Aggravated, Sasha sobbed, pressing the receiver of the phone as close as she possibly could to her face. Rocking back and forth, her legs trembled. Her head had been throbbing nonstop since the judge had her taken away. Of course she was worried about her baby. She asked time and time again to see the nurse because she was suffering from stomach pains and a bad headache. But her request fell upon deaf ears. Told that things would be easier and her sentence would fly by when she was transferred from county jail, Sasha counted down the days until it was time for them to ride her out.
“I know I did, Sasha. I swear I ain’t think shit was gonna pop off like it did. I’m just as fucked up behind this bullshit as you is.”
“Yeah, okay, Mario, whatever.” Her skepticism was evident as she ran her fingers through her nappy, untamed hair. “Just be honest and say you don’t care about me or our baby.”
“Naw, girl, for real, for real. I ain’t bullshitting. Just calm down. Even the lawyer was fucked up in the head when the judge flipped the script like he did. He said him and ol’ boy from the prosecutor’s office had they deal all official and whatnot until the judge started acting a straight pussy on them and you.”
Sasha’s mind drifted back to that very moment in time when the judge delivered the verbal blow. “Yeah, he was being an asshole, that’s for sure. But he kept asking where you were at. Like he knew we was lying or something. I mean, seriously, why was he doing all that? Why? I don’t understand. He was bugging like he was mad I was standing there instead of you. Why was that, Mario? Huh? Why?”
“Hold the fuck up. You acting like it’s my damn fault ol’ boy flipped the script on you, like I locked you up!”
“Are you serious, Mario? You did lock me up. It is your damn fault I’m here. That judge wanted to see you standing there, not me. I’m in this place paying the price for what you did.”
“Damn, look, Sasha, I don’t know why the judge ho ass was bugging. Maybe he caught his wife fucking the pizza delivery man the night before or somebody parked in his damn parking spot. How the fuck I know what was on that man’s mind?” Mario immediately got on the defensive. His voice continued to rise as if he were the true victim and not his wife, whom he’d callously thrown under the bus.
“Yeah, you would say something like that, wouldn’t you? That’s all you think about is somebody cheating,” she snapped, growing weary of his excuses and lies. For the next two years she would have to depend on him and her family to hold her down and she knew he wasn’t up for the challenge. Sure, she’d proven her love for him when he was incarcerated, but Mario was cut from an entire different cloth. Disgusted, Sasha hung up in his ear, not caring that she still had a minute and fourteen seconds left on the facility-timed call.
Not being able to get her paperwork in order, the county jail officials could not verify that Sasha Eubanks could have any other visitors; that meant her husband—who, at this point, could drop dead—family, or friends. Besides her lawyer, who only had more bad news to deliver, she was isolated from her once almost perfect life.
Mario had been spending the first week of his wife’s abrupt incarceration like some sort of a mini-vacation. It was like Christmas, New Year’s, and tax return time all rolled into one. Not bothering to come home for days on end, he was finally able to freely do everything and be everything his wife always accused him of. After having her foot on his neck for so long, Mario’s true colors were showing bright and clear.
When it came down to it, deep inside, Mario loved Sasha; that much was true. He knew he’d gotten her locked up and she was now forced to be a soldier and tough it out, but he was out here in these streets free, and he had to live his life. So in spot-on dogmatic fashion the wannabe playa thug couldn’t help but push up on every female who hopped, skipped, or jumped. He’d taken to hotels—five star ones at that—a few random strippers he’d met at the club. He caked with another couple of females at Red Lobster, and enticed another to suck his dick in the rear seat of Sasha’s SUV, which was now his until further notice or until he missed a payment or two and the repo man came calling. Mario was living a bachelor’s dream life, as if Sasha weren’t suffering behind bars with his unborn baby growing in her stomach.
With his gambling problem now in full swing, Mario had also managed to start slowly draining Sasha’s savings account. He didn’t want to but he couldn’t help himself. She had been stashing away a little here and a little there for the past few years and she was ready to splurge on her expected bundle of joy with or without Mario’s help. Knowing what the bank statements showed, he knew he could hit a lick if he got what he needed.
Eagerly, the sinister-minded husband retrieved Sasha’s personal property from the jail, including her purse. Asked by his wife to just put all her belongings up until she came home, Mario wasn’t having it. That, of course, was not part of his game plan.
He searched like a trained detective through every item in her purse and wallet. Her credit cards were already maxed out thanks to Sasha’s own hand, but the debit card was wide open for the taking. Having prior knowledge of her once cherished pin number, Mario was on. In his eyes, he’d hit the hood jackpot. Making numerous trips to the ATM had become a regular routine when he was falling short on bets or other needed items. Up until now Sasha had full control of her bank account, which would get a monthly deposit from a lawsuit settlement. Now that she was locked up, Mario was working under the low-key contingency that whatever was his wife’s was his as well.
What the fuck? She just hung up on me and time wasn’t even up. Damn, I know she pissed. And dang, for real for real, she should be. That girl ain’t built for this type of bullshit, locked up like some animal. I was wrong as hell to even ask her to eat that charge, but hey. What’s done is done. She locked up and I’m still out here and I gotta keep shit going, for her and me and my seed.
Mario’s conscience was kicking into full overdrive as he paced the living room floor. In between all his hanging out with the fellas, cheating, and spending Sasha’s cash, Mario made a promise to himself that no matter what dirt he would do over the next year, he would at least hold his wife down like she had done for him in the past. After all, she was going to be the mother of his child, the same woman who had stood up and taken the hard time that was rightfully his.
CHAPTER FIVE
Although it took a relatively short time for Sasha to be transferred to the women’s prison from the county jail, it seemed like a lifetime. Cramped in the small Department of Corrections van, she felt every pothole on the packed highway of regular “free” people traveling here and there. As they drove by a Taco Bell, two McDonald’s, and a Starbucks, it became painfully clear to Sasha that her once fairytale life was over, at least for twelve to eighteen months. Her baby would be born behind these walls and that was that. She would no longer be able to make her own decisions and come and go as she pleased. Thanks to her loving husband Mario, her life as well as the baby’s were no longer theirs, but the Michigan Department of Corrections’.
Finally arriving at the front gates, the driver was met by a small group of guards. Realizing this was nothing like the movies, but real life, Sasha’s soul ached to go home. Watching the guards exchange paperwork and give the thumbs-up as the huge metal mesh–fence monster was slid back so the van could gain entry, it got realer. Sasha gazed in the faces of the other three females who were on the ride in with her: one who started the journey off with her and the other two who were picked up from other jails. They collectively looked like four deer with their eyes caught in the headlights. It was apparently their first time doing real time in a prison as well. Sasha’s stomach started dancing and her palms grew sweaty. This was about to be a nightmare come true.
“Okay, you inmates, off the van now,” one guard ordered, swinging the side double doors open. “And hurry up. Let’s get this thing done before count time. We need to be done and get you all processed before that.”
One by one, they each stepped down onto the grounds and jur
isdiction of the Huron Valley Women’s Facility. Glancing back over her shoulder, Sasha looked at the fence and the huge stretch of green grass beyond it. Taking a deep breath, even the air felt different than when she was free.
Instructed to get in a line, single file, a pregnant Sasha was second to see the inside of the control center. Just as in the county jail she was processed and fingerprinted, and her picture was taken and she was strip-searched. Issued two state blue uniforms and an inmate number, Sasha Eubanks, now known as 998797, was marched to her cell.
The eyes of multitudes of other inmates were focused on her. Sasha tried to walk with her head held up high and showing no fear, but her lip quivered as she fought back the tears. Her worst nightmare had become a reality. The area she was in smelled like strong disinfectant and the lights were extremely bright. Sasha stood there, saying absolutely nothing, well after the gate had slammed shut. Slowly, she searched the cell for a friendly face like she had dumbly done back in the county jail, but she found none. Her emotions were scrambled. She hated Mario. How could she not? Sasha hated that she had gone against the advice of everyone who loved and cared about her. At this point she despised herself.
Clutching her extra uniform, bedding, and cosmetics bag, Sasha was in denial of what her world now consisted of. Five minutes after stepping foot inside the cubicle for eight women, Mario’s pregnant wife screamed out. Her state-issued items fell to the floor. Sharp pains darted throughout her lower midsection. With both hands, the mother-to-be clutched her stomach, dropping to her knees. She was mentally drained and physically weak. The crotch area of her pants was starting to become drenched. Reaching one hand between her legs, Sasha felt extreme wetness. Bringing her hand up to her face, she saw it was covered in blood. She got dizzy. She was short of breath and couldn’t speak. It was increasingly hard to breathe as the other inmates looked on. Then, suddenly, for Sasha everything went dark.
* * *
“Excuse me, nurse, but what time is it?”
“It’s a little bit past four. Why you keep asking? Do you have somewhere to go? A hot date or something?” the nurse in the infirmary teased as if something were truly funny.
Sasha was still in excruciating pain. Both physically and mentally she was going through it. She’d regained consciousness the day before. Back to her wicked reality, she had discovered what had taken place. A pregnant woman’s worst fear had occurred. Tragically, she’d lost her and Mario’s baby. Not sure if it was stress, a physical defect with her body, or just God’s way of telling her she wasn’t ready to be a mother, Sasha mourned what could have been. Even though she was beyond pissed at Mario’s terrible ass for placing her in this predicament, part of her still yearned to hear his voice. “Is there any way I can call my husband?”
“Call your husband?” The nurse paused from glancing down at Sasha’s chart. “I’m sorry, dear, but we don’t have phones in place just for inmates to use at their leisure. There’s proper procedure and paperwork. Do you even have an approved calling list yet?”
“I understand that, miss, but this is an emergency.”
“An emergency? How so? Your vitals are all good. You’re stable, besides maybe a bit of discomfort to your abdomen. But that will definitely pass in a few days or so.”
“Yes, but”—Sasha slightly turned her head to the side as if she was ashamed of what happened—“I just lost my baby; his baby. I need to tell him. He needs to know.”
The nurse had seen this exact thing more times than she cared to recall. Prisoners would come to the infirmary and try to use their illnesses, no matter how minor or severe, to place a call home. Some, she felt, had valid reasons to want to hear a loved one’s voice, while others were just on that bullshit. Either way it was against the facility rules and regulations to allow calls from that area. That’s why she tried to make as many jokes as possible, to keep the women’s spirits up. Although she went home to her husband and children every night, she could only imagine the torment any person felt not being able to do the same. “Look, dear. I’m sorry for your loss. I truly am. But unfortunately the officials here don’t consider having a miscarriage an emergency. This is a women’s prison so the warden and most of the staff have grown immune to much.”
“Oh, my God. You people are heartless in here, like wild animals. I could never be so callous. I couldn’t do your job or want your job even if it was the last thing on earth to do to make money. I couldn’t live with myself being so mean to the next human.”
Instantly the nurse was offended. She tried to be sympathetic to Sasha, but she’d crossed the line with the name-calling, indirect or otherwise. “Look, Eubanks, I’ma give you these two aspirins for pain; then you’re on your own. By the time you get back to your cell, you should be able to use the inmate phones. Then I guess you can tell your husband about your bad luck.”
“Wow, really? That’s it?” Sasha quizzed with a growing attitude and a frown on her face.
“Okay, inmate. I’m warning you. Don’t try to get out of order with me and catch a ticket in your first seventy-two hours. I was trying to be lenient just because, but you’re no one special around here. Behind these walls you’re just another female doing time, one who lost a baby. And, truth be told, if you cared so much about that child you wouldn’t have broken the law and been in here in the first place. So suck it up, take these meds, and get yourself together to leave. I’m getting ready to finish up on your paperwork now.”
Sasha practically snatched the extra-small paper container holding the aspirin out of the nurse’s hand. Without bothering to drink any water, she threw the Styrofoam cup into the trash while chewing the yellow coated pills. With each slow movement of her jaw, Sasha mean mugged the nurse in deep thought. I see how it is up in here. I lost my baby and no one cares. And if I tell Mario, he probably don’t care either. It’s just me against the world. If I want to make it through these next two years and get back to my normal life, I need to be anybody else but who I been. I can’t keep being weak. That shit is a wrap.
CHAPTER SIX
Regina had been going through a rough couple of weeks since Sasha’s incarceration. She couldn’t believe that she and her little sister could no longer go shopping. There would be no one to watch her small children. No one she could just pick up the phone to gossip with. That was a wrap. The only small glimmer of hope in this entire rotten situation was that she would be able to care for Sasha’s baby when it was born. She knew Mario wasn’t worth the skin God had blessed him with. The chances of him actually stepping up to the plate and doing the right thing were slim to none. Just as Mario turned his back on Sasha, Regina knew the dirty bastard would do the same to his child.
She and her little sister’s best friend Kat had heard about Mario and his recent “financial windfall.” The word was also out in the streets about all the different women he was running with. Mario was so reckless when it came to the jump-offs he was caking with that some had even posted pictures of him with them in hot tubs, at Cedar Point and, most disrespectfully chilling, at what seemed to be Sasha’s living room.
Kat’s uncle shot dice with Mario on the regular and kept her updated on the major hits in the pockets he’d suffer. Kat was surprised that Mario was even still alive let alone still gambling. Rumor had it he was still over $3,100 in the hole to Big Dae Dae. Everyone in the city knew Big Dae Dae didn’t play when it came to his money and niggas had to come correct. And even though Mario had lost and paid the six feet five, 285-pound goon well over $9,000 in the past two weeks or so, he was still no exception to the rule. Mario had to leave him Sasha’s SUV keys an entire seventy-two hours until he could get all the cash gathered he owed. He’d withdrawn all of the funds he could from the ATM daily and had even pawned his wife’s wedding ring.
Kat was also told by her uncle that by the time Big Dae Dae returned Sasha’s vehicle, it had been sideswiped on the passenger side door. The interior had a few huge blunt holes burned on the seats and it smelled like stale arm funk a
nd Hennessy. Mario was no fool. He knew better than to bug out on Big Dae Dae about the returned condition. It wasn’t worth the possible physical beat down let alone the possibility of being blackballed from all the high stakes traveling dice and card games that popped off throughout various locations in Detroit. Mario’s gambling and bad luck was at fault, so he cowardly reasoned.
Without question or delay, Kat went straight to her best friend’s sister with the 411. “My uncle said that ho-ass bitch-made nigga been over the way dogging Sasha’s name. Dragging her through the mud saying that he got her trained better than any ho he ever fucked with. Saying she was on her hands and knees begging his ugly ass to do the time for him so he wouldn’t go back.”
“Are you fucking serious?” Regina reached for the television remote and pressed the mute button. After hushing her small children and sending them into the other room, she started going. “You mean to tell me this nickel-slick punk not only got my little sister sitting in jail for his dumb ass, he out here in the free world bragging about it? Where they do that bullshit at?”
“That’s what I said,” Kat agreed, equally heated.
“But that’s all right though. It’s all good, because when that visiting form bullshit go through, I’m gonna go see Sasha. I’ma be all on her head to divorce that lame. I told her not to marry his jailbird ass in the first place, but she wouldn’t listen. Now she gonna bless that fool with a baby.”
Kat interjected, “Please don’t remind me about that situation before I throw up in my damn mouth. Every time I hear shit about what he out here doing with Sasha’s money and with these hood rats I wanna just run up and sock him dead in the jaw myself. I know he looked out for me back in the day out at the park, but shit, that was then, this is now.”
Around the Way Girls 10 Page 4
