Page 149 of Falling Into Gravity

Aku nodded even though she wasn’t sure. She knew one wasn’t breathing but there was a trail of blood. If anyone else got shot, she had no knowledge on their condition.

Anthony clenched his jaw. “Then we got two left.”

Gran Betty smacked his arm with the cane. “Not in here,” she muttered. “Don’t talk that vengeance talk where death already tried.”

Aku took a deep breath and wiped her face with the back of her hand. “I’m takin’ him to Emerald City.”

“What?” Myesa blinked. “Baby, that boy just got outta surgery. He need doctors.”

“He’s not safe here,” Aku said firmly. “I got private transport. A nurse. Hospital bed. I already set it up.”

They just stared at her.

“My Daddy probably gon’ lose his shit,” she said more so to herself, “but I’ll deal with him later.”

Myesa’s lip trembled, but she nodded. “Okay, what do you need?”

Anthony didn’t say anything. Just walked to the window, looked out, and muttered, “Now I gotta face whoever for trying to killing mine.”

Aku didn’t flinch because she wanted revenge too. She understood what he meant. “I gotta talk to the doctors here and get my people on the line… I’m getting him outta here because it don’t feel safe.”

Aku sat stiff in the corner of Malik’s hospital room, arms wrapped around herself. She kept looking at his chest to make sure it kept rising. The machines beeped in rhythm with her heartbeat, which felt like it had been tripping over itself since the moment they loaded him into the ambulance.

The nurse came in again—third time in ten minutes. She was tall, with kind eyes and hands that moved with confidence. You could tell she’d seen everything and still offered soft smiles when people broke down in front of her.

“Any change?” she asked gently, keeping her voice at a low octave.

Aku shook her head. “He moved earlier, I think. Maybe it was just a twitch.” Her voice was scratchy from crying, but she kept her face still.

“That’s still something,” the nurse said, checking the IV bag and scribbling something onto her chart. She adjusted the monitor with a quiet click, then looked back at Aku. “You should get some rest.”

Aku didn’t flinch, didn’t blink, just kept watching Malik’s chest. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“What happens if I move him?” Her voice cracked mid-sentence, but she powered through. “Not far, I just…I think it’s safer if he’s not here.”

The nurse’s face shifted. Her brows pinched, lips pressing into a thin line.

“He’s stable, but critical,” she said carefully. “Transport would be risky. He needs 24-hour monitoring, and any sudden shift could?—”

“They could come back,” Aku whispered, cutting her off. Her eyes darted to the door like it might swing open at any second. “They know where he is. What if they come back to finish the job?”

Aku’s parents had kept her rooted in black culture and humbleness, but they never taught her what to do when the man she loved was shot by a rival gang. She wasn’t sure if what she was doing was right, it just felt like the best thing to do.

The nurse hesitated. She’d seen this before—families moving their wounded in the dead of night, too scared to leave them behind. She didn’t ask questions. She knew when the streets got involved, things moved differently.

“I’ll talk to the doctor,” she said. “But we’d need to discharge him against medical advice, and?—”

“Do it.” Aku’s voice didn’t shake this time. It hit the air with steel. “I’ll handle everything else. Just do it – please,” she pleaded.

The nurse gave her a small nod. There was something in Aku’s eyes - determination wrapped in fear, survival instincts louder than reason.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

As she slipped out the room, Aku stood slowly and walked to Malik’s bedside. She brushed his hair back just gazing at him. He looked peaceful—like when he was laid up in her bed, under her just vibing. Her other hand pushed against her belly. This had to be right and Malik had to be okay. There was no way she’d be given what she prayed for just to experience it in pieces.

So instead of crying and worrying, Aku pulled out her phone calling in any and every favor she could think of. She got some push back, but when she called her Auntie, Luna made the world shake for her. Luna knew true, unfiltered love, so of course she understood the position her niece was in. With Luna being an industry sweetheart and having more money than she knew what to do with, she paid for the emergency jet and after going back and forth, Aku paid for the staff. Aku had money—she came from money. She didn’t mind depleting it to give Malik a fighting chance.

---