Resurrection (10 page)

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Authors: Treasure Hernandez

BOOK: Resurrection
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Chapter Thirteen
S
cratch sat through a lecture by a reformed drug addict and was proud of himself. He hadn't touched a drug in eight weeks. Today was the day he graduated from the twelve-step program. Scratch kept glancing at the door, waiting for Halleigh to walk in so that he could share his special day with her. She promised she would be here.
I know baby girl ain't gon' let Scratch down, he thought as he played with his fingers nervously. He thought of how he had wasted years of his life in the streets, being a menace to society. He thought about Halleigh coming to his rescue like she did. He wasn't used to anyone showing him any kind of concern, so it was a breath of fresh air to have someone in his corner.
As the motivational speaker spoke, Scratch saw something that almost made his heart stop. Sharina, Halleigh's mom, walked in. It had been years since he had last seen her, and she looked good. Scratch was so happy to see her. He had honestly thought that she was dead, that she'd suffered the same fate as many of his drug-addicted cronies.
The crackhead's glare that was in her eyes the last time he had seen her was now gone. She came in and sat in the back of the crowded room. He couldn't believe the resemblance she had to her daughter. Even at her mature age, she looked as if she could be Halleigh's sister.
Scratch was glad that he'd decided to shave that morning. Back in the day, he had a thing for Sharina, and clearly the attraction was still there. He sat up straight and patted his Afro, trying to look as presentable as possible.
“Yo, we outside of the building right now,” Mitch said as he sat in the black Navigator with three of his goons. “We're just waiting for the go-ahead.” They all had fully loaded semi-automatic assault rifles.
Malek was on the other end of the phone, watching as Halleigh pulled off to go to her doctor's appointment. “Is their kids there?” he asked, not wanting to hit any children.
“Nah, there aren't any children.” Mitch took another glance to ensure that he was correct.
“Good. Wait until the majority of the people leave and do it. Hit it! We gotta send a message. They're fucking up the money,” Malek said before he closed his cell phone and walked over to the couch. He didn't want to send a message that malicious, but Joe had taught him, when in the drug game, you had to be ruthless and detach all emotions from business.
Malek took a deep breath. He never thought that he would be ordering the shooting of a building full of innocent people, but to keep his position of power, he had to do it.
Halleigh rushed out of the house. She hated lying to Malek, but she had to be there for Scratch. He had finally completed the program, and she wanted to be there in his final steps to leading a clean life. She had even put some money up so that Scratch would be all right. She had managed to save five thousand dollars for him, trusting that he would do the right thing with the money.
Over the years she had grown to love Scratch. He had given her real advice during some of her toughest times, and she felt honored that she was able to repay him by helping him get clean, introducing him to a new life.
She glanced at her watch and noticed that she was late for Scratch's ceremony. She had promised him that she would be there to witness him receive his completion certificate from the drug program. I'm so proud of Scratch for cleaning himself up, Halleigh thought as she got in her car and headed toward Genesis.
Scratch's hands became sweaty as he approached Sharina, who was sitting in the back and listening attentively to the motivational speaker. It had been so long since he had seen her, and he wanted to reintroduce himself.
“Hey, beautiful lady,” Scratch said.
Sharina looked at Scratch, and when she realized who he was, she looked like she'd seen a ghost. It had been years since she'd last seen him. “Oh my God,” she said, placing her hand over her mouth.
Scratch leaned over and gave her a hug.
“Look at you, all cleaned up,” Sharina said as she took a good look at Scratch. She had been in the streets a long time and could tell that Scratch hadn't been using.
They just stared at each other for a brief moment.
Sharina continued to look Scratch up and down. “How long have you been clean?”
“It's been eight weeks now,” Scratch said proudly as he played with his fingers.
“I'm proud of you,” Sharina said. She placed a gentle hand on Scratch's shoulder. “I know how hard it is to get the monkey off your back.”
“Thanks. You looking good, Rina. I can tell by your eyes you're clean.”
“Yeah, I have been clean about a year or so now,” Sharina said confidently. “I had to get away from Flint for a while. I've been in Detroit for the past year. That's where I got my rehabilitation at. Moses helped me out before she relocated down here. She invited me back to speak.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah, I'm serious. I'm here to share my story with the group.” Sharina's smile suddenly dropped, and she looked down before adding, “And I have some unfinished business.”
“You talking about Halleigh, aren't you?” Scratch asked before he could catch himself. It just came out.
Sharina looked up with tears in her eyes. She was surprised to hear her daughter's name. It had been so long since she'd last seen Halleigh, and it ate at her daily. She had been preparing to come back to Flint to find her baby girl. She owed her so much explanation because of her bad drug problem. She had sold her daughter's virginity to the local dopeman just to feed her habit. She was ashamed, and she needed to find her daughter so that she could apologize. She knew that the words wouldn't mean much at first, but she was hoping that Halleigh would eventually forgive her.
Scratch smiled because Halleigh had promised him that she would show up for the program. He kept it to himself, so that Sharina would have a big surprise.
Scratch gon' make Rina's day
, he thought to himself as he stared at beautiful Sharina.
Halleigh couldn't stop smiling, knowing that she was about to bring a life into the world. She pulled into the parking lot of Genesis. I hope I didn't miss seeing Scratch get his certificate, she thought as her heels clicked on the pavement on her way into the building.
Halleigh walked into the building during the middle of a woman's speech and saw Scratch sitting in the front row. She immediately took a seat, so she wouldn't be a distraction. As she sat down, she heard a voice that she hadn't heard in years. She immediately looked at the podium, and anxiety took over her body. Standing there talking to the people was her mother. “Oh my God,” she whispered as she sat there in disbelief.
“Drive by slow,” Mitch instructed as he and another henchman, both with semi-automatic assault rifles, hung out of the window. The Genesis building had a glass front, so they could see all of the people gathered inside looking at the speaker. Under Malek's orders, Mitch prepared to let it rain bullets inside of the building.
“Thank you all very much,” Sharina said as she received a standing ovation for her touching speech. She walked off the stage and over to Scratch and gave him a hug to congratulate him on his recovery.
Scratch whispered in her ear as they embraced, “I got someone I want you to see.” Then he led her to Halleigh.
Sharina's heart nearly stopped when she saw her only daughter. She had been anticipating their reunion for so long, and now that she was face to face with her, she was speechless. She had so much to say, so much to explain, but nothing seemed to come out. Tears ran down her cheeks as she began to speak. “Halleigh, I—”
Before Sharina could finish her sentence, bullets rang out, one grazing her neck.
The entire place broke out into complete pandemonium. Scratch dove for Halleigh and covered her to protect her. The sound of shattering glass and horrified screams filled the air as they dropped to the floor, trying to avoid taking any bullets. After ten seconds of non-stop shooting, the mayhem finally ceased.
“Baby girl, are you okay?” Scratch asked as he uncovered Halleigh. He noticed blood coming from her thigh and panicked. “You hit! You hit in the leg!” he said as he looked at the rest of her body to make sure that she wasn't hit anywhere else.
A woman screamed, causing them to look in her direction. It was Moses. She had Sharina in her arms. Blood was coming from her neck, but fortunately for her, the bullet hadn't hit her jugular vein. It had merely broken her skin.
“Nooo!” Halleigh screamed as she scooted over next to her mother and held her in her arms. She didn't even get a chance to tell her how much she loved her, how much she hated her, how much she needed her, and how much she had to go through without her. She disregarded her own bullet wound as she asked her mom, “You okay?”
Thankfully, her mom wasn't dead, and she would eventually get a chance to tell her all of those things.
The sound of ambulance sirens sounded, and the paramedics rushed into the building to save the lives of the wounded.
Halleigh threw up, and the room began to spin, as she was losing an awful lot of blood from her leg. She looked down at her stomach, and for the first time she thought of the life inside of her. “Oh God, no, please no,” she whispered. She put her hand over her wound and tried to stop the bleeding.
“You need to get to the hospital, Li'l Rina.” Scratch waved a paramedic over to Halleigh.
Losing a lot of blood, Halleigh became light-headed and fainted. The last thing that crossed her mind was Malek and her unborn child.
“It's done,” Mitch said to Malek.
“Good. Maybe now they will see it my way.” Malek hung up the phone.
Malek sat on the couch and looked at his watch. “Halleigh should have been home by now. Where my baby at?” he asked himself as he stood in his living room with a bottle of wine. The wind blew open his white linen shirt as he took a sip. He pulled out a box holding a three-carat diamond ring. That night was the night he would propose to Halleigh. From here on out, life will be good.
“Come on, girl, where you at?” Malek flipped open his phone and dialed her number, but he never received an answer. Malek checked his voice mail to see if Halleigh had left him any messages, and that was when he heard the message that she had left him the other night.
“Baby, I feel bad about something, and I just gotta come clean with it. But please promise me that you won't get upset. Okay, well, I know how you feel about the rehab center cutting into your business, and I just wanted to tell you that when you was calling my phone and you couldn't get me, that was because I was really with Scratch at the rehab, trying to get some help for him.
“And, baby, there's something else that I wanted to tell you, but I have to tell you that in person. It's about Mitch, okay, baby. I love you. Be safe. Call me back.”
Malek quickly called back Halleigh's cell phone, but again he got no answer.
Immediately he thought the worst about Mitch. “I'll cut that nigga's dick off and shove that shit in his mouth and then murder his ass!” Malek screamed. He had a sick feeling as to what was up. “He snaked me! Don't nobody come in my crib and snake me and think they can live!”

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