Good Girlz With Hood Habits

by Erica Dyer

  “I wish I didn’t have to do this to you. I love you so much. Why can’t you see that?” he whispered in my ear.

  “Eric, I don’t want to fight with you anymore.” I started fake crying.

  “Kei’, I’m not falling for that sweet shit. What happened to that ghetto whore from earlier that was ready to fight?”

  “I’m sorry for that. I understand now how much you love me. Eric, please don’t sell me. Can we just start over, just you and me?” It took everything in my power to say that shit.

  “Kei’sha, I wish it was that easy, but it’s bigger than you and me. That man coming back here is the leader of the biggest sex trafficking rings there is. I can’t cross him, and honestly, why would I want to be with you after you’ve had so many dicks in you?” Eric said, slapping my hand away from his leg.

  “You really thought you could sweet-talk your way out of this, didn’t you? No, you stupid cunt,” he blurted out. He got up off the bed and walked towards the door, locking it.

  “Now before I sell you, I’m going to have some fun with that phat ass of yours, bend your ass over.” With that, he took his belt off his pants, rushing towards me, and snatched me up off the bed.

  “Eric, please don’t do this.” I was crying even harder.

  “Shut up!” he screamed. He threw me on my stomach, took his belt, and started beating me with it. “Nah, put that ass up, Kei’sha.” Eric was out of breath at this point. This was his thing. He liked to beat me while he jacked off, then he would ejaculate on my ass—sick bastard.

  “Yes, I’m almost there, Kei’sha. Shake your ass a little bit, that’s right, you lil bitch make daddy come.” He was beating me with the buckle of the belt now. I lowered my head and said a silent prayer to God to get me out of this situation.

  “UGHHHHHHH, yessss,” he screamed as he finished. Laying down on the bed, he smacked my ass and told me to go clean myself.

  I tried to move as little as possible. My butt was sore and bleeding from the buckle of the belt ripping through my skin. When I came out of the bathroom, Eric was lying on the bed asleep. I took this opportunity to get the fuck out of here. Eric forgot to lock the leg iron before he passed out. I took the leg iron and stabbed him in his Femoral Artery, and before he could acknowledge the pain in his leg, I got up and sliced his throat. He was dead before he had a chance to wake up. I fished through his pockets to get the key out of his pocket and unlocked the door. Walking around this dirty ass shack, I was determined to get back to my family. We were in a shack on a mountain surrounded by water.

  The boat from earlier was docked in the front of the house. I jumped in and started it up. I was about 50 feet away from the house when the shit cut off on me. What the fuck! The bitch had run out of gas. Fuck!!!

  “Mommy, please get up. Mommy, mommy, daddy is on the way;you just got to get up.”

  “Wait, who are you? Don’t run away,please just tell me your name.”

  “Mommy, I’m BJ. We never met. The mean man sent me back to heaven, but Mr. Nico said,you can do this. He said to tell you to remember Druid Hill pool. Mommy,I really have to go, but my sister needs you to be strong mommy.”

  I had that dream every night. I didn’t understand it. I thought I was hallucinating. Maybe it was a part of me going through withdrawals. However, tonight’s dream was vivid; the little boy who said his name was BJ looked just like Bishop, just a little darker. What really stood out to me was the little boy saying, “My sister needs you to be strong.” I never even thought about being pregnant. Yeah, I had thrown up a couple of times and felt dizzy and weak, but I assumed it was because of the drugs and my current situation. Come to think about it, the whole time I was here, I didn’t have a period. As much as I would love to start a family with Bishop, I would die if this baby wasn’t his, but BJ said their daddy was coming for me, so I had to think positive. Saving my unborn daughter was now my top priority.

  BJ being with Nico brought joy to my heart. I knew he was in great hands. Nico referring to Druid Hill pool brought a smile to my face. The first summer I met Nico, he taught me how to swim. I wanted to go to the gated community pool near my house, but Nico said I needed to learn how to swim in the hood; that way, I’ll be able to swim in any kind of water. Getting up off the floor of the boat, I looked around; having no other choice, I jumped in the Cuban waters. I had no idea where I was going, but I started swimming towards the moon. I didn’t know how long I was in the water, but my arms started to get tired. I turned on my back, and I started to float to give myself a break. While floating, thoughts of starting a family with Bishop crossed my mind. In less than a year, my life changed so drastically. Besides this whole kidnapping, murdering my kidnapper, swimming to freedom, and being stranded in Cuba, I wouldn’t change a thing.

  Thinking of my life consumed me, and before I knew it, the sun was coming up. The sun's warmth felt good on my face, I turned over, and I began to swim again. In front of me was a small piece of land. Getting closer, I saw a sign that said Bienvenida a la Habana, Cuba! (Welcome to Havana, Cuba). I walked out of the water, and guards were standing with guns drawn on me.

  “Por favor, no dispare. Mi nombre es Keisha Williams, me trajeron aquí en contra de mi voluntad. Soy de América.” (Please, don't shoot. My name is Keisha Williams. I was brought here against my will. I am from America.) I used all the Spanish I knew to get them not to shoot my black ass.

  “Ms. Williams, please put your hands up for your safety and ours.”

  Doing what he asked, I placed my hands over my head

  “How did you get here, Ms. Williams?” I’m guessing he was the one in charge because he was the only one talking to me.

  “I swam here, but I don’t know exactly where I came from. I was being held hostage somewhere.”

  “Do you know who was holding you hostage?”

  “Yes, his name is Eric Stein.”

  “Was there anyone else there, any other girls?”

  “No, just me, can you help me, please? I need to get back to my family.”

  “Sure, Ms. Williams, I’m Lt. Ares; we will make sure you get to where you are supposed to be.”

  “Thank you, thank you so much.”

  “No problem, we will take you to one of our safe houses, and you can clean yourself up, get a good meal, and call your family.”

  “Great, thank you once again.”

  “No worries, hey Lt. Braves, come show Ms. Williams where she will be staying.”

  “I’d love to.” I turned my head so fast; it was the guy that came to the cabin. He was a Cuban police officer!

  “Ummm, you know what, I’ll just call my family and wait for them here,” I said nervously. I didn’t have a clue what the fuck I was going to do at this point.

  “Now, now, now Kei’sha, why would we let you do that?” Lt Braves said in a menacing tone. I turned to try and run, but the other guy grabbed me.

  “Listen, la puta; you aren’t going anywhere. I have big plans for you; you are going to make me a very rich man. And since you are here by yourself, I’m going to assume you escaped that idiot, Eric. I never liked him anyway. Play nice, and I won’t ship your black ass to Bulgaria.”

  “Please just let me go.” I was in tears again. How much more could I possibly take?

  “John, take her up to the Cabin and stay there till I can get my buyer down here to pick her up, John don’t fuck this up. She’s worth more money than you’ll see in your life,” he said to the guy that was holding me. “And you can go ahead and test the goods,” he added, winking at the man he called John.

  “Let’s go,” John demanded as he pulled me by my hair.

  “Just let me go, my dad and husband will pay you whatever, just give me a phone, I can call them.”

  “Just keep walking and shut up,” he said as he pushed me into the back of a jeep and drove about 20 minutes before stopping and getting out. Pulling me out of the trunk, we walked up to this abandoned-looking cabin. Inside were three other girls all tied u
p sitting on the floor.

  “The bathroom is in the back. Go clean yourself up, and don’t even think about escaping. There’s only one way in and one way out, plus all the windows have been barred,” John told me. He then pushed me towards the back of the cabin. I went to the bathroom, turned the water to the shower on, and stepped in. This was the first real shower I had in three months, and although I went from one fucked up situation to another, I was thankful for this shower. While in the shower, the bathroom door opened, a little girl walked in with a towel and some clothes. She looked to be about five years old. I wonder was she being sold too. Seeing her reminded me of the child that was growing in my stomach. I wasn’t sure if I was pregnant, but the dreams I had of BJ were so vivid and felt so real. I touched my stomach then continued to shower.

  After getting out and drying off, I put the clothes on that were out for me. Surprisingly they weren’t too bad, a pair of grey legging and white tank top, no bra or underwear, though. I got dressed, said a prayer, and walked out of the bathroom. I was determined to find a way out of here. Looking into each room as quietly as I could, I saw a phone sitting on this bed, and as soon as I was about to grab it, John came up behind me.

  “Now that you are all cleaned up, let’s have some fun,” he stated, slapping me on my butt.

  I couldn’t take another man inside of me; I fucking refuse. He was going to die trying to get this pussy.

  “I always wanted to fuck some black pussy. Get on the bed now!” John pushed me on the bed and started taking his clothes off. While he was getting undressed, I was looking around for any type of weapon. On the floor next to the bed was a wired hanger. I just needed to get to it.

  “Ummm, I-I-I can I have some water first?” I requested, trying to get him out of the room so I can get to the damn hanger.

  “Do I look like a waiter to you? You got enough water in the shower, now lay down.” John was moving closer towards me on the bed, so I pretended to fall off.

  “Are you dumb? Get your black ass back on this bed.”

  “I-I-I’m sorry.” Using my foot to drag the hanger over to me, I slowly got up. As I got up, I put the hanger behind my back and inched back on the bed.

  “I heard you got some good snatch. Tom is getting paid top dollar for you, now get over here and show me what’s so special about your black ass,” he ordered while laying back on the bed. As soon as I got close enough to him, I stuck the hanger hook in his fucking eye.

  “Ughhh, you stupid bitch,” he screamed, holding his eye. I didn’t stop there.

  While he was holding his eye, I started whipping his ass; I fought with all my might in that room. I was done with being disrespected, abused, and sexually assaulted. I kept swinging until blood was all over my hands, and John's bitch ass wasn’t moving. It took a minute for me to snap out of it, but I finally stopped hitting him and fell to the floor. Looking for the phone I first saw, I grabbed it, and luckily for me, there wasn’t any lock code on the phone, but the shit was about to die.

  Thinking quickly, I dialed my old phone number, but the shit went straight to voicemail. Come on, Kei’sha think. Why would you call your phone? Call Bishop. My hands shook as I dialed Bishop's number.

  Bishop

  “I bet y’all niggas let me out of this fucking house now,” I hollered, pacing back and forth.

  “Yo, Bankz, you just shot me in my fucking pinky toe!” Sin screamed.

  “If y’all don’t let me out this fucking house, I’m shooting everyone, every day, until I get my fucking wife back.”

  “Bishop, please calm down. We are only trying to do what’s best for you.” Metra came into the room, trying to calm me down.

  “No disrespect Metra, the best thing y’all can do for me is get out of my damn house, so I can go get my wife. Y’all sitting here planning 007 missions and shit. It’s been three fucking months. While I was lying in the fucking hospital, these niggas could have had all this setup. On some real shit, I’ll fucking swim to Cuba if I have to,” I screamed, punching the wall.

  “My G, you wilding. Kei’ is important to us too, but you going over there by yourself guns blazing isn’t going to bring her back safely,” the nigga Dam added, sparking an L.

  “Us sitting here drawing maps and shit like we Dora the fucking the explorer isn’t doing shit either.”

  “Somebody talk to this nigga before I shoot his wanna be badass,” Kei’s brother Paul said, walking up to me.

  “Fuck you, my G, you don’t know me, and I could give a fuck less about you. All I want Is my wife. I asked for Dam and Lay; I don’t know why all you other niggas even in my face.”

  “I’m let you have that because you emotional, and you are going hard for my little sister, but hear me clearly, kid, I will kill your bitch ass, and send your body parts piece by piece to every person you love, nephew of Gigi’s or not.”

  “Nigga fuck you and all you’re saying. If I don’t get to my wife soon, all y’all will be joining me in hell.”

  “Enough! Paul go sit down; Bishop, let’s go,” Kei’sha’s dad said, standing in my doorway.

  “Unless we going to Cuba, fuck we going?”

  “Bishop, please take a ride with me, and after I say what I have to say, you can do whatever you want,” Kendrick requested, picking up my jacket.

  “Bet, y’all niggas be out my crib by the time I come back to.”

  “Did y’all motherfuckers forget I got shot in my damn pinky toe?” Sin was sitting on the couch holding his foot.

  “Oh, shut your big for nothing ass up, my wife on her way to patch you up,” Paul added as he walked towards the door.

  “Is your wife a damn doctor or something?”

  “Actually, motherfucker she is,” he blurted, walking out of my condo.

  “Bishop, your phone is ringing,” Mr. Williams advised as we were driving around Baltimore. Ignoring him and this fucking phone, I said, “Mr. Williams, what’s up? Why are we riding around the city like my wife isn’t in Cuba with a psycho?”

  “Bishop, do you know me? Before you answer, do you know me outside of what the streets say? Or what Kei’sha told you?”

  “Nah, not really.”

  “Well, son, let me educate you. I started my empire with this African cat back in the ’80s. He had the supply; I provided the demand. We became a family, his connections became my connections, and his family became my family. In this life, you gotta have connections, in the drug game, business world, the entertainment world, whatever you are into, you need a connect. Luckily for me, I have a connection for it all.”

  “I can dig that.”

  “You are about to become a very powerful man, with any and everything at your disposal. Have you ever heard of Mablevi Knight?”

  “Gisella mentioned him, said y’all been working together since the ’80s.”

  “This is true. Gisella and Mablevi are Kei’sha’s godparents. This family that you are now a part of is bigger than Baltimore, bigger than Maryland; hell, it’s international. Gisella was once the baddest, most notorious Queen Pin in these streets. She used to talk about this nephew she had all the time. One day, she brought you to the park with the rest of the kids, kind of like a play date. That day this clown ass nigga came shooting in the park trying to get at Gisella. After that day, she never brought you back around. Your safety was always her type of priority. Being her nephew puts you at different tables, in front of different bosses, Bishop not only will you be in charge of the Blanca family, you now sit at the table with six different cartel families. Mablevi Knight introduced Gisella to me back in 82’. After that meeting, the three of us were causing havoc in Mami, New York, and some DMV parts. Mablevi was the first to move to the DMV, and my family followed once I was incarcerated. Gisella stayed in Mami for a while before she went on the run. My son Paul took over my operations when I was incarcerated; he was 15 at the time, so Gisella looked out for him and Keema, that’s his wife. They have been together since he was about 13. So, trust me, he gets it
when you say Kei’ is your life. He would kill for Keema and them kids. Kei’sha, Laylani, and Eboni are all god sisters; Kei’sha and Laylani are first cousins as well. Mablevi inserted himself in Eboni’s life without letting it be known he was her godfather. We never wanted our world to disrupt their worlds. I’m telling you all this because you need to know you are no longer in this by yourself. You have the protection and resources from all three of our families, along with the cartels. Kei’sha is the little sister of some powerful men that will kill Jesus and take his body to God himself for her. And as long as you do right by Kei’sha, they are your brothers as well,” Mr. Williams said, hopping on the highway.

  “Mr. Williams, I hear you, but I just want my wife. We can do all this meet the family bull shit later.” My phone rang for the third time. “Yo, who the fuck is this keep calling me?” I yelled, frustrated.

  “Bisshhhop, it’s me.” The voice on the other end sounded like my Kei’ but was scared.

  “Kei’ baby, is it you for real?”

  “That’s Kei’sha? Give me the phone.” Mr. Williams almost killed us in that damn car, trying to get the phone out of my hands. “Bishop, please come get me. I’m in Cuba in some cabin. I don’t know how long I’ll be here. They are trying to sell me.

  “What the fuck, Kei’sha? Do you see an address, landmark, anything?”

  “All I know is it’s near the border of Havana, right at the border were Cuban policemen, but Bishop y’all gotta be careful, the people trying to take me are police officers.”

  “Kei’ who phone is this?”

  “I don’t know. I found it in a room, and it’s on 1% Bishop; please hurry up and get….”

  The phone hung up before Kei’sha could finish her sentence.

  “Shit!” I screamed. “We gotta get to Cuba now! Kei’ said she’s going be sold soon,” I said, mad as fuck.

  “Let me make a call, and we should be able to move tonight,” Mr. Williams told me as we continued to drive down I-83, getting off at exit 6 towards Druid Hill/28th street.