I didn’t take my usual way back to the house that afternoon. Even an idiot knew the Church Street Pit Bulls would be pissed. I didn’t want to be an easy target. Weaving my way through some back streets did help some. I walked up the back steps of the yellow house later than normal. This meant I wasn’t sitting in my usual place, on my favorite couch, in the living room at that moment. It meant I wasn’t facing the front of the house. It meant I didn’t get hit in the chest with bullets as the Church Street Pit Bulls unloaded their guns on the yellow house. The house I had started to call my home.
I flattened myself on the top step as I heard the first round of bullets fly. Screams and curses filled my head with fear. I pushed open the back door and slid my body inside. I could see down the hall into the living room. Snake and Candy were lying on the floor. Blood slowly oozed around their heads. I stood up. Val and BB came running from the back room. BB’s eyes were on fire. I could see the automatic gun in the big man’s hand. Val screamed as he shoved her back into the room.
I could hear tires burning in the street. They were turning around. BB saw me and cussed. “Get down. And stay there!” I forced myself down and kept my face pressed to the hard wood floor.
“What are you doing?” I yelled at BB, who was obviously not staying down.
“I’m going to give them something to come back for.” He grabbed the gun with both hands and ran into the living room.
As I heard him hit the floor, the second round of bullets went flying. This time they were coming from the living room. I could hear the car race away.
Suddenly, there was silence. I didn’t stand up. Not yet. Sweat dripped off my nose as I crawled into the front room. BB was sitting on the floor. The gun was lying at his side. I slowly stood up, looking out the window. Then I looked at BB again. He reached out a hand to me, and I took it to pull him up. Or at least try to. As he stood with his back to the window, he looked at the two bodies lying on the floor and sighed. Then he patted my face. Something he’d never done. “At least you’re not hurt. And Kaden and Brian are at the police station. They’ll be back.”
What BB and I didn’t realize was that there were two Pit Bull cars. The second one drove up so quietly. They had a perfect shot of BB’s back. They took it. The sound of bullets flew once more. BB’s eyes opened wide in surprise. He crashed forward onto me and took me down to the floor. My fear kept me from realizing what had just happened. I let the massive dead body cover me as I waited for the silence to return. It was several minutes before my heart caught up with my mind. I didn’t even try not to cry. BB was dead. Snake was dead. Candy was dead. I struggled to get BB off of me.
Suddenly, a scream came from behind me. Val had left the bedroom and was soon pounding on BB’s body. She was yelling at someone who would never hear her again. “I told you not to come out here! I told you!”
I realized the police would show up soon. I looked at the makeup-smeared Val and yelled, “Val, help me get BB off of me.” She whimpered as we both shoved him to the side. My jacket was soaked in BB’s blood. As I stood, she continued to kneel over her man. I touched her shoulder. “We’ve got to go! The police are coming.”
I ran into the back bedroom and grabbed the Chicago Bears jacket. I knew Val would need one too, so I grabbed a blue Boston Red Sox jacket with a single red B on the front. I took off my blood-soaked jacket and T-shirt and threw the Chicago Bears jacket on. I started to run back out of the room, but I stopped in front of the table. I realized the police would take everything. I reached into one of the brown bags still sitting on the table ready for business. I grabbed two handfuls of cash and shoved the money in the pockets of my jacket and the Red Sox Jacket. I didn’t stop to count.
I could hear sirens. I ran back into the living room and grabbed Val. She threw on her jacket. She wiped snot from her nose and let me take her by the hand as we ran out the back door.
We just ran.
We ran past the school and headed further north.
The sirens faded.
But my heartbeat never seemed to slow down.