URBAN: Chosen By A Kingpin (22 page)

“Tonight on the news at 10, talks for peace in the Middle East continues. The President went to visit hoping that he can get both parties to agree on some sort of peace. Also searches for the seven year old missing girl from the Bronx continues. She was last seen in front of the school. Witnesses say a large Caucasian male was seen talking to her. There is no word of any suspects.”

The news stirred Giselle out of her sleep. She opened her eyes and saw the two anchors discussing the news. She sat up and barely listened it until she heard the borough Brooklyn, that she paid attention.

“Police are asking for your help. Out of Brooklyn, New York, there was a shooting outside of a club just last night. Witnesses have said that there were two gunshots. Police have no leads on the suspect or suspects. The victim is expected to live. He is listed in stable condition. He will be released soon. Authorities believe that the shooting may have been drug related.” The anchor informed the audience watching.

“That must be about Antwon.” Giselle said to herself. “I was just there at that club.’

“Another story out of Brooklyn. There was another shooting not too far from the club just two hours ago. Witnesses at the scene said that there were a series of gunshots heard.”

“It just started out of nowhere. All you heard was pop! Pop! Pop!” One of the witnesses recalled.

“I was so scared. I just held on to my daughter.” Another witness told the reporter.

“Residents in the area were left running and ducking for their lives. When the police arrived they found numerous rounds of shell casings and spent bullets. Also on the scene there were two bodies. Both of the bodies were announced dead on arrival.”

The news anchor’s voice drowned out. Giselle didn’t listen any longer. She stopped listening after she heard the word “dead”.

“Oh no! I told him not to go. He should have stayed here.” She took out her phone and dialed Lionel’s cell phone.

“I’m not able to pick up my phone right now. If it’s important, just leave your name and I’ll get back to you when I can.” His voicemail said to her once again. His phone was still off. She started crying. She knew it. The feeling she had in the pit of her stomach intensified. She turned back to the screen. Both of victims were identified as males. That’s when she knew for sure and without a doubt, that Lionel was dead.

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LOVE IN THE PROJECTS 2

Shantel Johnson

© 2015 Sensual Ink Publishing

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Giselle walked slowly back to her room. Ever since her parents died, everything was going off track. Between being relocated from North Carolina to New York City, having an abusive foster mother, falling in love, and now attending a funeral. Her life almost didn’t seem real. She kept trying to wake up, convinced that she was in a horrible nightmare, but she finally had to accept, that this was her life. No matter how much she tried to deny it or fight it, this was her life and either she got used to it, or took control of it. But right now her main focus was getting her clothes ready for the funeral.

As she looked for her funeral clothes, Laura, another young woman who lived in the foster home woke up.

“Hey.” She rubbed her eyes. “What time is it?” She yawned.

“It’s 6 in the morning.” Giselle answered her in a zombie state.

“Hey, are you okay?” She reached out to touch her shoulders but Giselle just jerked her away. “Giselle, what’s going on?”

“I have a funeral to get to.”

“Is that today?”

“Yes.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“What you apologizing to this bitch for?” Ms. Rita stumbled in.

Giselle looked at Ms. Rita and could see that she was still high. She wasn’t going to even acknowledge her, especially not today. Lionel always told her to fight and stand up for herself, but she was too tired. She woke up exhausted and just wasn’t in the mood for Ms. Rita. She knew that if she said anything to her, that it would just start an argument.

“Not now Ms. Rita.” Laura said in the sweetest tone.

“Shut the fuck up!” She screamed so loudly that it woke the other children. “Do you see what you ungrateful bitches did?”

“Ungrateful?” Giselle spoke softly.

“You got something to say?” Ms. Rita walked over to her rocking back and forth. “Or are you sad because someone else around you died?”

That was the final straw. Giselle stood up and looked Ms. Rita in the eye. There was an anger coming from her that she’s never felt before. She knew she’d been holding back her feelings ever since she found out about the death, but looking at Ms. Rita, she was shaking. She was so angry that her body was actually trembling.

“You little fucking bitch.” The words came from Giselle’s mouth, but even she couldn’t believe it. “If I ever hear you say anything negative about me or anybody else in this apartment-”

“Are you threatening me?”

“No, I’m informing you. I’m sick and tired of your shit. Next time anything happens, I’m going to ACS, the police, anybody that will listen to me about all the bullshit you do. We come home to an empty fridge, constantly having to clean the house, and you’re fucking high all the time. From now on, Laura and I are running this place. We are cashing the checks, buying the food, and if you’re nice we’ll give you a nice allowance.”

The room was silent after that. Laura sat up on the bed and hugged her legs. She closed her eyes and rocked back and forth. She was waiting for the huge fight. She’s tried to stand up to Ms. Rita before but after getting beaten up, she decided to just keep her head down.

‘Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?” Ms. Rita balled up her fist.

“I’m talking to a crackhead that’s dependent on money that I help bring in.” Giselle laughed. Ms. Rita went to punch her, but she moved out of the way. She turned around and slapped her. When her hand connected with Ms. Rita’s face, she couldn’t believe it. Ms. Rita doubled back and charged at her, but she just moved out of the way again.

“You touch me and I’m going to make sure that they do mandatory drug testing on you.” Those words from Laura stopped them both. “Go sleep it off Ms. Rita.” She demanded.

“You bitches-”

“Go sleep it off!” Laura shouted..

Ms. Rita looked at the both of them. She could easily have fought them both, but the look in each lady’s eyes told her that they were serious. She didn’t want to lose the kids because she knew that her money would be gone. She just puffed her chest out and went back to the bedroom. She crashed on her bed and quickly fell to sleep.

“Are you okay?” Laura turned to Giselle.

“Do you know what you just signed up for? She’s going to go after you.”

“Not today.” Laura shrugged. “You can’t think about that though. You concentrate on going to the funeral and you let me worry about her.”

Giselle wore the same funeral outfit that she did at her parent’s funeral. She looked at herself long in the mirror, before leaving the apartment. When she walked down the hall, she passed Lionel’s door. She stood in front of it and touched it. How quickly things have changed. She felt the tears coming on but she ignored them. She just pushed through. She made it outside and hailed a cab. She told the cab driver to take her to the funeral home. She sighed and for the first time in a long time, she fell asleep.

“Miss?” The cab driver turned to his sleeping passenger. “Miss!” He raised his voice. Giselle started to wake up. She saw everybody wearing black. She didn’t even have to ask if they were there. The somber feeling in the air, people crying in the background, and the procession starting, told it all. She missed the funeral but she would be in time for the burial. That’s the important part. That’s what she really came there for.

“You want me to drop you off? Or would you like me to follow them? It will be free of charge. I can see that you’re in a bad situation.”

“Thank you.” She nodded. “Just follow them.” She gave him her best smile but even he saw that it was fake. He focused on the road and she just looked out the window. The streets were buzzing. She wondered how many people were feeling what she was feeling. There were so many stories out there and she tried to see if she could see hers. Could someone else out there be feeling the type of despair that she was? She tried to see if she could spot the sad faces. It wasn’t until she pulled up to the burial that she saw them.

“This is it.” The driver slowly turned to Giselle. “Family or friend?” He asked and she looked at him.

“I don’t even know. I can’t say that I knew him all that well.” She mumbled. “I just thought that I should come here.”

“And why is that?”

“Why do you care?”

“Why shouldn’t I care?”

“Because that’s none of your business.”

The cab driver chuckled. He’s heard that too many times before. He couldn’t help to care. She was dressed in all black and looked like she could use a friend or at least someone to talk to.

“Today, let’s pretend that it’s my business to care.” He gave her a warm smile. He started to remind her of her father.

“I wanted to come here to see.”

“See what?”

“To see if he was really dead. I guess I have been in denial in such a long time. I just needed to see it.” She pressed her face against the window.

“Aren’t you going to go inside?”

“I don’t think I can move.”

“I’ll go with you.”

The cab driver found a parking spot. Giselle took a deep breath. The driver got out of the car and approached her door. He opened the door and held out his hand. In his eyes, she saw the same kindness of her father.

“Are you ready?”

“I don’t think I can do it.”

“You are not doing it alone.” He reminded her with a toothy grin. “I’m here.” He took her hand. “Whenever you’re ready, we’ll go right over there.”

“I can’t go over there.” Her voice was shaking and she was getting weak. Her knees were not staying still and she knew that she would turn into jelly if she stood up.

“Then we just stand here and whenever you’re ready, we’ll go over there.”

They leaned against the car and looked across the street at the cemetery. The people were walking decked out in black. She started to move but she stopped and leaned back on the car.

“There goes the mother.” He pointed at a woman sobbing and being held by two others.

“How did you know that?” Giselle recognized her.

“You can just tell. When my mother died, that was me. I couldn’t even move.” He confessed.

“How did she die?”

“Cancer.”

“My parents died, but I was numb.” She exhaled. “When death comes around, all I do is get numb. I should have never came here.”

“You came to pay your respects.”

“But I barely knew him.” She opened the car door. “I just had-”

“You don’t have to explain anything. You are just trying to do your best and that’s okay. You don’t have to do it by anybody’s rules but your own.”

“I thought I could do it.”

“You’re allowed to change your mind. “

She smiled at him. She was feeling better. Despite everything, she started to come around. She couldn’t feel bad anymore. Ever since hearing of this death, she’s been in a horrible mood. It was understandable, but now she was at the point where she really hated feeling helpless. Everywhere she turned, things just happened to her. Her parents died, she was getting abused by her foster mother, and now this. She had to turn her life around. She had to make the moves, or else her life would just get out of control like it is now.

“Look there are police.” The cab driver pointed out. “What are the cops doing here?” Giselle saw the officers stand outside of the cemetery. “Oh my God, this is the funeral of that shooting.” He looked to Giselle. “Did you hear about it? It was all over the news. Someone came and shot him. They shot and killed him. Did you know the victim? Were you friends with him?”

“Not really.” Giselle started to open the car door. “This was just something I had to do.”

“You want to go back to where I found you?”

“No, I need you to bring me someplace else.”

The cab pulled up in front of a motel. The cab driver leaned in and looked at it and then to Giselle. He would have never pictured a beautiful young lady going into a seedy motel.

“I know I’ve been in your business all day, but I have a question for you. What are you doing here?” She opened her mouth to tell him, but decided against it. She wasn’t sure what she was doing there either.

“Doing a favor for a friend.” She smiled.

“You want me to wait for you. I feel uncomfortable letting you go up there by yourself.”

“I’m a big girl. I need to learn to fight my own battles.” She gave him $100. “I know you said that it was free, but here. Thank you for all that you’ve done. I needed it more than you’ll ever know.” She exited the car and made her way into the motel.

Once inside the motel she could see why the cab driver didn’t want her to go inside. The walls were covered in horrible decor. There was a smell that she couldn’t identify. She saw young ladies dressed in sexy outfits. They were practically in bikinis and heels. They had on tacky makeup and on top of the weird smell, their perfume scent was just as strong.

“Hi, may you please show me where the front desk is?” She politely asked them. They all pointed to this old, worn out, check in desk. She rang the bell and could have swore that she saw dust come out. She coughed and fanned away the dust from her face.

“What?” The person behind the desk sighed.

“I’m looking for a guest.” She whispered.

“Speak up.” The person sighed.

“I’m looking for a guest.” She replied confidently.

“Room 202.”

“I didn’t even tell you who it was.”

“I’ve been told to look out for you.”

Giselle walked through the musty halls and pressed the button for the elevator. She listened to the low hum and looked down at the faded carpet that was beneath her. She saw a roach scurry across one of the walls and she shuddered. She wanted to run out and bail, but she had a promise to keep.