid sat up, picked Nova up and sat her on his lap like he would always do. “Talk to me ma. What haven’t you told me? You know you can tell me anything. We don’t keep nothin’ from each other,” he said slightly confused. “What’s up?”

  “I know Dayvid, but I lied to you,” she stood up in an attempt to put distance between them. She started to gather her clothes that were scattered on the floor on the hotel room. Tears welled in her eyes and began streaming down her cheeks.

  “Lied to me about what?” Dayvid asked, anxious to hear what she was going to reveal. “Lied about what Nova?” he repeated.

  “Dayvid, I’m not a virgin and I haven’t been one for a long time,” she blurted out.

  Caught off guard by what she was saying, Dayvid tilted his head back and looked at her strangely. The girl whom he considered perfect had just told him something that took him for a loop. Something she could have been said and he wouldn’t have thought any differently of her. But the fact that she hadn’t, had him thinking differently of her now. “You lied to me about that, why? You could have just told me you gave another nigga some. I ain’t tripping on that. What you thought I wouldn’t fuck with you or I would love you less?” Dayvid asked staring her in the face. “I don’t fuck with nobody outside of my sisters but you. You the only one who knows everything about me. Shit, my sisters don’t even know. So for you to lie to me,” he paused letting his voice tail off. “Hurts more than you giving some nigga some ass.”

  The tears continued to run down Nova’s face as a pain grew in her stomach seeing the look of disappointment and frustration on Dayvid’s face. She quickly grabbed her bag and headed towards the door.

  “Where are you going Nova?” Dayvid jumped up from the bed and pulled her back by
her arm, but she would not turn around to face him.

  “You don’t understand Dayvid,” she spoke through tears continuing to stare at the door. “I didn’t give it to anyone. It was taken from me,” she cried out. “Almost every night since I was 12, he’s been raping me,” finally saying it out loud, she turned and collapsed into Dayvid’s arms.

  “What you telling me ma? Who took it from you? Say his name.” Although Dayvid knew who she was referring to, he needed to hear it.

  “He would come in my room when my mom was passed out high. At first I would cry and hold my breath, I couldn’t stand his smell…I still can’t,” she said at the vivid memories. “He always reeked of alcohol when he came into my room for sex. I guess he has to get himself drunk to do it. Eventually it was just a routine.”

  “You never told your mother?”

  “The one time I tried to tell my mother what he was doing to me, they argued all weekend until he beat her until her eyes were shut. She missed work for a whole week then blamed me for being a fast ass little girl and told me I had to get a job to make up the money she missed at work. That was what she said Dayvid, she blamed me,” Nova cried out, tears falling uncontrollably. “She told me I was a liar and I was disrespectful and I didn’t want her to be with no one. I wanted her to die by herself and I was trying to run her man off. She would tell me that she hated that I was born. That if she would of just aborted me like my real father asked, he would have never left. Then she told me, if I opened my mouth again, he would hurt her worse than the last time and it would all be my fault. So I laid there and I didn’t move. I counted the seconds in my head and wished he would hurry up and finish so that I could go to sleep.”

  Dayvid stood still and silent, digesting what Nova was telling him. The love of his life hurt night after night and he knew nothing about it. The rage he felt inside was like none he had felt before. His head felt like it was on fire as he thought of the things he planned to do to her predator. “Just say his name Nova,” was all he could say.

  “Redd,” Nova managed to mumble off her lips. At that moment she couldn’t manage to make eye contact with the only person she had shared her secret with.

  “He’s never going to touch you again, you hear me,” Dayvid said lifting Nova’s face so he could look in her eyes. “You don’t ever have to lower your head in shame around me or nobody else. He’ll never hurt you again, I’m going to make sure of it.” He put both of his hands on her face and kissed her forehead. His voice was calm but stern and she felt safe hearing the words he spoke. Little did she know the monster that was forming inside of him craved the blood of the man who hurt her. He began to wipe the tears that were streaming down her face and held back ones of his own as Nova buried herself into his broad chest. He felt anger and grief because the person he loved the most in the world was being tormented but still she managed to hide her pain through smiles and laughter. Nova was the strongest person he had ever met. She was the only one who could make his heart smile, but inside she was broken. Someone had violated her, defiled her body and destroyed her mentally to where she couldn’t make love to the man she loved. All of this fueled his fire. “He’s going to pay I promise. He took from you and now I’m gonna take from him.”

  Nova stopped and looked up at Dayvid. “What you going to do? I don’t want anything to happen to you. I can’t take anything happening to you.” Nova began to fidget with the sleeves of his shirt, something she did often when she became nervous.

  “Don’t worry yourself, I’ma be good. I’m your man right?”

  “Yes,” she quickly replied.

  “Okay then know I got you and I got this,” he kissed her cheek and flashed her that million dollar smile that would make any girl tingle. He wanted her to feel safe again and free from the nightmare she was forced to relive night after night. He wanted to be her safe haven, her place of peace. Nova returned the smile. The two never made love that night but just held each other as Dayvid stroked her hair until she fell asleep in his arms. He never shut his eyes; he remained awake and created a mental blueprint on how he was going to end Nova’s pain.

  ***

  Dayvid stood in a small alley between two homes directly across the street from Nova’s house, tucked in the shadows on a rainy night with a black hoodie tied securely over his head. His heart was pounding in his chest like a bass drum from a marching band as he gripped the rubber handle on the .38 special he had concealed inside his hoodie. Dayvid took a few deep breaths trying to calm his 16 year old nerves. Only an adolescent, he had long lost his innocence to the Baltimore streets but had never taken a man’s life. His nervousness slowly turned to anger as the horror stories Nova had shared replayed in his young mind. Strangely, his rage brought him a sense of calm and the pace of his rapidly beating heart began to slow down. His senses were heightened as time seemed to slow down and he felt as though he could hear every rain drop hitting the ground.

  Dayvid’s grip on the stainless revolver tightened when he spotted his target briskly walking up the block on the opposite side of the street. Dayvid stepped out of the alley and made his way across the street, walking with purpose towards the man heading his way. Clenching his jaw as he approached the man, he slowly began removing the pistol from his hoodie and let his arm rest at his side. Now right up on his unsuspecting victim, only a house away from Nova’s, Dayvid leaned in with his shoulder and bumped the man as hard as he could, knocking him slightly off balance.

  “Yo, watch where the fuck you going lil’ nigga,” the man shouted angrily at Dayvid as he turned to face him.

  Dayvid turned, lifting his head to get a good look at the man. Staring directly in the man’s face, he had all the confirmation he needed. It was definitely Redd, Nova’s stepfather. Without saying a word Dayvid lifted his gun so that it was even with the Redd’s face and squeezed without any hesitation.

  Dayvid’s body went numb as he watched his head snap back from the impact of the bullet dropping him to the ground. Almost serene like, Dayvid stood over him placing the revolver in his mouth and pulling the trigger once again. The young killer stared in amazement as a cloud of smoke released from his victim’s mouth. Dayvid ran down the block, disappearing into the same shadows he had emerged from.

  Nova hearing the sound of gunshots, peered out the window just in time to see a young man running down her block into the alley across from her house. His build and movement rang so familiar to her causing a feeling of nervousness in the pit of her stomach. Nova glanced over at the digital clock on her nightstand and realized that this was the time her stepfather usually was on her block on his way home from work. She slipped on a pair of flip flops and raced downstairs and out into the street, joining the people who had slowly started spilling from their meager homes.

  Reaching the crowd that was gathering just up the block from her house, Nova got a glimpse of the man on the ground. Her mouth dropped in shock and her heart sped up and she began feeling like she was going into cardiac arrest. Nova’s stepfather lay with a pool of blood forming around his head and her mind immediately thought back to the young man she saw fleeing the scene. She was now sure it was Dayvid and she knew exactly why he had done what he had done. Nova lowered her head as tears raced down her face and neighbors rushed over to console her. They had no idea the monster her stepfather was and saw her tears as her showing grief; after all she had lost her mother only months prior. Only Nova knew they were tears of joy, she had finally been freed from the sexual predator that had consistently ravaged her young body. Her teenage love was now an unbreakable bond Dayvid had sealed in blood. His secret was safe as Fort Knox with her just as hers had been with him.

  Dayvid came to visit her two nights later to check on how she was doing and for the first time in Nova’s life she gave her body to someone without being forced and it felt good.

  ***

  Nova placed the small box on her bed and sat down next to it. It had been a few weeks since Dayvid and his siblings’ arrest and her
nerves were shot. Her heart had almost jumped out her chest when she first heard the pounding on the door from the UPS delivery woman. No one outside of Dayvid knew where she resided so she definitely was surprised hearing the knock a few minutes ago. Nova hadn’t been resting properly the past few weeks and it had started to show. She was jumpy and her skin looked dry and dark circles had formed around her doe eyes. She didn’t look healthy at all and had dropped a pants’ size due to her refusal to eat. Unable to get in contact with anyone who could provide her with any information about Dayvid was rapidly driving her crazy. He wouldn’t want her to come to the jail and visit because that would surely put the feds on to her. But it had become harder and harder to fight the urge. Like the rest of the world, she was glued to the news nightly trying to piece together as much information as she could. The Porter sisters’ adventures, while on the run, had been the lead story on all the news channels, but little was said about the man she loved. It was almost like he had disappeared in the system.

  Opening the small box, she turned it over and a key fell out onto the bed along with a small piece of paper. Picking up the paper, her heartbeat quickened when she recognized Dayvid’s chicken scratch handwriting. Staring at the paper, Nova could make out what looked to be an address, which didn’t ring familiar to her leaving her a little confused as to what Dayvid was trying to tell her. Holding the box in her hand, she could feel that it still had something in it, reaching inside she removed a CD. Seeing The Black Album, the classic CD by Jay-Z, Nova immediately knew what Dayvid was telling her. Upon release, the CD was billed as the legendary MC’s last, he was supposed to back out of the game afterwards. To Dayvid and Nova the term “Black Album” held similar meaning. Nova knew Dayvid was telling her to back out, abort and go. She leaped off the bed racing into her closet in search of a bag that she could throw a few things in. Settling on a black leather Gucci duffle bag that belonged to Dayvid, she began filling it up as fast as she could. Re-entering the bedroom she tossed the bag onto the bed and walked over to her nightstand. Sliding open the drawer, Nova snatched the .380 Dayvid had given her and stuffed it into the bag before zipping it up and throwing it over her shoulder. Nova was out the front door in no time. She had no problems leaving the apartment behind. It had been purchased under a fake name so there was no chance of it coming back to her or Dayvid if anyone was to come snooping around.