Gate Wide Open

by M. T. Pope

  I was so tempted to roll back over and get me forty more winks of sleep that I so deserved. Well, not deserved. I didn’t work, I just worked it, but nevertheless I was tired. Wallace and I had had a marvelous time in Vermont, and I was still reveling in the glory of it. It was a new year, and I wasn’t for the foolishness. I was retired and was acting the part.

  “Hello,” I answered annoyed and groggy.

  “James! James!” Sherry yelled into the phone in a panicky tone. “Oh my God! James, I think Li’l Shawn is dead!” She said again even more exaggerated. “I gave him some Benadryl last night, and, and I think I gave him too much. I shook him this morning, and he didn’t wake up. Oh, God! Oh, fuck! What am I going to do? I think I just killed my baby! Oh, God!” She burst into tears over the phone.

  “You did what?” I yelled back at her. I couldn’t believe this bitch done poisoned her kid. “Did you call the ambulance?” I said, calming down a little.

  “No. I didn’t know what to do. I don’t want to go to jail, James. They gonna think I killed him on purpose. Oh my God!” She went back into her hysterics. “I can’t go to jail! I’ll kill myself first, James! I will!”

  “Look, calm down,” I said as I got off the bed and went to my closet and pulled out something to put on for the journey across town to her house. “I’ll be there in a little bit. Don’t do anything until I get there.”

  I hung up the phone, jumped in the shower, and made my way out the door to my car.

  “Stupid bitch,” I mumbled to myself as I sped toward Sherry’s apartment. “How in the hell do you overdose a child with Benadryl? You got to be ten times dumb to do some shit like this.”

  Fifteen minutes later, I pulled up to the apartment complex and rushed in, hoping that her ass was lying and I could take my ass right back home.

  I put my key in the door and walked in the apartment. It was totally quiet, except for a television I heard going in the bedroom. “Sherry?” I yelled out.

  “I’m back hear, James!” she yelled back.

  I walked to the bedroom in the back of the apartment. “So what in the-” Wham!

  I felt a crushing blow to the back of my head and immediately felt myself passing out.

  I woke up with my arms and my legs bound to a chair and my mouth duct-taped. I was still a little groggy, and my head hurt like hell. I focused my eyes on a person standing before me. It was Sherry, her arms folded, and a wide smile across her face.

  “Hey, sleepyhead,” she said, laughing in my face.

  I didn’t see anything funny. I was tied the hell up and wanted to know why.

  “I guess you’re wondering why in the hell you are tied up to a chair,” she said, as if reading my thoughts. “Well, cousin, for a long time, I was pissed at you for stealing Shawn away from me. He was my man, and you had a nerve to go and fuck him and steal him away from me.”

  By this time, I was looking at the bitch like she was a certifiable lunatic. I even chuckled a little. I can’t believe she thought I stole Shawn from her. Now I thought I was crazy, but she was crazy and delusional.

  “I don’t find a thing funny, muthafucka,” she hissed at me.

  Again I chuckled, because she was truly dysfunctional. She tried to steal a married man from me and lost. I guess I would be angry too. She was beat even before she tried. Dummy-ass whore.

  “You gonna pay for making my son a bastard.”

  “Sherry, what in the hell is wrong with you? You done really gone off the deep edge this time. You’s one crazy bitch.”

  “It’s seems like crazy runs in the family, James or Jerry, whatever the fuck you going by now.” She chuckled to herself.

  “Girl, if you don’t untie me right now, I won’t be responsible for what I will do to you when I get loose. Besides, my man is in the car, and if I take too long, he’ll coming looking for me.” Wallace was already out on the strip, and I was beginning to get a little scared, but I didn’t let that shit show though.

  “Ummmm-hmmm!” She let out a slight laugh. “You must think you are the smartest person alive. But I was time enough for you. No, we were time enough for you.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “We?” I said to myself out loud.

  “You can come in now,” she said out of nowhere. “Your ass thought you could just fuck people over and get away with it. Payback is here now, muthafucka.”

  I was puzzled because this broad was talking like there was somebody else in here with us. I just shook my head in disgrace and pity for her.

  To my surprise, there was somebody else in the apartment with her. Somebody I thought I would never see again. The person who had been stalking me with nasty phone calls, the notes on the car, the text messages, and trying to run me off the road. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was Tyrone Jenkins, my first love, and the first one to break my heart.

  I was truly shook. I hadn’t seen or heard from him since I threw the brick through his living room window over thirteen years ago.

  My eyes bugged out as he walked up toward me with a gun in hand. Tears began to swell up in my eyes. I feared this moment. It was as if the dreams I was having in jail were coming to pass and I could do nothing to stop it from happening.

  “Hey, baby,” he said as he walked up to me and kissed me on the cheek.

  I motioned my head the other way as tears of pain flowed freely. I was still hurt from the pain he’d caused me all those years back. I was quickly thrown into my past as pictures of our escapades flooded my mind and heart.

  “I’ve been looking for you for the longest time.”

  “Umm-hmm,” Sherry hummed, seconding his comment.

  “Sherry and I bumped into each other into each other back in California a couple of months back, and she helped me devise a plan to get your home-wrecking ass back.”

  Tyrone had an evil smile across his face. The hate was coming from his nostrils like a raging bull that had been seeing red for hours. He was ready to pounce, but I wasn’t ready to die.

  I vaguely remembered introducing him to Sherry one day when we were out at a restaurant on the other side of town from where he lived. We only did this a few times, when we felt like no one would recognize either one of us. To my surprise, she walked in the restaurant one day when we were out. I had no other choice than to introduce her to him as my friend. She knew I was gay, but I never let her know my business, especially who I was dating. I’d never thought that shit would come back to bite me in the ass today. Never.

  Tyrone backed up and pointed the gun in his hand at me.

  I pleaded with my eyes for him to spare me, but it seemed to be falling on deaf ears.

  “Time’s up!” He cocked the gun and added a silencer.

  I closed my eyes tight, waiting for death.

  Pop! Pop!

  To my surprise, I felt my chest still pumping rapidly, but Sherry was dead. I looked at him in horror as blood covered the walls and some had managed to cover me as well. If I could have screamed, I would have, because his ass was truly heartless.

  “Mmm.” I shook my head in fear.

  “I don’t need any witnesses,” he said wiping the blood that had splattered on his face as well. “She was deadweight, and I didn’t like her to start with.”

  He walked over to her and kicked her body to see if she was indeed dead. She didn’t move once, confirming his plan, and my fear.

  He began pacing the floor. It looked like he was thinking of what to do next. I started trembling. I knew he was going to do the same thing to me.

  “Jerry, all you had to do was walk away and leave me and my family alone. Yeah, I was wrong for using you the way I did, but you got something out of the deal as well. You got my attention whenever I felt like it, and you got this meat in yo ass a couple of good times. What more could you have asked of me? I was your everything, and you go and fuck it up by spazzing out on a brotha, exposing me to my family and shit. Got me put out of my house I was providing for in my own way. I was homeless for years until I found me
a job and got my shit together. To this day, my wife won’t let me see my kids, and it’s all your fault.”

  I couldn’t believe he was so crazy to think I was to blame in this situation. He was cheating on his wife with me, lying to both of us, and I was to blame. Nutcase was all I could think of him right now. I don’t know what I was thinking when I met him and decided to date him. I was indeed delusional for choosing his crazy ass. I couldn’t blame no one but me.

  “Why didn’t you just walk away?”

  No answer.

  “Why?” he yelled.

  He must have forgotten my mouth was taped up and I couldn’t utter a single word.

  “Why?” he yelled again, inches from my face.

  I just shook my head in fear.

  Wham!

  He hit me across my face with the gun because I didn’t answer his question. He hit me so hard, the chair fell over.

  Tears again flowed out of my eyes. This time I felt a little deserving of the torture he was inflicting on me. My lip and my nose were now bleeding, and I looked back up at him, pleading with my eyes.

  He walked away and turned quickly back toward me as if he was gonna take my life quickly. He hoisted me back up quickly and backhanded me until I saw stars. He stopped short, inches from my face, and ripped the tape from my mouth.

  I started off with a plea with my first breath. “Tyrone, please don’t do this. I’m truly sorry for the hurt I have caused you.”

  “Really?” he said, oozing disbelief. “It’s amazing how sorrowful someone gets when they about to die. Isn’t it?”

  “I really am, Tyrone. I love you. I have always loved you,” I lied. I hated his ass from the minute I found out my money was gone and he was married.

  Wham! Wham!

  “Bitch, stop lying!”

  As blood trickled out of my mouth and nose, I decided to give it all I could, to save my life. It also flashed in my mind that he was probably the one who murdered Carl. I could see the look in his eyes that he was taking no prisoners and I was next on his shit list.

  “Baby, I’m sorry if I hurt you. Come here so I can make it better.” I cooed with as much seduction as I could muster up. “You know I can make you feel better. Just let me do what I do best, baby. You know I’ll make you feel good.”

  He eased his way over to me slowly as he pulled out his Mini-Me dick and started yanking on it.

  He stood in front of me, ready for me to work my magic. “You gonna make daddy feel good.” He was hard within seconds and proceeded to press his warm dick in my mouth.

  “Uhh,” he moaned as I went to work. I tried to give him a blowjob that would soften his heart a little and save my life as well.

  “Oh, yeah, baby, suck this big dick.” He grabbed the back of my head and fucked my face like a rabbit in heat.

  I continued to suck as if my life depended on it, because it truly did. I couldn’t fuck this up. I couldn’t let this bastard end my life when it felt like I was just starting to live it.

  He stopped abruptly, and I thought I saw a forgiving look. My heart skipped a beat, and fear made my stomach knot up.

  He proceeded to untie me from the chair. Then he pulled me up and hugged me, embracing me with tenderness. He gently pulled me away and rubbed my face with the back of his hand.

  I nuzzled it with as much affection as I could. It was now or never.

  With the quickness, I kicked him in his balls and made a dash for the door, but somehow, he managed to aim the gun and shoot me in my right knee, sending me careening to the ground a few feet away from the door.

  I was in so much pain, I couldn’t even yell for help. I lay there helpless, trying to crawl toward the door. I looked up and saw him limping toward me, causing me to try a little harder to get to the door.

  Just as I got to the door and was reaching up from the floor to turn the knob, I felt him pulling me back and dragging me across the carpeted floor toward the living room area of the apartment.

  He bent down and hit me with the gun several more times to let me know he was serious.

  “Ty—Ty—Tyrone. P—p—p—please don’t do this.” I was spitting out blood and teeth, and my eye felt like it was out of its socket.

  “It’s too late,” he grumbled as he lifted me off the floor. “You just tried to run out on me again. I’m going to have to end it for both us right here and now.” He bent me over the couch and practically ripped my pants off of me.

  I knew what he was about to do, and there was nothing I could do about it.

  Tyrone forced himself in me and raped me, pumping and huffing and puffing for over ten minutes.

  “Ahh! I’m about to cum.” He pulled out and let his seed drench my back. He then collapsed on top of me, trying to catch his breath.

  I screamed, “Yes,” on the inside, knowing I had him where I wanted him. A man was at his weakest right after he climaxed.

  “Didn’t I tell you that I would make you feel better, daddy?” I said as docile and feminine as I could as I peered over my shoulder. “Baby, we don’t have to part ever again. We can move to Canada and never look back.” I was breathing hard from the pain in my legs, and the pressure of his near 280 pounds pressed up on me.

  I was looking in his eyes pleading my case. He got himself together with the gun still in his hand.

  “Seriously?” he said, pulling me up slowly. He turned me around again and started rubbing my face gently with his hand again. “So you still love daddy?”

  “I never stopped,” I said, nuzzling his hand back. I was getting the feeling he was falling for it. “You were my first love. My only one.”

  He started to kiss me passionately, and I kissed him back, knowing he had a change of heart. I had hope.

  Suddenly, he pulled back with a hateful scowl on his face and aimed the gun at me. “It’s too late, Jerry. You hurt me too bad, and now you have to pay with your life.”

  “No! Tyrone, please, please, please,” was all I could get out before he fired the gun, shooting me in the head.

  Unfortunately, the shot to the head wasn’t fatal. My body had involuntarily slid off the couch and hit the floor with a thud.

  I watched Tyrone walk away like the job was done. He ranted off a prayer to God with the gun to his head, and was crying and blubbering like he didn’t want to do it. Then suddenly the gun went off.

  Pop!

  And his blood splattered the wall and carpet, and his heavy frame hit the ground with a loud thud.

  I was drifting in and out of consciousness. My life flashed before me like I was watching a movie. I’d always thought that this sort of thing was fictional, until now. Flashes of me as a child blinked in and out.

  One minute I was riding my bike in the park, the next, I was in my bed being molested by my uncle. Pictures of my mom and I eating dinner together at the dinning room table also played.

  Tears flowed freely as my head was resting on the carpet facing the wall.

  The brick through Tyrone’s window, the look on his wife’s face as I peeled off from in front of their home played. She was hurt too.

  The hurt and pain on my face as I took a break from laughing on the plane to Baltimore, going to the bathroom to sob and cry.

  All the bad things I did to the Black family.

  The tormenting and the schemes played out again, only it was in fast-forward mode.

  My jail time whizzed by.

  Then my mother flashed into my head again. She’d made a trip to prison once, against my will. I cried hard at the visual of her walking through the prison gate. The look on her face was a proud one. She was always proud of me.

  Here I was, lying on the floor, one family member and one ex-lover dead in the same room. All of this could have been avoided if I’d just walked away from Tyrone and moved on with my life.

  I was looking for the love that I already had. My mother was the one that was appointed to love me, but I wanted more. I was greedy. My greed for love was my downfall. I had enough, but I wasn�
��t satisfied.

  I was sorry for my mistakes and the pain I’d caused others, but it was too late. I felt my feet getting cold, and coldness creeping up my legs. It was my time. I was dying.

  “I’m sorry, God,” I sobbed, my breathing labored. “Forgive me for my sins. Tell my momma I love her, God.” The coldness was now at my ribcage. I squeezed out another plea. “Forgive me, God.”

  Chapter 43

  Shawn

  Full Custody

  January 11th, 2019, 5:13 P.M.

  I pulled up to Sherry’s apartment building to drop Li’l Shawn off. I was a little reluctant about dropping him off. I was getting attached to him, and I wanted him in a home with a mother and a father. I couldn’t continue this charade with Mona any longer. The only thing holding this back was, I didn’t think Sherry was going to give him up without a fight or a large sum of money. I was willing to pay to get her to give me full custody of him, but I didn’t think she was going to make it that easy. She was a relative of James, so I knew she would continue to try and milk me for all I was worth.

  I pulled out my cell phone and dialed her phone, letting her know I was outside, dropping off Li’l Shawn. The phone just rang and rang. I hung up and decided to knock on the door because she was probably sleeping or something. I was paying her enough child support that she didn’t need to work.

  I knocked on the door with Li’l Shawn next to me. I knocked a little harder. Still there was no answer. I began to get frustrated because I needed to get home before Mona started calling my phone.

  I picked up my cell phone, ready to call her phone again.

  “Daddy, I have a key.” Li’l Shawn smiled.

  I was glad that I didn’t have to take him home just yet. I still hadn’t the slightest idea how I was going to tell Mona about him.

  I put the key in the lock and opened the door. As I walked in, we both got hit with a foul odor that almost made my knees buckle.