Choosing Sides (5 page)
Authors: Treasure Hernandez
Oh, my God, where am I going to go?
Halleigh thought as she stood outside on Malek's porch and the reality sunk in further. She was too afraid to return to her mother's home. The truth of the matter was, she never wanted to return to her mother's house again in life. Sharina had gone too far this time. Malek was the only other person she had, so she just stood there, not knowing which way to go.
Halleigh thought as she stood outside on Malek's porch and the reality sunk in further. She was too afraid to return to her mother's home. The truth of the matter was, she never wanted to return to her mother's house again in life. Sharina had gone too far this time. Malek was the only other person she had, so she just stood there, not knowing which way to go.
After a moment, she just began walking, and just as she reached the sidewalk, Malek came darting out of the house running after her.
“Hal, Hal! Wait!” he said, clutching his Air Jordan shoes and running toward her. They both stood face to face with rain pouring down on them. “I love you, Hal. Just wait, let me calm my moms down. Let me tell her. Let me explain to her what happened.”
“Malek, it's okay,” Halleigh said, hopelessness filling her heart.
Just before Malek could respond, his mother stood in the doorway and yelled, “Malek, get back in here!”
He looked at his mother and then back at Halleigh. He didn't want to disobey his mother, but at the same time, he couldn't leave Halleigh. She needed him.
Then his mother went from quoting Bible scriptures to cursing. “Malek, get yo' ass in here now!”
Malek rarely heard his mother curse, so he knew she was upset. He froze up, looking back and forth from his mother to his girl.
Halleigh looked into his eyes. “Go on, Malek. I'll be okay.” Then she kissed him on his lips and walked away.
There's nothing you can do for me anyway.
There's nothing you can do for me anyway.
Malek just stood there and watched Halleigh walk away. Hearing his mother yell his name again brought him out of his daze. Angrily, he trekked back to the front door and stood in front of his mother. “Ma, I can't leave her out here like this. I can't,” he said almost in a whisper.
“You're going to pick some little ghetto girl to be disobedient over your own mother's word? Not even my word, but God's words. The Book of Proverbs saysâ”
“Ma, I don't care about the Book of Proverbs. I care about Halleigh.”
Mrs. Johnson crossed her arms tightly and tapped her foot against the ground. “Okay, you wanna go running after some hoodrat? After all me and your daddy has done for you? After all we've sacrificed? Fine, go! As a matter of fact, you get out! You can go ahead with her. I work at all hours of the night and your father works two jobs trying to keep a roof over your head, and you got the audacity to even consider going against me! Get out!”
In a flurry of frenetic motion, his mother reached inside and grabbed his varsity jacket and hat and hurled them at him. With that, she slammed the door in his face, leaving Malek staring at the steel screen door.
But she knew her boy. She knew he wouldn't turn on everything his parents had done for him to go chasing after some panties, so she sat on the living room couch waiting, just knowing her son would come walking back through that door any second.
For a moment, Malek stood on the other side of the door like an ice statue. It hurt his heart to go against his mother's wishes, but he knew that Halleigh needed him more than ever. If only his mother knew why Halleigh needed him. He wanted to go back inside and make one last effort to explain to his mother what was going on. But when he finally willed himself to move, it was in the direction of Halleigh.
All those “suicides” his coach made him do were paying off now as he sprinted to catch up with Halleigh. Finally catching up with her, he ran up behind her, his sprints now long trots. “Halleigh! Hal!”
She turned around just in time to see her man approaching. “Oh, Malek,” she said, touching his face. She was so glad and relieved to see him. “Thank you for letting me stay with you last night,” she said. “I didn't mean to drag you into all of this.” Her voice began to crack. “I just didn't have anywhere else to go.”
“Everything is going to be all right.” He wrapped his leather varsity coat around her shoulders. “Don't worry about it. I'm always here for you.”
Hearing Malek's words and feeling his arms around her made her believe that everything, in fact, would be all right, but unfortunately it wouldn't be.
Chapter Five
I
t was around five-thirty A.M., still pitch-black outside, and Malek and Halleigh trudged down the streets, wondering where they were going to crash. Malek knew that he could go back home if he wanted to, but he couldn't go and take Halleigh with him. But since he wasn't going to leave her hanging like that either, he decided to stay with her.
t was around five-thirty A.M., still pitch-black outside, and Malek and Halleigh trudged down the streets, wondering where they were going to crash. Malek knew that he could go back home if he wanted to, but he couldn't go and take Halleigh with him. But since he wasn't going to leave her hanging like that either, he decided to stay with her.
Halleigh definitely didn't want to go back to her mother's home. She'd rather sleep in the street or at a homeless shelter. What a joke! Her mother was no longer a parent who was there to guide and protect her as a young woman. Her mother had transmogrified into this walking-dead monster, who now saw Halleigh as a commodity she could exchange for her drugs. Halleigh sensed that if she went back home, the rape that had happened the night before was only a harbinger of what was to come at her mother's hands. Tariq and Mad Dog would only be the beginning of one long train of men her mother would bring in to use her body so that she could get her drugs for free. Hell no! Halleigh had to face the cold truth. Sharina's god wasn't the same god that Mrs. Johnson had been speaking of. Sharina's god was the heroin she shot in her veins. And what she had done to Halleigh was so foul, that her daughter could never forgive her for it.
As the couple made their way down the street, Malek thought about all his options as to where he and Halleigh could go. He thought about all the people who had been jocking him at school, but came up with nothing. There was no true friend whose house they could crash at. No teacher, no relative. He had no money, didn't have the keys to his car, and no plan. What were they going to do?
It was pouring rain and nearly thirty degrees outside. The two began shivering. The swirling rain lashed at both of their bodies, drenching them, as lightning flashed across the sky, the loud thunder frightening them.
Malek knew that they needed shelter or they would freeze to death. If only they had just a few dollars, they could surely find a cheap motel to crash at. They walked past the twenty-four-hour corner store on the corner of Clio Road, and Malek suddenly got an idea of just how they could get money.
Malek ran his plan by her. He stuck the small beer bottle under his shirt, pretending it was a gun.
Although Halleigh didn't agree that robbing the corner store was a good idea, she didn't have a better one. Here she was walking around half-naked. It would be daylight soon. They needed a place to stay. “Malek, you don't have to do this,” she said.
“I'm just going to take enough for a hotel room for us, that's all. I promise. It'll be quick and easy.” He kissed her on the cheek and went into the store with his hat pulled low over his eyes.
“Be careful,” Halleigh whispered as Malek made his way to the door. She watched through the store's glass windows while she stood in the nearby alley. She wanted to stop Malek, but he was too determined to make sure they would be okay. Besides, what other options did they have? To go back and ask his mother to loan them some money for a hotel room? Yeah, right!
She watched as Malek slowly walked up in the empty store, an Asian man standing behind the counter, his hands in his hoody. Moments later, the Asian man put both of his hands in the air, a terrified look on his face. Halleigh knew that Malek had gone through with it.
Her heart began to pound, and her limbs shook as she watched Malek attempt to rob the owner with a beer bottle. She got a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. A feeling that told her that Malek should just get the hell out of there right nowâwhether he had the money or not. “Just leave, Malek, please. Just leave,” she whispered to herself as she watched the scene unfold.
Malek's hand began to shake. Obviously, he was nervous. Suddenly she saw both men turn their heads toward the back of the store as if they'd heard a startling noise or something. She turned her attention toward the direction both Malek and the Asian man was looking, and saw another store clerk come from out the back. The Asian man behind the counter reached under and pulled out a chrome handgun and pointed it toward Malek's head. By the time he turned back around, he was staring at the barrel of a gun.
Terrified, Halleigh barreled toward the store. Upon entering the bell hanging over the door rang.
Malek looked over at Halleigh, and just then a shot rang out as he tried to put his hands up to signal Halleigh to get out of the store.
Boom!
Boom!
A single bullet went through Malek's head. In one side and out the other. That was the last thing Halleigh saw before she saw his lifeless body drop to the ground.
“No!” Halleigh exclaimed, snapping back to reality from the horrible vision that had just played out in her head. She took a shuddering breath.
Malek stood in front of her, staring at her. He had the bottle tucked in his hoody. “What? What's wrong? It doesn't look like a real burner?” He looked down at the bottle. “You don't think I can pull this thing off with it?”
“Malek, I have a bad feeling about this one. Don't do it!” Halleigh held on to his arm, trying to persuade him not to go through with it. She kept visualizing her brief daydream of him being shot and didn't want it to become a reality.
Malek reconsidered the act he was about to commit. Thought about his NBA career for a moment, and how getting caught doing something like this could ruin his professional basketball career before it ever even took off. A Maurice Clarett he didn't want to be.
But every time he looked at Halleigh, she gave him the adrenaline he needed to do it. He'd promised her that he would take care of her, and now was the time for him to make good on his word. “Don't worry.” He kissed her on the cheek and pulled away from her.
He pulled his hat low over his eyes as he went into the convenience store. He kept looking over his shoulder at the camera monitor lodged in the ceiling's right-hand corner.
Feeling helpless, Halleigh looked on through the glass windows of the store as the scenario unfolded. Her heart began to pound, and her limbs shook as she watched Malek attempt to rob the storeowner with a beer bottle.
“Just leave, Malek, please. Just leave,” she whispered to herself as she watched the scene unfold. She watched as Malek's hand began to shake, obviously he was nervous. Moments later she saw the Asian man empty the cash register and hand Malek the money from the drawer.
“Come on. Come on. Get out of there,” she whispered urgently as if Malek could hear her. No sooner than she finished her sentence, a police car pulled up. Halleigh didn't know what to do. She acted on her first impulse.
“Help! Help, please,” she screamed while running toward the officer, trying to divert his attention. “A man just attacked and robbed me in the alley. He stole my purse!”
The officer got out of the car with both of his hands in front of him, trying to calm Halleigh down. “Hold on, ma'am. Calm down. Where did he go?”
“That way!” She pointed in the opposite direction of the store. She peeked over at the store at the same time that Malek was coming out with a handful of money.
Suddenly a loud shotgun blast erupted, followed by the sound of shattered glass. The Asian man had reached for his weapon while Malek was escaping, the blast from the shotgun just missing Malek's head. Malek quickly ran toward Halleigh, not realizing she was talking to a cop.
Hearing the ruckus, the cop quickly ducked down and reached for his pistol. He saw Malek running with money in his hand and saw the Asian man running toward the front door with his weapon still in hand. He put two and two togetherâa young black man running out of a store with money in his hand and a storeowner brandishing a gun in hot pursuit. In his mind, Malek was already guilty. The officer pointed his service revolver to Malek's face. “Freeze, muthafucka! Put your hands where I can see them! Now!”
Malek halted. For a moment, he looked as stunned as a rabbit caught in a snare. Finally, realizing he could get shot in the back, or worse, shot numerous times by the trigger-happy cop, he put up his hands in surrender. He instantly looked over at Halleigh, who stood there with her hand over her mouth in an attempt to trap the wailing that wanted to escape her lips. Her boyfriend had almost been shot dead right before her eyes.
Malek let out a groan of regret for his dumb actions.
“Get outta here, miss!” the cop yelled to Halleigh, his gun pointed at Malek. “Back up!”
Halleigh didn't obey the officer's command.
“Ma'am, is this the man who attacked and robbed you?”
She just shook her head slowly. “No.”
“Then go. Get out of here before you get hurt.”
Halleigh looked into Malek's eyes and began to cry. Malek moved his eyes quickly, signaling her to go.
Halleigh didn't want to go, but she knew she couldn't do anything if she got arrested with him.
With his gun still aimed at Malek, the cop called for backup and then inched over to Malek. Once he reached Malek, he grabbed him and spun him around, hurtling Malek onto the ground, causing his head to hit the pavement forcefully. “You're under arrest,” the police informed him. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you. You have the right toâ”
“Noo, what's happening?” Halleigh put both of her hands on her mouth as she cried out frantically. In a matter of hours she had gone from one bad nightmare to another.
Malek hissed at Halleigh, “Go! Get outta here!” With his hands cuffed behind his back, he kept motioning for her to get away from the crime scene by jerking his head, which in turn, made his entire body jerk.
Which gave the officer grounds to say that Malek was resisting arrest. Suddenly the cop began to bludgeon Malek with his club to settle him down.
Guilt overcame Halleigh as she ran away, looking over her shoulder to see the cop beat Malek the way her mother had been beaten. She knew she was the cause of all of this. She should have just left Malek out of it. But it was too late. Now he was in far too deep.
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