Page 27 of Welcome to the Heart Of A Maniac
Wren
A FEW DAYS LATER
I stood there with my hip leaned into the counter of the desk with S.L. Partee’s book “Saved by a Mafia Boss” in my hand. Since I’ve been at work, I’ve gotten halfway through the first part. I cut my eyes at the clock on the desk and saw that it was close to closing.
Shutting the book, I placed it on the desk and stepped from behind it. There are still a few people in the library, and I needed to let them know we were about to close. They need to wrap up whatever they’re doing.
Stopping at the computer station, I tapped the guy on the shoulder and said, “Five minutes.” He nodded and I proceeded to one of the tables where I found a teenager studying. Lifting my hand in the air with all five fingers up, I alerted her of the five-minute warning.
I continued to search the rest of the library, letting everyone know that we were closing. By the time I made it back to the desk, the library cleared out. I locked the door behind them and straightened up everything.
As I took a break from cleaning, I ordered me and Uber to pick me up and take me home. I still haven’t gotten my truck back or heard anything from the police about it. It’s been taking everything in me not to blow those people’s phone up about my truck. I’m trying my best to allow them to do their job, but at the same time, I’ve been searching for my truck myself. I’ve placed ads online everywhere. People have been calling my phone, playing on it as if they knew where my truck was. If I ever get it back, I’m gon’ have to change my number.
Once I was done straightening up, I gathered my things and headed for the door. According to the Uber application, my ride is pulling up.
Soon as I stepped out the door and locked up behind me, I saw a black sedan parked in front of the building. They have some illegal tint on their car. I checked the application to make sure it’s the right car before gripping the handle. I pulled the door open and slipped into the seat. A familiar scent tickled my nostrils. When I looked up, I saw Maniac sitting in the driver’s seat. His hand was on the steering wheel with some black fabric tied around his wrist like a bracelet.
“How was work?” he asked me and pulled away from the curb.
“Where’s my Uber driver?” I questioned him, looking down at my phone to see that it was supposed to be some foreign guy who picked me up. His name damn sure wasn’t Jab.
“Can you just be appreciative?” He continued down the road in the opposite direction of the house.
“God, you’re kidnapping me again.” I threw myself against the seat and got comfortable. If I didn’t learn anything else, I learned to let this man do whatever he wants because ain’t nobody gon’ help me anyway.
“If you call taking you to dinner kidnapping, then fine.”
“Dinner?”
His eyes peered at me through the rearview mirror. “I ain’t want to eat alone and we haven’t been out yet, so I figured it was time.”
“So, in yo’ delusional ass head, this is a date?”
“Now you’re getting it. Sit back and enjoy the ride.” He turned the radio up and Chris Brown’s “Feel something” blared through the speakers. Before I knew it, this man is driving with one hand while holding his gun in the other hand with the barrel up to his lips, singing as if it’s a damn microphone.
“I need to feel something. I need to feel something, Wren. Oh, yeeeah.” He stuck the barrel in my direction, and I pinned myself against the seat.This man is about to take my head off.“Sing.”
This man really lost his fucking mind.
“Can you not point that in my direction? You might blow my head off.”
“Relax. If I wanted yo’ head blown off, I would’ve done it by now. I said sing.”
“I don’t know these lyrics.”
His face stiffened. “What you want to hear then?”
“I don’t know. Play some Mariah or Ella Mai or something.”
The song switched to Mariah the Scientist’s “Is it a crime”. “If you gon’ be with me, you gon’ have to loosen up. Now, sing.”
The barrel of the gun came back to my face. Seeing that he wasn’t about to let up, I parted my lips and sang my heart out.
“I fell, you fell in love a couple times. Tell me, what’s it to you? Tell me, is it a crime, to fall, to fall in love, in love a couple times?”
“That’s my girl.”
He removed the gun from my face and my heart rate slowed. Tyree wasn’t lying when he said this man was certified crazy.
