Another Hood Love

by Jontu'

  After about a minute of back and forth shots, the cars hightailed it off the block. One of the niggas in the trap house had come out and snatched up mine and B’s guns, and hopped in his whip to get rid of them before the police came through. I was looking around making sure everybody was good, but I didn’t see Sage.

  “Ayo B, where Sage at? She was right here when them niggas started busting.” I heard some funny noises coming from behind me and as I walked around the car, I saw that Sage had been hit pretty bad. “Fuck, somebody call 911!” I yelled out. Lexis came speeding up the block right at that moment; her and B had both came to my side where I was holding Sage, but shit wasn’t looking good. She was choking on her own blood, and her eyes had began to roll to the back of her head; she was fighting hard to take a breath, but it was like she couldn’t do it.

  “Aye, y’all need to get off the block now before 5-0 come!” Lexis yelled at me and B. I didn’t want to leave Sage; she was like our older sister, and I didn’t feel right leaving her there to die in the streets, but I knew us going to jail wouldn’t help anything at all.

  “I got her, go change and then come straight to the hospital,” Lexis pleaded with tears in her eyes.

  B and I both hopped in my truck and headed straight for the freeway; we went to Big Ken’s house, where we could go wash up and change, and also put him up on what had just transpired. I was all fucked up in the head seeing Sage like that, and I didn’t know how I was going to break the news to Greg or the girls. I was sick right now.

  About 20 minutes later, we were pulling up to Big Ken’s house. I didn’t want to move, but we needed to hurry up and get to the hospital. Once we got inside, we filled Big Ken and Tommy in on what had happened on the block; pissed was an understatement of how he was feeling. He chewed us a brand new asshole, saying that we should have handled the Richmond niggas weeks ago before they grew the balls to even come at us. He was right, but honestly we didn’t think that they would take shit this far.

  After washing up and dumping our clothes, we headed to the hospital to check on Sage. By the time we arrived, the entire Squad was there, including Greg and Sage’s family and Jaeda’s family. We went and joined everybody as we waited to see what the doctors would say when they came out. It seemed like we had been sitting forever; Jaeda could not stop crying and throwing up, and everybody was a mess. Greg hadn’t said two words since we got there, and I knew he was sick. That was his twin sister, so their bond was thicker than anybody else’s. I couldn’t imagine his pain as we waited on the news.

  After another 30 minutes of waiting, the doctor finally approached us.

  “Is this the family of Sage Riley?” the doctor asked. Greg stepped up,

  “Yes, I’m her twin brother Greg, this is our grandmother Ms. Ella, and these are all of our close family and friends.” Greg and Sage’s mom had died a few years ago as a drunk driver hit her, so their grandmother who had recently lost her legs due to diabetes had raised them.

  “Alright, well Ms. Riley suffered a substantial amount of injuries; she was hit four times in her torso, and the bullets basically shred her left lung and her liver to pieces. We tried to go in and see if either of the organs were repairable, but there was no such luck. During the surgery, we had placed her on a ventilator but there was no way she could survive; even on the ventilator, all of her bodily functions would have shut down before the night was up. After closing her back up her heart had stopped, and we didn’t detect any brain activity; we did everything we could.” Before he could finish talking, the group of us resorted to sobs and gasps of shock. “You have my deepest condolences; if you want to say your last goodbyes, nurse Lattimore will direct you. Good night and again, I am so sorry for your loss.” The doctor then turned and walked away.

  I looked at Greg and he was slumped down to the floor, sobbing like a baby. I walked over and went to comfort my brother. Greg’s cousin had wheeled Ms. Ella, following the nurse to go say her final goodbye. The Squad had all agreed that we didn’t want to see her lifeless, so none of us went back. Our final viewing of her would be the day we laid her to rest. We stayed up at the hospital for about another hour before we decided to all go home and get some rest. I went and gave Ms. Ella a hug, letting her now how sorry I was. When I pulled away from our short embrace, she asked for all of our attention.

  “I’m truly hurt behind my granddaughter losing her life, but all that I can do is pray and place it in God’s hands; you kids gon do what y’all wanna do, and if you don’t believe nothing, believe this to be true. Live by the gun, die by the gun.” I let those words sink in. “How many of y’all generation y’all willing to lose in these Oakland streets? Keep killing each other and y’all ain’t gonna have nobody to swap memories with.” Ms. Ella just stared at all of us for a moment before motioning that she was ready to go. We all left the hospital with our hearts heavy with grief.

  It had been a few days since Sage had gotten killed, and I felt like I was in a dream 24/7; she was the big sister that didn’t hold anything back. She let you know how she was feeling or when you were out of line, and did so with no filter whatsoever. Since Sage’s death, Jaeda had been detached from the world; she was still not feeling well, and not to mention the funeral had been scheduled for the same day as prom. Jaeda and Laela had both said they weren’t going to prom anymore. Jah and I had tried to convince them, but they were too emotional to change their mind right now.

  I tried bringing Jaeda some lunch as I watched her lay up under my covers staring off into space. I felt horrible that we were all affected by this horrible situation, and I just wanted to make my babe feel better.

  “Jae, I brought you some Panera Bread, are you going to eat?” I asked her.

  “Yes.” That was all she said before she turned over, facing the wall. I sat down on the bed and rubbed her back as she began to cry uncontrollably; I had a few tears myself that I couldn’t hold in. I kissed her cheek and told her I would be back later on.

  I left and went to go visit Rico; the Squad agreed that I would be the best one to tell Rico what happened; out of all the guys, all the girls were the closest to Rico. He was like all of their big brother; he was always the first one they all ran to with their issues, so I knew he would be tore up behind Sage. Those two had always been together when he was out on the streets. It hurt me to have to visit my bruh in jail and tell him that one of our own had been taken away by some pussy ass niggas. He was so sick that he cut our visit short and just walked out. I couldn’t blame him though; we were all dealing with this loss, but he was on the inside and I know he felt alone.

  Before I left, I put $500 on his inmate account as well as the other niggas from our East side crew, and stopped at Barnes and Noble bookstore to order him a couple books. The jails were so picky about magazine subscriptions that I didn’t even bother with the hassle.

  After I got back to the town, I had stopped by Ericka’s house so that I could drop off the clothes and shoes that Jaeda and Sage had bought for baby Jahlisa. I pulled up and called Ericka, and told her to come outside. I watched as she walked towards my truck with Jahlisa on her hip; she was Rico’s twin, and I smiled as I hopped out the truck and she began to reach for me.

  “What’s up E, hey Baby J, what you grinning for baby?” I asked as she smiled at me.

  “Hey Tone, I’m sorry to hear about Sage. I know you hurting right now and just know y’all in my prayers,” she said as I placed Jahlisa in the driver seat of the truck, and I talked to her through the open window; she was adorable as she giggled at my funny faces, and tried to make some of her own. I laughed as I turned back to Ericka; I couldn’t wait to have a kid of my own. I knew my child with Jaeda would be beautiful and smart. I wanted to give them everything that I never had in life, but most importantly I just wanted to provide a love and knowledge to my seed.

  “I just stopped by to drop off these bags. Sage had gotten the baby a couple pairs of shoes and some clothes and toys before she passed, and Jaeda did as w
ell so watch her while I take the stuff in the house.” I grabbed the bags from the trunk of my car, and it was so much stuff that I had to make two trips; this baby was spoiled as hell. Everybody loved baby Jahlisa, and we all missed the hell out of Rico.

  “Thank you Tone, I really appreciate what all y’all do for me and baby J. I know I haven’t always been y’all favorite person, but having her really changed me. I swear, I really love that each and every one of you has a bond with my baby,” she said as she grabbed Jahlisa, who had started getting fussy. I gave Jahlisa a kiss on her chubby cheeks and reached into my truck as I pulled out two stacks of money, and handed them to Ericka.

  “It’s all good, E. I gotta cut but hit me if you need anything, and go take the baby to see my bruh this week; he sick right now and needs his loved ones.” I hopped in the car and peeled off, headed to the block for a few hours before I returned home.

  Ericka had really done a turnaround after she had the baby; she stepped up and handled her responsibilities like a woman. Once Jahlisa had made six months, Ericka had enrolled in the city college and gotten a part time job at Wal-Mart, and she didn’t hang out in the hood much anymore. I hadn’t even heard of her hoeing around; I was proud of her. I pulled up to the block, and my mood instantly went dark as I stared at the candles and balloons that sat on the sidewalk in Sage’s memory. Those Richmond niggas most definitely had something coming.

  Jaeda

  Today I woke up, and I instantly regretted opening my eyes; today was the day that we would be laying my friend, my sister, to rest, and I wasn’t ready to say goodbye. Everybody had gone to the wake yesterday, but I didn’t; instead, I stayed on the block all-day and hustled, watching everything and everybody. I missed Sage and I just wanted to be where I felt comfortable at, and surprisingly that was in the hood, where all of our hard work was put into motion. This was what we risked our lives for every day, what Sage lost her life to, and what Rico was sitting down behind.

  I reevaluated life, and I wouldn’t change one thing that we had done since my sister and I had moved in with Uncle Ken almost two years ago. I learned a lot and found family, love, and loyalty in all the people in my life. There were no snakes in my circle, and in a couple of weeks my sister and I would be graduating high school and moving on to another chapter of life, which hopefully wouldn’t involve any more death or jail. I couldn’t handle losing any more of my Squad to either one.

  I got up and got ready for this da; after I handed my basic hygiene, I walked into the living room and found Tone, Jah, and Gio blowing it down.

  “Good morning niggas,” I said as I walked past them and grabbed me a 7up from the refrigerator. I still wasn’t feeling too well, but I wasn’t feeling as bad as I had been. I had so much running around to do yesterday that I didn’t get a chance to even make it to my doctor’s appointment, so I would have to call and reschedule on Monday. I walked up to Tone and kissed his lips as he handed me the blunt. I took two pulls and told them that I was about to get ready. It was already after 9 a.m., and the funeral started at 11:30.

  There were three limos for the funeral, not including the hearse; Greg’s grandmother and other family members were in the first limo, the second limo held Uncle Ken, my aunties and his children, and the last limo was for the Squad. Purple was the color of the funeral, but all of the family was required to wear all white; the Squad had all gotten blazers made with her pictures on them. We stepped out of the limos clean as a whistle, and I felt better knowing that we were all able to comfort each other. Laela grabbed my hand, and Lexis came and grabbed my other hand; we had been sipping Rose’ in the limo, and I had started to feel a small head high, which I needed that to get through this. The three of us had pulled our shades down over our eyes and took our places as we prepared to march in. Sage’s casket was a beautiful pearl white with gold trimmings, and covered with various shades of purple floral arrangements.

  The funeral had all went by in a blur. I didn’t remember what was said, or too much of anything; it was like I was in a daze. We all viewed her body together, and that was when we all broke down. It was hard to digest that this was the last time that we would see our sister; we had been rocking for a minute, and we were all close as shit. Once we had finished viewing her body, the funeral director came and closed the casket, and we all piled into the limos headed to the burial site. There were so many people that turned out for her service, but I was too down to socialize with anybody. The guys stood around and chopped it up with a few people, but Laela, Lexis, and I climbed in the limo and put a couple blunts in rotation as we popped another bottle of Rose’. I opened the door and poured some out for our fallen soldier.

  After the funeral proceedings were done, I was drained and faded; it was time to get ready for prom. I had gone home so that Tamia and Jamiya could help Laela and I get ready. I had gotten my hair and nails done yesterday; my hairdresser Tim had installed a 20” Malaysian weave in my head, and Tamia was going to wand curl it while Jamiya did my makeup. Auntie Shae and Quita just sat around smoking and drinking as they watched us prepare ourselves. I didn’t even want to go to prom anymore after what happened with Sage, but Tone reminded me that Sage would want us to go and experience this time in our lives, and to live life to the fullest whether she was there or not. I was feeling better than I had been for the past couple of weeks, and I was glad because whatever virus I had was not playing with my ass.

  An hour later, we were ready to go; the guys had just arrived, and we all piled into the family room to take pictures. Lexis had come over with her date, and they were looking amazing in red. Laela and I were both wearing evening dresses by Balenciaga; mine was a royal blue with a lace top part that hooked at the neck, with the same lace material that hugged my hips and thighs, but it was covered by long sheer material that fell out into a mini train and split all the way up my right leg to my waist. The dress was decorated at the waistline and neckline with gold beading.

  Tone’s tuxedo was charcoal black Dolce and Gabbana, with a royal blue bow tie and vest, and matching high top croc blue and black Giuseppes with gold plating. Laela and Jah were clean as hell in burnt orange, and her dress was strapless and fitted at the top, and had a feathery flare that was high in the front and long in the back; Jah had a cream dress shirt with gold lining, and a burnt orange vest with a matching bowtie that had gold specks in it.

  Together we were all shutting shit down.

  “Damn Jae Money, yo ass lookin nice in that dress, somebody must be doping you down,” Tone winked as he whispered in my ear. I giggled as I kissed his lips. We took a bunch of pictures, some serious and most of them we were clowning. I was glad that I decided to actually go to prom, because these were memories that I knew I will remember. We would never get these moments again, and I was glad I could share them with the people that I loved. I looked around at everybody and smiled.

  “Damn Brayden, you look like you about to cry my nigga, you good?” Jah asked, teasing B.

  “Man whateva, I’m watching my sons go to prom, I’m feeling like a proud daddy nigga.” We all laughed at their jokes, and headed towards the door. We had decided that instead of taking a limo we would just take my truck, and Lexis and her date were going to follow us.

  Once we had gotten outside, my Uncle Ken came and stood in front of us as he popped open another bottle of champagne; he was staring at us all with a huge grin on his face.

  “I just wanted to say that you all looking like a million bucks right now, and I’m proud to have each of you in my family and my circle. I couldn’t be a prouder father or mentor to all of you, so thank you for all that you guys do, you have really played a big part in helping me build my empire, and I have given each of you a gift in these envelopes. It’s your call what you do with it, but just know that I love you all like my very own children. I have already given Greg his and Sage’s.” Uncle Ken took a swig from the bottle and passed it to B, and then handed Me, Tone, Jah, B, and Lexis all an envelope. Once we opened the envel
opes, inside were keys and paperwork to a townhouse. Each one of us had received the same thing, and I had to agree that this was a great gift; I knew it ran him a pretty penny to purchase six high-end units in the community that these townhomes were located.

  I was very grateful for the gift that he had given us, and he explained that we could live in them, rent out our units, or even sell them in a couple years. I walked up and gave Uncle Ken a big hug, and whispered my thank you in his ear. My life had been crazy from the day that my parents had been killed; I had always felt that my sister and I were being punished due to the sins that our father had committed, but at this moment, I felt that I was finally happy and everything would be alright. I had grown a lot in the past two years, and I was grateful for every person and every moment that contributed to my growth and happiness.

  We headed to prom slapping all the hits, and enjoying each other. I gave Tone a sloppy kiss and he returned the gesture, kissing me passionately. I stared into his eyes as we both said I love you.

  Laela

  Prom was amazing, I couldn’t have asked for a more special moment. I had spent the night dancing with my sister, Lexis, Tone, and Jah. I had taken so many pictures with my phone that I knew I probably wouldn’t have much memory left on my SD card, but it was worth every picture. We were all dealing with Sage’s death, and this night of happiness would all be gone tomorrow when we were back to business. We had a plan to get at the Richmond niggas behind Sage’s death, and we would need to be on point to get the job done with no issues.