12

When I pulled up to my parent’s house, I saw my Sonata parked in front of the house. I started to pull off and come back later, but then decided to go in.

My parent’s and Andre were downstairs when I walked in and they all told me to please go talk to Tammy. She was in my room with the door closed and I slowly opened the door. She looked like she’d been awake for a few days straight. Her hair wasn’t done and she was crying uncontrollably as she clutched one of her big Gucci purses. When I came in the room, the crying stopped. She asked me how long I’d known she was with Terry, but I didn’t answer. She went on to tell me about her twin brother’s being killed and then Frank and Terry being killed in a shootout with the police. Little did she know, I’d had a front row seat to most of it.

I had no more feelings for Tammy or her family, so I was looking out of my bedroom window not interested in what she was saying. When I did finally turn around, Tammy was gripping the Desert Eagle that I’d left under the seat in the Sonata. The door to my room was now locked and the tears were flowing down her face again. The only words she said were, “It’s the only way.” Tammy quickly put the barrel of the Desert Eagle in her mouth and pulled the trigger. I had been through a lot in my short lifetime, but nothing at all could have prepared me for what I’d just witnessed. Every wall in my room was covered with pink, red and green brain material and blood after she pulled the trigger.

My mind told my body to move, but I was stuck in a trance. I saw my parent’s and my brother force the door to my room open, but I couldn’t move. Everything was moving in slow motion and there was no noise at all. Eventually the whole place went black. When I woke up, I was at Riverside hospital again with an IV in my arm.

My mother was sitting on the hospital bed with me, bible in hand. Andre was sitting in a chair by the window and Carla was seated next to my bed. Everyone that was in my hospital room had something important to talk to me about. Two days had passed since Tammy had taken her life and I’d blacked out. The doctors said it was traumatic shock that caused me to black out, so I would have to be monitored for the next week to make sure my brain was still functioning properly.

My mother decided to let Carla have some time with me while she and Andre stepped out of the room. After my mother and Andre were out of the room, Carla came and sat beside me on the bed. I could tell that she had been crying, but she was still a beautiful girl. She started off by telling me that Rodney had come out of surgery and was in stable condition. He’d probably be out of the hospital in two weeks, from what she’d heard.

The news that she hesitated to tell me was that Rodney was confined to a wheel chair and may never walk again. Evidently, one of the bullets had struck the middle of his spine and he had no feeling in his lower extremities. I was crushed when she told me that. I felt responsible for the drama and pain that had gone on around me. She said that the police had questioned Rodney for several hours but hadn’t pressed any charges against him. That’s when she told me what happened the night of the shooting at the condo in Henrico.

Apparently, Tyrone had used his key and came into the condo in the morning. He’d hid by the kitchen while Ebony came and knocked on the door. They weren’t expecting Rodney to know that the girl who came to the condo was Ebony and that her and Tyrone were up to no good. Rodney looked out of the upstairs window, saw Ebony and headed downstairs to the door with the loaded 40 caliber in hand. Right after he unlocked the door to open it, Tyrone jumped out with a 9 mm in hand and shot Rodney in the side of the leg.

While Rodney was falling down, he started shooting at Tyrone. He ended up shooting Tyrone in the chest, neck and head but not before Tyrone shot him in the back and the stomach. Ebony pushed the front door open and Rodney shot her once in the head and she fell back out of the front door. The police were talking about charging Rodney with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon but didn’t have enough info about the shooting to charge him with the homicides. The owner pinpointed Tyrone as the person renting the condo, so everything found in the house was considered Tyrone’s.

I told Carla how sorry I was, and she just sat there for a while in a daze. She finally told me to get better and that she’d stay in touch. When Carla left, Andre came in with a serious look that I hadn’t seen in awhile on his face. He ran everything down to me that happened since I blacked out.

First of all, Isaac had been MIA for the last two days. Not even his parent’s could contact him. Andre did learn that Isaac had tipped the police off about Frank and Terry’s big deal going down and he had also told Tammy that I knew she was seeing Terry. Then Andre told me that the police had found a suicide note that Tammy left at Derby Run when they raided the place. Phone records from Maurice and Tony’s cell phones were matched to the same number on Terry’s cell and that number happened to be my home phone at Derby Run. Nothing was found, other than the note; but the police did want me to be interviewed in the near future. Tammy’s body was airlifted to a Norfolk hospital that had one of the best neonatal care units in the country, in a frantic attempt to save the twins. The babies were delivered by c-section 27 weeks early and weighed 1 1⁄2 pounds each. Both babies were still in critical condition and were being kept alive using every tool available.

The doctor’s said that they were able to deliver the babies because Tammy’s heart didn’t stop once she shot herself through the mouth so blood continually flowed to the twins. I was listening to my brother, but I couldn’t believe the stuff I was hearing. My brother Cory and sista Angie were on their way back to VA. I looked at Andre and tears started to stream down my cheeks. I asked him if he thought the benefits of the drug life outweighed all the consequences that he saw happening in my life, and all he could do was put his head down and say, “No.” I ended our conversation by telling him not to be dumb like me but strive to be a role model to those that feel like the streets are their only hope. We hugged and he went out so my mother could come in. My mother came in with her bible, looking just as peaceful as always. She sat beside me and started talking. She told me that no one could help me out of my situation but the Lord.

I sat for about twenty minutes and listened to my mother explain why now was the right time to turn my entire life over to the Lord. She told me that one day the Lord would use my life as an example to those that were going through or had gone through similar situations like mine. Once she saw me starting to nod off a little, she kissed my forehead and said that she’d continue to pray for all her children until they found their way to the Lord. I was impressed by my mother’s strength in bad situations and I hoped that I’d one day be as strong as she was. I went to sleep and dreamed that I lived in a peaceful world with no problems. If only I could have stayed in the dream, I wouldn’t have to face the cold reality of the life I had chosen.

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The End!