The Mark

by Kiki Swinson

  The knocking continued. “I wonder why they came here,” Matt whispered to Lisa like she knew the answer. All the while, I was hoping they’re here because of me. Please God, don’t let these cops leave without me, I prayed silently.

  She hunched her shoulders and stood alongside him while he stood still by the window. They both looked shell-shocked. I was hoping Lisa would do something stupid to make noise so the cops would hear it and refuse to leave. Unfortunately, she didn’t. I swear, I was about to lose my freaking mind.

  In all, I think the police officers stuck around the house for about five long minutes. I had lost all hope after I heard Matt announce that they were leaving. It seemed like right after he said that, his superior demeanor resurfaced.

  His voice changed. “Yo, I’m gonna need you to pack some shit up because they coming back and I ain’t trying to be here when they come.”

  “What do you want me to pack up?” Lisa questioned him in a mild manner.

  “Just get all the guns and shit together and throw them in that dark blue backpack with a few pairs of pants and shirts for me. You can pack up whatever you want for yourself. Just don’t try to bring a lot of shit ’cause we ain’t gon’ have no room for it.”

  “When are we leaving?”

  “Now?”

  “But what if the cops are parked on the other side of that cornfield, waiting for us to come out of the house? We’ll be fucked up then.”

  Matt thought for a moment. “Yeah, you right. It’ll probably be better if we wait until it gets dark.”

  “I think so too. But even then, we could still be driving into an ambush. We can’t see on the other side of that cornfield out there. So, what if I drive us out of here and the cops are waiting for us? We’ll be in a shitload of trouble.”

  “I don’t wanna think about it,” Matt expressed. He had the look of a man whose life was about to fall apart. And guess what? I didn’t feel sorry for that fucking loser.

  “Okay, well why don’t you call one of your boys and get a couple of them to drive down the main road and let us know if the cops are posting up out there.”

  Matt looked at Lisa suspiciously. “You know what? You might be smarter than this dumb bitch on the floor after all,” he commented, and then he leaned forward, grabbed Lisa’s face with both of his hands, and kissed her on the forehead. Right after he left her go, he grabbed the backpack of money off the floor and said, “Let’s go. I’m hungry as fuck. Plus, we got a few phone calls to make.”

  I looked at Lisa, she looked back at me, and then she turned her head and followed Matt out the bedroom door. Immediately after they closed the door, one of them locked it.

  I was starting to believe that Lisa was this wishy-washy chick who didn’t know if she was coming or going. One minute the bitch was taking up for me and the next minute she sided with Matt. If she wanted him to let me go, then why hadn’t she opened the fucking door when I was begging her to do so? What kind of drugs was this lady on? Ugh! I just wished she’d take one of our sides and stick with it.

  To make light of the situation, I felt a little optimistic that I might get another chance to escape. To know that we were about to leave this place put me in a mindset that I needed to figure out how to get away from Matt’s psychotic ass! I prayed the cops were somewhere nearby. At that point, I didn’t care if I ended up going to jail—I just wanted to get as far as I could from Matt before he killed me.

  While I went over a couple of scenarios in my head, I thought about the possibility that I could get locked up if the cops were actually waiting on Matt to leave the house. But then I also thought of the possibility that if the cops were waiting for us to leave the house, Matt wasn’t going to let them take him alive. He would pull out his pistols and have an all-out war with them. It wouldn’t shock me if Lisa joined in with him. I could definitely picture them doing a Bonnie and Clyde shoot-out while my baby and I got caught up in the crossfire. That whole scene would be a fucking disaster. So I needed to figure out a way to prevent that from happening. It would be tough, but I had to do something before we all ended up in body bags.

  25

  TWO WAYS TO SKIN A CAT

  Several hours rolled by and I noticed we had about an hour left of sunlight, which meant that we were going to be leaving this place very soon. Anxiety began to engulf my entire body all over again. I didn’t know whether to be happy or be sad. My feelings were all over the place. But I knew that whatever move I made to make this heist successful, it had to be on point and precise. I couldn’t make any mistakes.

  I figured that if the cops weren’t staking this place out, then I was going to have to cause Matt and Lisa to have a car accident without damaging myself or my baby. And if that didn’t work, I was going to have to convince them to stop the car at a public place and try to escape then. But that would be too farfetched because Matt wouldn’t ever permit that. Stop at a public place? No, never. So, I thought, maybe I could get the attention of passengers in passing vehicles. If I drew their attention and gave them some type of sign that I was in distress, then maybe they’d help me escape.

  I swear, coming up with different ways to escape started draining every ounce of sanity I had left, so I lay back on the bed and tried to relax. Ten minutes into my relaxed mode, I heard Lisa and Matt talking in the other room.

  “Keep watching the house and I’ll be right back,” I heard Matt say to Lisa. He sounded like he was standing by the bedroom door.

  “Why are you going back in there?” Lisa asked him.

  “Bitch, don’t question me. Just do like I said,” Matt boomed, and then I heard him tugging away at the doorknob. At that moment, I knew that he was on his way back into the bedroom. I figured he was coming in here to help me get ready so all of us could leave the house, so I sat up on the bed.

  As soon as the door opened, I looked directly at him. He gave me this creepy look that made my skin crawl. “I’m back,” he said, smiling. This nigga was acting like we were old buddies or something and like he was glad to see me. It was weird.

  He closed the door and locked it behind him. “Ready for another round before we get out of here?” he asked me.

  I swear I instantly felt sick to my stomach. How the fuck did he want me to answer that question? Was he freaking serious? Did he really think I wanted to go another round and give him some pussy? Hell no! I didn’t want him touching me at all. I wanted to leave out of there with my baby and never look back at him or this godforsaken place. “Stand up,” he instructed me.

  “Are we getting ready to leave?” I asked while I scooted to the edge of the bed.

  “We will be soon enough,” he replied as he stood before me.

  “Do you want me to pack my stuff up?” I continued questioning him as I moved closer toward him.

  “I’ll let you know when I’m ready for you to do that,” he told me.

  I stopped midway on the bed. “What’s going on?” I wanted to know.

  “Shut the fuck up with the questions and bring that ass here,” he demanded. His facial expression changed. His nostrils flared up so I could tell that he was getting aggravated. He reached over and snatched me up from the bed aggressively. My heart skipped a beat as he pulled me close to him. He then grabbed me and hugged me tightly. He began kissing my neck with his big mouth and then moved to my breasts. I could feel his dick getting an erection while he was pressing it up against me. A feeling of disgust came over me and I wanted him dead.

  He pushed me back gently on the bed. My mind started swirling with all kinds of mixed feelings. He started pulling off my clothes and I immediately started crying because I knew if I didn’t fuck him, he’d want to kill me for sure this time around. I continued to let him undress me. Then I watched him undress himself. A few seconds later, he climbed on top of me and slid his dick straight up inside of me. “Ahh,” I let out a loud sigh. “Yeah, you like that, don’t you?” he asked. Oh, he was so lucky I didn’t have a knife or a gun. It was like I had left my b
ody. Matt had become an uncontrollable animal. He grunted and groaned and sweat dripped off him. He pounded on me like a maniac. I lay there and didn’t say one word. I had to take my mind away from this bedroom and focus on how I was going to get out of there with my baby. This was the only way I was coping with what was going on inside this bedroom. “This pussy is so fucking good! I swear you got the best pussy in the world!” he moaned loud. “Baby, tell the truth, don’t you miss this dick?” he asked me between moans. “I know that other nigga wasn’t fucking you like I be doing it. I’m the only one that can handle this shit,” Matt bragged. I swear I wanted to throw up in my fucking mouth. Instead of answering his question, I nodded my head.

  I couldn’t believe that I was in this predicament. I could feel his dick deep inside me now. It was the most horrible feeling in the world. It was like he was trying to pull my pussy inside out. No fucking condom at all, and I just lay there and let him fuck me over and over again. Matt had stripped me of the bank robbery money and now he was holding me against my will. I guess I was what you would call a fucking puppet. I was living in a nightmare with no sign of it ending.

  By the time this nasty motherfucker finished fucking and ejaculating inside of me, he was ready to move on to the plan set before him. “Get up and get ready because we’re gonna be leaving this spot in about thirty minutes,” he instructed me while he stood alongside the bed putting back on his clothes.

  I sat up in the bed naked, holding part of the bedsheet up to my breasts, waiting to hear him tell me where we were going, but the explanation never came out of his mouth. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out how I was going to get my mind right after being raped by this bastard once again, but I was willing to try.

  While Matt was rambling on about how and at what precise time we were going to leave this place, Lisa knocked on the door. Matt ignored the first couple of knocks. That didn’t stop Lisa from continuing to knock on the door. This aggravated the hell out of Matt. He stopped in mid-sentence and leaped toward the door. He snatched it open, posturing himself to unleash the beast on Lisa, but he was taken aback when he saw that she had a gun pointed directly at his face. “What the fuck . . .” he gasped, his eyes almost bulging from his head. He was shocked that he ended up on the other side of his own fucking gun. He threw his hands up. “Yo, what the fuck are you doing? Why are you pointing that gun at me” Matt screamed at Lisa.

  “Get the fuck back, you demented motherfucker!” she spat as she held the gun steadily at him, tears beginning to fall from her eyes.

  “Lisa, you’re playing, right?” he asked her, trying to play it cool. He seemed confused. Shit, I was even confused. I mean, she was just talking to him a few hours ago and now she was acting like she was about to shoot him. What a sudden change.

  “Matt, didn’t I just tell you to get the fuck back?” She squinted at him evilly. She was looking like a woman scorned.

  He took a couple steps backward. She followed him, keeping a firm stance with the gun. “Lauren, get up and get dressed right now,” she instructed me, refusing to take her eyes off Matt.

  I hesitated because I didn’t know where she was going at with this. “Do you wanna get out of here or not?” she roared at me, taking her eyes off Matt for one second.

  “Yeah,” I said, barely audible. I think I responded like that because I was caught off guard. But I was happy nonetheless.

  “Well, get the fuck up and get dressed,” she continued. This time she didn’t look at away.

  Without hesitation, I jumped up from the bed. I was completely undressed but that didn’t matter. Lisa took another quick look at me from head to toe. I guess she wanted to see why Matt couldn’t get enough of me. Well, she definitely got it. After she felt like she had gotten an eyeful, she set her sights back on Matt, who looked like he was about to take a leap toward her. She caught him just in time. “Nigga, I wish you would move.” She stared him down. She didn’t flinch.

  “You know you’re making a big fucking mistake, right?” he warned her while grinding his teeth together. I felt like holding my breath because it seemed like at any given moment this guy was going to charge toward Lisa, take the gun from her, and start beating the crap out of her. Lisa looked like Jada Pinkett Smith standing up against LeBron James. She was definitely no match for him.

  “Fuck you, Matt! You’ve been making fucked-up choices since I let you come into my life. Now move back some more before I blow your fucking head off your shoulders. I am not fucking playing,” she continued.

  Matt took Lisa’s advice and took a couple more steps backward while I was trying to slip my clothes back on. I had never gotten dressed so fast.

  “If you let this bitch leave out of here, I am going to kill you with my bare hands,” he threatened her.

  “Shut up! You ain’t gon’ do shit to me! I’m tired of you putting your fucking hands on me! I’ve never done anything to make you treat me the way you do. All I’ve ever done for you was love you and have your back. That’s it. But instead you continue to treat me like a dog by talking shit to me and putting your hands on me. But that shit stops today,” she roared. She was an emotional wreck.

  “Oh, so now you wanna grow some balls?” Matt gave her a sly smirk. Anger was welling up inside of him ready to boil over like a pot of hot water. I saw the veins around his temple rise up. I knew I needed to hurry up and get out of there while I had the chance.

  “You can smile all you want to, nigga, because I’m gonna have the last laugh today. Now, you if try and play games like I won’t waste your ass right now, then go ahead. Try me. I’ve put up with your shit for the last time, Matt. I’ve sat back and let you fuck your ex-girlfriend while I was in the next room. Do you know how painful it was for me to sit back and listen to you fuck her like you were enjoying yourself? I heard you moaning and shit. I heard what you were saying to her while you were calling it making love to her. You don’t think that shit didn’t fuck my head up? Did you think I was really all right with you walking around here playing house with her and her fucking baby?” she screeched, her voice trembling. I could hear the pain through her words. I started feeling so sorry for her.

  “Bitch, please, I ain’t trying to hear that shit,” Matt huffed, as he stood there like he was trying to plot his next move. I could see it in his body language; he was waiting for the perfect opportunity to jump on her and take that gun from her.

  “Nah, I ain’t your bitch no more. That ship has sailed,” she told him. Then she looked at me because I was just standing there fully dressed and waiting for further instructions. “You ready?” she asked me.

  “Y-yeah,” I stuttered.

  “Well, go in the living room and get your baby. I’ve already dressed him and packed all of his stuff up so he’s ready to go,” Lisa told me.

  When I took the first step to leave the room, Matt’s thunderous voice boomed and startled me. “Leave this room, bitch, and I’m gonna jump on your motherfucking ass!”

  I nearly stumbled, listening to Matt’s warning. I stood there frozen, not knowing what to do. “Don’t listen to him, Lauren. Get out of here right now and get your baby! Run!” she ordered me. So I took off like a lightning bolt. I didn’t wait for Matt to say another word. On my way out of the bedroom I looked at her and whispered the words, “Thank you.”

  “Lauren, you think you’re gonna get away with this? Bitch, I’m gonna kill you as soon as I catch you!” Matt yelled at me as I exited the bedroom. I rushed into the living room and picked my baby up from the sofa.

  “Shut the fuck up! You ain’t gon’ do shit to her! You ain’t gon’ do shit to nobody else, you evil motherfucker! Today will be the last day you put your hands on anyone,” I heard Lisa huff, and then I heard a loud slam. BOOM! With Lil Derek in my arms, I looked around the corner to see what was going on and saw Lisa standing outside the bedroom door. She locked it and turned around toward me. Before she could utter a word, Matt started punching the door with his bare hands. It was a roarin
g sound. The strength behind his blows shook the door and its frame. “I’m gonna kill both of you bitches when I get out of here! I’m gonna make you wish you were never born, you fucking cocksuckers!” I believed him.

  See, Matt was a man of his word. If Matt said he was going to do something, then nine times out of ten, he would make it happen by any means necessary.

  “That door isn’t gonna hold him very long,” I whispered loud enough for her to hear me, but at the same time being quiet enough so he couldn’t.

  “Don’t worry about him. Take your baby and go,” Lisa said as she walked toward me carrying the two backpacks of money I’d robbed from the bank, and then she handed them both to me. “Take these with you.”

  I was puzzled why she was giving me both bags of money. “Why don’t you take one for yourself?” I asked her. Matt was still trying to knock the door down with his bare hands. I could hear the door getting weaker by the minute while Lisa and I were talking.

  “For what? I’m not going to be able to spend it. So you take it and take care of yourself and that little baby of yours. You’re gonna need it.” She smiled. Her gesture toward me was so genuine and sincere but with finality.

  “What are you going to do?” I wanted to know. For some reason, I wanted more answers. She wasn’t giving much to draw a conclusion from.

  “Don’t worry about me. I’m gonna be fine,” she assured me as she walked over to the kitchen. But that was it. She didn’t give me anything else.

  “How am I going to get out of here?” I wondered aloud.

  “Take those keys near the lamp. It’s to my car. Take it as far as you can and then drop it off wherever your heart desires.”

  I ran over to the end table where the lamp was and snatched up her keys. “Are you sure you want me to take your car and abandon it?” I was trying to figure out where she was going with this. But my question was answered quickly enough after I witnessed Lisa turn on all four knobs on the gas stove. I looked at this bitch like she was out of her damn mind. “Wait a minute, you’re not about to do what I think you’re gonna do, are you?”