Chapter 2
Tavion ‘Tank’ Briggs
Blood on My Hands
After fighting that shit for as long as she could, Dionne eventually took her ass to sleep. It’s been twenty minutes since she’s fallen asleep, and I was waiting until I felt she was in a deep enough sleep for me to pick her up, carry her to the back, put her in bed, so that I could dip.
When I finally felt like she was in that place, where I could pick her up, without her waking up, I went ahead, and removed the throw blanket from her body, tossing it on the other side of the couch, and I used both arms to carry her to the back, walking with her slowly.
I made it to her bedroom, where I pulled the comforter back, and the second I leaned in to put her in bed, that’s when her eyes popped open, she looked around, as if she’d just saw a ghost, and once it probably hit her that I was going to leave, she clung to my body, not letting me put her down in the bed.
“You going to leave?” her voice was raspy as she asked it.
“Ima come right back, baby. Let me go to the crib right quick to get some clothes. I don’t have shit over here,” I lied to her, knowing that I wasn’t about to go home.
“No, you’re not. Tank, your lying to me.
You have stuff over here. Some of your briefs, and wife beaters are over here.
You’re going to leave and try to handle it.
I don’t want you to. I don’t want other people to know about what happened,” she pleaded with me, her eyes getting watery as she spoke to me.
I sighed, and then I dropped her down on the bed. I could see it in how low her eyes were that she was tired out of her mind and fighting her sleep.
She was resting on her side, with her head on the pillow, and the second she blinked, a tear had fallen from her eyes. I stepped closer to the bed, reached my hand down, and I wiped the tear from her eye.
“Ima come right back. Okay?” was all that I had for her because even though she didn’t agree with it, I was going to leave anyways. All she did was nod her head.
Before walking away from her, I kissed her a couple of times on her lips, and I walked away, leaving her in bed.
I closed her bedroom door behind myself, and I went back out to the living room area.
I fixed up the decorative pillows that was on the couch, and I folded the throw blanket up, that had been wrapped around her body.
After that, I went over to the entertainment center that Dionne had, and my eyes scanned, going for a specific picture.
It was a picture that held her, Free, Tommie, and Nivea.
They were all young on this picture. Dionne was twelve years old on this specific picture because I remember her telling me when I’d seen the picture for the first time.
I pulled my phone out, snapped a picture of just Dionne, and once I had it, I placed my phone back in my pocket, and I walked over to the front door, where I’d left my sneakers. I slipped them on, and I walked out the door, locking it behind myself.
It was a quick walk getting over to the elevator. I pressed the button for the doors to open, and once they did, I went all the way for the back, putting my hands in my pockets, and lowering my head. I couldn’t get those three words from out of my head from Dionne.
‘He raped me’ was playing repeatedly in my head, and the more I heard it, the angrier that I would become.
In that moment, when she revealed that shit to me, I couldn’t lash out and react to it the way that I wanted to because I had to be there for my girl and make sure that she was okay.
Now, I could lash out, and that’s what I was headed to do.
The elevator doors eventually opened, and I walked out. I went out of the side door, making it to the parking garage, where I walked over to my car, quickly got in, and I started it up.
I was going to head to my grandma’s crib. Rico had an away game tonight in Tallahassee, and my grandma was hosting a get together at her crib, so they could all watch Rico play.
The game was over, Rico balled his ass off on that field tonight, so I knew with that, that family, and friends were more than likely still over there, celebrating. I know for a fact that my dad was still over there. He was always pulling up to functions that had free food, and drinks.
As I was heading in the direction of my grandma’s house, my phone started ringing. I looked at the contact name on my car’s screen, and it was my mom calling me. I went ahead, and accepted her call, as I was sitting at a red light.
“What’s up, ma?” I answered. I heard her sigh heavy.
“I’m just calling to check on Dionne. How is she doing?” she wanted to know.
“Not too good. I took her home. She fell asleep, but when she heard me leaving, she woke up. Ma, I love her, but I don’t fuckin understand her.
That nigga violated her. Took something away from her, yet she’s crying, telling me not to do anything about it.
I don’t understand that shit,” I released my frustrations to her, in hopes that she had an answer for me, so that this shit could somewhat make sense.
“Son, people have different ways that they deal with trauma. As you can see, the way that Dionne is dealing with hers is by pretending that it never took place. To her, it probably makes it easier. I know you, and I know the way you like to go out of your way for those that you love, so I expect you to want to handle it. I don’t expect anything less coming from you.
Where are you getting ready to go?” she wanted to know.
“To my grandma house. I know everybody over there. Rico played tonight in Tallahassee, so my grandma put something together at her crib for the game. I know that nigga over there. Ma, I wanna fuckin kill him,” I shared with her.
She kept quiet. She didn’t say anything. She knew that I was in rare form right now, and that there wasn’t anything that she could say or do to try and get me to calm down. I was in too deep with my frustrations.
“He ever violated you like that?” I asked. I couldn’t say the r word, but what I really was asking her is if he’d done to her the same thing that Dionne just confessed to me.
“No. Never. I would have killed his ass. He was a heavy drinker though. When we met, I knew that he would drink, but by the time you turned one, I felt like his drinking had really gotten out of control. When he drank, he became handsy with me. Feeling up on me, wanting to have sex, not giving a damn who was around, or where we were. By the time I left him, I did start hearing little things in the streets about him messing around with underage girls, but you know that me, and your dad barely had a relationship, so it was never anything that I asked him about. I believe Dionne. The way she screamed, the way she confessed it, and the cries that I heard coming from out of my bathroom from her. He touched her, and God, I feel so bad for her. You’re going to have to be there for her, son.
I know you don’t need me to tell you this, but for years, she’s done so well at pretending that it never happened, but with her just dropping that bomb on you tonight, it’s like she’s going to have to relive the trauma all over again, so this might be a tough time for her.
Just be there for her,” she shared, and as if she could see me right now, I nodded my head, basically letting her know that I was going to do my part.
“Handle your business, son, and I’ll call you in the morning to check on you.
Listen to me though; your father isn’t worth the bullet.
I know you want to defend Dionne’s honor, but I truly believe that life is fuckin him hard enough, and what he’s going through is worse than any death sentence that you can give him.
I saw him a few months back at the grocery store, and he looked terrible.
All that drinking is catching up to him.
Beat his ass, but you don’t have to kill him,” she warned me.
“I hear you, ma,” was all that I said in response to that.
“Last thing, can you text me over Dionne’s number? I want to reach out to her in the morning as well,” she said.
I let her know that I would text the number over, and after she told me that she loved me, and I assured her that I loved her as well, we hung up the phone.
I sent Dionne’s number to her, and I drove the rest of the drive in silence.
Before I knew it, I was pulling up to my grandma’s house, and it was plenty of cars in her driveway, and parked in the street, just like I knew it would.
Whenever Rico would have away games, my grandma would put on big watch parties at her house, where most of our family, and even friends that stayed on her block would come.
The game ended well over two hours ago, but this party would probably go on until 3 or 4 in the morning, just like they always did.
I was able to find a spot, parking in the street, in front of someone else’s house, but I made sure that I didn’t block their driveway. My gun was resting on my waist, I placed my phone, and my wallet in my pocket, and I quickly got out.
Once out, I used my single key to lock my car, placing the key in my pocket, and I walked on the sidewalk, having to pass two houses to make it in front of my grandma’s house.
From outside the door, you could hear the loud noise that was taking place inside the house, along with what I could hear in the backyard.
This party didn’t sound like it was going to shut down any time soon.