Page 2 of Welcome to the Heart Of A Maniac
The engine from the truck roared as I sped down the street, zooming through lights. “What happened?” I asked her, trying my best to settle my chaotic mind.
“I’m not sure. Idris called me when he couldn’t reach you. Do you need for me to meet you up there?”
“Please?”
“I’m on my way. Should be there in the next fifteen minutes. I’m leaving out the door now.”
A tightness in my chest cut off my circulation. “Okay,” I barely managed to get out. The phone beeped when she disconnected.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to handle the trauma alone. My hands trembled as I turned the corner and cut a car off. The horn blared in the distance. “Sorry,” I tossed over my shoulder as if they’d be able to hear me.
Pulling into the parking lot of the hospital, I searched for somewhere to park and found a space where a woman was backing out. I whipped into the space and hopped out the truck.
My heart banged against my ribcage as I dashed across the parking lot and street to the entrance of the emergency room. I stepped through the metal detector and it beeped. “Ma’am, do you have any keys or anything on you?” the security guard questioned me.
“Shoot, I forgot.” Stepping back through, I tossed my phone and keys into the container and doubled back through the detector. This time, it didn’t make a sound. He handed me my keys and phone, and I trudge over to the desk to see what they knew about Cassius.
“Hey, I think you all have a patient here by the name of Cassius Jackson. I was told that he was shot and brought here.”
“And who are you to the patient?”
“I’m his girlfriend.”
The woman’s eyes expanded as she stared back at me. Clearing her throat, she replied, “Well, he’s in surgery right now. You can wait with the others until he comes out, and someone will be out to speak with y’all.”
“Others?” I asked her and turned to see where his family was located in the waiting room. The only person I saw was Idris, his cousin, sitting near the back of the room, so for her to say others threw me for a loop.
Turning back to her, I wasn’t even able to say anything before she replied, “The other women that’s claiming to be his girlfriend.”
“Excuse me?” My brows furrowed. I know I couldn’t have heard her correctly. Cassius and I have been together for the last year. I spent every holiday with him and his family. We didn’t live together, but we spent almost every waking moment together outside of working. So how can there be others?
“Four other women came in before you claiming to be his girlfriend. They’re all over there waiting.” She pointed toward the front of the room, and I saw different variety of women sitting there, conversing with each other. The only thing we had in common with each other is our petiteness.Cassius certainly has a type.“I’m sorry.”
A lump formed in my throat. I wasn’t even about to entertain the circus. Seems like to me he has more than enough people in here to comfort him. He don’t need me.
Tears filled the brims of my eyes. Not even wanting to give them the satisfaction of seeing me drop a tear, I headed for the exit. Soon as the doors opened, Aria was walking through them.
She halted her stride, took one look at me and said, “Oh God. Please don’t tell me that he’s dead.” Her arms spread and I flew into them.
“It’s worse.” I cried into her shoulder, tears dampening her shirt.
“How can it be worse?” Her hand soothingly massaged my back.
Sniffling, I lifted from her and stared her into the eyes. “He’s been cheating. It’s other women in there, waiting to see him.”
“Oh, he’s about to die,” she said, shoving me to the side.
I caught her by the wrist and said, “It’s not worth it,” stopping her in her tracks.
“You’re crazy if you think that I’m about to let him get away with this.” Aria grimaced as she stared at me.
“God swings harder than us. Let’s just go.” I pulled her toward the exit, and she snatched away from me. I don’t know what made me think that she was gon’ listen to me and leave peacefully.
I’m the type of person that doesn’t like confrontation. I avoid it at all costs. Aria on the other hand, she’ll go from zero to a hundred in a matter of seconds. We were complete opposites, but we meshed together extremely well. We took care of each other. Have been ever since we were in elementary school.
Aria and I first met when my daddy died, and my uncle Trayvon had to take me and my older brother in and raise us. My mama had already died giving birth to me and he was the only family that I had left. This man didn’t know the first thing about raising kids.
Uncle Trayvon was heavy in the streets. I’m surprise the system even willingly handed us over to him. At such a young age, I’ve witnessed so much dealing with the dope game. One conclusion I’ve come up with is that I didn’t want to end up in it. The game claimed too many lives.
