Nothing worse than wanting to get high and you can’t. Except maybe wanting to get high and you’re stuck with a woman who was bugging the shit out of you because she wanted to get high as well. Everything that I’d gotten from Mercy was gone. I still couldn’t understand how the fuck we’d been able to use up all the shit he gave me in only a few weeks.
“Shit!” I yelled out, falling back on the mattress.
“Baby, I neeeed something,” Ra’Sheena moaned. She rolled over, throwing her leg on top of me. I cringed with disgust.
“Man, shut the fuck up and get the hell off me. Fucking junky ass broad.” I pushed her leg off of me and got up. “I’ll be back.”
“Where are you going?” she whined. I turned to look at her and felt so much hate it made my stomach turn.
“That’s none of your fucking business. Just make sure you’re not here when I get back.”
Her eyes popped open and her bottom lip started quivering. She looked like a wet puppy, her dingy weave was all over her head and matted together in a way that made me think she may have been hiding some of my pills up in that shit. Looked like she had a damn bird’s nest sitting on top of her head and she was rolling around in the bed with no shame.
I saw her open up her mouth as if she was working up a few words to say, so I grabbed my jacket and ran out the front door. I didn’t have time or patience to hear no more shit from her. I decided to walk over to The Bluff and figure out what I could find over there. I needed something to take the edge off.
Half an hour later, I was walking back to my car, mad as hell. No one wanted to give me anything on credit and my funds were low. My cellphone rang and, without thinking, I grabbed it and answered.
“Yeah?”
“Finally found your phone, huh?” the icy-cold voice said on the other end.
Fuck! I thought to myself.
I looked around my surroundings real quickly and then jumped into my car. I cranked it up and cursed to myself when I saw that I was almost on ‘E’. I didn’t have money for all this shit.
“What’s up, Mercy?” I mumbled into the phone as I eased down the road slowly.
I was taking a risk even coming down here begging for shit because, at any time, I was running the risk of one of Mercy’s or Dom’s corner boys seeing me and calling him up.
“So you over there begging for shit now. That means you have officially ran out of what I gave you and I still don’t have my money,” he informed me as if I didn’t know.
“Naw, look, it’s not like that I, uh—”
“Save that shit. Oh, by the way…about your bitch over in East Point. Ra’Sheena…” He paused and I felt fear creeping up my spine.
How did he know about my spot in East Point? I thought. Ra’Sheena…God no!
I stopped driving right in the middle of the road. I felt paralyzed, like I couldn’t move even if I wanted to. My breathing sped up as my heart began to race. I knew I had told Ra’Sheena to leave but she was the only one I had in my corner. I hoped that she was okay.
“Well, how can I say this? Hmmm….it’s too late for that bitch. Bring me my money by tomorrow or you’re next,” Mercy laughed. Then the line went dead. I clutched the phone to my ear for about five seconds trying to process what he’d said as cars piled up behind me, drivers honking angrily. The phone slid down the side of my face as I let it go. Then my sense of urgency kicked in and I mashed on the gas.
“God, I hope I can save her. Please, Ra’Sheena, be okay,” I prayed as I whipped my car through the streets.
When I pulled up to my spot, I didn’t even park. I just stopped right in front of the door and cut it off. The front door was wide open and I started to feel fear crippling me again but I struggled to brush it off. When I got closer, I saw there was a red, bloody ‘M’ on the door. I felt bile rise up in my throat as the feeling of dread encased me. I knew at that moment that Ra’Sheena was gone.
I stepped into the doorway of the apartment and looked in. Ra’Sheena’s body was sprawled out on the dirty mattress, a bullet hole in her chest and her stomach. The barrel of the gun that had been used to kill her was lodged in her pussy. She had a deep, bloody gash across the side of her face that was still oozing blood.
I fell to my knees and began to dry heave onto the floor. I hadn’t had anything to eat in what felt like days so the only thing that came out was water.
“God, no!” I said, wiping my mouth. “This is my fault. I’m so sorry, baby. I’m so sorry!”
I moved over to Ra’Sheena’s body and looked into her eyes that were wide open and still showed the fear that she must have felt in her last moment. I closed them gently and placed a single kiss on her cheek. Then I got up, pulled the necklace from around her neck and walked out. She’d always told me that the necklace was something her father had given her when she got into medical school so it had to be worth something and I needed the money to get high.