Page 25 of Search My Soul
“Majesty, I don’t think this is a good idea. Whoever he is must be very important, and I’m sure that they will not take too kindly to all of their money being taken. Shit like that leads to all types of street wars, and I’m not trying to lose my life.” I rebutted, taking a few steps back.
“Don’t tell me you’re a scary hoe. Come on, Caramel. You and I both could use this money, and it’s not like he’ll be able to trace it back to us. Niggas get robbed every day. What makes this situation any different?”
“The difference is that we’re not in the streets, and we don’t have any way to protect ourselves if this man comes looking for us. I can’t speak for you, but I don’t have the type of manpower that someone like him probably has behind him. There’s no amount of money worth dying over.”
“Well, if you’re too afraid, then you’re more than welcome to leave. Just know that I’ll be taking a full cut if I’m doing all of the work.” I wanted to smack that goofy ass smirk right off her fucking face. It’s my fault though. I should’ve never agreed to this in the first place.
“I’m gonna take the money that I need and that’s it. Either you underestimated how powerful this man really is, or he has been lying to you about what he actually does for a living. There’s no way that he could be a regular street nigga, which means that he must be something more. I’ve seen the way people handle those street beefs, and I would never want the people I love to get caught up in my bad decisions. Let’s just do what we agreed to do and get out of here.” One of those duffel bags was more than enough to take care of both of us and so much more. He may not even notice one bag, but eight bags? That was asking for trouble, and I didn’t care if she didn’t agree.
“You do what you gotta do, and I’ll do the rest on my own.” Instead of arguing back and forth with her, I decided to do exactly that. After peeking into the room one more time to make sure that he was still out, I lifted the duffel bag over my shoulder. The weight of the bag exceeded my expectations, but I kept steady. I damn near held my breath from the moment I walked out of the closet until I descended the steps.
Majesty followed me out with two bags of her own, and I prayed that she would be ready to go after this. If not, I would have no choice but to leave her. I was glad I drove my own car here because I would have been ready to beat her ass had we been in the same car together. I made a silent vow that I would never do anything so reckless again in my life. Something about this whole thing felt fishy to me, and I wanted to get out as soon as possible.
“Majesty, don’t you think that this is dangerous? What’s wrong with the amount of money we have now? It’s more than enough for us to take care of all our financial issues and put some aside for a business or whatever else we want to do. The worst thing you can do in this situation is to be greedy, because greed can only lead to destruction. I’m not in the position to preach to anyone, but I don’t think taking all that money is a smart idea.”
“Girl, if I wanted to hear a sermon, I would take my ass to church,” Majesty spat.
“Well, I’ll be sure to remember that when it’s time to pick out a pastor for your funeral. What do you think is gonna happen when he wakes up and sees all of those duffel bags missing? Nobody is dumb enough to believe that one person walked in, took all the bags, and then walked back out. You’ll be dead before you even get a chance to roll over.” I wasn’t trying to scare her, but I needed her to understand the severity of the situation.If she thought for one second that man would not be on the hunt to recover his money, she was out of her mind.
“Oh my gosh. You’re making me wish that I had chosen somebody else to come with me. All of this scary shit is putting a damper on my good mood and killing my buzz. At this point, you can leave with the money you have. I got it from here.”
“Whatever you say.” I was done arguing with her. It was clear that she had no intention of listening to what I had to say anyway. I guess we would have to see how it played out. I walked away so I could head home when I remembered that I left my purse in the bathroom. A part of me wanted to say fuck it, but I had no choice but to go back.
The moment I stepped inside, I knew something was wrong.
“Bitch, are you crazy? Did you really think that you were gonna steal from me?” A deep baritone roared in the distance.Fuckkkk. He’s awake. Panic immediately began to settle in as I realized this plan wasn’t gonna end the way I thought it would. The sound of yelling caught my attention, and I knew I needed to do something. Even though Majesty had gotten us into this stupid situation, I would not be able to live with myself if I didn’t try to help her. As I tiptoed up the stairs, I could hear the two of them arguing back and forth.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was just trying to see if you had an extra T-shirt I could borrow to wear. I had no idea what was in the duffel bag.” Majesty lied through her teeth.
“You must really think I’m a dumb ass nigga. I had a feeling that you were trying to get me high. That’s why I hid the pills under my tongue and spit them out when you weren’t paying attention. I know you put something in my drink, but it wasn’t enough to put me down. You and that thick bitch really thought y’all were gonna come in my house and steal my shit?” His words were slurred, but they were also full of rage. All I could do was pray that we both made it out of here alive.
“No, I didn’t. Why would I need to rob you when you give me money all the time? I’m telling you the truth.”
“Oh, yeah? Well, let’s go into the closet and see if all of my money is still in the same place.” I heard scuffling on the other side of the door, and I wrestled with whether or not I should intervene. Before I could even decide, I heard the sound of a gunshot. Instinctively, I ducked for cover before crawling on my hands and knees to the next room.Lord, if You get me out of this, I promise I will never do no dumb shit like this again. I whispered a silent prayer as I planned my escape.
“Shit, shit, shit! What did I do?” The panic in her voice only increased mine. Against my better judgment, I stood from the floor and peeked out into the hallway.
“Majesty, are you okay?” Silence. A question of whether or not it was her voice that I heard entered my mind, then I realized we were the only two in the house, outside of him.
“This wasn’t supposed to be like this.” I heard her voice again. Instead of calling out to her again, I decided to go to the room. The moment I stepped inside, I instantly regretted it. There on the ground was the man with blood pouring from his chest.
“Oh my gosh. What did you do?” Obviously, the answer was clear, but I was in such a frantic state that it was the first thing that came to mind.
“Things got heated. He tried to take me back to the closet, but I couldn’t let him go in there. I grabbed his gun from the nightstand and shot him before he could see what I did. I hadn’t planned to shoot him at all, I promise. It all happened so fast.”
“We’ve gotta get out of here, and fast.” My instincts finally started to kick in, and I realized that we had touched quite a few things in the house. Thinking quick on my feet, I ran down the stairs into the kitchen to grab a rag and the bottle of bleach I saw under the sink. Moving quickly, I poured bleach whereverwe had touched, including the shot glasses that I had smashed into the carpet as I raced up the stairs. I wiped the handles down until I got to the room door.
Majesty stood there frozen as he coughed up blood. It was crazy that this was all her plan, yet she stood there as if she had no idea what to do next.
“I don’t know very much about this neighborhood, but I’m pretty sure that if someone heard the gunshot, they have probably already called the police. We have got to get out of here.”
“I wasn’t trying to kill him,” she responded stoically, still standing in the same place.
“He’s still alive, and I’m sure the police are on their way. However, we need to make sure that we are not here when they get here. Either you’re gonna leave with me or I’m gonna leave your ass by yourself. I’m not trying to die, and I damn sure don’t wanna go to prison.” My adrenaline was working overtime as I pulled her out of the room. I continued to wipe down various spots, making sure that our prints were no longer there. Before we got to the stairs, I remembered that we had touched the closet handle, so I ran back into the room to clean it off. As I stepped over his body, a hand reached out to grip my ankle.
“Ahh!” I screamed before kicking myself free. His grip was stronger than I anticipated, but my adrenaline made me stronger. While I didn’t want him to die either, I refused to put my life in any more jeopardy than I already had. Once I made sure that everything had been cleaned off, I headed out of the room. Hopefully, someone would find him before he died from his injuries.
Majesty got into her car as I climbed into mine, but she didn’t leave right away. I didn’t know what was going through her mind, but she was no longer my problem. As far as I was concerned, Majesty and I had nothing else left to talk about, andquite frankly, if I said another word to her, it would probably lead to the two of us fighting. She had gotten me into this mess, and now she would have to fend for herself.
