Page 10 of Meek: Chasing That Gangsta Love
“Hello.”The lady said. “I’m looking for Kenneth, this is nurse Kimberly at the hospital and it’s urgent that I reach him.” She said.
I triedto hide the fact that I was crying and had my own shit going on over here. “He’s supposed to be there right now.” I said.
“Yes,of course, he left about thirty minutes ago and I can’t seem to get him on the cell phone. If he arrives there, please tell himit’s urgent that he comes right back. His wife is unresponsive and we’re not sure if she’ll make it through the night.” She said.
I hungup without saying anything else as my heart dropped. I crawled over to Clint only to find him not breathing and without a pulse. “Noooo!” I cried. What had I done? I didn’t want to kill him, I just wanted him to leave me alone.
I drownedin tears not knowing what to do next. I sat there and cried wishing that somebody would come and save me. I was so wrapped up in my tears that I didn’t even hear my daddy come in the house. I didn’t know he was there until he was standing right next to me.
“What the hell?”The shock in his voice was undeniable.
I hopped up. “Daddy!”I wrapped my arms around his neck and broke down. “Daddy….Clint, he tried to rape me again daddy, I swear!”
“Shhhh.”He pulled me close and consoled me. “Calm down Precious, calm down. I’ll handle this.” He sat me down looking into my eyes. I looked at him only to find that his eyes were as glossy as mine. He looked like he’d given up on life; like he’d lost his best friend. That’s when I knew the hospital must’ve contacted him on his cell phone. He looked spaced out, like he wasn’t even there. He grabbed me by my shoulders looking from my face to the knife. “Listen to what I say Precious, you go wipe up and clean yourself up. When you’re finished tie that gown up in a bag and take it with you.”
“Take it with me daddy?Where am I going?” I asked nervously as I stuffed it in my bag. What was he saying? He didn’t look or sound like himself, he was too calm for me. “Daddy, I’ve got to call the police, and you have to get to the hospital.”
He shook his head.“No hospital Precious, she’s already gone.” A tear escaped from his eye. “I knew she was leaving me before I left that hospital. Go and clean up, hurry.” He said again.
I hoppedup and scuffled to the bathroom doing what I was told. Next, I ran in the kitchen to grab a bag and dropped the bloody gown in there. The entire time, I couldn’t stop the tears, and I couldn’t get the vision of Clint’s body out of my mind.
“Now what daddy?”I asked as he sat on the bed staring at Clint’s lifeless body. He pointed to a small suitcase on the floor.
“I threw as muchas stuff as I could in there for you. I want you to go Precious, just go and live you a good life. Don’t come back to this house, I’ll take care of this.” He said standing up using his shirt to wipe my prints from the knife and replaced it with his own prints.
“Daddy?”I panicked, “What are you doing?”
He lookedat me with a blank face. “Just go Kisha, I’m doing what any father would do. Now go, I promise I’ll be okay. I’m going to cover for you. I did this.”
I shook my head violently.“Daddy! I can’t let you do that!” I cried as my body shook.
He wrappedhis arms around me and kissed my cheek. “You go live good life Kisha, you’ve been through too much and you deserve it.” I watched him pull his cell phone from his pocket and dial 911. “Yes, operator, this is an emergency.” He said calmly. “I just killed my stepson.” When he hung up, he looked at me one more time passing by me. I followed him to his room with my bag in hand watching him pull a wad of money from a small safe that sat in the corner of his closet. “You take this.” He placed it in my hands.
“Dad….don’t do this.”I pleaded again.
“The police areon the way, you hurry up and get out of here. Go back to that group home if you have to. When you get out, make sure you live a good life Precious.” He wiped another tear.
I could hearthe sirens in distance, that was my cue to leave although I didn’t want to. I reluctantly made my way to the door looking in his face again. “I love you.” I told him.
“I know Precious,and I love you too. Now go on.” He said closing the door.
I walkeddown the driveway and made it as far as the gate before I heard a single gunshot. POW! I jumped and ran back to the door trying to get in, but it was locked. “Daddy!” I banged on the front door, to no avail and to an answer. Rushing to the living room window, the sight that I was looking at was one I’d livewith forever. My daddy laid lifeless on the floor with one shot to the head and dead eyes.
When I turned around,the police were already pulling up and I was being hauled off back to the group home when it was all said and done. The way the papers read it, a father and his stepson had a disagreement causing the stepfather to stab his stepson right before turning the gun on himself. They could think what they wanted, I knew the truth.
“So,what really happened Kish? Don’t you want to talk about it? Like you’ve been out of it for the last couple of days. I need the old Kish back.” Mya said sitting across from me in the group home. Luckily, they allowed us to share a room.
“The old Kishis dead and gone.” I replied looking in my books studying for a test. If it were up to me, I’d quit school but since the group home forced me to go and frequently stayed on top of our attendance, then I had no choice.
Mya rolledher tiny eyes and blew hard. “This is sad Kisha. I’m sorry about what happened to you, but you can’t just give up on life. That’s not the way. I watched my mama’s mistress kill her, my daddy, and my big brother and I’m still pushing forward even when I want to give up.”
I putthe book down looking at her now. “Why did he spare you? I’m not trying to be funny or nothing.” I said. “That’s a serious question.”
She shrugged her shoulders.“Because, I was his biological child, even though the man I knew as ‘daddy’ was raising me.” She replied.
I frowned thinkingto myself about how fucked up life had been and how shit played out. Like the way I saw it was if God truly loved us, then why did he let the young go through so much?
“That’s messed up.”I said. I really didn’t have another reply for that, that was real foul that she had to watch that. In all honesty, we both saw a lot at a young age.
