Page 63 of Ghetto Heartstrings
She immediately started crying, “Wait…what? What happened?”
“I don’t know yet, but just come, get ya girls and come on.” He told her.
“Bitch what happened?” Yaya asked in the background, they’d only been back in Miami for a day and already some shit was popping off.
“It’s Brook’Lynn they got her at the hospital.”
“Oh no.” Yaya gasped.
“Ya’ll just come on.” C2 said hanging up hitting all the back streets to get them there faster. He burned rubber pulling up to the front entrance. They both hopped out and C2 tossed the keys to valet, “Sorry man, we got an emergency, I need a ticket.”
He gave him the ticket being very understanding and went to park the car right away. C2 and Perfect made their way to the security desk where Perfect gave them Brook’Lynn’s first and last name. When they found out what floor she was on, they rushed up there ready to shove and push anybody who was in the fucking way. It fucked C2 up to see the hurt in his brother’s eyes. When they reached her floor, it was quiet as hell, almost like death and Perfect couldn’t take it how the hospitals always made him feel sick to his stomach.
“Excuse me.” The little nurse stopped them before they went inside, she looked at his visitors’ badge. “Hi, I called you, thanks for getting here. We didn’t know who else to call but your namewas already in the system under any emergency contact she’s ever used, and she has you authorized on all of her HIPAA paperwork.”
“Thanks.” He told her. “Is there anything I should know before I get in there?” He asked her.
She had a sympathetic look in her eyes, but she was only doing her job, “Well let me say this first, she was shot but it isn’t life threatening…”
His eyes lit up, “Man what?!” He didn’t even let her finish, he opened the room door with the nurse right on his heels, C2 couldn’t even bare going in after he heard that shit, since they were kids, he really couldn’t take seeing his brother hurt, that shit fucked with him.
The minute he walked in the room, he regretted it, he turned to the nurse with fury in his eyes, “Who the fuck is that?” He asked her. “That ain’t my girl in that bed ma.” The girl he was looking at was indeed Brook’Lynn, but he couldn’t wrap her appearance around his head. Brook’Lynn’s pretty black skin was pale and ashy looking, she was beat the fuck up and her face was lumpy. There was a bandage on her cheek, her lips were semi swollen, and her arm was wrapped. There were fresh bruises and whips on her arms. He ran to the toilet and vomited he couldn’t hold that shit in anymore.
“Sir, are you okay?” the nurse asked on the other side of the door. “I was trying to explain to you what you needed to expect when you walked in here.”
He continued to spit in the toilet before he wiped his mouth and walked out now speaking in a whisper, “What happened to her?” He asked, a little calmer.
“She was beaten badly and had been getting beat for the past couple of days. Her arm is bandaged because she was shot in her shoulder but she’s very strong, she’s one of our lucky ones,” she said.
“Don’t shit look lucky about what I just saw.”
She nodded her head, “I understand why you feel that way sir. Now, she’s heavily sedated right now and she needs rest. There’s something else I need to tell you.”
“I can’t take no more ma’am.” He told her.
“This is something you need to know.” She placed her hand on his arm, “She was raped multiple times, and it appears she recently gave birth, because of this she was still open, and she got a very bad infection since she wasn’t being taken care of properly.”
“Naw man…don’t tell me that…don’t tell me that shit.” He broke down feeling his knees got weak, he had to sit in the chair and try to fight back the tears.
C2 built up enough guts to walk in and when he looked at Brook’Lynn and saw the condition of his brother, he wanted to break but his heart did it for him. he knew he had to be strong cause this shit was fucked up foreal. “I got him.” C2 told the nurse; he walked up to his brother and leaned down so he could wrap his arms around him. Perfect needed a hug, he needed to feel some love.
Acknowledging his little brother, he wiped his eyes with the back of his hands, “Thanks bro.” He told him and then he asked the nurse, “Who found her? How did she get here, and better yet, who did this shit?”
A woman found her sprawled out on the front porch of a home that is now a crime scene, the only thing we know is she was definitely the victim, as far as the unanswered questions, sleeping beauty is the only one who can answer that for us to help put the pieces together.”
He nodded his head, understanding that there was nothing more for her to say and made his way over to Brook’Lynn’s bed. “I love you baby girl. I’m so sorry ma, I should’ve never left youthat night, I should’ve been there.” He took her hand and kissed the back of it.
“It ain’t yo fault bro, you couldn’t have known.” C2 told him refusing to look at Brook’Lynn.
He heard footsteps running down the hall and knew that there had to be the other girls, he wasn’t surprised to see Kema, Yaya, and Marley walked in. He still wasn’t surprised when their reaction was just like his. The first thing Kema wanted to do was grab hands and pray around Brook’Lynn, which they all had no problem with but the big question remained. ‘Who the fuck did this?’
It was only a matter of time when they found out, not even an hour later, the Channel 10 news was covering the story, showing the hospital and the location that was found, for Perfect and C2, the biggest shocker was seeing both of their parents’ faces spread across the screen. Not only was Rasta involved, he was dead and so was Shelly in what they called ‘a twisted lover’s scandal’. It all began to be too much for everybody, especially for Perfect and C2. For years they thought that Shelly was gone to Jamaica leaving them behind but to see that she was still around was devastating. ‘Why the fuck hadn’t she tried to contact them’? He waited patiently for his best friend to open her eyes so he could get the missing pieces to the puzzle.
Brook’Lynn being laid up in the hospital the way she was, seemed to put everybody in a different state of mind as they all sat around waiting for her. It made them realize just how short life really was. In the middle of the night, Brook’Lynn finally opened her eyes allowing them to adjust and focus on everyone surrounding her. Perfect was up off of his feet and right by her side. “Baby…”
She used her strength to hold up one hand and stop him, she was just too outdone to be trying to talk, instead, she used sign language:I love you.
She gave him a weak smile, and he returned it back, he understood. Everyone else decided it was best to not say anything just yet, but it didn’t stop the tears from falling, it wasn’t a dry face in the room, besides Boom and C2 cause they felt as though they had to be strong for everybody else. “Get as much rest as you need baby.” Perfect told her.
