Freaks Cum Out PT1 Kindle (10 page)

“Get him to give you something,” the voice whispered to her. 

JoAnn went to work. “I understand, but Momma needs help. I owe a man money. The man that did this to me,” JoAnn said as she showed Corey her swollen knee and enlarged jaw. Corey’s eyes grew big as he saw JoAnn’s wounds.

“Do you got something you can give Momma so I can go take it to the pawn shop to get some money?” The words came out of JoAnn’s mouth fast before Corey could think. JoAnn started shaking and scratching her arms. Corey’s mind started turning, thinking of what he could give her.

What about my game? Corey thought. But Brina just bought it. She would be too mad if I gave it to Momma. Corey dismissed the idea and kept thinking.

“Momma, how much money do you need?” Corey asked her. Corey hoped she didn’t say anything too high. He had a plan but it wasn’t too much.

“Ahhh, baby, a nice amount. I need it or this man is gonna hurt me,” JoAnn said, still peeking through the door and about to walk in. The addiction had made her bold. Whatever and whoever she had to take from was just a part of life now. 

“Is a hundred dollars enough?” Corey asked. To him, a hundred dollars was a lot of money. To JoAnn, it was only a hit or two.

Corey hadn’t seen her smile that big in a while.

“Yeah, baby, that’s exactly how much Momma needs. You got that for Momma. I’ll pay you back,” JoAnn lied. It all had a nice sound to it.

“Momma, you can have it but only if I can come with you. I don’t want that man hurting you,” Corey said, staring at her clothes. JoAnn was so dirty, Corey wished he could let her in but if Brina found out, he would be on punishment.

“Ummmmm, yeah, you can come, baby.”

“No, he’s too little…Shit, he can go. NO!” JoAnn began to talk to herself aloud, usually something she left for times when she was alone. Now, she did it in front of Corey. He stepped back further into the doorway.

He knew she was arguing with someone, but it was just the two of them on the front porch.

JoAnn sensed she had scared him. “Awww, baby, I’m sorry. Yeah, you can come. You just gotta be quiet and do what I say, ok?”

“Ok, I’ll be right back,” Corey said, ducking back into the house to get the money.

The metal can was heavy with pennies, dimes, and quarters. He emptied all the change and dollars out of the old coffee can where he kept his money until the hundred dollar bill fell out. Benjamin Franklin stared back at him. Corey didn’t want to part with it. Brina just gave it to me. I was going to buy a new game with it, but Momma needs it more he convinced himself.

Corey grabbed his jacket and wrote Brina a quick note saying he was going with Momma and he would be back later. She always told him to write her a note if he left, but she also said not to leave with JoAnn, so he decided to follow at least one of her orders.

He emerged back on the front porch and found JoAnn, still mumbling and pacing back and forth.

“Ok, Momma. Let’s go,” he said, cheerful about their outing. Corey felt almost like he was going on a school fieldtrip with his best friend.

I get to spend some time with Momma. Maybe after we pay this guy off, he will leave her alone and let her come home, Corey thought as he smiled and walked with her up the street.

He didn’t know that drug dealers didn’t sign permission slips.

Chapter 9

He wanted to go so I let him. Anything for him to give me the money. JoAnn didn’t care. He’s old enough to get out of my way when I want him to, she thought to herself.

Damn, I wish I had a car to get to the spot quicker, JoAnn impatiently thought. Stealing a car was out of the question, Corey and her swollen leg would probably slow her down. Damn, I’m hurting. I need some bad.

“Make him pay for the bus,” the voice chimed in. Damn, you right, JoAnn smiled, wanting to give the voice a high five for all the great ideas it had for her.

Corey agreed and they waited on the bus. Maybe it was just a few minutes, but it seemed like ten years to JoAnn. Corey was smiling like a Cheshire cat and talking her ear off.

“At school, I'm going to be in a play, Momma. Do you think you can come?” he asked, looking up at her, wide-eyed and happy.

“Yeah, yeah, baby. I'll come.” That’s really all JoAnn could say. She didn't want him to change his mind about the money.

JoAnn started coughing badly and almost threw up when the bus came. Of course the bus  was crowded. She got herself together with a pep talk from the voice, so they still got on. JoAnn let Corey sit while she stood so he couldn't keep talking to her.

“What the fuck are you looking at?” JoAnn had to ask a few women that were staring at her. I may have been a little bruised but I could still suck dick better than these bitches, JoAnn said as she looked down at her tattered clothes. She needed to wash her pants but, either way, she didn't want people staring at her.

The bus kept inching along, letting people off and getting a new bunch on every few minutes. Finally, they made it to their stop and JoAnn grabbed Corey and started walking to their destination

She decided to go see Tony since she surely couldn’t go see Chauncey after the stealing incident. She usually stuck with the same person to get her drugs, but desperate times often changed the strongest of plans.

JoAnn would turn a few tricks for Chauncey and get back on his good side but, for now, she was going to go see Tony.

Problem with Tony was he liked her to do too much.“Suck my dick. Let me fuck you in the ass. Now, let him fuck you while you suck his dick.” He would ask her to do all that for a twenty piece of rock.

 Hell, he could at least give me a fifty, she thought to herself as they continued to walk. She  made it a point not to go see Tony until she really needed some or if she actually had some cash. Right now, both of those fit her.

Corey grabbed for her hand when they made it on the street. JoAnn guessed he was scared. For the first time she looked around and noticed how bad things were.

There were people outside arguing and about to fight, some woman was taking a guy behind a house for quality time. Some guy was naked, and rambling on top of an old car.

The sad realization was that it was still daytime. He would be frightened to see the shit that goes on at night. JoAnn didn’t see things for what they were anymore. When she was high, she didn't see anything.

They got to the house she wanted. Blue and falling apart, but it looked like heaven to her. JoAnn saw Tony's brown Cutlass outside and it looked like a shining luxury automobile.

Corey squeezed her hand tighter as they made it down the sidewalk to the house. “Momma,” she heard him whisper.

“It’s ok, Boo. Just gotta go pay this guy and we can go, ok?” JoAnn didn't know the truth anymore. To her, a lie was the truth. And that’s what she told him.

He nodded, as they made their way past the man laid out in front of the door. They walked back to the kitchen and Tony was there, over top of the stove. Watching him mix up the dope made JoAnn’s mouth water.

“Give me the money,” she told Corey.

He did as he was told and dug into his jeans pocket and handed her the one hundred dollar bill. It’s only one hundred dollars. I forgot I  really needed two hundred.

“Go stand over there,” she told him, pointing to what she guessed was the dining room. It was empty now, but JoAnn and the other crack heads usually shot up in there.

Tony turned around as Corey walked out of the room. He had his eyes fixed on him. JoAnn only hoped he didn't get mad and turn her away.

“Hey, Tony. What ya got for me, baby?” She said, hobbling over to him and rubbing his shoulder.

“Bitch, get yo hands off me. You don't touch me unless I tell you to,” he spat his words at her.

“You got some money or you getting fucked?” he asked but it sounded more like a statement. He must have thought that JoAnn forgot the rules.

“Yeah, I got some money but I was hoping you could give me a little more. I got a C-note,” she told him.

“Now, you know that ain't enough,” he said, turning around and snatching the money out of her hand.

“I know, but I was wondering, umm… if we could work something out. Maybe we could go in the…“he cut her off before she could finish.

“Who is the boy?”

“That’s my son. He won't be no trouble. We could go in the bathroom so he don’t...”

“What you trying to get?”

“Two packs.”

He stepped past her towards the dining room. He stopped and stared at Corey who was sitting on the floor, playing some small game player that he brought along for the ride.

He walked back over to JoAnn, “I'll give you the packs if you let me go upstairs with the boy for awhile.”

“Go ahead.” That was the voice. “He’ll be alright. You was younger than him when BJ started touching you,”

JoAnn hadn’t thought of her step-father, BJ, in years. Yeah your right,  she thought.

 JoAnn knew she should have said no, but she needed the packs. She looked down at her hands and they were starting to shake again. One pack wouldn't be enough.

“He'll be ok,” the voice kept whispering.

JoAnn should have taken Corey and ran, but she needed to get this pain off of her. Tony must have heard the voice, too, because he took the packs out of his pocket and dangled them in front of her face.

“You gonna go easy on him?” she asked, snatching the packs out of his hand.

He nodded.

JoAnn walked right over to Corey in the dining room.  She had to tell him something to get him to do it.

“Baby,” She said to him as he stood up. “I'm gonna go use the bathroom. You go with Uncle Tony, ok. I'll be right back.”

He glanced over her shoulder at Tony and shook his head.

“BOY, YOU DO WHAT I SAY, YOU HEAR ME!” JoAnn yelled at Corey.

“Leave him,” the voice said.

She turned around and walked towards the bathroom, leaving Corey and Tony alone. JoAnn hadn’t had her first love in a while. She usually smoked crack because it was cheaper, but this was what she craved.

She was in the bathroom, getting her needle out and ready, when she heard a noise and Tony talking in the other room, but now she didn’t care. The needle felt like paradise going into her arm.

“You did good ” the voice said. It was happy.

JoAnn was around his age when her stepdad started coming in her room.

Corey would be alright, she tried to convince herself.

Chapter 10

Sabrina had knots in her stomach on the ride home from school. Nervous knots, the kind that had frequented the pit of her abdomen when something was wrong. She called the house to check on Corey, but her calls went unanswered. She dialed his cell phone and it went straight to voicemail. The engine in her car revved as she coasted to the house.