“I know your happy to get that tube out of your throat but listen to me carefully. I still don’t want you to do much talking. Your vocal cord took a hit from the bullet. We repaired it but it’s going to take you some time to get your voice back completely. You’ve been here a week so far and your neck is healing well.”
Did this muthafucka say a week? There was no way I laid in the bed this long. I gestured for her to give something to write with. I had a few questions to ask. I jotted down a few things and waited for her response.
“I’m really not at liberty to say anything about Larry. You’re my concern. As far as your son, I’m not sure about that either. Now the baby growing inside of you is doing just fine. You’re early in your pregnancy. I can get an officer or someone in here to speak with you.”
When they walked out, I reached my hand up to touch my neck. It was wrapped up in gauze. The tears started to fall from my eyes just thinking about the conversation I had with Lucky right before all this shit happened. The door popped open and the female detective that was helping me find Merci walked in alone.
“I’m so glad to see you up. I’ve stopped by every day since this happened to you.”
“My son?” I whispered. “Lucky?”
She walked closer to the bed, “Your son is fine. He and the little girl survived the shooting. Your mother didn’t make it.”
My soul was snatched right out of me. Everyone around me was dying. How the fuck was I going to make it?
“I’m not supposed to disclose this information but Lucky’s brother Perce had him moved. He went into cardiac arrest twice but they were able to revive him. I’m not sure where he is and I’m sure, Perce will be here to see you. He currently has the children with him. When you’re able to talk more. I want to know everything you know because I want to personally put whoever did this to you and your family behind bars.”
“Behind bars? I want them dead,” I strained.
She looked at me and gave me a concerned look. I had never wanted someone dead like I wanted the person responsible. Damn near everything was taken away from me and I could’ve lost my son that night. There were details and questions that I had but right now wasn’t the time. I needed to heal so I could take care of my child.
“We will do all we can to get this person behind bars. I’ll be in touch.”
Two days later…
I was finally able to sit up on the side of the bed. There was still a tube running down to my stomach to feed me and swallowing was one of the hardest things I had to do. My voice was still a whisper and I was working with a speech pathologist twice a day. I asked where my cell phone was at but no one knew. Then I remembered after Lucky text me that night, I never brought it outside with me. It was still at my mama house.
It was like I was stuck in the hospital clueless. My mama’s body was laying down in the morgue waiting on me. Merci wasstill missing and Perc hadn’t shown his ass up yet with my son. Last night I tried my best to come up with a plan to get myself out of here but my nurse wasn’t having it. I used my mama as an excuse and then I used my son. She still didn’t budge. If I could just see Kani, I would feel so much better.
The door popped open and I could hear little feet behind the curtain. With my neck begin fucked up, I couldn’t turn around as fast as I wanted to, to see who it was but if my heart was correct and the if my nose wasn’t betraying me, it was definitely Perc. The weed he smoked was always loud and filled whatever room he was in.
“My muthafuckin’ sister is up from the dead,” Perc said.
My back was turned to them but I couldn’t help but cry when I heard his voice. Way before there was me and Lucky, Perc was always my dawg. He never let anything happen to me or anyone says some off the wall shit. Nothing could fuck up our connection and now we needed each other more than anything.
“I’m so happy to see y’all,” I wiped my tears before grabbing my son. It was like I hadn’t seen him in forever. “Please don’t tell me you been letting him eat everything?”
“Stop talking and just enjoy your time with your son. That bitch ass nurse gon’ try and tell me not to bring the kids in here ‘cause you need to rest. I told her ass you needed to see your fuckin’ son. It’s all you got right now.”
“Lucky?”
“Listen, I almost lost my brother. If he dies, I don’t know what the fuck I would do, man. This shit with Merci fuckin’ with me and then this. I had him moved outta the city. Somebody wants us dead, and until then, I don’t want his body layin’ up in this hospital while he heals. Pussy ass nurses may take a bribe or some shit. Next thing we know, somebody gon’ in his room to finish him off. Nah, fuck that. As soon as you outta here, I’ll takeyou to him. He’s fucked up right now and he don’t really look like himself but he gon’ pull through.”
“I gotta get outta of here.”
“I got the kids. Don’t worry ‘bout that. I’ll make sure when you’re ready to bury your mama, that I got that too. Just focus on healing. If I can get you close to Lucky, then maybe he’ll get his ass up.”
I didn’t want to even think about burying my mama. She was innocent in all this and was just starting to get her life back from all the evil Lucky them daddy did. I was ready to send her ass on a trip for her birthday and now she’ll never see again. If she wasn’t up worrying about Merci, she would’ve been in bed and could’ve still been alive. Right now, as I held my son, all I could think about is being able to live another day to be his mama.
Iwoke up popping all the tubes off of me. It was hard for me to breath, but my first thought was Blessyn. The last call I made was to Perc to come and save her. The shots I took, I just knew my life was over. The grim reaper came to see me twice but I was determined to live for my family. I was just about to get my damn girl back when someone opened fire on us. The machine started beeping around me when I pulled the IV out of my arm.
“Mr. Larry, no.” A black woman came running in.
“Get this shit off of me.” I started flinging all the wires and shit everywhere.
“Wait,” she snatched my arm.
I looked at the woman and saw my mama in her. She was an older woman around her fifties. She wasn’t stronger than me but it was something about her touch that made me slow down.
