lot of bloodshed. Half of the people that were alive an hour ago laid sprawled out on the concrete floor, dead.
They scrambled around collecting our straps and then were out the back door. I had to pull myself together. If they didn’t get out now, we all would be fucked. I went back to hugging my son while getting my story together. The pain of having Lil’ Faheem’s lifeless body in my arms filled my body with sorrow and rage. I swore on everything I loved . . . I was going to make everyone involved suffer before I killed them.
KYRA
I was on pins and needles. The address on the front door matched the one on my driver’s license. I peeked through the windows and the house was completely empty. I jotted down the realtor’s number off of the For Sale sign in the front yard.
I was told that I used to live here. When Nurse Wright at the hospital dug into my background this was my last known address. But seeing it didn’t jar my memory at all. Maybe the real estate agent, Jordan Brown, would be able to give me some answers.
“Excuse me, lady. Do you want me to take you somewhere else?” the impatient cabbie asked me.
“Yes. Give me a couple of minutes.” I walked around to the backyard, desperate to remember something. Whoever lived here hadn’t in a while, according to the height of the weeds. Nothing registered. Nothing looked familiar. I headed up front.
“Are you ready?” the driver asked me. He saw that I was looking over at the neighbor’s house.
“I’m ready.” Disappointed, I got back into the cab.
He wasted no time pulling off.
We headed for the address that was listed for my emergency contact, Tasha Macklin. I said a quick prayer, asking that if her house was empty and up for sale, I would have the strength to handle it and God would tell me what to do next. Because if no one lived there, or I couldn’t get answers, I’d be shit out of luck. And then the only thing left would be to call Nurse Wright. Something I didn’t want to do. She was my nurse throughout the months I was in the coma, and had taken a liking to me. She was there with me when I came out of it and all during my rehab. After I completed rehab, I was given a clean bill of health, but she didn’t want me to travel back here alone. I insisted. I felt that I had to start somewhere. If I was going to reclaim my life, I had to do it on my own. And I was determined to regain it all back. Stuck in the cab for what felt like an hour, I was hoping that I had the right address. It was taking forever for us to reach my next destination.
“Excuse me.” I leaned up and boldly tapped the cabbie on his shoulder. I asked, “Are you going the right way?”
“Yes, ma’am, I am. According to the GPS, we are one and a half miles away.”
I was glad to hear that. I sat back in the seat. My stomach swirled as if I was upside down on a rollercoaster. It was threatening to release everything I had eaten for lunch. I peeked up at his GPS and saw that we were now less than a mile away. We made a left turn, and the houses were getting bigger and bigger. Everyone was trying to outdo one another.
“O.J. used to live in this neighborhood.” The cab driver stated with pride.
I guess the cabbie decided to turn into a tour guide at the last minute. But I didn’t care about O.J. or the fact that all of a sudden he was trying to be friendly. I had my fingers crossed, hoping that a For Sale sign was nowhere to be found. I felt the vehicle slow down, and then it came to a stop. My eyes scanned the property and its surroundings. Thank God, somebody did live here and hopefully it was who I was looking for. Toys were tossed around on the freshly manicured lawn, and it was quiet, except for the faint whisper of an airplane high up in the sky.
“Thank you,” I told the cabbie, and paid him his fare.
“Ma’am, would you like for me to wait?” Now all of a sudden he wasn’t in a hurry.
“No. I think I’ll be all right here.”
“Well, just in case, here’s