by Kiki Swinson
Dré and Kasey both laughed at Breon after he left.
“Did you see that nigga’s face? He was pissed off,” Kasey said.
“He ain’t really pissed off about the money. He’s mad because his girl told him to be home an hour ago to get the kids while she went to work.”
“Shit! He’s flipping on us like it’s our fault.”
“Don’t take it personal. You know how he acts when shit ain’t going his way. He’ll be a’ight when L.L. gets here and hands him his paper,” Dré said.
I can’t tell you where Breon went, but I knew he went outside. Dré and Kasey eventually stopped talking about Breon and jumped to another subject.
My head was still throbbing, and my vagina was having its own episode. For the life of me, I couldn’t collect my thoughts. I tried praying to God a couple of times, but as soon as I got halfway through the prayer, my mind went blank.
Kasey also threw off my train of thought when she started talking about one particular chick on the rap video. She disgusted the hell out of me when she talked about how fat this chick’s ass was. Dré sat back and laughed with her like they were both sitting in the front row of a fucking comedy show.
It didn’t take long for Breon to come back into the house. I assumed he just went outside to catch some fresh air, since he hadn’t done so while he was in the house watching me. When he walked back into the room where we were, he took a seat on the sofa next to Kasey. Kasey looked at Dré, but neither one of them said a word to Breon, who sat there in complete silence the entire time. I could tell he was angry, and they knew it too.
I decided to block these assholes out of my head and think about Uncle Lanier. I knew he was on his way back, so my time was about to run out. There was no way I could tell him what his flunkies had done to me, and he’d actually do something about it, because I was on his shit list. I would be wasting my breath.
Some way or another, though, they needed to pay for what they’d done to me. Everyone, including my uncle, needed to suffer on some level. I had no idea how it would happen, but I knew it needed to be done.
Every child in the world had their own imaginary superhero, but I really needed one to rescue me now. Where the fuck was Superman when I needed him?
Tied up to a chair with my mouth duct-taped, all I could think about was where I’d gone wrong and how I’d ended up here. I believed that God existed. I was brought up in the church, so I knew He was real. But what I wanted to know was, Where is He when I need Him the most?
From the day I’d met Ricky, I thought my life had turned around for the better, but in all actuality, it had made a turn for the worse. All the expensive cars, the clothes, the money, and our beautiful home blinded me from seeing that I had fallen into a trap. From the moment I had a taste of the good life, it was hard for me to have anything less. After Ricky got killed, every man I’d affiliated myself with had plenty of money. And if I looked at the pattern, every last one of those cats had some type of baggage, so our relationship always fell to the wayside.
Unfortunately, my cousin Nikki followed in my footsteps, because I created an image in her mind. She was so blinded by all my possessions, she couldn’t see the shit I had to go through to get them. In her twisted head, I was an idol. And because she wanted to walk in my shoes, she created a similar life, and it resulted in her own demise. Now I had to pay for her mistakes with my own life, which was really fucked up. If I had a choice to turn back the clock, I would’ve walked in the opposite direction when I saw Ricky coming my way, and then my life would’ve been drama-free. My grandmother would still be here, Quincy would still be here, and Nikki would still be here. Most importantly, I wouldn’t be tied up in a stash house, praying that God would spare my life.
The pain in my head started subsiding, but my insides still throbbed with intense pain. I knew the only thing that would help ease the soreness was some type of narcotic. Not only would the narcotic numb my pain, but it might even help me to forget where I was.
As I was daydreaming about pain relief, I heard a loud knock on the door. My heart fell into the pit of my stomach. There was no doubt in my mind that it was Uncle Lanier. He had already called Dré and informed him that he was on his way, so it had to be him.
Kasey jumped to her feet and dashed to the front door. I looked at Dré and Breon, and they both looked back at me. I knew they saw the fear in my eyes because my pupils became enlarged, and sweat pellets poured from my forehead.
I heard the front door open, and then I heard a voice say, “Where is Breon?”
I couldn’t believe it. It was a woman’s voice asking for Breon. She sounded really upset, so I figured it had to be his baby’s mama.
Kasey yelled, “Breon, Sabrina at the door.”
“Oh, so you ain’t gon’ let me come in the house?”
“Nah, ’cause they handling some business back there.”
Sabrina snapped. “When the fuck did y’all change the rules ’round here? Kasey, you know you been letting me come in the house when they handling business in the back!”
Kasey sighed. “I know, but it’s really some heavy shit going on back there. And, plus, we got this new dude back there, and he’s real paranoid about letting people in the house when he’s here, so that’s why I can’t let you in.”
Sabrina sucked her teeth. “What the fuck ever! I didn’t want to come in this piece of shit anyway!”
Breon hopped up from the sofa and raced to the front door. If I had a chance to get her attention, I wouldn’t care if these motherfuckers in here killed me afterward. Just knowing I took a chance to get out of this place would allow me to die peacefully.
When Breon got to the front door, I heard him say, “What’s up, boo?”
“Why the fuck you ain’t been home yet?” she screamed. “You knew I had to be at work over an hour ago.”
While Breon stood there and explained himself, Kasey brought her gay ass back in the room with me and Dré.
Dré looked at her and whispered, “I’m glad you didn’t let that bitch walk in here.”
“She tried to,” she whispered back, “but I stuck my foot in the door and stopped her.”
“Can you just give me about fifteen more minutes? The nigga I’m waiting on said he was on his way here.”
“How the fuck you gon’ tell me to give you fifteen more minutes when I’m already late for work? Them crackers in that nursing home already trying to fire my ass for all those other times I came in late, and now you telling me to give you a few more minutes. Fuck that, ’cause you sound real stupid!”
Then it got really quiet.
Next I heard some footsteps, and then I heard Breon say, “What the fuck you doing?”
Several seconds later, a child’s voice asked, “Mommy, where you going?”
Then another child chimed in and asked the same question. The children sounded like they were at least four to five years old.
“Come on, Sabrina, you know you can’t leave them here like that!” Breon yelled.
Kasey and Dré both jumped to their feet and rushed toward the front door to see what was going on.
Boy, this would’ve been a perfect time for me to escape. No one was in the room with me, so if I had enough strength to get my hands untied, I could’ve gotten the fuck out of there, and they wouldn’t have been able to do shit about it. Unfortunately, all my strength and will was gone from the abuse I’d suffered.
“Yo, dog, they can’t stay here,” Dré said.
“Yeah, Breon. What the fuck is she doing?”
Breon ignored them both. He was more focused on trying to get Sabrina not to leave the kids with him. He must have known how detrimental it would be to those kids if they saw me bound and tied up. “Fuck you, nigga! I gotta go to work! And I’m not gonna let you or
anybody else get me fired!”
Shortly after that I heard a car door slam, and then I heard tires squeal as the car drove off.
Breon must’ve walked away from th
e house, because Dré and Kasey both were talking mad shit about him while his kids ran around on the front porch. I guess Dré and Kasey stood at the front door to keep them from running into the house.
Several minutes later, I heard Breon’s voice again. “Man, I hate that bitch sometimes!”
“Whatcha gon’ do with the kids? You know you can’t bring ’em in here,” Dré said.
“So what I’m gon’ do with ’em? Leave ’em outside?” Breon asked. “Come on now, dog. Don’t ask me that!”
“Well, I’m telling you right now that I ain’t gon’ leave ’em outside!”
“Take ’em upstairs,” Kasey suggested.
I was waiting for Breon to respond, but he didn’t. All I heard was a clatter of footsteps going up the staircase.
Kasey and Dré marched their asses back in the room with me. As soon as they sat back down, they started running their mouths about Breon. Kasey thought it was funny that his baby’s mama dropped off the kids at the front door and then bailed on Breon.
“She’s stupid as hell!” Dré said. “I don’t even know why he still puts up with her shit! I would’ve packed my shit a long time ago.”
“I would’ve left her ass a long time ago too,” Kasey said.
I sat back and listened to them bad-mouth Sabrina. They spoke in a low tone to prevent Breon from hearing them. I had only been here for a few hours, and I could tell that Breon was a different breed from Kasey and Dré. It seemed like these two leaned on each other, while Breon stood alone, because he had more backbone. I could also tell that they wouldn’t stand up against him if a war ever broke out amongst them.
Dré and Kasey drowned themselves in the television, surfing through the channels, looking for rap videos. Then, when they got tired of that, Kasey persuaded Dré to stick in a porno DVD. Kasey sat back on the sofa, giddy as hell, when the movie started.
I was fucking disgusted. I would’ve puked on myself if I my mouth wasn’t duct-taped. How dare they watch this bullshit in front of me? I felt violated all over again, especially after what they’d done to me.
While all the fucking and sucking was going on with these characters on this bootleg movie, I saw a shadow move through my peripheral vision. The shit scared the hell out of me, so I jumped and got the attention of Kasey and Dré.
“What the fuck!” Dré jumped to his feet.
I saw a little head and hand peer around the corner into the room where we were, and then the person vanished. I knew it was one of Breon’s kids.
Dré caught the little kid before he or she could get away. “Yo, Bre!” Dré yelled when he got into the hallway.
“Yeah,” I heard Breon reply, but it was very faint.
A little voice said, “He’s in the bathroom.”
“Yo, Damon, get your ass upstairs with your pops before I take my belt off,” Dré threatened.
When I heard Dré chastise the child by his name, I knew it was a little boy who’d sneaked downstairs. I didn’t get a good look at him, so I couldn’t say how old he was, but I just hoped he had enough sense to go home and tell his mother what he’d seen.
“I told him not to go downstairs,” a little girl said.
“Shut up and stop being a tattletale,” Damon said as he marched upstairs.
“Get cha ass up here!” Breon roared.
“Yo, man, he came down here and peeped into the back room,” Dré told him.
“Did he see homegirl?”
“Hell yeah, he saw her.”
Smack!
“Oooowww! That hurts,” Damon said.
“Nigga, get your ass in that fucking room, and don’t you come out!” Breon growled.
Dré was pissed off, but he didn’t dwell on it. All he said to Breon was that he needed to handle the situation.
“I got this,” Breon said.
Dré didn’t say another word. He walked back into the room where Kasey and I were and sat down.
Kasey asked, “How the fuck he let Damon get out the room?”
“He was in the bathroom, and Damon snuck out.”
“You think he gon’ tell his mama what he saw?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, we can’t take that chance,” Kasey said. “As soon as L.L. gets back, he’s gon’ have to take her out of here.”
“Where the fuck he gon’ take her?”
“That ain’t our motherfucking problem. We did our part. We knocked her out, tied her up, and held her until he got here. Now all the rest of that shit is on him.”
“I know he ain’t gon’ be trying to move her out of here. It’s gon’ be too risky.”
“So what the fuck was he gon’ do with her anyway? I mean, he was gon’ have to take her out of here eventually.”
“Whatcha think Breon is here for?” Dré asked. “I’m not following you.”
Before Dré said another word, he hesitated and looked at me. I looked straight into his eyes and waited for him to explain himself, but when realized I was eavesdropping on their conversation, he tried to put a lid on it.
“Come here and let me holler at you for a minute,” he told Kasey, and got up from the sofa. And they walked into the kitchen.
I strained myself to hear them, but it was impossible. I heard them whispering, but their words were indistinguishable. Whatever it was they didn’t want me to hear had to be bad. I mean, what could be worse than what had already been done to me? Unless my uncle planned to kill me or have me killed. Knowing that could be a possibility scared the shit out of me. I didn’t want to be killed. I wasn’t ready to meet my Maker. I still had some things I wanted to do before I left this earth.
While they were in their huddle, someone knocked on the front door. My heart skipped a beat. This time I knew it was my uncle. He was the only one they’d been expecting to come here.
Dré strolled toward the front door, while Kasey walked back into the room with me.
Immediately after Dré opened the door, I heard my uncle say, “Man, you won’t believe all the shit I had to deal with.”
My heart started racing. Whatever his plans were for me, I knew he was about to carry them out. It became clear to me that his only purpose for keeping me alive was for me to tell him what had really happened to Nikki. Once he got me to spill the beans, I wouldn’t be any good to him.
I heard both of their footsteps walking down the hallway. The closer they came to entering the room, the faster my heart pumped. I was filled with so many emotions, I couldn’t think straight. I knew I was about to embark on yet another one of my uncle’s grueling torture sessions.
When he turned the corner, he looked straight at me. Then his eyes drifted toward my legs. His eyes looked bloodshot, and his face menacing. Everything about him looked evil, so I became more terrified than before.
“Didn’t she have on some stockings?” he asked.
Dré started stuttering. “Yeah-uh-uh, she had some on, but, uh- uh—”
“She had to use the bathroom,” Kasey said. “She just didn’t put ’em back on.”
“Y ’all took her to the bathroom?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Kasey told him. “Why? I mean, was we not supposed to?”
“I would’ve made her piss on herself and see how she liked it.”
“Nah, we didn’t want to be that cruel,” Kasey said. “Besides, we got bigger problems than that.”
“What’s the problem?” Lanier looked at Dré and Kasey.
“You gon’ have to take her out of here,” Dré said.
“Why the fuck I gotta take her out of here?” he roared. “I thought Breon was gonna handle it when I was done with her.”
“That’s how it was supposed to be. But Breon’s baby’s mama came by and dropped off her kids on the front porch and left, so Breon took ’em upstairs. But while he was in the bathroom, his son snuck downstairs and saw homegirl tied up. Now the li’l boy is six years old, so he’s old enough to understand what the fuck is going on. But we’re not sure if he’s gonna go back and
tell his mama what he saw.”
My uncle’s face turned red. “Where is Breon now?”
“Upstairs,” Kasey said.
“Tell ’im to come downstairs, but make sure you tell ’im to leave his kids upstairs.”
Kasey ran upstairs and returned with Breon several minutes later. Breon looked like he wasn’t in the mood for idle chitchat. “What’s up?” he asked.
“Dré just told me your son snuck downstairs and saw Kira tied up, so now I’m gonna have to switch shit up and take her out of here.”
“You ain’t gotta take her out of here,” Breon said.
“Why he don’t?” Dré asked.
“Because my son ain’t gon’ say shit!”
“Breon, we can’t take that chance,” Dré said.
“So what the fuck you gon’ do then?”
My uncle turned to look at Dré, who seemed to have all the answers. Dré stood there with a puzzled expression.
“How are we gonna get her out of here without anybody seeing her?” Lanier asked. “Because we aren’t gonna be able to take her out the front door.”
“We gon’ have to knock her out cold, wrap her up in a blanket, and take her out through the back,” Dré said.
“Everything you said sounded good up to the part where we take her through the back,” my uncle said. “How the hell are we going to get her in the trunk of the car, when there’s no driveway that leads from the front of the house to the back?”
Everyone in the room fell silent.
“Fuck it! We gon’ have to take her out the front door,” Dré said.
“We can’t take her out of here tied up with fucking tape across her mouth,” Lanier said.
“I know that. We gon’ have to let her walk out of here like she walked in here, but this time we gon’ have to stick a burner in her back and let her know that if she opens her fucking mouth, we gon’ put a hot one in her.”
“That shit ain’t gon’ work!” Breon said. “You think she gives a fuck if one of us got a fucking burner in her back to shoot her if she opened her mouth? Man, wake the fuck up and smell the coffee. Look at what she’s going through in here with us. You think she ain’t gonna take the chance to scream for help if somebody was around?”