up. Untie me! These niggas are getting ready to bury us alive! We gotta get out of here.” As soon as I said that, the muthafuckas had the nerve to take the top of the coffin and lower it on top of us. We were crammed together, barely able to move. Angel was feeling under me, struggling to untie me.
“This is some bullshit! Who dug this deep-ass hole? We gonna be in here all night tryna fill this bitch up,” I heard Knowledge say. “Just shoot ’em, and let’s bounce.”
“If we shoot ’em, we still gotta cover them up, you dummy. And the instructions were to bury him alive,” Herb said. “And fool, you was supposed to fill up the coffin!”
“With what? Two bodies and dirt can’t fit in that little box.” Knowledge spat.
“This is still some bullshit,” the high-yellow brother said. I never got his name. “Just throw the dirt on it. The dirt will weigh it down. Them niggas ain’t going anywhere if they tied up. I’m hungry, shit.”
With the sound of every thump hitting the wood coffin, a knot formed in my throat. It was nauseating. Red began to sob quietly as the weight of the dirt heightened the pressure of the closed coffin. Her body began to shake with fear but she was still struggling to untie me. She was having a hard time working under my body weight. I could feel her beginning to panic.
“Stay focused baby. You can do this.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. I can feel it loosening up.”
“But I can’t.”
“Red, focus!” She was finally able to loosen up the rope, and I wiggled my wrists free.
“Babe, stop crying. I told you to take your stubborn ass back inside. But no! You said, ‘I love my man! I’ma ride or die!’” I tried to make light of the situation.
“Forget you, Kaylin!” She released a slight chuckle but kept on crying. “What are we going to do, now?” She whispered.
“I’m thinking, babe. I’m thinking.” I got serious and the only thing I could do was say what I was feeling. “I love you more than life itself. And you made mines worth living. Baby, I have no regrets.”
I could feel her beginning to shake again. She began to panic. “No, not like this! We can’t die like this!” She was raising her voice.
“Red, calm down, baby. I need you to stay calm,” I said, trying not to panic my damn self. Because the reality of the situation was beginning to set in. You could hear the dirt being tossed on top of the coffin.
“I can’t . . . I’m scared, Kay. Not like this! We can’t go out like this!” She started squirming around.
“Red! Stop that!”
“Tell me we are gonna make it out of this. Just tell me we are gonna make it!” she cried.
I wanted to say, I got this. We are going to be okay. I’ll get us out of this. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t bring myself to utter those words, and it was killing me. I felt like I had died already, realizing that I had no way of getting us out of this situation.
Red had stopped sobbing, anticipating my response. My mind went blank. The only thing I could blurt out was, “I love you, baby. If this is the way we are gonna go, I’ll rest in peace knowing that I’m lying here with you. Sorry, baby, that’s all your man got.”
Once again, her tears began to wet my face as she kissed my lips. “I love you, too.”
Silently, I began to pray.
“You hear that?” Red asked. “I hear sirens.”
“Babe, I don’t hear shit but them niggas up there and dirt slamming down on top and around us.”
“I hear them!” Red was starting to get delusional.
The dirt stopped coming.
Those niggas must have heard the sirens, too. “Yo, Herb, you think they coming here? They sound like they mighty close.” I heard those words vaguely.
“I’m not going to stay here and find out. We can come back and finish this later. They can’t climb out. Let’s bounce.”
The sirens were getting closer. But were they coming for us? We heard car doors slam, the engine crank up, and tires screech away.
22
TASHA
I was gaining weight and experiencing morning sickness, which was, in my warped mind, confirmation that this was Trae’s baby. With his babies, the morning sickness damn near killed me. When I was pregnant by Kyron, I had no problems. My stomach was getting pudgy, but I had decided it would