by Ambria Davis
Getting to Troy could be a task because she has two little bodyguards that are always by her side or right around the corner. Finding Kaylin will be easy. His ass don’t know that I downloaded an app on his phone that lets me track his location. I wasn’t worried about him right now. I was going to get to him later, because right now, I needed to finish this shit with these bitches first.
* * *
I wanted that ho Troy bad. She took the only thing that I had tied to Kaylin, and now I wanna take her life. I thought the bitch would’ve been an easy target, but I should’ve known better. I guess after we trashed the salon and wrote them letters, we spooked that ho. She went and got her some bodyguards. Hell, even without the bodyguards, she looked like she was able to hold her own. I saw that when she blasted Star twice. She was going to slip up, though. When she does, her ass will be mine. I’m going to just fall back for a minute and let that ho think that Star was acting by herself. The minute she decides to let her guard down is when I’m going to strike.
Since I had to ditch the car and travel on foot, I used that time to come up with a plan. I needed a way to get close to Troy without her niggas being there. I wasn’t trying to end up like Star. I just knew that she was dead somewhere by now. Hell, if she wasn’t dead when dude threw her in the trunk, I knew they killed her when they took her to her final destination. Either way, I didn’t care.
I know y’all think that sounds cold, but, hell, I was going to kill her ass too. They just beat me to the punch and did the job for me. Why would I let her live when we both were after the same man? Shit, I wanted Mimi out of the picture. You think I’d let some other chick come in and be my competition? Hell to the no. I wanted Kaylin for myself, and I wasn’t trying to share him. It was bad enough that I had to share him with Mimi when she was here. I ain’t in the business of sharing no more.
Pulling out my phone, I decided to call Kaylin’s phone. I know his ass wasn’t still mad about what went down weeks ago. If he was, he needed to get over that shit because we were going to be together forever. I must be tripping. Did the recording just say that the number has been disconnected? I thought that I had misdialed, so I dialed the number again. Sure as hell, I got the same recording.
“I know this nigga ain’t changed his number like a little bitch,” I said, heated. “That’s okay, I know how to find yo’ ass.” I went on the Internet to the site that let me find my iPhone, entered in his information, and waited for the app to tell me where he was. I almost threw my phone down when that thing came back with an error message.
“This shit must be wrong,” I said, typing in the information again. When I got the same error message again, I nearly knocked over a trash can, that’s how mad I was. “This nigga think he can play me. What he needs to know is that I can’t be played. I’m the one who does the playing. Now I gotta put off handling that bitch Troy to find his ass!” I ranted.
I’m sure all the people that passed me by thought that I was some type of crazy person, but I’m not crazy. I tried telling that to my parents when they took me to see a shrink, but, no, they ain’t want to listen to me. They insisted that I see that white bitch. That’s why I had to toe tag they asses. I couldn’t just sit on a couch all day and vent about my feelings. That wasn’t for me. I was always one to do something, you know, take action. Which is why after I find Kaylin, I will handle Troy.
I was so busy talking to myself that I didn’t realize I had made it to the gas station. Walking into the store, I asked the dude behind the counter to use the phone. He talked a lot of shit, but he still let me use it. He’s lucky I ain’t feel like fussing with his foreign ass, or else I would’ve gave him a piece of my mind. Instead, I simply called a cab, rolled my eyes, and threw his phone at him.
As I was leaving, he said some smart-ass shit in his native language. I just flipped his ass the bird and went outside to wait for my cab. Going to jail was not on my agenda. The only thing on my mind at this moment was finding Kaylin’s ass.
Mimi
I can’t say I’m happy to be here sitting in this hospital bed, but I’m happy to be alive and well. Well, I’m not actually well. In fact, I’m banged up pretty damn bad, but the fact that I’m still breathing works for me. So, yeah, you could say I’m thankful as hell right now.
I’ve only been up a few hours, but I feel like I can move a fucking mountain right now. Well, that’s what I thought before I called myself getting out of the bed and busted my ass on that hard-ass hospital floor earlier. It took two nurses to get my ass off that floor, and I was shocked because my ass is skinny as fuck right now. I mean, I was never a big girl, but at least I had a little meat on my bones. Right now, I feel like a skeleton. I guess being in a medically induced coma for two weeks will do that to you.
The first person I wanted to call this morning was Kaylin, but for some strange reason, his phone was disconnected. I thought I was tripping when I called and heard the recording, but sure enough, when I called the second and third time, the same recording claimed that the number was disconnected or no longer in service. “What the fuck?” I said, looking at the phone in disbelief. “What the fuck is this nigga up to?”
I wanted and needed to hear his voice badly. I also wanted to find out why his ass wasn’t here in this hospital room waiting for me to wake up. Oh, and where the hell are my kids and Troy? Where’s my best friend? I can’t believe she’s not here with me right now. Something must be wrong, because I know that Troy would’ve been the first person I saw when I woke up. Instead, I’m looking at an empty room and four white walls.
Pushing the call button for the nurse, I waited patiently for them to send someone in the room. I made sure to keep my ass still this time, because I wasn’t trying to have a repeat of last time. I didn’t need these people detaining my ass again. I wanted to get my ass outta here as soon as possible so I could see what the hell was going on and where the hell everyone was at.
I was just about to use the phone when someone came walking through the door. Looking over by the door, I saw this short, little, eyeglass-wearing nurse enter. She was dressed in blue scrubs and wearing braids. She looked like she was in her forties, but whatever her age was—she wore it well.
“Hi, my name is Margie, and I’m going to be your nurse this morning.” She held a medication tray in her hand.
“Hello,” I replied. “How long have I been in here?”
“Hmm, let me see,” she said, picking up my chart. “Well, it looks like you’ve been here about two weeks.”
“Can you tell me what happened to me? How did I get here?”
“I’ll get the doctor in here, and he’ll be able to tell you everything, but in the meantime, do you need anything? Are you having any pain? Would you like something to eat or drink?”
“I could use something for the pain, but can I ask you something else?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Please call me Mimi. Has anyone been by to see me these past two weeks?”
“Uhhh, not that I know of. The only one who been by to check on you is a detective,” she said, nodding.
“Are you sure that no one’s been by to see me?” I asked again for clarification.
“Yes, Mimi, I’m sure,” she replied, nodding again.
“You wouldn’t happen to have a name and number for the detective, would you?” Shit, if no one had any answers, he should have some.
“Hold on a minute and I’ll go and see if he left it at the nurse’s station.”
“Okay, thank you, Margie.” She was being so nice, and I thanked God for that. Some nurses wouldn’t work one extra second to help you. They’d brush you off as if you didn’t mean shit.
“I’m going to have to sit you up to check your bandages,” she said, moving toward the head of the hospital bed.
“Oh, okay,” I mumbled as I tried to sit up. Instantly, I felt a sharp pain and grimaced, leaning back on the pillows.
“Oh, no, I’ll raise the bed up. That way, all you’re goin
g to have to do is lean forward a little bit,” she reassured me.
“Okay.”
First, she checked my vital signs, then when she was done, she raised the head of the bed slowly and threw on a fresh pair of gloves.
“Lean forward just a little bit. I’ll help you.” Margie reached over and held my shoulder, making sure that I didn’t lean too far. I held on to her forearm, while she checked my bandages. “They’re seeping a bit, so I’m going to get the doctor in here to take a quick peek and see what he wants me to do.”
“Oh, okay. How many times was I shot?”
“You were shot a total of four times. You were lucky, though. You were within inches of your life. They thought you were dead until the coroner came and felt a faint pulse. You even flatlined a time or two on your way here, but they managed to get you back,” Margie said, choking up and shaking her head. “Ain’t God good? You were touched by an angel, honey.”
I sat back and thought about what she had said, but the question that kept bouncing around in my mind was, Who the hell shot me four times and left me for dead? To my knowledge, I didn’t have any beef with anyone down here, so I was clueless as to who would want me dead.
I was just about to about to ask her if she knew anything about what had happened to me when a man dressed in a red button-down, True Religion jeans, and some white Js came strolling through the door. I knew for a fact he wasn’t a doctor, because he didn’t have on a white coat. I also knew that he wasn’t someone I was familiar with, so the burning question I needed to be answered was, “Who the hell is he?”
As if he was reading my mind or something, he said, “I’m Detective Webber, and I’m the lead detective that’s working on your case.”
With a confused look on my face, I simply blinked and said, “Okay.”
I watched him as he stood there waiting for the nurse to finish what she was doing. I silently chuckled to myself thinking, His ass know he was good and wrong for that shit. He too damn old to try to be dressing so young. I don’t know why, but I hated the police. I never dealt with the law. I always took matters into my own hands. People always told me to never trust them boys in blue because they were full of shit.
“Okay, Mimi, I’m done. I just have to go and get the doctor to take a look at your back and make sure that everything is okay.” Margie helped me lie back down on the bed, making sure that I was comfortable. “In the meantime, I want you to relax and not stress yourself out. Remember, if you need anything, just push the call button and ask for Nurse Margie.”
“Okay, thank you, Margie, I will.”
“I’ll be back to check on you within the hour.”
“Okay, thanks again.”
“Good afternoon, Detective,” she nodded as she walked by him.
“Afternoon, ma’am,” he replied. He waited until she was gone before he came closer to my hospital bed. Pulling up a chair, he took a seat.
“Hello, Miss Washington, like I said earlier, I’m Detective Webber,” he said, putting on his glasses and took out his pen and paper. “I came to see if you remember what happened to you two weeks ago when you were shot. Do you remember anything?”
“Umm, uhh, I . . . I . . . I’ve been in here for two weeks?” I asked, baffled.
“Yes, ma’am. I’m here to see if you remember anything about that night so that we can catch the person who did this to you.”
I sat there silently as I scrolled through my memory bank to see if I could remember anything, but nothing stood out. The last thing I remembered was that I was sitting at home, waiting on Kaylin to come. Kaylin had been spending a lot of time away from home, and I’d decided that I was putting my foot down that night. I was tired of his ass always being gone, but—wait a minute—Margie and the detective said that I’ve been in here for two weeks. Who the fuck shot me? Where are my kids? And, why the fuck have I been in here for two weeks and no one has checked on me?
Focusing my attention back on Detective Webber, I mumbled, “I’m sorry, but I can’t seem to remember anything.” I was being honest, because I really don’t remember anything, and if I did, then I wasn’t going to tell him. I was just going to let Kaylin handle whomever it was that shot me.
“Umm, do you know where my kids and my fiancé are? The nurse told me that no one has been by to see me since I’ve been here, except you. Did you all tell them not to come here?”
“Ma’am, the reason they haven’t been here is because we can’t locate them.”
“You can’t locate them? Were they shot too? Did they die?” I asked in a panic, trying to sit up. What if whoever had shot me kidnapped them, or worse, killed them? Why aren’t they able to find them? The questions flowed through my mind faster than I could process them.
Everything that came out of his mouth was a blur. I heard him, but I didn’t hear him at all. I was too busy trying to figure out where my family was.
“No, it’s not like that. It seems that Mr. Williams was actually the one who shot you. He also killed Mr. Tyreek Carter, and then ran off with your kids.”
“No, that can’t be right. Why would Kaylin shoot me, and then run off with the kids?” I asked, confused. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Well, according to your sister Troy, you were planning on leaving him because you found out that he was cheating on you,” he said, dropping another bomb on me. This shit was getting harder and harder to bear by the second. When and how did I find out that Kaylin was cheating on me? Again, I went into my memory bank, but I still can’t remember anything.
“Ma’am, I know that this is a hard pill to swallow, and it’s going to take some time for you to process it all. With the statements from your sister and other daughter, coupled with the evidence we have, rest assured that this will be an open-and-shut case once we catch him.”
I was still stuck on the fact that he said Kaylin was the one who shot me. I couldn’t get anything else to register right away. “Hold up—repeat that again. I think I heard you wrong just now.”
“Umm, as I said, the facts are there. Mr. Williams shot you and Mr. Carter, and then took your kids,” he summarized, clarifying what I thought I heard the first time.
I was flustered. This just couldn’t be true. I refuse to believe that Kaylin would do something that low down and dirty to me, after all that we’ve been through. We had history, and history was supposed to mean something in life.
“Ma’am, I assure you that I have statements from both your sister Troy and your daughter, Kayla,” he continued.
“Hold up, didn’t you just say that Kaylin took my kids?” I asked, confused. “So how could my daughter give you a statement? Besides, her name is Kailay, not Kayla.”
“Ms. Washington—”
“Call me Amina, please,” I interrupted him.
“Okay, Amina. Like I said, Mr. Williams took your other kids. Your daughter Kayla is—”
“I told you that my daughter’s name is Kailay, not Kayla! Now, while you over there telling me that Kaylin took my kids, how ’bout telling me what y’all over there doing to get them back?” I said. I was playing along with his game, up to a certain point, but fuck, I didn’t have time for this shit right now.
“Ms. Washington, we’re doing everything that we can to find them and bring them back.”
“I told you to call me Amina, and you couldn’t possibly be doing everything that you can, because you’re sitting here with me, trying to sell me some bullshit-ass story about Kaylin shooting me and whatnot.”
Sitting back in his chair, he wiped his face with his hand and just stared at me. I stared back, wondering who the hell he thought he was fooling.
“Ms. Washington, please listen to what I’m trying to tell you.”
“No, I’m not about to listen to anything else you got to say unless you’re telling me where Kaylin and my kids are!”
“Ma’am, like I said—” A sudden knock on the door interrupted his statement.
A tall, bald-headed, light-skinned man
wearing a white coat walked through the door. I assumed this was my doctor.
“Good afternoon, Ms. Washington, I’m Doctor McKenley. I’ve been your doctor since you’ve been here.”
“Afternoon, Doctor McKenley,” I replied, still looking at the detective.
“Afternoon, Detective, is everything all right?” he asked, looking at me and then to Detective Webber.
“Afternoon, Doc,” Webber said, rising up from his chair and reaching out his hand for a handshake. They shook hands, and he said, “Everything is fine. Ms. Washington is just having a hard time remembering what happened the night she was shot.”
“Well, that’s to be expected. Most coma patients sometimes suffer from temporary memory loss,” Dr. McKenley explained.
“Okay, so how long do you think her memory will be gone?”
“I really can’t tell you that. Everyone is different. Some people get their memory back within days, others within weeks, and some never recover it. There’s no telling when her memory will come back, that’s if it comes back at all.”
I sat there halfway listening to what the doctor said. I was too busy thinking about what Detective Webber had said earlier about Kaylin shooting Tyreek and me, and then taking my kids, I desperately needed to remember what happened that day.
“So there’s really no guarantee that my memory will come back?” I asked Dr. McKenley, my voice laced with fear.
“Right now, I’m not sure. You’ve been through a lot these past couple of weeks. You were shot four times, lost a lot of blood, and we gave you a blood transfusion. Not to mention that when you fell, you sustained severe head trauma. I know this may not be what you want to hear right now, and I’m sorry, but we just don’t know what’s going to happen. We’re just going to have to wait and see,” he said honestly.
I looked at both men as they looked at me with sympathy. I was both hurt and shocked. I couldn’t believe that Kaylin had shot me, left me for dead, and disappeared with the kids without a second thought. What had happened to cause him to shoot me and leave me lying there to die? Thinking about all of this was making my head and my heart hurt.