Thinking she could exit before Gabriella takes the rest of her rage out on her, she moves for the door. It was a fatal mistake. As if she had eyes on the back of her head, she whips around, aims her 9mm Ruger equipped with a silencer, and shoots her once in the right arm.
“Awwwww!” Bernice screams falling against the wall. Red blood splatters everywhere.
“I’m not hardly done with you yet, bitch!” Gabriella says shooting her in the right leg next. “Please…stoop! I’m sorry, Yvonna!” she drops to the floor.
“You’ll never be sorry enough for me you dusty, bitch. Both of you gonna pay for this shit.”
Gabriella picks up the phone and calls the one man she knew she could count on when she wanted something done. It was the same worthless degenerate who tattooed Treyana’s sons for cash.
“Ya’ll, fucked up this time.” “That’s good, Drew. I don’t think the knots can get any tighter than that.”
Andrew Whinston, a fuck up, a crack head, and a heartless bastard, could always be counted on to do the most horrible things for enough money to feed his dope habit. He’d been stabbed, jumped and shot multiple times for wronging people in the pursuit of his habit and had a record thicker than a phone book. Two of the bullet wounds he suffered were by Yvonna’s gun when he tried to take her money and not finish a job he started. He learned quickly that it was better to steal from his own mother and burn in hell than it was to get on her bad side. His large build, scarred face, and curved back, which broke after he was beaten and never healed properly, earned him the nickname Igor.
“Well, well, well,” Gabriella says. “Let me take a look at them.”
She made them strip naked earlier upstairs while Drew watched to be sure they stayed in line. She went downstairs to prepare her torture scheme.
And now they were on their knees in the basement of Bernice’s house. Their arms were tied behind their backs and another rope connected their lower bodies. It was long enough around their waists to allow their backs to touch. Hot water was in the basement sink and they wondered what she had planned.
“Yvonna, I have to tell you something about,” Drew stops after she throws her hand up at him.
“Not now.” She says thinking he wanted the high she promised him for helping her. “Tell me,” Gabriella says smoking a cigarette while looking at Treyana. “How did you come to fuck Yvonna’s man?” She sits in a chair looking down on them.
There bodies tremble as they realize that the personality they’d heard of during Yvonna’s case was taking over. And Bernice’s blood from the bullet wounds spill onto the floor beneath them.
“Yvonna, please,” Treyana cries. “It was only once. You know I use to buy smoke from Bilal. We was cool. We got to smokin’ and one thing led to another. My husband had just left me and I was lonely. I promise we never tried to be together again. Ever.”
“Lift them up, Drew,” she is frustrated with her pleading. Drew lifts them up and leads them to the narrow sink.
“This is how it’s gonna work. We’re going to put both of your upper bodies in the sink. Now if you both stay under, you’ll both die. But…if you try to fight, only one of you will be able to come up for air by leaning on the back of the other forcing them deeper into the water.” She began laughing loving her plan. “But if you do, the other person will drown.”
“Please,” Bernice cries continuing to loose blood. “Don’t do this! I’m gonna die.”
Drew places them in the water, and surprisingly, Bernice raises her head first, and leans on Treyana’s back gasping for air. Gabriella sits back in her seat eager to watch a good fight. But when Treyana doesn’t fight back, her eyes widen. Fuck is this chic doin’? Treyana remains under water as Bernice’s old ass leans on her for support. Treyana moves a little in the beginning, but soon the muscles in Treyana’s legs began to relax. It was obvious. She’d given up.
“Oh no you don’t, bitch!” Gabriella says leaping from her seat knocking the chair to the floor. She grabs a fist full of Treyana’s hair, pulls her up and knocks Bernice into the water. She’s finished with Bernice but not Treyana.
“Let…m…me die, Yvonna. I don’t care.” She says as water escapes her eyes, mouth and nose.
“Not yet. Drew, cut this bitch’s throat and bag her when you’re done,” she says referring to Bernice.
“You got it. But…you got somethin’ for me? I’m feelin’ real bad right now.” He rubs his arms.
“Boy!!! You’s a worrisome ass, junkie,” she says reaching into her pants throwing him a sack. It bounces off of his nose and hits the floor and scrambles to pick it up. “Slice this bitch throat first and smoke that shit later.”
Gabriella unties Treyana’s hands and Drew slices Bernice’s throat. Her feet kick in swift jerking motions before stopping altogether. She was as dead as dead could be.
Gabriella returns her focus to Treyana. First she pulls her by her hair and drags her along the floor until her back is up against the wall. The smell of Drew smoking dope sickens her stomach and she wonders how the fuck he set up lab so quickly.
“Why you tryin’ to die?” She asks Treyana.
“Yvonna, please. Let me die! Because, you gonna do what you want to anyway. And ain’t nothin’ I can do about it,” she says weakly.
She stoops down and looks into her eyes. She knew something else was up. “What the fuck is up with you?!”
“Yvonna...” she laughs weakly. “You not as smart as you think you are.”
“And why is that, bitch?!”
“Check my pants. Upstairs,” her laughter is now hysterical.
“For what?”
“Because your wire wasn’t the only one I was wearing.”
Leave Me Out Of This Shit
Jona holds the phone in her hand and it shakes uncontrollably. She has asked Yvonna everyday to bring her husband along to participate in her sessions. First she’d say work wouldn’t allow him, so Jona contacted Each One Teach One, his non-profit organization to verify her truth, and discovered she was lying. Next she’d say he left her. Believing Yvonna had something to do with him missing, she decides to tilt the scales to beat Yvonna at her own game.
“Mam, has he been missing for more than 48 hours?” the officer asks.
“Yes.”
“Where was he last seen?”
“At his home.”
“Have you gone to check on him?”
“Yes. And his car is there, but he’s not.”
“What’s his full name?”
“Dave Walters.”
What Jona was really trying to do was stir up controversy around him being missing. The only problem is, with Lily no longer answering her calls, she has to fight alone. So it was time to fight dirty.
Two Long…Long…Weeks Later
A Penny For Your Thoughts
Penny placed the hot tea on the red dinner trey next to a bologna sandwich with cheese. Time was not kind to Penny’s posture or her face. Although she exuded love to all those she cared for as a nurse and in her personal life, she never found anyone…not one single soul, to show her love in return. Still, the selfishness of others never stopped her from loving them all the same.
Lifting the trey off of her spotless cream kitchen counter, she carefully walks toward the basement, where Yvonna had stayed for the past few weeks. She loved caring for her and kept the promise she made to her the first time she saw her, that if she needed her, she’d always be there. Just Yvonna being in the house, gave her purpose and a reason to get up in the morning. Yvonna had ran out of money and quickly turned to Penny for help by crying to her that Dave had left her for another woman. Penny trusting her, allowed her into her home.
“Yvonna, I’s got your food, girly. I knows if you have it your way, you’d stay down there all day doin’ nothin’, but if you gonna stay wit’ me, old Penny gots to make sure you eats!” she says before knocking on the door.
Right before she twists the knob and enters the basement, something Yvonna had b
egged her not to do, Yvonna burst out of the door causing Penny to spill the tea over the shiny hardwood floor.
“I’m sorry,” Yvonna says. She locks the door behind herself with the tiny key Penny gave her. “I didn’t know you were there.” Penny sits the trey on a small wooden counter and wipes the tea from the floor with the napkins on the trey.
“Don’t you go worryin’ yourself about it. I came to the door afta you asked me to keep your privacy. So I got exactly what I deserved. Bumped,” she laughs.
“I don’t know why you so nice to me.”
“’Cause I’m supposed to take care of you.”
Yvonna smiles and helps her clean up the mess before sitting in the beige living room sofa that was covered with plastic. Penny’s entire home looked like a page out of a 1975 magazine. Beads covered almost every doorway, and all of the couches and chairs, including the ones in the dining room, were covered with plastic. Beige, cream and green were the dominating colors. Her place was warm and cozy but lonely.
On the walls framed pictures of her son, Baker were everywhere. In every one of them, he looked unhappy, like life wasn’t kind to him.
“What happened to your son?” Yvonna asks, nibbling on her sandwich and looking at his pictures.
Penny who was in the kitchen making Yvonna another cup of tea, stops in her tracks and looks down at the floor. Hearing the question causes her more discomfort than she wants. But the unconditional love she has for Yvonna, causes her to answer the question anyway.
“He…he got tired of livin’,” she says as she walks into the living room. She places a fresh cup of Lemon tea on the table next to Yvonna. “And trust me when I tell you…I knows it was my fault,” she looks at one of his pictures on the wall, takes a deep breath and pauses. “I guess I neva could understand how a man so young could be so tired. Wit everything.” She sat on the recliner in front of Yvonna.
“What do you mean?”
“Yvonna, when yous grow up. It’s ya parents responsibility to take care of you. To make sure your life is one worth livin’. At least until you can finds a way on your own.”
Yvonna thinks about the abuse she endured at the hands of her father and how her mother took his side. Her heart starts to ache and she desperately tries to gain control of her pain.
“I’m sure it wasn’t your fault.”
“Yes it was. I failed him.”
“How?” Yvonna places her sandwich down and focuses on Penny. “You seem like you care so much about people. I can’t see you being anything but wonderful to him. I only wish my mother treated me half as good as you treat me.”
“Don’t hands me a reward just yet,” Penny says softly. “My actions today come from years of experience in heartache and pain.”
Yvonna laughs. “Well…what happened?”
“When he was younga, much, much younga than you, he told me he wasn’t happy…and that he was scared all the time. I…I neva understood it. I gave him as much love as I could hold in one day, includin’ the love I shoulda had for myself. But…but it was neva enough. No matta what I did, he neva had the smile a child should have when they wakes up in the mornin’ to witness life. Neva,” she shakes her head and tears escape her eyes.
“He always seemed to carry the burden of fifty mens on his shouldas. And lil’ by lil’, he started gettin’ worse in school. He wouldn’t do his work. And if somebody said somethin’ to him, he’d start a fight. So I’d talk to him, and he’d seem to do betta. He always tried to do what I wanted, even when he couldn’t.
“So when the calls from school stopped comin’, I thought he was okay. Turns out he just isolated himself. He stayed alone so he wouldn’t have to deals wit’ people. His grades dropped all the way down. And it started to be hard just to get him out of bed.
“Well one day, I decided to stop bein’ scared. I had to be a parent. So I sat him down and asked him what was wrong. I guess I shoulda asked before, ‘cept I don’t think I wanted to know the answa.” She gets up and starts dusting the old mahogany dining room table and Yvonna stands, following behind her like a lost child. Her son’s story seemed eerily like hers.
“Well, I came to his room early one morning. I figured if somethin’ was wrong wit my baby, I had to know, to deal wit it, best I could!” she punches the table and dents it slightly. Yvonna glances at the table and see other craters and figures she’s relived the story many times before. “I woke him up and he was angry at first. Until I said, ‘Baby what is wrong wit’ you? Why is you so angry wit’ life?’ And when I asked him,” she smiles. “His eyes lit up and my heart softened. I knew then that all he wanted was somebody to ask what he needed. I hadn’t seen him smile since he was five. I guess just me askin’…just me havin’ the courage to want to know what could be holdin’ his mind hostage so long, gave him a sense of relief. And then…he turns around to me and says, ‘Ma, I hear voices. All the time. Day and night and telling me to kill myself. I don’t know why. I’m scared because I think people are talkin’ to me, that ain’t here. Can you help? Can you make them stop, mama?”
Yvonna backs out of the dining room and flops on the couch. She is shocked at Penny’s admission. But Penny continues, not noticing Yvonna’s detachment.
“And…I…I…said, ‘Stop lyin’! If you don’t stop makin’ up stories like those, people gonna think you serious! They gonna think you crazy and take you away from me! Do you want that?’ And when I did that, when I said those hateful words to him, I took the lil’ life he managed to use to just walk around this world, away. He was left wit’ nothin’.” When she turns around and looks at Yvonna, her eyes are bloodshot red and filled with tears. “I didn’t believe my son, and I killed him. If I had believed him, he’da neva placed the barrel of my gun to his head and kill himself.”
“That bitch is fucking crazy! And you’re stupid as shit if you listen to her. She’s probably some lesbian tryin’ to get you to fuck her old ass or somethin’. And don’t think for one minute I’m going to stay around and watch that nasty shit either.” Gabriella appears on Yvonna’s right.
“Shut up!” Yvonna yells.
“You shut up and look at yourself. If you believe that old slut, I’ll hurt her. Don’t make me do it, Yvonna. You know I’m not playin’!”
“You leave her alone! If you hurt her I’ll kill you!” Yvonna yells fearful of what her mental condition might make her do.
Looking at Penny she says, “Penny. I have to talk to you. I…don’t think it’s a good idea for me to stay here. I don’t want to hurt you.” Yvonna surprises herself by caring for Penny.
“She can’t hurt me,” Penny says softly. “She can’t hurt me because she’s you and I know you want to get better. And yous don’t have to go through none of dis alone. I’ve studied your case. Them white folks gots medicine for stuff like this. But you gots to take it,” Penny disappears into the kitchen, opens the top of a blue cookie jar and removes a pill bottle. She walks back to the couch. “I gots this from the hospital, the day you called me and told me you needed a place to stay. I’m not ‘sposed to have it, and I’ll answa to God for my sins for stealin’, but I know if you take it, you’ll be betta. And you’ll be able to live your life. Ain’t that what you want?”
Penny looks into Yvonna’s eyes and sees sorrow. The energy she shows matches her son’s exactly when he asked for help and she denied him.
And suddenly, as if Penny had said the most hateful thing imaginable to Yvonna, her face changes.
“Bitch, you don’t know who you’re fuckin’ wit!”
Penny unmoved by the presence of Yvonna’s multiple personality syndrome, straightens her spine and lifts her head.
“Yvonna, you’re still wit’ me, baby,” she grabs her hand forcefully to take control of the situation. “This is you. You’re one person. Not two. And you’re still wit’ me right now.”
Gabriella snatches her hand away and says, “Bitch you betta stay out of my life! I’m warnin’ you.”
With that she g
ets up and storms out of the house. Little does she know, staying out of her life was the last thing Penny planned to do.
Somebody Else Outside Of Herself
Yvonna’s mind rushes. She always felt close to Penny but after hearing her son’s story, she felt even closer to her. She realizes she must talk to Penny to warn her that caring for her might place her life in danger. It was as if her soul was divided in half. One part loved Penny and the other part hated her for making her trust anyone outside of herself.
Yvonna hops out of a cab in front of Duke Ellington’s campus. The sun shines brightly. “Stay right here, I won’t be long.” She tells the cab driver.
Slowly, she moves past the other students keeping her distance from her intended target, her 14-year-old sister, Jesse. Although Jhane moves Jesse from place to place to keep Yvonna away from her, it didn’t work. Jesse was the one person nobody could keep her away from.
Yvonna walks closer to Jesse’s locker and smiles. She’d been there many times before and knew Jesse’s routine perfectly. Although Jesse had lost a limb, she’s happy when she sees her new prosthetic arm. Yvonna found out a year earlier that John Hopkins had developed a procedure to create prosthesis that could listen to the brain to provide patients with more fluid motions. She sent the clip to Jhane anonymously so that Jesse could know about the procedure. It pleases her that the masculine bitch took her advice.
Jesse is surrounded by a bunch of girls and it’s apparent that she was popular in school. Her confidence had grown and she was now so beautiful that it was hard not spotting her in a crowded room. When the bell rang, Jesse and her friends focus on their lockers grabbing what they need for class. The other kids scatter everywhere to make their classes on time.
But Jesse isn’t speeding. She stops and looks directly at Yvonna. Jesse’s eyes widen but this time, she doesn’t run. Instead she walks up to Yvonna.
Shyt List 2 (The Cartel Publications Presents) Page 7
