Once I regained my composure, I couldn’t help but recall Chris’s phone conversation. It was obvious that his disrespectful ass was talking to his wife or possibly his baby mama. But in any case, he mentioned to her that he had something to take care of for Duke. So I wondered what that could be. First, I thought about the possibility that Duke had Chris were here to eliminate Katrina from the equation. But then I thought that it wouldn’t make sense to do that. According to Katrina, Duke needed her around to get her part of the insurance money. So what else could it be?
I racked my brain trying to figure out what was Duke’s motive for coming here and bringing Chris along. And when I couldn’t come up with a solid answer, I decided to shift that situation to the back of my mind until I was able to come to a conclusion in this matter.
Once again, I looked down at my wristwatch and noticed I had been sitting in this same position for over an hour now. And with no signs that Duke, nor Chris, was leaving anytime soon, I pressed my luck and decided to take a chance by sneaking into the bathroom. I knew that I was playing a very deadly game. But I figured if I tiptoed out of the room and into the hallway, then I could get away with it without getting caught. I mean, what other choice did I have? I didn’t want to pee on myself because you’ve got to remember that adults’ urine is a lot stronger than children’s. So why bring the heat to myself when it could be avoided?
It took me almost five whole minutes to get up from the floor. My legs and feet were super duper numb. So when I stood up on my feet, I leaned up against the wall in the closest to get some of the feeling back and let the blood began to circulate through my veins. A few minutes later, I got up the gumption to take the first step. There wasn’t much room to move around in the closet. You could take two to three steps and you were in or out. So after I stepped around the two Hello Kitty suitcases, I grabbed a hold of the doorknob and turned it very quietly. I couldn’t tell you why but I held my breath again. I was breathing so hard, it felt like as soon as I walked out of this closet and into the hallway, they’d hear me. And I couldn’t let that happen.
Thankfully enough, I was able to open the closet door without making a sound. My next quest was to make it out of the bedroom as quickly and as quietly as I possibly could. So right after I took the first couple of steps, I stopped because my gut feeling told me to prepare for an escape exit if all else failed. And that’s exactly what I intended to do.
The bedroom window was on the opposite side of the room so I tiptoed over to it and wasted no time trying to find the latch that would help me raise it up. While I prepared an escape route, I heard bits and pieces of Duke’s and Chris’s conversation. Fortunately, they weren’t talking about killing or the death of another human being. They were discussing how they were going to make other moves to secure the rest of the money he owed those two cats Katrina mentioned to me earlier. So while they were putting a plan in motion, I had found the latch and began to lift it very gently. It was moving smoothly until I had gotten it halfway up and then it acted like it didn’t want to move anymore. Frustrated and scared at the same time, I tried to use a little more force behind my push and when I did, the window made a screeching sound. From that very moment, you could hear a pen drop. That’s how quiet it had gotten. And from there, my heart leaped out my fucking chest because I knew it was a matter of seconds before I would be faced with Duke and Chris.
I stood there about to piss all over my clothes when I heard footsteps running up the staircase. I figured if I stood there any longer, I’d be their next victim. So I forced the window up more and then I kicked the screen out with my feet. But when I climbed up on the window ledge I couldn’t help but notice that if I tried to jump down onto the ground I would surely break my fucking legs. But I couldn’t just stand there and let those niggas fuck me up so I raced towards the bedroom door and hurried up and locked it. I figured by me locking it, it would give me a little more time to figure out how to climb out of this window without crippling myself.
With my heart pounding like a racehorse I climbed back on the ledge and then I eased my way through the window, sliding out on my stomach. And as soon as I had gotten halfway through, I heard two gunshots and then the bedroom door flew open. My eyes damn near popped out of my head when Chris burst into the room with Duke in tow. I could tell in their eyes that they were shocked to see me. Chris aimed his gun at me. “It’s Lynise!” he yelled.
“Shoot that bitch in the head!” Duke instructed him and Chris followed through by letting off two more rounds. BOOM! BOOM!
I saw the sparks from the barrel of the gun after he fired both shots. I knew I didn’t want to die. But I also knew that I didn’t want to let go of the window ledge and drop down twenty feet to the ground. “God, show me what to do,” I said and then I closed my eyes. And without given it anymore thought, I let go of the window ledge.
God be with me and please, stay with me.
Cheaper to Keep Her part 2 Unique
Another One Bites The Dust-Chapter Thirteen
If only I could fly, I thought, as I let go of the ledge and felt the wind beneath me.
It was a matter of seconds before my body fell into a bush with sharp limbs. The limbs cut through my skin really bad. But I couldn’t complain. The bush also was a lifesaver, because it broke my fall. Lucky for me the entire backyard was pitch-black. So after I rolled myself out of the bush I scrambled to my feet. But I was only able to move a few feet before Chris started shooting his gun again. Duke nor Chris was able to see me but it didn’t stop the damn fool from pointing his pistol in every location of the backyard.
“Do you see her?” Duke yelled.
“No, I don't see her anywhere,” Chris told him.
,“Come on, let's hurry up and get her before she gets away.” Duke instructed.
I was scraped up pretty bad. But knowing that they were on their way downstairs, allowed me to block out all the pain I was feeling so I could use my strength to get out of there. Katrina’s backyard was pretty big. And it was fenced in. The fence was made with iron and it was only six feet tall, which wasn’t hard for me to climb over. I was breathing so hard, I was panting. By the time I reached the other side I saw Chris running directly towards me. He came from the front of the house, so I had no choice but to turn and run in the opposite direction. I had no idea where I was going. And the fact that it was extremely dark outside prevented me from planning a better escape. All I knew was that I needed to run because my life depended on it.
It seemed like the further I ran, the shorter of the distance Chris had to catch up with me. “When I get my hands on you bitch, I am going to choke your motherfucking ass out,” I heard him threaten me from behind.
I thought he would’ve fired more gunshots at me. But for some reason, he didn’t. And since he hadn’t, I figured that maybe he ran out of bullets from shooting blindly at me in the backyard. Whether I was right or wrong, I was determined not to let him catch me. Not tonight nor any other night. So I mustered up every inch of strength I had to pick up speed. My heart raced at a faster speed than my legs as I continued to prevent this maniac from catching me. I hope Chris’s big ass wasn’t in the kind of shape that I was.
A couple of times I tripped when my feet landed on uneven ground. I didn’t know this at first, but Katrina’s house and her neighbor’s houses were built around a man-made lake. I contemplated jumping in the lake but I was afraid it might’ve been too deep for me to swim in. And I definitely didn’t want to drown. Then I thought drowning would be a better way to die than fatal gunshots wounds.
It seemed as if Chris had chased me for at least a mile but when I looked back I saw the bedroom light from Katrina’s house and the distance between me and her house was less than a quarter of a mile. “Lord,” please help me!” I prayed underneath my breath. I needed God more now than any other time in my life. I hoped the Good Lord heard me and didn’t ignore my pleas.
It seemed like Chris had no plans of giving up. I even noticed he w
as getting closer to me than I thought. I figured if I kept running at the speed I was traveling, then he’d eventually catch up to me.
Besides the sound of running feet, I’m sure I heard Chris breathing really hard. He was breathing so hard he could barely catch his breath. Although he seemed a little winded, that bastard showed no other sign that he would slow his big ass down. So without much more thought, I did the unthinkable. I dipped through a set of gigantic trees and then I made a quick left turn towards the lake and dove straight in. The immediate splash from the water was loud enough for the neighbors to hear. So I was hoping it would dawn on at least one of them to investigate it.
“You motherfucking bitch!” Chris screamed. I could tell he was pissed that I had jumped into the lake. And when I looked back, I noticed that he’d stopped in his tracks. My heart skipped a beat when I realized he hadn’t jumped in the water behind me. I wanted to stop swimming but my mind wouldn’t let me. I knew I had to get as far away from Duke and Chris as quickly as I could.
When I looked back again, I noticed Chris had disappeared from where he was originally standing. A new level of panic shot through my entire body. I didn’t know whether to keep swimming to the other side of the lake or turn back. Either way, I wanted to avoid Chris from catching me.
The water in the lake wasn’t as deep as I thought it was, but the temperature was freezing cold. And I knew that very soon I would need to get out of it. Without making a lot of noise I decided to move about in the lake. Instead of swimming to the opposite side of the lake, I swam to the East side. I figured if Chris and Duke were looking for me, they'd wait for me directly on the opposite side in which I entered. I stopped a couple of times before I was able to exit the lake. For one, I was extremely exhausted from all of the running I had done before I jumped into the water. And two, it seemed like the more speed I put behind my swimming, the louder the splashes got so I had to slow my pace. It bothered the hell out of me that I couldn’t see a thing around me. I could see the light from Katrina’s daughter's room was still on, but that was it.
I thought about screaming for help at one point. But then I figured that wouldn’t be a smart move, because what if no one hears me but Duke and Chris? I’d really be a dead bitch then. So after taking a couple of swimming breaks, I finally got up the nerve to swim back to land.
I said another silent prayer and exited the water quietly. I got down on my knees and crawled behind a tree that was near someone’s backyard. I waited there for a moment, while on high alert. My heart was beating like a racehorse but I did my best to remain calm. A couple of times I jumped because I heard crackling sounds around me. But when I looked a little closer, I realized there were a couple of squirrels playing around, so I exhaled. I knew I wasn’t out of harm’s way yet and that’s why I kept my guard up. After being on my knees for at least a good five minutes, I stood up, but hunched down so I couldn’t be spotted if Chris was indeed waiting for me to reveal myself.
Being that it was extremely dark it became impossible for me to plan an escape route. I was able to still see Katrina’s house because no one ever turned off the bedroom lights. Suddenly my actions hit me. During all of the excitement, I hadn’t thought about Katrina. Now I wondered what kind of turmoil she was in. I knew how Duke operated so there was no question in my mind that he was beating the hell out of her. I knew his ass wasn’t going to spare her any leniency because she had me hiding upstairs in her daughter’s room. Trust me, he was making her tell him why I was there and what we were talking about before he arrived at the house. Knowing that she threw her own man and his brother underneath the bus, I knew she sung like a bird when he questioned her about me.
I couldn’t blame her. After all, my new motto was the same motto as most of America, “survivor of the fittest.” I could only apologize to her in my mind.
It wouldn't surprise me if she lied and told Duke that I followed her to her house and how I knew where she lived. Either way it wouldn’t matter to me, because her life was in the palm of his hands and mine wasn’t. Well, at least, for now it wasn’t.
Once I felt like the coast was clear, I tried my luck and maneuvered my way out of the darkness surrounding Katrina’s neighborhood. With every move I made I had to look back and see if I were being followed. I was disappointed no one had called the cops after hearing gunshots and me splashing around in the lake. This wasn’t the ’hood. This was a nicer part of the beach and they didn’t suppose to go for that shit out here. Or that’s the lie we in the ’hood suppose to believe.
When I got at least a half of mile away from Katrina’s house, that’s when I knew Chris had turned back and gone back to Katrina’s house. Drenched from head to toe from that nasty lake water, my clothes clung to my body like a bad habit and I wanted nothing else but to get out of them. I had nowhere to go to do just that. And even if I did, I didn’t have a spare change of clothes, so once again I was ass out. One part of me wanted to just scream out loud and ask God why me? Why was I going through all of this turmoil? I also wanted to ask God how was this all going to end? I knew He was the only one who knew what was around the next corner. And the fact I didn’t know nearly drove me crazy.
I looked down at my watch and noticed it had not only stopped, but it also had water damage. I sighed heavily. I felt like if it wasn’t one thing, then it was damn sure another. And since I had no way of knowing what time it was, I bit the bullet and kept it moving down side streets to prevent from being seen, just in case Duke sent Chris back out to look for me.
I wished I had a chance to go back and get Bishop’s truck. I was at least ten or fifteen miles away from the downtown area of Virginia Beach, so I knew I wouldn’t be able to get there on foot. I also knew it would be impossible to get to Bishop’s truck. If Chris wasn’t out here looking for me, I knew he was certainly keeping his eyes on that truck.
And for the first time I wondered if revenge was worth my life . . . or worse, my death.
Cheaper to Keep Her part 2 Unique
Fuck Everybody-Chapter Fourteen
Only a fool wouldn’t change their fortune.
I didn’t know who said that but they were right. And that’s why I had to see this through. That was the only way to change my fortune—I had to see this son-of-a-bitch in jail or dead.
I practically dragged myself a half of mile before I was able to come upon a gas station. It was more or less one of those convenient stores with a couple of old ass gas pumps outside and a store full of Arabs who posed as the owners. When I walked inside, everybody in the store, including the customers turned around and stared at me like their fucking minds was going bad. I dismissed all of them with a funky ass expression and proceeded to the counter. I knew everyone probably wondered why I was soaked and wet when it hasn’t rained in the last twenty-four hours. But I couldn’t worry about them. I had other shit on my mind.
“You got a phone I can use?” I asked one of the two men that were standing behind the counter.
The one nearest to the register said, “Sorry, we don’t have a public phone.”
“But I got an emergency. I need to call somebody so they can come and get me,” I expressed with urgency.
But he insisted that he wasn’t about to let me use the store’s telephone. I became extremely frustrated. I mean, he saw how I looked, so it wasn’t hard to tell that I needed some type of assistance. And as bad as I wanted to curse him out, I held back all my anger and suggested that if he didn’t want me to use his phone, then could he dial the number for me. I further explained that I had just escaped from this man who was trying to kill me.
“I’m sorry but I can’t help you,” he replied. “Go outside and use the pay phone,” he continued and pointed towards the door.
When he pulled that stunt I nearly lost it and instantly retaliated, “If I had money I would’ve used the fucking pay phone outside, you idiot! Y’all come here from your country with your little bit ass money so you can set up shop and overcharge us black folks wi
th all that expired shit you got on those nasty ass shelves. Y’all think y’all got all the sense in the world but you don’t. Y’all ain’t shit! Y’all ain’t nothing but fake ass Muslims trying to get rich off of us. But this place ain’t last long ’cause I’m gonna get my boyfriend to blow this shit up. You fucking has-beens!”
Immediately after storming out of the convenience store, I marched across the parking lot. I was damn near to tears when this guy approached me from behind. “Yo’ Shorty, was that shit you said true about a nigga trying to kill you?”
I turned around and looked into the eyes of this five feet eleven cat with a shiny bald head. I started to get sarcastic with his ass for asking me that stupid ass question but once again I held my tongue. Primarily because he might let me use that Blackberry he had attached to his hip. I hesitated for a moment and then I said, “Nah, I was kidding. I only said it to see if he would let me use his phone.”
The guy laughed. “Yo’ sweetheart, you are mad funny!” he commented.
But I didn't think the shit was funny so I didn't laugh with him. He caught on really quick. “Yo’, my bad! I’m sorry for laughing at you.”
“Do you mind if I use your phone?” I cut to the chase. I really didn’t want to engage in any small talk with this guy. All I wanted was to use his phone and that was it.
The guy took his Blackberry from his holster and handed it to me. “Yeah, sure you can use it.”
I took the phone from him and tried one more time to see if I could get my ex, Devin, on the phone. But once again that tired ass nigga refused to answer his line. I knew before I even dialed his number that I wasn't going to be able to talk to him calling from this unknown number. He was really big on sending unknown numbers to his voicemail. And the fact that his voicemail was full, I couldn’t even leave him a message. I was so frustrated, I just ended the call and handed this guy his phone back.
Cheaper to Keep Her part 2 (The Saga Continues) Page 9
