That Girl Is Poison

by Tia Hines

  “I’m not gonna even entertain stories right now. Get these ladies out. Breakfast is over. Tameka’s a goner. Ginger, you need to see the nurse and then see the hole. You too, Torrey. The rest of you girls, move it out. The show is over.”

  “She started it,” Ginger yelled as we all shuffled out of the way.

  “Yeah, and I’m finishing it.” Ms. Tanner smirked.

  To my relief, it was adiós, Tameka, and hello freedom. She was kicked out of the detention center for good. No doubt she cursed me saying I was going to get mine, but I wasn’t worried. By the time she tries to come back here, I will be long gone. I only had three more weeks left in this joint, and I could care less about Tameka.

  I was on to my next task—sexing. I had a chance to continue my mission. With the help of my girls, I was able to sneak out on a regular basis. On their end, I was hooking them up with Vicodin. Yeah, I had Jen make a few phone calls for me, and we got a little street pharmacy going here. I got the girls hooked on it too. They were doing anything for me and still pressing thumbs.

  Along with the sneaking out, I was, of course, hooking up with any dudes on the block, from wherever. Inside the center, I was building up a relationship with the security guard. He would be a guaranteed help for looking out when I snuck out, and I could give him a taste to make him keep quiet.

  I waltzed pass the security station every day around 5:00 P.M. when the shifts changed. I had my eye on this dude Jerry. He wasn’t a hot shot, but he had the goods to become a victim. I knew I could get him easy. He had that I-wanna-piece-of-young-meat look in his eyes.

  “Hey, Jerry!”

  “What’s going on?”

  “You.”

  “Oh yeah!”

  “Yeah. You look good in that security uniform.”

  “Girl, you better watch yourself.”

  “Why? You gonna tell on me?”

  “Nah, I ain’t no snitch.”

  “How old are you?”

  “Too old for you!”

  “Age ain’t nothin’ but a number.”

  “Not to the law!”

  “I thought you said you ain’t no snitch.”

  “I ain’t, but I don’t mess with minors either.”

  “Hmmm. Who said I was tryin’a mess with you?”

  “Okay, continue your route, young’un.”

  He nudged me off, and I laughed as I walked away swaying my apple-bottom booty from left to right. I turned around to see if he was watching and he was. He knew he wanted this. Their eyes never lie. The booty gets them every time.

  Jerry may have said I was a young’un, but guess what young pussy he was tearing up? Desire’s. Almost every other night he wanted some.

  At first, he wanted to use condoms, and I refused, saying I was on the shot, but he still wouldn’t let up. So he got his way.

  But not for long. I guess it was so good to him, he wanted to raw-dog it. And, by golly, wow! He got what he wanted. We had a little barter going on too. Every time I gave him some, he would let me go out at night for a few.

  I was mainly meeting up with dudes, sexing them after we drank and puffed on some trees. I was continuing my mission as planned. I had to have had sex with about forty guys this summer, and no telling who they slept with. I was doing the damn thing accomplishing my goal. I was getting out of this place in about a week, and the number was definitely going to multiply.

  The night before my departure, me and Jerry planned to meet up and get our last groove on. I met him downstairs on the late night in the basement. This time he had his brother with him. It was his first night on the job. Jerry thought I was going to pull a fit about his brother tagging along, but of course I didn’t. The more, the merrier.

  I got down and dirty with both of them, and while his brother Andrew was taking his turn, the supervisor Diane walked in on us. She was the fill-in for Ms. Tanner, who was on vacation. I was in some deep shit now.

  I fumbled to put my clothes on and ran up the stairs.

  “What the hell were you doing down there?”

  I stood there unresponsive. What did she expect me to say—having sex? Duh, she saw me.

  “Do you know you just violated all ethical codes, rules, and regulations?”

  Andrew walked up the stairs as she said this.

  “And, you, your shift is complete for the night. Report to my office first thing in the morning for a termination hearing. Where’s Jerry?”

  Luckily Jerry had gone to the bathroom. He was saved. She had no clue he was in on it.

  “Come to my office now, Desire.”

  I walked to Diane’s office as if I was on stilts. I knew I was going home tomorrow and there was nothing she could do to me, but in the back of my mind I was thinking maybe she could prolong my stay.

  “Sit your ass down right there. I am so disgusted at what I just saw.”

  She pulled out my file.

  “Oh, I see. You’re going home tomorrow, and you thought you could get away with anything, huh. Sorry, baby, it doesn’t work like that around here. I’m a tough one to come by, especially when a young lady like you is doing something so disrespectful like this. It’s not only disrespectful to me, but it’s disrespectful to you and your body.”

  She had to be the one to preach. She had me so caught up in her words that I really began to think that what I did was wrong, but it wasn’t though. It wasn’t! She didn’t know what I had been through. She didn’t know me.

  “I’m fine with what I was doing. I’m not stupid. I know what I’m doing.”

  “Oh, so I got a conscious person who knows it all. Did you know that you just got an employee a statutory rape case, huh? Did you know that this place can be shut down within a heartbeat if something like this gets reported? And guess where you would spend the rest of your time? Prison. It wouldn’t matter if you were a minor or not.”

  She didn’t scare me, and I could give two shits about a damn statutory rape case. I ain’t taking nobody to court.

  “Oh, you’re quiet now, huh?”

  “What you want me to say?” I smirked. Why is she wasting my time? I’m out of here in like nine hours.

  “Okay, smart-ass. Since this is all a big joke to you, laugh at this. Go unpack. Because guess what? You’re snaking this joint out for another month, and I better not catch you so much as talking to any males in this facility or else.”

  “You can’t do that! I’m leaving tomorrow.”

  “I can do whatever I please. Try me if you want to.”

  I stormed out of her office and headed to my bed.

  Jerry tried to get my attention on the way, but I ignored him. I was so furious inside, he might have gotten a chronic curse-out that he didn’t deserve.

  I got to my bed and couldn’t sleep the entire night. I couldn’t do another month in this hellhole. This was ludicrous.

  I did my extra month, and it was torture. Diane was clocking me like white on rice. Every move I made she was there. She had me doing all kinds of labor. If I wasn’t washing dishes for all three meals, then I was scrubbing tables. And if I wasn’t doing that, then I was sweeping, mopping, washing down the walls, or getting together loads of trash barehanded. I was working like a slave. No different from my years at home.

  I needed to get out. I was starting to feel too confined. I needed to infect someone. I’d been off track for a few weeks now, and I wasn’t feeling like myself. I was fienin’ to give someone HIV.

  Jerry even stopped letting me go out, let alone talk to me. The new security guard, Shane, was trying to get at me, but he was just disgusting. He had what we young people call a yuck mouth—inflamed gums, yellow stains between the teeth, and breath you can smell from a mile away. As much as I was craving for my next prey, I was not about to jeopardize it on stankin’ Shane. He had a skunky body odor too, and the closer you got to him, the more awful he smelled.

  I was too anxious the night before I was scheduled to leave. I went to sleep way before the lights went out.

&n
bsp; I rolled over in the middle of my sleep to find a light shining in my face.

  “Desire, you ’sleep?”

  I look up, and it was Shane. “What?”

  “You ’sleep?”

  “Mmm-hmm!”

  “Come on, get up.”

  “For what?”

  “Because you have to come with me.”

  “I didn’t do anything.”

  He picked me up out of my bed and placed his hand over my mouth.

  Ugh! His hands smelled like he had been playing in shit. His body odor was below zero, and he was touching me, violating me. I started kicking for him to let go of me. This was not about to happen. He got me out of the room and dragged me down to the basement, which was only one flight down from the sleeping area. He pushed me up against the wall, held me so I couldn’t move, and unbuckled his pants with one hand.

  “When I say you get up, I mean what I say, trick. You know you leaving tomorrow and you ain’t gonna give me none? You gave Jerry and his brother some.”

  His breath smelled like garlic and sour milk. I wanted to scream, but he was still covering my mouth. I began to cry. This was not about to happen again. His hand loosened up a little, and I bit into his skin, but it didn’t faze him.

  He got my pants down, and then Jerry opened the basement door and flashed the light for a quick second.

  There is a God. My panic eased up.

  “Oh, my fault, dog. Do your thang.”

  Can he not see what’s going on? This guy is trying to rape me.

  Jerry’s little distraction allowed me the opportunity to knee Shane in the balls. I struck him as hard as I could. As he curled over, I bolted up the stairs and was heading out the door.

  Jerry stood in my way as I tried to push the door open. “Hold up, Desire. Where you going?”

  “Out of this fucking place!”

  Shane came up the stairs with his clothes properly fixed.

  “Get him the hell away from me. He just tried to rape me.”

  “Okay, calm down,” Jerry insisted.

  “That bitch is lying, man. You know I ain’t try to rape her. Why would I try to rape somebody who already gives it up?”

  “He’s lying.”

  From all of the commotion, Diane had come downstairs. “What the hell is going on here?”

  “He tried to rape me,” I screamed in tears, pointing at Shane.

  “What?” she exclaimed.

  “Girl, I didn’t try to rape you. Don’t you lie on me.”

  “I ain’t lying!”

  “You are. Lying bitch!”

  He tried to charge at me, but Jerry held him back. “Wait. Everybody calm down.”

  “Desire, come here.”

  I walked over to Diane. She whispered for me to go to my sleeping quarters and promised we would talk in a few, after she dealt with Shane and Jerry.

  I woke up that morning tired as all hell because I didn’t get any sleep. I was paranoid the entire night and afraid that someone was going to try and do something to me. So I remained wide awake until the lights came on. Diane had never come to talk to me like she said she would. I was happy to see the lights come on. I piled my stuff up and carried everything I had to the first floor.

  “Desire, you have to eat breakfast first,” Diane informed me.

  “I don’t want breakfast. I just wanna be released.” I was in one of those moods. I had to get out of here.

  “All right, no breakfast, but let me talk to you for a minute. Come to my office so you can be properly discharged.”

  I walked to her office. She had me sit and wait for her for like a half an hour. If this was going to be the case, then I would’ve eaten breakfast. I skipped, not wanting to delay my release.

  She strolled in the room with coffee in her hand. I was so mad. I could have knocked that shit right out of her hand for having me waiting so long.

  She took her seat behind her desk with a smirk on her face. “That stunt you pulled last night was clever but not good enough to get past Dynamite Diane.”

  “What stunt? Shane came to my bunk and pulled me out of my bed against my will.”

  “Desire, you know men are not allowed in the bunk area, especially the security guards, since the incident with you and Andrew.”

  I can’t believe this shit. Here I am complaining about what was about to happen to me for the third time and this bitch doesn’t believe me. And I’m wrong for doing what I do?

  “I have no reason to lie.”

  “And I have no reason to believe you.”

  “Shane was trying to rape me,” I yelled, almost in tears.

  “You have two options. Either you tell the truth, or you are here for another month.”

  “I’m telling the fucking truth! He tried to fucking rape me, and I want to press charges!”

  “You think somebody is going to believe your story? Especially when I’ve already let them know what I walked in on the first time you were supposed to be discharged?”

  I sat silent knowing she was right. I could do nothing. Telling the truth and crying wasn’t going to get me out of this one.

  The office telephone rang.

  “What? . . . Yeah . . . Okay . . . Handle that.”

  I stared her down for the three seconds she was on the phone. This would not have happened if she had just let me go home the first time.

  “I fucking hate you!”

  I grabbed my bags to get up leave, and she rushed behind me.

  “You can’t leave. Sit down.”

  “Blow me!”

  She grabbed my shoulder, and I yanked her off.

  “Get off of me!” I power-walked to the door.

  “No, Desire, you can’t go—”

  I ran out of her office. She chased me, and I made sure to stay far enough ahead so she couldn’t reach out and grab me.

  I bolted out of the front door, and before I could get down the stairs, Tameka stood in my way. She had come back as promised. She charged at me as I stood surprised, but I quickly regained my senses and was ready to go toe to toe. I dropped my bags and everything.

  She pulled out a knife.

  I tried to pick up my feet and run, but my feet wouldn’t move. It was too late. She got me, just like she said. I held my chest as blood seeped out. I felt the side of my face split open as she slid the blade across my cheek and through the corners of my mouth. I fell to the ground helpless.

  She dropped the knife, got on top of me, and attempted to choke me, but I gained control. I started wailing on her nonstop.

  I busted her lip open, and then went for the opportunity. She was right at hand to taste my blood. I pulled her closer to me and started kissing her.

  Staff ran over and pulled us apart.

  I started coughing up blood. Tameka had my blood all over her face. I chuckled, knowing I had just made her a new HIV patient.

  “You dirty dike! You nasty bitch! Tryin’-a kiss me. I should have killed you,” she yelled.

  I continued to chuckle in pain. She had gotten me, but I got her ass too. I knew that her open wounds had absorbed a good portion of my blood. I knew it did, and I was laughing inside.

  I started feeling woozy. I coughed up more blood, holding my chest.

  “Someone call an ambulance. She’s bleeding a lot. I think they’re both hurt.”

  I lay on my side, feeling like I was choking, shaking.

  “She’s losing blood quickly. She might not make it. Where’s that damn ambulance?”

  A short time later, the paramedics rushed over, announcing, “We’re here.”

  They put me on a stretcher in a flash, got me in the ambulance, and sped off.

  “Step on it, Charley. She’s losing consciousness.”

  A loud beeping noise sounded off.

  “Ah shit! We need more pressure!”

  “Nah, man, she’s leaving.”

  “Shit! Shit! Shit! I don’t have a pulse anymore!”

  “Damn it, Charley. Not another one. She�
��s just a baby.”

  Chapter 29

  This all could have been avoided if I had just listened to Diane and sat my ass back down. But nooooooo. Desire had to be hardheaded and make a run for it. And look where it left me. Hooked up to a damn heart monitor with bandages across my face.

  I was in a heap of pain. My chest hurt every move I made, and I practically had no feeling in my face. I was going to be scarred for life. Ain’t nobody gonna want me to put it on them now. Shit, that bitch! Oooh wee! She got hers though. I ain’t mad. She put a dent in my plans, but I got her.

  I positioned my bed to lean back so I wouldn’t be so upright and while in motion a visitor walked through the door. It was Christine. The lady that did nothing but give birth to me. I almost went into cardiac arrest. Why is she here? Why is she in my presence again unexpected?

  “How are you, honey? I got here as quickly as I could.”

  I rolled my eyes then closed them, wishing that when I opened them back up, she’d be gone.

  “Oh, look at my baby. I can’t stand to see you like this,” she cried.

  “Then why you here?” I asked, barely moving my mouth, trying not to aggravate the stitched corners.

  “You almost died, Desire, and please, baby, don’t talk. I know it hurts for you to talk.”

  “I’m fine,” I spoke through my clenched teeth.

  “No. Fine is when you don’t have to be admitted to the hospital and then have life-saving surgery. That’s fine. I almost lost you. You wouldn’t believe how fast I rushed down here. People were cursing at me, blowing their horns, and—”

  “I guess I have to be on my death bed to hear from you.”

  “Desire, please don’t start. I’m here, okay. Give me a chance.”

  “You had a chance.”

  “I made a mistake, a huge mistake. I chose my career over my child. I’m sorry baby.”

  “Apology not accepted.”

  “Desire, what else do you expect me to say?”

  I lay there blinking repeatedly, trying to halt the tears. She sounded so sincere. I wanted to believe her, but in the back of my mind, I felt it was phony.

  “Just leave me alone.”

  “No, I’ve done it once, and I’m not going to do it again.”