Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Layloni
They say you can have everything in the palm of your hands, and God can snatch it back in the blink of an eye.
That was exactly how I felt.
My body had completely betrayed me. Every thirty minutes I pissed on myself like I was a damn baby, and I couldn’t even understand why I couldn’t hold my bladder.
These people barely fed me let alone made sure that I was hydrated.
Every now and then somebody would crack the door open and hand me a tiny cup with a sip of water in it like I was some stray animal they were keeping alive out of pity.
At this point, I didn’t even care, I just wanted to die.
My face was numb, like somebody had beat every nerve in it to sleep.
My bones ached so bad it felt like they had been shattered and glued back together wrong.
The cot they had me laid out on was hard as hell with thin metal and a ragged mattress that felt more like a cardboard.
It reminded me of the prison beds you see on TV.
My heart felt like it had been ripped clean out of my chest, leaving nothing but a hollow ache behind. Every time I thought about my mom, my stomach twisted so violently I thought I might throw up. My mind kept replaying the same brutal scene over and over like a movie I couldn’t press pause on.
All I saw was Prince raising that gun. The sound of it going off.
My mother’s brains splattering. I kept squeezing my eyes shut, to push the images away, but nothing worked.
I could still smell her blood, it still felt fresh on my skin.
I was losing my sanity behind these four walls and felt no fight in me left.
At my lowest moment, I asked God why did he send King into my life. Because in my mind, all of this somehow traced back to him.
Sure, King helped me. He treated me good. He showed me kindness I wasn’t used to. If I had never met him, I probably would’ve ended up taking Glen back. And that damn sure wouldn’t have been good for me.
But at the same time… my mom would still be alive.
Maybe I deserved the shitty life I had grown accustomed to.
I wouldn’t be as successful as I had become, and I wouldn’t have had the life I started building out here.
But honestly? I would’ve traded every bit of that just to still have my mom breathing on this earth.
That way I wouldn’t feel what I was feeling now.
A low groan escaped my mouth as I tried to sit up. The second my body moved, pain ripped through me so violently I almost blacked out. I clenched my teeth and forced myself upright anyway.
The room was dim, barely lit by a weak bulb hanging from the ceiling. The walls were dirty concrete, stained and cracked like this place had been rotting for years.
I had no idea how long I’d been locked in this room. Time had started to blur together. I slid to the edge of the cot, the smell radiating off my body hit my nose, disgust curled in my stomach. I smelled as horrible as I probably looked.
Soon as I heard footsteps on the other side of the door, I hurried to lay back down, but every movement sent lightning bolts of pain through my ribs and legs.
I forced myself onto my side, and quickly curled myself up in a ball.
Then I closed my eyes and slowed my breathing, pretending I was asleep.
I listened to the door creak open, followed by a low sigh escaping someone’s mouth.
“Layloni… I’m so sorry, baby,” Glen’s voice cracked softly. “This wasn’t even the plan.”
I stayed still, listening. If I had enough energy to roll my eyes I would have. Glen was so full of shit, his apologies meant absolutely nothing to me at this point.
“I just wanted to get you back out here so we could talk. I was gonna scare you a little… make you tell me where King was. But Prince… he took things into his own hands. That nigga too powerful, Lay.”
The more he talked, the more pissed I got. Glen never took accountability for shit, there was always an excuse or always somebody else’s fault. I couldn’t fake sleep anymore. I gathered the little strength I had left to slowly sit up on the cot. My eyes locked onto his.
“Let me get this shit straight, G.” I winced out in pain.
Glen glanced around the dirty room before looking back at me. His eyes filled with sorrow as he took in my face. I was tired of being nice, and understanding. My biggest downfall was feeling sorry for people that didn’t give a damn about me.
I hated myself for always falling for my mother’s manipulative bullshit.
I loved her the same way I once loved Glen.
I kept accepting the abuse. Kept accepting the way they treated me.
Because of love. I finally walked away from Glen after years of his trifling ways. But my mom? I couldn’t let her go.
I held onto hope that one day my mom would change. That one day she’d love me the way I loved her.
Now that chance was gone, all the hope that I held on to, I released because now it was pointless.
“You standing there looking at me with pity, G,” I snapped, my voice shaking with anger. “When you should’ve left me the fuck alone.”
His jaw tightened, I ignored the flicker of anger that crossed his eyes.
“Leave you alone?” he scoffed. “Let you be happy with that nigga like I never existed?” He slapped his hand hard across his chest.
“Fuck that! I made you!” Spit flew out his mouth.
“I fucking loved you.” His voice cracked. “I wasn’t perfect, Layloni… I know I wasn’t fucking perfect man,”
Those hazel eyes I once adored made my skin crawl now. His high-yellow complexion looked pale and sickly, dark bags sagged under his eyes from lack of sleep.
“I’m in love with you, just let me try to fix this shit.” He begged.
A lone tear ran down his chubby cheek, he kept his eyes glued to mind. I guess this was the part where he expected for me to be moved by his declaration.
I didn’t give a damn.
“Fuck King. And fuck you!” I shouted. “You should’ve let me live my life! Not for you. Not for nobody. For me!”
I wiped angrily at the tears sliding down my cheeks.
“For the first time in my life I felt good about myself. I was making moves for me. Independently. Not because of a nigga. Not because of my mama. It was for me, G!”
His eyes dropped to the floor. I forced myself to keep looking at him.
“Because of you… my fucking mother is dead.” A broken sob escaped my throat before I could stop it.
Glen’s head snapped up.
“Because of you, Layloni, my father is dead!” he roared, his voice echoing off the walls.
I blinked at him, not knowing what the hell he was talking about.
“Your father been dead.”
“No,” he said hoarsely. “I just found out Troy was my dad. Troy killed my supposed dad whose really my uncle because he was fucking my mother.” Another tear fell down his cheek.
I felt nothing for him at all. I was literally numb from the head down.
“That ain’t got shit to do with me, G.” I shot back. “Y’all killed King’s father. And honestly? I don’t give a fuck about none of y’all family drama!” I was done with the conversation.
Done with everything.
“You made it bad for me,” he muttered bitterly. “You robbed that warehouse, took the money, started a whole new life. I could’ve given you up to my uncle a long time ago… but I couldn’t.” He swallowed hard.
“That was up until Troy came up dead.”
I stared at him coldly.
“Well thank you, Glen,” I said sarcastically. “Thank you for getting my mom to bring me out here… just so Prince could kill her. The only person I had left in this world.”
Slow clapping echoed from the dark doorway. My stomach dropped as Prince stepped out of the shadows, that same handsome face that contorted into an evil snarl.
“I always enjoy a good reunion,” he said smoothly. “Sorry to interrupt.”
He took a slow drag from his cigarette; smoke curled from his lips as his cold eyes settled on me. He smiled at me tauntingly before licking his lips to pester.
“Today’s your lucky day, young lady. The smell of you is starting to reach the main room… and one thing I don’t like is a funky bitch.” He fanned his hand over his nose.
My jaw clenched so tight a cramp shot through the side of my face. Two men walked in carrying a large box. When they set it down, I noticed the picture on it. A kid’s pool.
They placed it in the middle of the room and left.
“Thanks to Glen here, he hired a couple of women to clean you up,” Prince continued casually. “Bathe you. Dress you. Change your bedding.” He flicked ash from his cigarette.
“A doctor will look at you too. Don’t worry… he ain’t fixing nothing. Just making sure you ain’t bleeding internally. I’m trying to keep you alive until King shows face.” He gritted.
“That’ll be all,” Prince flicked his ciggarete towards my cot then nodded his head at Glen.
Glen offered me a quick apologetic look before he turned and followed Prince out the door.
Tears slid down my face as the door shut.
My eyes dropped down to the half burning cigarette.
The cot creaked soon as I reached down to pick it up.
I had never smoked one before, never even thought about it.
But in the moment, sitting here with my heart feeling like it had been stomped into the ground, that little burning thing looked like relief.
I wiped away my tears then lifted it to my lips the way I saw Prince do. For a moment, I just stared at the glowing tip then finally inhaled, instantly regretting it.
Smoke slammed into the back of my throat like fire. My lungs seized, and I doubled over coughing so hard it felt like my chest was going to split open. The cigarette nearly slipped from my fingers as I hacked and wheezed with fresh tears spilling down my face all over again.
“Dammit.” I croaked out.
“I don’t see how people smoke this shit.” I dropped it back down to the ground just as two women walked through the door with bucket full of supplies.
The third woman that walked in nearly took my breath away. The second our eyes met, my breath caught.
“Shadonna…”
She stood there frozen, bruises on her arms and scars across her face. Tears filled her eyes as she shut the door and locked it. She rushed over to me and dropped to her knees.
“Layloni… I’m so fucking sorry,” she whispered, sobbing.
Her hands trembled as she grabbed mine.
“I’m getting you out of here… even if it kills me.” She promised.
We hugged each other tightly, when she pulled away, I shook my head.
“I don’t want to escape,” I said quietly.
“I just want to die.” I sobbed softly.
“No,” she said firmly. “You deserve to live.”
She lowered her voice.
“King made me reach out to G. Him and some girl named Rellianah are planning to save you. They needed me close to you… They told me that I had better put on a good fucking show in order for G to trust me with doing this.”
She swallowed hard as worry lines creased her face.
“That bitch Rellianah took my kids… but honestly? They better off than being here with me.”
Her eyes dropped to the filthy floor.
“Plus, I owe you after what I did to you… If you never forgive me, I’ll respect it, just let me help you out of this.” She whispered.
Despite everything, I felt sorry for her. I just had too much pain of my own to carry.
Shadonna let go of my hands and got to work with the other two women who hadn’t said anything. They filled the kiddie pool with warm water. Then they helped me step inside, the warmth soaked into my bruised body like medicine.
I remained still, allowing them to clean my wounds and wrap them with gauze. Once I was done with my bird bath, Shadonna combed my hair then braided my kinky hair neatly to the back.
For the first time in weeks, I felt human again. Shadonna slipped me a couple muscle relaxers and wrapped my left arm tight. Once they finished, they brought me food.
I ate slowly and thought about Rellianah and couldn’t help but chuckle.
That girl was crazy… but she was real. I didn’t agree with her snatching up Shadonna’s kids, but it showed that she was being a real friend taking desperate measures for me.
I didn’t know how to feel about King anymore. If I survived this… I promised myself I would never get involved with another hood nigga again. I had feelings for King, but his lifestyle didn’t align with mine.
Shadonna left me with fresh sweats and an all-white cotton shirt.
I slept weeks away and still managed to feel every bit of drained, physically and mentally.
I curled back on my cot, and closed my eyes.
For the first time in a long time, I prayed hard to God for delieverance and some form of sanity.