Cheaper to Keep Her part 2 (The Saga Continues) (11 page)

Chris was Duke’s right-hand man, so he operated under Duke’s command. He was the massa’s puppet. There was a lot of buzz while I was in jail that Chris was the one who actually pulled the trigger and killed Neeko. I wondered if it bothered Katrina to have the man who shot and killed her husband lounging on her fucking living room furniture. There’s absolutely no way that motherfucker would be in my house after he shot and killed my man. And to make matters worse, Duke had her in the kitchen getting that animal a fucking beer. If it were me, I would have poured his beer into a glass and spit in it. And if I wanted to get gangster on their asses, I’d have poison both of those bastards and let them die a slow death.

“What’s taking you so long to bring us back the motherfucking beer?” Duke yelled. If he had yelled any louder he’d probably shatter every glass in the house. That’s how ferocious he sounded.

“I’m coming now” Katrina assured him. I heard her footsteps as she scrambled down the hallway. Hell, I wondered for a quick second if she had put some shit in their beers. That shit would have been righteous if she did.

“Where is your bathroom?” I heard Chris ask.

“In the hallway by the kitchen,” Katrina replied.

Seconds later, I heard heavier footsteps as they walked down the hallway and then I heard a door close. But as quickly as he closed it, he opened it right back up. “Where is your other bathroom?” he yelled down the hallway.

“Okay. Just stay right there and I’ll run upstairs to get you a new one,” she replied and then I heard her footsteps as she hurried towards the staircase. But before she was able to climb one step, Duke stopped her in her tracks.

“Wait! Hold up a fucking minute!” he commanded.

“What? What's wrong?” she asked and then complete silence filled the air until I heard another set of footsteps. And when I heard Duke’s voice again, I could tell he was standing directly in front of her.

“What the fuck is up with you? You’ve been jumpy since I walked into this goddamn house!” he snapped.

“Nothing’s wrong with me,” she told him. But I heard the fear in her voice and I knew he heard it too. At that point, I got scared as shit for Katrina. Was she a dead woman?

Chris must’ve lost his patience because he didn’t waste any time by telling her not to worry about getting another light bulb for the bathroom, because he was going to use the bathroom upstairs. I waited for Katrina to respond but she didn’t say a word. I wished like hell there was some way I could see what was going on. But since I was stuck in the back of Katrina’s daughter’s closet I shifted my eardrums in full force.

“Want me to get a light bulb while I’m up here?” I heard Chris ask. By this time, he was climbing the staircase.

“Nah, you don’t have to worry about it. If I told you where they were, you still wouldn’t be able to find them. Especially with all the mess I got piled up in the hallway linen closet.”

“A’ight,” Chris replied. As I listened in on their conversation, I heard Chris go into the bathroom, which had to be next to the bedroom I was in, because it sounded like he was only a few feet away. And when he started pissing in the toilet I nearly freaked out, because if he had the slightest inclination I was in the next room, he’d serve me up on a platter to Duke and then he’d torture me while Duke watched. So I held my breath because it felt like I was breathing too loud. I couldn’t take the chance of being dragged out of this closet.

Right after that bastard emptied his bladder, I heard him flush the toilet stool and before he exited the bathroom, I heard his cell phone ring. He answered after the first ring. “Hello,” I heard him say and then he fell silent. “I'm in the beach right now,” he continued, but then he fell silent again.

“I don't know how long I’m gonna be,” he snapped. From the way his conversation was going, it seemed as if he was getting a little agitated. “Look, Tiffany, don’t be asking me a whole bunch of fucking questions. When I do what I came out here to do then I’ll be home,” he continued and then he stopped talking altogether. The next thing I heard was his footsteps as they passed the room I was hiding in. The moment I heard him walking back down the staircase, I stopped holding my breath and exhaled.

Once I regained my composure, I couldn’t help but recall Chris’s phone conversation. It was obvious that his disrespectful ass was talking to his wife or possibly his baby mama. But in any case, he mentioned to her that he had something to take care of for Duke. So I wondered what that could be. First, I thought about the possibility that Duke had Chris were here to eliminate Katrina from the equation. But then I thought that it wouldn’t make sense to do that. According to Katrina, Duke needed her around to get her part of the insurance money. So what else could it be?

I racked my brain trying to figure out what was Duke’s motive for coming here and bringing Chris along. And when I couldn’t come up with a solid answer, I decided to shift that situation to the back of my mind until I was able to come to a conclusion in this matter.

Once again, I looked down at my wristwatch and noticed I had been sitting in this same position for over an hour now. And with no signs that Duke, nor Chris, was leaving anytime soon, I pressed my luck and decided to take a chance by sneaking into the bathroom. I knew that I was playing a very deadly game. But I figured if I tiptoed out of the room and into the hallway, then I could get away with it without getting caught. I mean, what other choice did I have? I didn’t want to pee on myself because you’ve got to remember that adults’ urine is a lot stronger than children’s. So why bring the heat to myself when it could be avoided?

It took me almost five whole minutes to get up from the floor. My legs and feet were super duper numb. So when I stood up on my feet, I leaned up against the wall in the closest to get some of the feeling back and let the blood began to circulate through my veins. A few minutes later, I got up the gumption to take the first step. There wasn’t much room to move around in the closet. You could take two to three steps and you were in or out. So after I stepped around the two Hello Kitty suitcases, I grabbed a hold of the doorknob and turned it very quietly. I couldn’t tell you why but I held my breath again. I was breathing so hard, it felt like as soon as I walked out of this closet and into the hallway, they’d hear me. And I couldn’t let that happen.

Thankfully enough, I was able to open the closet door without making a sound. My next quest was to make it out of the bedroom as quickly and as quietly as I possibly could. So right after I took the first couple of steps, I stopped because my gut feeling told me to prepare for an escape exit if all else failed. And that’s exactly what I intended to do.

The bedroom window was on the opposite side of the room so I tiptoed over to it and wasted no time trying to find the latch that would help me raise it up. While I prepared an escape route, I heard bits and pieces of Duke’s and Chris’s conversation. Fortunately, they weren’t talking about killing or the death of another human being. They were discussing how they were going to make other moves to secure the rest of the money he owed those two cats Katrina mentioned to me earlier. So while they were putting a plan in motion, I had found the latch and began to lift it very gently. It was moving smoothly until I had gotten it halfway up and then it acted like it didn’t want to move anymore. Frustrated and scared at the same time, I tried to use a little more force behind my push and when I did, the window made a screeching sound. From that very moment, you could hear a pen drop. That’s how quiet it had gotten. And from there, my heart leaped out my fucking chest because I knew it was a matter of seconds before I would be faced with Duke and Chris.

I stood there about to piss all over my clothes when I heard footsteps running up the staircase. I figured if I stood there any longer, I’d be their next victim. So I forced the window up more and then I kicked the screen out with my feet. But when I climbed up on the window ledge I couldn’t help but notice that if I tried to jump down onto the ground I would surely break my fucking legs. But I couldn’t just stand there and let those niggas fuck me up so I raced towards the bedroom door and hurried up and locked it. I figured by me locking it, it would give me a little more time to figure out how to climb out of this window without crippling myself.

With my heart pounding like a racehorse I climbed back on the ledge and then I eased my way through the window, sliding out on my stomach. And as soon as I had gotten halfway through, I heard two gunshots and then the bedroom door flew open. My eyes damn near popped out of my head when Chris burst into the room with Duke in tow. I could tell in their eyes that they were shocked to see me. Chris aimed his gun at me. “It’s Lynise!” he yelled.

“Shoot that bitch in the head!” Duke instructed him and Chris followed through by letting off two more rounds. BOOM! BOOM!

I saw the sparks from the barrel of the gun after he fired both shots. I knew I didn’t want to die. But I also knew that I didn’t want to let go of the window ledge and drop down twenty feet to the ground. “God, show me what to do,” I said and then I closed my eyes. And without given it anymore thought, I let go of the window ledge.

God be with me and please, stay with me.

Cheaper to Keep Her part 2 Unique

Another One Bites The Dust-Chapter Thirteen

If only I could fly, I thought, as I let go of the ledge and felt the wind beneath me.

It was a matter of seconds before my body fell into a bush with sharp limbs. The limbs cut through my skin really bad. But I couldn’t complain. The bush also was a lifesaver, because it broke my fall. Lucky for me the entire backyard was pitch-black. So after I rolled myself out of the bush I scrambled to my feet. But I was only able to move a few feet before Chris started shooting his gun again. Duke nor Chris was able to see me but it didn’t stop the damn fool from pointing his pistol in every location of the backyard.

I was scraped up pretty bad. But knowing that they were on their way downstairs, allowed me to block out all the pain I was feeling so I could use my strength to get out of there. Katrina’s backyard was pretty big. And it was fenced in. The fence was made with iron and it was only six feet tall, which wasn’t hard for me to climb over. I was breathing so hard, I was panting. By the time I reached the other side I saw Chris running directly towards me. He came from the front of the house, so I had no choice but to turn and run in the opposite direction. I had no idea where I was going. And the fact that it was extremely dark outside prevented me from planning a better escape. All I knew was that I needed to run because my life depended on it.

It seemed like the further I ran, the shorter of the distance Chris had to catch up with me. “When I get my hands on you bitch, I am going to choke your motherfucking ass out,” I heard him threaten me from behind.

I thought he would’ve fired more gunshots at me. But for some reason, he didn’t. And since he hadn’t, I figured that maybe he ran out of bullets from shooting blindly at me in the backyard. Whether I was right or wrong, I was determined not to let him catch me. Not tonight nor any other night. So I mustered up every inch of strength I had to pick up speed. My heart raced at a faster speed than my legs as I continued to prevent this maniac from catching me. I hope Chris’s big ass wasn’t in the kind of shape that I was.

A couple of times I tripped when my feet landed on uneven ground. I didn’t know this at first, but Katrina’s house and her neighbor’s houses were built around a man-made lake. I contemplated jumping in the lake but I was afraid it might’ve been too deep for me to swim in. And I definitely didn’t want to drown. Then I thought drowning would be a better way to die than fatal gunshots wounds.

It seemed as if Chris had chased me for at least a mile but when I looked back I saw the bedroom light from Katrina’s house and the distance between me and her house was less than a quarter of a mile. “Lord,” please help me!” I prayed underneath my breath. I needed God more now than any other time in my life. I hoped the Good Lord heard me and didn’t ignore my pleas.

It seemed like Chris had no plans of giving up. I even noticed he was getting closer to me than I thought. I figured if I kept running at the speed I was traveling, then he’d eventually catch up to me.

Besides the sound of running feet, I’m sure I heard Chris breathing really hard. He was breathing so hard he could barely catch his breath. Although he seemed a little winded, that bastard showed no other sign that he would slow his big ass down. So without much more thought, I did the unthinkable. I dipped through a set of gigantic trees and then I made a quick left turn towards the lake and dove straight in. The immediate splash from the water was loud enough for the neighbors to hear. So I was hoping it would dawn on at least one of them to investigate it.

“You motherfucking bitch!” Chris screamed. I could tell he was pissed that I had jumped into the lake. And when I looked back, I noticed that he’d stopped in his tracks. My heart skipped a beat when I realized he hadn’t jumped in the water behind me. I wanted to stop swimming but my mind wouldn’t let me. I knew I had to get as far away from Duke and Chris as quickly as I could.