Caught Up

by Shannon Holmes

  The one good thing that came out of their self-imposed seclusion was that it seemed to curtail Kendra’s drug habit. Dixyn hadn’t seen her so clean in a long time, probably since high school. It may have been a less-than-ideal circumstance in which to kick her habit, yet Dixyn was still happy that she was seizing the opportunity.

  But one morning Kendra suddenly snapped. “Yo, I can’t take this shit no more. I’m bored out of my fuckin’ mind in this place. I’m goin’ back to the club tonight.”

  “You wildin’ right now, fam,” B-Dub said. “You not bored, bitch. Keep it real, you wanna get high. Who you think you foolin’, Kendra? You hooked on that shit so bad you willin’ to risk ya freedom or ya life for it.”

  “You don’t know what the fuck you talkin’ ’bout!” Kendra shot back. “Nigga, I don’t know about you, but I can’t stay cooped up in my own house, let alone someone else’s, for this long. I’m not a homebody. I needs to be out and about.”

  Dixyn’s eyes darted between the two. Witnessing a spat between Kendra and B-Dub was a first for her. These two conniving lowlifes always seemed to be in cahoots about everything. Dixyn didn’t bother to interject her own thoughts, since she wanted them both out of her house anyway. However she achieved this goal was fine with her, whether they took off one at a time or together.

  Kendra was adamant about leaving. She looked B-Dub straight in his eye. “Look, muthafucka, I’m grown. I do what the fuck I wanna do, when I wanna do it. I don’t gotta explain shit to you or nobody else. I’m tired of hidin’ out from some imaginary bogeyman. What’s gonna happen is gonna happen. I’m out. Deuces!”

  “Kendra, ya fuckin’ crazy. You a dead woman walkin’ if you go back to that fuckin’ club,” B-Dub warned. “Bitch, ya best bet is to keep ya ass here and lay low.”

  “Suck my dick!” Kendra spat. “You stay ya scared ass here. I’m leavin’. My time is up. Bye, Dixyn. Thanks for everything. Call me.”

  “Okay, fam, go right ahead, it’s ya funeral,” B-Dub stated.

  Kendra glared at him one last time before gathering up her things and exiting the house.

  “She’s fuckin’ crazy! Kendra might as well kiss her ass goodbye,” B-Dub mused. “You and I, Dixyn, we gotta be smarter than that, fam. We in this shit together.”

  Although Dixyn didn’t bother to verbalize her thoughts, the feeling was strangely mutual. B-Dub was her lifeline. There was no way she was going to lose sight of that fact, especially now, not until she found out what exactly was going on. Dixyn was doing the only thing she could do in this situation: she sat back and awaited whatever news came their way. So far they had heard nothing—nothing from the street, and nothing from the police.

  * * *

  In the days that followed, Dixyn and Ava had no choice but to interact more with B-Dub. One morning while the three grown-ups were in the living room watching TV, Ava busied herself playing on the floor with a ball. When it rolled over near B-Dub, Ava went to retrieve it. As soon as she got within arm’s reach of her uncle, he scooped her up into his arms. And almost instantly, Ava began kicking and screaming in midair, as if she had lost her mind.

  “Mommy, Mommy!” she shouted. “Put me down!”

  Dixyn pretended to be shocked by her daughter’s reaction. But she wasn’t. She was proud that Ava had done exactly what she’d been told to do.

  A perplexed expression suddenly adorned B-Dub’s face. “Dixyn, what’s wrong with this kid? She’s buggin’ out.”

  “She don’t like people picking her up,” Dixyn replied. “Especially strangers.”

  “I see.”

  Ava’s thrashing increased until finally she freed herself. As soon as she hit the ground, she bolted over to her mother’s protective arms. From across the room, she glared at her uncle.

  “That kid needs to socialize with other people more often. There’s no reason for her to act like that,” B-Dub remarked.

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “You too overprotective, that child is spoiled.”

  “Well, you know what they say: a spoiled child is a loved child,” Dixyn countered.

  “Could you get me a towel?” B-Dub asked, obviously trying to change the subject. “I’m tryin’ to take a shower.”

  Dixyn went upstairs to the linen closet and returned with a fluffy white towel and matching washcloth. “Here,” she said, handing him the towel.

  “Good lookin’, fam,” he remarked as he headed to the shower.

  Dixyn hoped like hell that B-Dub wasn’t up to anything, especially not a repeat performance of his attempted rape. Dixyn told herself she’d kill him if he ever pulled a stunt like that again. This rang even truer with her daughter present in the house. To B-Dub’s credit thus far, he hadn’t given Dixyn any indication that he was up to his usual tricks. He had been on his best behavior.

  As soon as Dixyn heard the bathroom door close and the water begin to run, she turned her attention to B-Dub’s knapsack. This was the opportunity she’d been waiting for. She had been studying his habits for days now. He liked to take long, hot showers. Dixyn knew she had an ample amount of time once she heard the shower running.

  She was expecting to find drugs or maybe a gun in his bag. What she saw instead totally astonished her. Dixyn found multiple birth certificates and documents from various banks and financial institutions in different names. It appeared to be related to fraud and identity theft. As she studied the documents, she whipped out her phone and began taking pictures of it all. She stored every alias and address in her phone for safekeeping. Just in case this information might come in handy one day. She couldn’t help but think how right she had been about him all along: she’d always felt there was more than meets the eye when it came to B-Dub. Now Dixyn had to call into question everything she’d thought she knew, especially all the fancy cars she’d seen him driving. Maybe the automobiles were either stolen or leased, probably the latter. Whatever the case might be, she was now certain he didn’t own any of them.

  B-Dub was more cunning and conniving than Dixyn had ever given him credit for. She was beginning to understand how he truly operated. Seeing was not believing with him. B-Dub didn’t use smoke and mirrors to deceive people. He could fool the average person because they thought with their eyes. All he needed was a nice car, nice clothes, and a pocketful of money—this was enough to make most people believe whatever it was he was saying.

  “Mommy,” Ava suddenly called out, “what’cha doin’?”

  “Shhhh!” Dixyn said, placing her finger across her lips. “Go back in your room and watch TV. Mommy be right there.”

  Dixyn carefully slipped the documents back inside and set the bag just as she’d found it, then headed to her daughter’s room, pretending to have been there the entire time.

  Dixyn heard B-Dub’s footsteps as he descended the stairs. She and Ava came out of the bedroom and sat down together at the computer. Dixyn logged on to the games website that Ava liked. She waited anxiously for a few moments as her daughter played, half expecting to hear B-Dub scream her name. When that didn’t happen, she finally exhaled.

  * * *

  Kendra opened her mouth wide and dumped a molly inside. She washed the pill down with a swig of spring water then left the club early, careful not to bump into anyone from management. Her mind was focused on getting home and getting high.

  Quickly she walked across the packed parking lot, seeing nothing but empty vehicles. She noticed a single car idling in the distance. Then she glimpsed a faint glint of the parking lot lights reflected off a chrome-plated gun sticking out of the car’s window. She froze in her tracks and was immediately doused by a pair of high beams.

  What the fuck is going on? she wondered. Is this a robbery?

  Kendra squinted in an attempt to get a better look at the gunman, but there was too much light upon her to see much of anything. No matter who it was or why they were there, this couldn’t be good. Kendra was trapped, not close enough to easily get to her car and too far away from
the club to run back to safety.

  As she weighed her options, a single gunshot rang out and a bullet lodged directly into her forehead as her body crumpled to the ground.

  * * *

  Dixyn thought she was dreaming when she heard a knock on her bedroom door. When the light rapping turned into a hard pounding she stirred out of her sleep and grabbed the knife that she kept hidden beneath her pillow. She looked down at Ava, who was still sound asleep, and slowly advanced toward the door.

  “Who’s there?” Dixyn groggily called out.

  “It’s me, B-Dub. Open the door, it’s important.”

  “What is it?” Dixyn huffed.

  “Open the door,” he repeated. “No funny shit, I swear. I ain’t gonna do nuttin’ to you, fam. That’s my word.”

  Dixyn slowly unlocked the door and positioned herself behind it, just in case B-Dub tried to surprise her with something.

  As the door swung open, B-Dub whispered to her, “Kendra’s dead.”

  “What?” Dixyn exclaimed.

  “Kendra’s dead. She got killed outside the club in the parking lot. One of the bouncers just called me.”

  “Did they catch who did it?”

  “No, nobody saw nuttin’, fam,” B-Dub answered gloomily. “It was only one gunshot, so no one really paid it no mind. The bouncer thought it was a car backfiring. Kendra’s body was discovered by a customer leaving the place.”

  Maybe this was karma, Dixyn thought. God only knew who Kendra may have fucked over for some drugs, or maybe she’d rung up a big debt supplying her habit.

  The atmosphere inside the house changed dramatically. Fear spread throughout the place like a cold chill on predawn winter morning. And fear wasn’t something Dixyn handled well. Her home had been transformed from a safe haven into a death trap. She had to get out of town now.

  “I’m gone,” Dixyn announced. “At least till I find out exactly what’s goin’ on, I’m leavin’ town.”

  “Oh yeah?” B-Dub replied. “I’m goin’ wit’ you.”

  Dixyn didn’t even bother to protest. She quickly packed a few things, grabbed her daughter, and hurried out of the house with B-Dub in tow.

  Chapter Twelve

  Dixyn breathed a huge sigh of relief once they arrived safely at her mother’s house deep in the countryside. B-Dub had been totally silent the entire ride there, a welcome nondistraction. She needed the peace and quiet to process everything that had happened and what she planned to do about it. Together they quietly entered the pitch-black house. With her sleeping daughter in her arms, Dixyn led B-Dub to the living room, where he took a seat. Then, after placing Ava in a bed, she began strategically turning on lights in different parts of the house where she felt a forced entrance could possibly occur. Dixyn began entertaining wild thoughts of all them being slaughtered in a violent home invasion. Fear was consuming her.

  After Dixyn checked and rechecked all the windows, she returned to the front door. She turned the top lock and listened as the cylinder clicked with a loud thud. Then she slid the chain lock into place. Entering the living room, she found B-Dub slumped low on the sofa, resting his head on a cushion, his eyes pointed at the ceiling.

  “That’s it,” Dixyn barked as B-Dub’s eyes slowly came to rest on her. “I’m goin’ to the police when I wake up. Too many people are dying around us. And by all indications we’re next.”

  “Here you go wit’ that shit again. Look, fam, don’t do that,” B-Dub said. “You’ll only create more problems.”

  “You don’t seem to understand that we’re in a life-or-death situation. Do one of us have to die before you realize that something is going on around us? I don’t know about you, but I’m not willing to take a chance like that. I, for one, got more at stake here than my life. I got my daughter to think about.”

  “Listen, it don’t have to be like this. We could—”

  “I don’t wanna hear it!” Dixyn snapped. “Nothing needs to be said. Something needs to be done. I’m not tryin’ to hear nothing else.”

  Dixyn moved into the bedroom where she’d put Ava and locked the door behind her. This door was her last line of defense against whatever evils lurked outside or inside the house. For extra security, she placed the knife that she had tucked into her waistband beneath a pillow—just in case B-Dub wasn’t on his best behavior.

  For the next several hours, Dixyn remained alert for any noise that went bump in the night inside or outside the house. She felt good about the decision she had made to contact the police, and no matter what B-Dub had to say about the matter, this time she planned on sticking to it.

  Finally, in the wee hours of the morning, sleep overtook her, allowing her mind and body an escape from the horrors that had been plaguing her waking hours.

  * * *

  Dixyn had slept through her internal alarm clock. She pried one eye open and peeked at the clock on the nightstand. It read 10:30 a.m. Normally by this time of morning she would have already been awakened by Ava, who would be asking for breakfast or a cartoon.

  Second by second, Dixyn came to her senses. Her body began to stretch and yawn. Then it suddenly hit her: Ava was gone. Dixyn rolled over and glanced at the spot next to her where her child was supposed to be. She saw nothing but crumpled sheets and an imprint where her daughter had slept. Dixyn trained her eyes on the bedroom door and saw that it was slightly ajar. Maybe Ava went to the bathroom or something, she thought. Dixyn listened for signs of life around the house: the television, a toilet flushing, anything. Instead she heard an eerie silence.

  Dixyn jumped out of bed and raced into the living room, which was empty. She frantically searched the entire house, yielding nothing. B-Dub and Ava were gone. All she found was the wire hanger that B-Dub had used to unlock the door while she slept.

  Dixyn began to weep as she imagined B-Dub dragging Ava out of bed while he muffled her cries with a hand over her mouth. In her mind, Ava kicked and screamed all the way to the car. (In all actuality, the child hadn’t; B-Dub had removed her from the bed while both mother and child were sound asleep. Once Ava came to, B-Dub had forcibly given the child a strengthy dose of codeine, which put her right back to sleep.)

  Dixyn was overcome by a rush of adrenaline mixed with her fear. She couldn’t believe B-Dub’s audacity. He had hit her in her most vulnerable spot. Dixyn would die if something happened to her daughter. And now there was no way she could go to the police without placing her daughter’s life in danger. This situation spawned from my need to go to the police in the first place, Dixyn mused. B-Dub clearly didn’t like the idea, and was taking preventive measure to ensure that wouldn’t happen.

  At that moment, Dixyn heard her phone ring. She ran to the bedroom and snatched her cell off the charger without looking at the caller ID. “Bring back my daughter!” she yelled into the phone.

  “Oh, you’re up now? Huh, fam?” he calmly replied. “You really ought to do something about your sleeping condition. You sleep too hard.”

  “Look, don’t fuckin’ play wit’ me. Bring back my goddamn daughter or . . .” Dixyn’s voice trailed off.

  “Or what, Dixyn? In case you haven’t noticed, you’re in no position to be issuin’ any threats, fam. Real talk!”

  Even if Dixyn wouldn’t admit it out loud, she acknowledged to herself that his statement was totally true. She was more vulnerable to B-Dub’s bullshit than ever.

  “Now listen up, fam, and listen good. If you ever want to see ya daughter, my niece, alive again, keep ya mouth shut and don’t go to the cops. Or you and ya daughter could end up like Kendra, Fonda, and Chocolate.”

  “You mean to tell me you had something do with them gettin’ killed?” Dixyn demanded.

  “Why, of course,” B-Dub responded. “If I wanted you dead, you woulda been dead a long time ago. I got big plans for you, Dixyn. Together we’re goin’ to break my poor brother’s heart. Them chicks wore out they usefulness.”

  It finally dawned on Dixyn that she was but a pawn in some sick ga
me between Bryce and his brother. “Okay, okay. I won’t go to the police. Just promise me you won’t harm my baby. You have my word on that. If you would just bring Ava back, it’ll be a done deal.”

  “Your word ain’t good enough!” B-Dub spat. “How do I know you won’t change ya mind? I think I’ll hold on to ya kid for a li’l while longer to give ya ass something to think about.”

  The line went dead.

  Dixyn tried calling him back a dozen times but could only reach his voice mail. Thoughts of Ava dominated her mind. She took a deep breath, held it in for a few seconds, and then blew it out with a loud sigh. I gotta pull it together. Stop all this crying shit and think!

  Dixyn knew that even though she had agreed not to go to the police, she wasn’t out of the woods yet. She knew her cooperation would probably never be enough—B-Dub would likely either betray or kill her the first chance he got. And now there was only one solution. It was time to take revenge.

  From this point on, Dixyn swore to herself, everything she did would be guided by a purpose and a plan.

  * * *

  Dixyn had no memory of leaving her mother’s house and getting in the car. Her eyes couldn’t focus on the road, and although she drove for miles, everything she saw was a blur. Dixyn was on a mission. She had one thing on her mind and one thing only: getting her daughter back. Mindlessly, she steered her car into a parking space in the strip mall.

  Dixyn walked the short distance to the pawnshop. As soon as she entered the premises, the owner spotted her. He remembered her face. There was no way he would forget it, not after the way she had cursed him out. The incident was still fresh in his mind. He watched closely as Dixyn walked straight over to him.

  “How can I help you, ma’am?”

  Dixyn looked straight in his eye without uttering a single word.

  “Ma’am? How can I help you?” he repeated.