by Kiki Swinson
Surprised by what I was hearing, I couldn’t believe that this chick would risk her freedom for Matt. She couldn’t have known him that long. Damn, I had only been gone for a little over a year. And you can’t fall in love that much with a man that you do stupid shit like that in such a short period of time. But if that was in fact the case, then she was gullible as hell! Now, I’d done some crazy shit for Matt, but never to that extreme.
“Matt, I was the one that got my friend that works in the jail to get you that CO uniform. She was my connect, remember?” Lisa tried to jog his memory.
“Who gives a fuck whose connect it was. That bitch got paid, didn’t she?” Matt roared. I could tell he was getting tired of his conversation with Lisa. And at any minute he was going to snap out at her.
“Look, are you going to keep her here against her will?” Lisa abruptly changed the topic.
“What?!” Matt replied. He sounded like he heard her the first time, but for some reason needed clarity.
“She has told you over and over again that she doesn’t want to be with you anymore, so why won’t you let her go? I mean, she did rob the bank and brought you the money back,” Lisa pointed out.
“Lisa, you better stay in your lane and shut the fuck up!” Matt growled.
“Just answer my question, Matt. Why are you keeping her around when she doesn’t want to be with you anymore?” Lisa pressed the issue.
I waited for Matt to respond to Lisa’s question. But nothing came. And then I heard a loud thump. BOOM! POP! BOOM! I laid Lil Derek down on the bed and jumped to my feet. It sounded like Matt had attacked Lisa. Then I heard another boom sound. This time I knew it was Lisa falling down to the floor. I placed both of my hands on my head as I listened to all the noises in the next room. At one point it sounded like a herd of lions stampeding through that room. I could feel my entire body vibrating with tremors. My chest was heaving up and down as I flattened the left side of my face against the wall to get a better handle on what was going on since I couldn’t see a thing.
At one point, I could barely gather my thoughts when Lisa started begging Matt to stop hitting her. “Matt, please stop. You’re hurting me,” she started screaming. I was beginning to regret the fact that she brought up my name in the first place. I truly appreciated Lisa for questioning Matt about why he wanted to keep me against my will, but the consequences that she was enduring made it not even worth it.
“Bitch, you gon’ learn today that you can’t talk to me any kind of way,” Matt roared in the midst of all the chaos.
“I’m sorry, Matt! I’m sorry,” I heard Lisa scream, and then I heard more chairs being turned over, bumping sounds against the wall, and objects falling down on the floor. Her voice droned on like she had totally given up on her own life. It was like she was repeating words she had rehearsed a thousand times. “I’m sorry, Matt! I’m sorry!” She was like the man’s robot now, doing whatever he told her to do. She seemed brainwashed, like she was going through the motions but wasn’t really herself. I was really afraid that Lil Derek would wake up from all the commotion.
I wanted to break out of that room and help her so badly, but unfortunately, I couldn’t. I could still hear Lisa’s cries ringing through my head as I stood on the other side of the door. I closed my eyes tight to try to keep the screams from haunting me too bad, but it didn’t work. The sound was stuck in my head. I walked away from the door and sat on the edge of the bed. I looked down at him and thought to myself that it was now or never. Matt was losing his damn mind. I could tell that he was cracking under pressure because he was all alone. Preech, Juice, and Kanan were all dead, so who was left to have his back? He was too stupid to see that Lisa had his back. No. He wanted to have things his way. That was just Matt getting in his own way and he was going to cause his own demise. I just hoped that I wasn’t around when it happened.
I lay back on the bed and thought about the likelihood of me getting out of there. I looked at the bars on the other side of the window and thought about how impossible it would be for me to get out that way. Then I looked back at the bedroom door and thought about how impossible it would be for me to leave that way too. The only way I’d be able to get out would be if Lisa helped me. But how, though? She’d made it perfectly clear that I shouldn’t be here. She even tried to reason with Matt, so it was obvious that she felt my pain. Or she just didn’t want me here because she knew that Matt favored me over her. Regardless of the reason, she was my only shot. Trying to convince her would be very hard to do. I just hoped God would continue to work on her heart.
24
IT FINALLY MADE SENSE
Finally, everything calmed down. I guess Matt got tired of whipping Lisa’s ass because he just stopped. Either that, or Lisa convinced him not to kill her. Either way, the house became quiet so I was able to hear myself think and go back into planning mode.
After I put Lil Derek back to sleep, I checked to see how secure the bedroom windows were in the room. And when I saw that they were completely nailed shut, I knew there was no way in hell I was going to be able to make my escape this way.
I hadn’t realized that I had fallen asleep until Matt burst into the room. “You slick-ass bitch! I just got a fucking call from my peoples! You fucking shot and killed Preech! Then you took the money and shot Juice and Kanan! And now you trying to rob me again?” His voice boomed while he held the other backpack of money in the air for me to get a good look at it. “I knew you were lying to me, you fucking sneaky-ass whore! I ought to kill you right now.” He tossed the backpack on the floor.
“What are you talking about?” I tried to act surprised but I knew where he was going with this.
“Lisa, come in here and get the baby!” Matt yelled at the top of his voice.
In a flash Lisa came running in the bedroom. I looked in her face and saw all the bruises Matt had just inflicted on her. Matt was a fucking monster. And I knew my turn for a lashing was coming. I jumped up when she reached the bed and tried to grab ahold of my baby. I blocked her hands and scooped Lil Derek up from the bed. I tried to cradle him in my arms but my strength was no match for Matt’s. He intervened by grabbing me by my neck with one hand. “Let ’em go, you dumb bitch! Or I’m going to snap him in half,” he hissed.
I had no fight in me so I opened my arms and allowed Lisa to take my son from me. She looked at me and whispered that she was sorry, and then she sprinted out of the room. I was left to fight Matt on my own, and I knew that no one was going to come and save me. So I braced myself for the inevitable, because this time I knew it was going to be bad, especially since he knew I intended to steal the other backpack of money from the bank robbery.
Without warning he threw the first blow to my face. His fist connected with the right side of my head after I blocked it with my arms. That made him furious. He attacked me with a vengeance.
“Ahh!” I screamed out as multiple punches pounded my head and face, knocking me backward onto the floor.
“Matt, please stop. I didn’t . . .” I screeched and tried to finish my sentence but I couldn’t. I was no match for Matt. It was clear that he wanted me to kill me this time around. But that didn’t deter me from giving everything I had. I was still going to fight to the death.
I quickly scanned the room for something to help me fight Matt off with. And that’s when my eyes landed on his all-black leather Gucci belt. I don’t know how I did it but I was able to get away from Matt for three seconds, so I dove for the leather Gucci belt I saw lying on the dresser whip and at the same time Matt tried to grab me by my hair again. I swung my free arm and caught him across his face. I felt my elbow connect with the bone in the bridge of his nose.
“Aghh!” he yelled, throwing his hands up to his face. I had caught him in the right spot, obviously. He stumbled backward a few steps. The look in his eyes and the look on his face told me he was about to unleash the beast on my ass.
Once I got the belt, I grabbed its buckle tightly so it wouldn’t slip out
of my hands. I eyed him evilly and let a snarl curl on my lips. He came storming toward me so I swung the belt at Matt’s face with all the force in my body. The long leather strap caught him across his face. POP! The belt crashing into his face gave off a loud sound. It stung too because he went crazy.
“You fucking bitch!” he roared as he charged at me head-on. He looked like a raging bull, so how was I going to defend myself from that? I knew this guy was about to draw blood from every inch of my body. I wanted to ball up into a knot and run for cover, but I knew that wouldn’t help me. I was going to have to fight for my life.
I braced myself for the head-on collision that was about to take place. I squeezed the belt tighter in my hand and swung it at Matt as soon as he leaned forward to hit me with his fist. Both blows connected. I was stung with a blow to the head and he got hit in the neck with the belt buckle. But I didn’t stop there. I staggered a second or two and then I when I caught my balance I dove on top of his head and managed to wrap his belt around his neck.
“Arrgh!” he gagged, and he struggled, trying frantically to free himself. I yanked the strap of the belt as hard as I could, but he was too powerful for me so I couldn’t get him to fall.
He growled and yanked on it, causing me to fall. I was on the floor now, panicking as Matt struggled to free himself from the belt strap.
“Bitch, I’m . . . gon’ kill . . . you when I get my . . . hand on you,” he gurgled, finally freeing himself. His hands were curled into fists and his lips were drawn tightly. He looked at me with his nostrils flaring and his chest bumping up and down from breathing so hard. He squinted and zeroed in on me like a bull seeing a matador’s red cape and charging for it. Before I knew it, Matt was charging forward toward me at full speed.
“Shit!” I huffed, jumping aside. I whipped my head around real quick. I needed something that I could use as another weapon right away! Then, without thinking twice, I picked up the lamp from the nightstand and as soon as Matt was in front of me, I slammed that lamp into his head. The thick porcelain lamp base shattered against Matt’s head and face. I felt little sharp pains as the sprinkles of porcelain sprinkled onto my feet.
“Ahhhh,” Matt let out a sickening gasp. Then he crumpled to the floor in a heap and blood spilled from a newly opened gash in his forehead. He was moaning, but he clearly couldn’t move. I guess I was more powerful than I had given myself credit for.
When I realized that he was down for the count, my heart revved up as I raced for the door. I tried to open it but it was locked. I started banging on it, hoping Lisa would unlock it and open it from her side. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! “Lisa, open up the door!” I yelled as I jiggled the doorknob. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! “Lisa, come on, I knocked him out so hurry up, before he gets up,” I yelled once again. I was beginning to get frantic. Here was my only chance to get out and this stupid bitch wouldn’t open the fucking door. What the fuck was going on in her freaking brain? Was she deaf or something? BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! “Lisa, what the fuck are you doing? Let me out before he wakes up!” I screamed. “Please let me out of here,” I begged her as I panted like crazy. I couldn’t believe that I had knocked Matt unconscious. I knew I had to take this small window of opportunity to get out of here before he woke up.
In addition to trying to convince Lisa to open the door, my mind was having all kinds of thoughts about what Matt would do to me if I didn’t hurry up and get out of here. None of my thoughts had a happy ending so I forced myself to knock even harder. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! “Lisa, please, I need your help! Open the door before Matt wakes up and kills me!” I begged her. But my words fell upon deaf ears.
After several more knocks I realized that she wasn’t going to let me out of this room. I had looked back at Matt at least a dozen times, but now I noticed he was regaining consciousness. I knew this wasn’t good. I cursed as I saw my time running out.
My heart started hammering against my chest bone so hard it felt like it was going to explode inside of me. I said a quick, silent prayer while I watched Matt slowly regain consciousness. And then I thought to myself, How could I be so stupid as to put myself in this type of grave danger? There was no way for me to turn back now, but worse, there was no way for me to know what was to come. Matt had clearly lost his damn mind and was now more deadly and dangerous than I could have ever imagined him to be. And now I was in a situation with nothing and no one to protect me. I was in this hellhole alone. And no help was in sight.
I gave myself a pep talk. “You gotta find a way to get out of here,” I said over and over under my breath. Finally, it sank in. I looked around one last time and tried to assess what I might need to make my escape. “Shit, there’s nothing in this fucking place!” I cursed, still trying to think what I could use. There was nothing I could fashion into a weapon big enough to break down this fucking door, but I was suddenly hit with an idea. Maybe Matt had the key in his pocket to unlock this door. So I tiptoed over to where he was lying on the floor and started sifting through his pants pockets. I dug into every pocket he had but there was nothing in it but a small, folded bunch of cash. I took the cash, along with his wallet and his cell phone. Better to have something that might help me get out of there than nothing at all. I didn’t know it then, but I would surely find out later that my quick thinking with taking that stuff and those few little things I had stolen were going to be my keys to freedom.
Immediately after I realized that he didn’t have anything else of use, I stood up, and when I was about to step away from him, he grabbed my ankle. “Come here, you fucking bitch!” he hissed, and snatched me back down to the floor. BOOM! I hit the floor like a ton of bricks. I tried to get underneath the bed but my body wouldn’t fit. I knew my life was over now.
Matt snatched me back toward him and I started scratching and punching him in the face. He tried to grab my hands a couple of times but they were moving too fast. So he punched me dead in the nose, forcing me to see stars. I swear I felt the hot blood trickle out of my nostril and down my lips. And before I could react he started flailing his fists at me one after the other. He was up on me within seconds. I stood defenseless as he advanced on me so fast. I threw my hands up, trying to shield myself from what I expected to come when he reached out for me. But I was too late. I felt like a punching bag. “Aggh! Matt, please stop! Please Matt. . .” I screeched, trying to fend off as many of the blows as I could. I had never envisioned an impending death to be like this but now I knew.
While Matt continued his reign of terror, Lisa finally burst into the door. It was a little too late to try to save me now. Matt had me down on the floor, beating me to a pulp. Lisa saw this and started begging him to stop. She started acting in a frantic manner. “Matt, please stop. Two police cars just pulled up to the house,” she whispered.
Matt stopped beating me at that very moment. He jumped up to his feet. I couldn’t see him that clearly because of my tears and the swelling around one of my eyes caused by the impact of his fists, but I could see the fear in his face.
“Why the fuck are they here? Did you call them?” Matt asked through clenched teeth.
I looked at Lisa, waiting for her to answer. “No, of course not,” she replied. She looked very worried. Then I thought about the cop I saw on the side of the road getting his dick sucked by the prostitute. I wondered if someone near the bank reported the license plates on the getaway car and that cop realized I was driving that vehicle and had his boys come here. What were the odds of that? Please let that be the case, because I really need some help getting away from this maniac now, I thought to myself.
“Where are they? Have they gotten out of their cars yet?” he whispered. He looked like he had seen a fucking ghost.
Before Lisa could reply, we all heard knocking on the front door. “Oh shit! That’s them knocking on the door,” he commented, and then he looked down at me. “Try to scream and I will put a fucking bullet in your head and your fucking son’s head. Do you hear me?” His face looked merciless, so I believed every w
ord he’d just uttered.
I nodded and then I turned to Lisa. She looked like we shared the same sentiments. She gave me this pitiful look like she was sorry for what I was going through. But I wasn’t feeling her right then. So I turned my head toward the wall because I felt like she should’ve opened the fucking door and let me out of here while we had a chance. She had the freaking power to help me get out of here and she didn’t. Now we were both back at square one.
BOOM! BOOM! The sounds were coming from the cops knocking at the front door. “How many cops are out there?” Matt continued to whisper to Lisa as he tiptoed quietly toward the window in the bedroom.
“Four,” she whispered back.
“Where is the baby?” he wanted to know.
When Matt mentioned my son, I turned my attention back toward Lisa. I wanted to hear her response. “I just laid him down in the back room. He’s drinking a bottle,” she replied, continuing to whisper as low as she could while looking at Matt. A few seconds later, she looked down at me.
I saw Matt trying to be very careful not to be caught looking out the window. He peered around the dark curtain and then he jumped back really quickly. “Oh shit! I just saw one of them walk by the window,” he whispered to Lisa.
“Did he see you?” Lisa asked.
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Do you think they’re gonna stick around since my car is out there?” she wanted to know.
“Hopefully, they won’t. But I will say that if we hadn’t gotten rid of that car Juice’s blood was in, they’d be coming in here on our asses right now, instead of knocking on the fucking door,” Matt explained.
Hearing that he and Lisa got rid of the bloodstained getaway car crushed my hopes of the cops kicking the door down to this house. For the first time in my life, I was sick to my stomach that the cops weren’t coming for my rescue. I knew I was a wanted woman. But guess what? I didn’t care at that moment. I just wanted to get me and my baby out of there while we were still alive. Because everything I’d done thus far hadn’t worked. So I need a fucking plan B.
