by Kiki Swinson
The humor made me sick to my stomach, but I guess they were in a position to laugh since their life wasn’t hanging in the balance. I would have given away my life savings to be in their shoes right then. Having three against one made me realize that the odds were against me. I couldn’t believe I was right back where I’d started. I could never seem to get my life right. I could kick myself for coming back to Virginia. I knew it was a bad idea to fly there, but, nah, I listened to my uncle and came anyway.
I guess all the times I’d cheated death had caught up with me. Sitting there waiting for the inevitable was something really scary. I had no idea who was going to take my life, but I knew it would be sometime soon.
The urge to use the bathroom got more and more intense. I started to say fuck it and urinate on myself, but the thought of humiliating myself before I took my last breath made me decide against it. I continued to move my head back and forth to see if I could get someone’s attention, and this time it finally worked.
The sack was pulled off my head and I was greeted by the big, husky, baldhead guy. The light in the room suddenly blinded me. I closed my eyes tightly to allow my eyes time to get readjusted. When I opened my eyes again, I looked this guy straight in his eyes. I tried desperately to talk while I had my mouth taped up, but all it sounded like was loud mumbling. A few seconds later, he snatched off the tape.
“Ouch!” I screamed. The pain was agonizing. And the fucked- up thing about it was, I couldn’t use my hands to massage my mouth because they were tied behind my back. At that moment I remembered that I had a utility knife in the side pocket of my purse. If only I could find my purse, I would be able to free myself.
“Whatcha want?” he asked me.
I could tell he was a little irritated, but before I answered him, I scanned the entire room to see who was there. There were two guys, and the chick from earlier was nowhere in sight.
“I need to use the bathroom really badly,” I said, hoping the men would be sympathetic to my bathroom needs.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you get up,” he said, not sounding sorry at all.
“So what am I supposed to do, just sit here and piss on myself ?”
“You can if you want,” he replied.
Since I wasn’t getting anywhere with this asshole, I looked across the room to the other guy to see if he would cut me some slack. “Hey, look, I’ve got to use the bathroom really badly, so can you please tell this guy to untie me so I can go?” I asked, displaying the saddest expression I could muster.
“Sorry, but I can’t override his decision,” the other guy said. Obviously, he couldn’t care less about my problem.
The guy standing over me with the tape in his hand leaned toward me to put it back on.
I stopped him in his tracks. “Hey, can I ask you a quick question?”
“What is it?”
“Look, it’s obvious that I’m not going to get out of here alive, so can you just please have a heart and let me use the bathroom? It’s not like I’m gonna try to escape or anything.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about.”
“Then what are you worried about? Because all I have to do is pee, and that won’t take nothing but two minutes.”
The guy looked down at me for a complete five seconds. Then he looked over at the other guy. I turned to look at the other guy too. His facial expression stayed the same.
“It’s up to you, dog,” the guy sitting on the couch finally said.
The guy in front of me turned his attention back to me. “A’ight, I’ma let you go, but don’t try no funny shit, or I’m gon’ kill you my damn self !” he warned me.
“Thank you so much,” I said.
I sat there patiently while he untied the rope from my wrists and ankles. I don’t know how long I’d been unconscious, but from the numbness in my legs, I could tell that it had been at least an hour, if not longer.
When I stood, my legs felt like they were going to give way. “I don’t think I’m gonna be able to walk on my own,” I told the guy.
“I can carry you if you want,” he said.
“How would you do that?”
“I can throw you over my shoulders.”
The thought of him lifting me up and carrying me over his shoulders wasn’t what I really wanted, so I decided to tough it out and walk on my own. Honestly, I didn’t want him touching me. I wasn’t about to let him get a cheap feel off me. I figured if it was time for my life to be over, I should go out with some dignity.
“Never mind. I can manage,” I assured him.
I took the first step with my right foot, and then I took the next step with my left, treading very lightly until the numbness went away altogether. With each step I took, the more the feeling in my legs came back. I knew one thing. If I even had the desire to make an attempt to escape, my plans would be over before I blinked my eyes.
“Which way is the bathroom?” I asked as we reached the entrance of the hallway.
“It’s that door right there on the right.” He pointed in the direction of the kitchen. When I noticed the bathroom was less than twelve feet from the room where these assholes had me tied up, I knew there was no possible way to escape.
As I approached the bathroom door, he reached for the doorknob and opened the door for me. Then he switched on the light.
I stood at the entrance, peered inside, and got an eyeful. I looked at the guy and asked him if this was the only bathroom in the house.
He looked back at me and laughed. “There’s one upstairs. But what’s wrong with this one?”
“What’s wrong with it?” I asked in a sarcastic tone.
He knew how fucked-up this bathroom was. The smell of the urine was so strong, it damn near killed me at the door. The toilet seat looked brown and rusted, and the sink had the same discoloration. I even saw a couple roaches scatter, like they were trying to run for cover. There was no toilet paper in sight, but there was half a roll of paper towels. I guess I was supposed to use that to wipe my ass. The few pieces of tile on the floor looked like they were about to come up. It was so bad that the wooden floor underneath was visible. Too bad there wasn’t a window, because this shit needed airing out big time.
“Hey, look, I ain’t going way upstairs so you can use the bathroom. If you don’t use this one, then you ain’t using nothing.”
I sucked my teeth because I saw that I wasn’t getting anywhere with this conversation. His big lazy ass didn’t want to walk up upstairs, so I had to suffer with the wretched and sordid conditions of this bathroom.
I knew I had to hold my breath while I was inside that dungeon, but I also knew I couldn’t hold my breath longer than a good thirty seconds, so I rushed into the bathroom and closed the door. I don’t know how I did it, but I pulled up my dress, squatted, and pissed all over the nasty seat. I didn’t do it purposely. It just happened that way. I was mad that I’d pissed all over the seat and the floor, because that meant I had to be the one to wipe it up, and I didn’t want to touch anything in there. It didn’t matter that I could use the paper towels. The idea of being in this hellhole longer than I had to be definitely gave me the creeps.
I grabbed the roll of paper towels, snatched off a sheet with which to wipe myself, and then placed the roll back on the edge of the sink. After I wiped myself, I used the same sheet to wipe off the toilet seat. I knew that was nasty and not hygienic, but look where I was. This whole fucking place was a dump. So why should I treat it any better than they did?
Almost about to run out of breath, I dropped the used paper towel into the toilet and flushed. Not even a second later, I burst through the bathroom door and was back in the hallway standing beside the same asshole who wouldn’t let me use the upstairs bathroom. He didn’t waste any time escorting my ass back to the room where they had me tied up.
When we reentered the room, I noticed that the stupid-ass chick had found her way there and was sitting on the sofa closest to the chair where I was tied, and sifti
ng through the contents of my two-thousand- dollar Chanel handbag. I couldn’t believe how casually she handled my wallet as she flipped through my credit cards and my driver’s license.
“She won’t be needing this or this after tonight,” she said.
I started to curse her ass out and tell her to leave my shit alone, but instead I looked at her like she was beneath me, and then I rolled my eyes.
“What the fuck was all that?” she blurted out.
I ignored her ass, like she wasn’t talking to me.
That made her mad, because she repeated herself, and this time she said it with much attitude. “I know you heard me talking to you when I asked you what the fuck was all that!”
“Who you talking to?” the guy standing beside me asked her. “I’m talking to that bitch!” she screamed.
I sat back down on the chair, and while the guy was tying my arms behind me, he started laughing at the chick. I knew I wasn’t in any position to start some shit with her, so I tried my best to ignore her comments, but of course, she wasn’t having that.
“I’m not gonna ask you again,” she roared. She stood and walked over to where I was sitting.
I looked up at her. “What do you want me to say?”
“Don’t play fucking games with me! Just tell me why the fuck you gritted on me like you got beef with me or something.”
“I didn’t grit on you,” I lied.
“Oh, so now I’m seeing things, huh?”
“Kasey, go ahead on with that bullshit!” the other guy yelled out. “You see she ain’t trying to go there with you.”
“Fuck that! She already went there!” she yelled.
“Girl, sit your ass down,” the guy tying me up said.
She sucked her teeth, grabbed a fistful of my hair, and tugged. “Oowww! What the fuck is your problem?” I screamed and gave her the nastiest expression I could muster. If I wasn’t tied up, and this nigga wasn’t standing between us, I would have smacked the hell out of her. With all the fucking mouth she had, she was really overdue for a good, old-fashioned beatdown, and I would have been the perfect candidate to give it to her.
“You look at me again like you just did, then I’ma show you my problem.” Then she walked back over to the sofa and sat down.
I was furious with that bitch! I really couldn’t say what the hell I wanted to, because I would’ve given her an earful. The fact that she grabbed and yanked on my hair really blew my fucking mind. She had balls the size of a man to do something like that. And the fact that I couldn’t do anything about it also blew my mind. But what else could I do?
When this overgrown-ass nigga finished tying me back up, he grabbed the roll of gray electric tape to cover my mouth. I didn’t want that shit over my mouth again, so I said, “Please, I promise, I won’t say a word.”
“Don’t listen to that shit, Dré. Tape her ass up!” Kasey said.
Dré looked over at the other guy. “What’s up? Put the tape back on or what?”
The other guy was rolling marijuana into some blunt paper, and it seemed like he didn’t want to be bothered with any of the decision-making. He looked at Dré.
“Nigga, I don’t care what you do.”
Getting the green light to do whatever he wanted, Dré decided not to tape my mouth again.
Kasey made it known she was pissed. “Try to yell one time, bitch, and I’ma personally fuck you up!”
After she made that comment, I didn’t bother to look her way. I was more focused on how I was going to get out of this hellhole. I wanted to live another day, so my mind was on figuring out a way to escape the jaws of death. I had no idea why they were holding me captive, or who they were holding me for. I needed answers, and the way my captors were acting, I didn’t think I was gonna get them anytime soon.
Now, I knew that sorry-ass Tony set me up, and that the money Dré gave him was the payoff for delivering me. So wherever that bastard was, I hoped the next time he stepped foot outside his car, he got run over. What he did to me was really foul. No matter how I felt about someone, I wouldn’t serve them up to get killed, unless they did something to put me in harm’s way. Like my dead husband Ricky and his partner Russ.
Ricky wanted me dead because I wouldn’t help him set up Papi. And Russ’s crooked ass robbed me of all my life’s savings, purchased a fucking Bentley, and then when I ran into him and confronted him, he pulled out a pistol on me. Now how fucked-up was that?
But my problem was, I was too damn forgiving and trusting. I let people fuck me over at least twenty times before I left them alone completely. And that was just plain crazy. Who did that? I couldn’t say where I got that mentality, but that wasn’t how I should be. I mean, look at the situation I was in now. I was too fucking trusting of Tony. I allowed that lowlife-ass nigga to serve me up to these other lowlives. Who knew what plans they had for me? Whatever they were, I knew it wouldn’t be pretty.
Someone knocked on the front door, and my heart damn near leaped out of my fucking chest. I figured maybe whoever it was had come there for me.
Kasey hopped up from the sofa and raced to the front door. Before the person could knock a second time, she opened the door.
As soon as the person entered the house, I heard footsteps walking in my direction. The closer the sounds of the footsteps, the more uneasy I felt. If my hands weren’t tied up, I probably would have chewed off all of my fingernails.
A few seconds later, Kasey walked back into the room, with the visitor two steps behind her. It became obvious that everyone was expecting this person to come here, because neither one of the guys asked Kasey who had arrived. I was the only person left in the fucking dark, so I had to wait and see.
When I saw that the visitor was Uncle Lanier, I was a little confused. At first I wanted to jump for joy, but then when I looked at the menacing expression on his face, I realized he wasn’t there to set me free.
He walked slowly toward me, a cynical smile on his face. He looked like a fucking mechanic, dressed in a pair of blue overalls, but I knew he would never get his hands dirty to work on anyone’s car. He was never the type to get his hands dirty and always paid people to do his dirty work for him.
“I know you must have a ton of thoughts running through your head, huh?” he asked me.
I didn’t respond because I wanted to see where he was going with this.
“Oh, so now you have nothing to say?” He took a couple more steps toward me.
I honestly wanted to respond, but what I wanted to say would’ve probably come out wrong, so I sat still and remained quiet.
“Aren’t you wondering why I’m here?”
This time I tried to say something, but my mouth wouldn’t budge. My eyes got extremely watery, and before I knew it, one tear after the next fell down my face.
“Ahhh, don’t cry,” he said, and then he stroked my hair with his fingers.
I literally caught chills and wanted to vomit. “Don’t touch me!” I snapped.
Without any forewarning, Kasey smacked the shit out of me. I couldn’t see it, but I knew my face turned beet-red.
“Didn’t I tell you I was going to fuck you up if you said one word out cha mouth?” she roared.
I got to be frank. I was furious as hell when that bitch put her fucking hands on me. I wanted to get up and teach that whore a lesson. “I don’t give a fuck what you said! But I do know you better not put your filthy hands on me again.”
Kasey stepped toward me and raised her hand again to whack me once more, but my uncle grabbed her hand right before she struck me. “Kasey, I got this. Go have a seat.”
She snatched her hand from my uncle’s grip, rolling her eyes and sucking her teeth as she stormed away. “Lucky bitch!” she said, gritting her teeth.
Both Dré and the other guy sat back with grins on their faces. They must’ve thought that little fit Kasey was throwing was humorous. I didn’t think the shit was funny at all. Everybody in here needed their fucking heads blown off, because none of
them was dealing with full decks.
My uncle really shocked me, though. I sat there and racked my brain trying to figure out why the fuck he was in on this bullshit. I mean, come on! I had always been taught that blood was thicker than water. So why the fuck had he set me up? We were family. I was his fucking niece, for God’s sake! Where was the fucking love? I now realized that he had planned this shit with Tony way before I came to town. Which explained why he’d pressed the issue for me to come to the funeral. Now that was some grimy shit!
For the life of me, I couldn’t come up with a logical explanation for why my uncle would do this to me. He was always like a fucking father to me. I couldn’t count how many times he’d had my back in situations I couldn’t get out of. We did drift apart when I got married to Ricky, but we still kept in touch. I knew he hated the type of man Ricky was, and since I wasn’t about to let go of my husband at the time, he pretty much took the leash off me and wished me luck.
I guess the straw that broke the camel’s back was when Nikki got arrested. He didn’t say anything to me at the time, but I knew he was angry. Nikki’s mother basically talked for the both of them. She hated the whole idea of Nikki being around me, especially when she found out that Nikki got hooked up with that Syncere, who turned out to be a psycho, and then he tried to kill Nikki. So my uncle’s wife never let me live down that one. I don’t know how many times I tried to convince both of her parents that I had no hand in introducing those two. Nikki had met him on her own, but they refused to believe that, so I just threw up my hands and said fuck it.
Then Nikki left town with me so we could start a new life together, and she ended up being murdered. How fucked-up could that be? I knew it looked like every time Nikki was around me, bad things happened to her, but really all those bad things were Nikki’s own fault. Now it looked like I would pay with my life for all of Nikki’s stupid mistakes.
“I want everyone to leave this room,” my uncle instructed.
And like flunkies, everyone got up from where they were sitting and walked out of the room. When the room was completely empty, he grabbed one of the metal chairs that was placed at the table a few feet away and placed it directly in front of me. He took a seat and faced me. Looking me straight in the eyes, he said, “You know Nikki was all I had after your grandmother was murdered, right?”