The Path She Took

Ch34: Never Again

Tyler's POV

Imani stood there covered in a black furry robe. Her eyes were watery and her hair was very messy. "Tyler." She said in pure shock. A smile crept upon my face. All these days without hearing her say my name had been so lonely. Now I felt better. "Tyler!" I looked over to Jessica. She was smiling with blood dripping from her mouth. Looking at her made my stomach turn. She was wearing nothing but a bra and panties. All I could think about is how disgusted I was while dating her. She was so manipulative and selfish. I didn't miss her at all. "You came back for me!" She said with an excited voice. "Jessica you know damn well I didn't come back for you. I spent the past few years trying to stay away from you." I replied. "Well I know you didn't come back for her." Jessica pointed the gun at Imani while looking at me. Her eyes began to water. "She can't love you like I can love you." she wiped blood from her mouth. "And you know it!" "You never loved me. You loved my company. You were miserable. Now that, I do know. So just stop this whole act." I responded with frustration. The continued to build and in that moment I saw that I had to do anything to keep her from pulling the trigger and possibly killing Imani. "What act?" Jessica asked me. "Acting like you were the innocent one in the relationship. Stop acting like you care about me." I wanted to make her weaker than she already was. "I do care about you Tyler." "Then show me." Jessica turned away from me and fixed her hands around the gun she had aimed at Imani. "I'll show you. I'll kill her so I can have you again." I walked up quickly and grabbed her by her waist. "No Jess, forget her." I kissed her on the neck. "Put the gun down so I can show her what it's like to love a real woman." She closed her eyes and tilted her head. She slowly put her arms down and began to smile. The gun hit the floor as I pulled her in closer to my body. I looked over to Imani and saw the hurt in her eyes. I hate that I had to do that in front of her but it was all a part of my plan. I kicked the gun towards her and winked at her as I yanked away from Jessica. Imani picked the gun up as fast as she could. "Tyler! Come back! I thought you wanted to be with me." Jessica said with a confused tone. "Never again." I replied as I backed up towards the door. "So what now?" Jessica shrugged her shoulders and smirked at Imani. "You're gonna stand there and brag about how you won? You beat me right? Yeah. You get the guy and I get nothing. Nothing!" Jessica yelled while blooded steadily dripped from her mouth. "What is wrong with you? Why do you think everything is a competition?" Imani asked while aiming the gun. "Because it is! Dancing is a competition. Doing drugs is a competition. Making money is a competition. Even love is a competition. It was my objective to love him better than anyone else and I lost. I never lose!" Imani couldn't believe her ears. The confusion was written all over her face. "Honey, I can't speak for all that other stuff but one thing I do know is that love is definitely not a competition. Love is a benefit, a privilege, and one of the greatest emotions a human can feel. To be in love is to think of someone more than you think of yourself. When you're in love you feel comfortable in a relationship. While loving someone, you take away all their fears and superstitions because you make them feel safe. But love is not a competition." Jessica insisted on disagreeing. "Yes it is. It has to be." Imani became frustrated. "And you still don't get it. So yeah, you're right. You've lost it." Jessica asked, "lost what?" "Lost your damn mind." Imani said as she squeezed the trigger and shot Jessica. Immediately, I ran up to Imani and held her. "It's okay baby. It's over. I'm here." I picked her face up. "Look at me! I'm here, okay? Now let's go." I grabbed her hand and we left the house as fast as possible. We rushed her to a hospital to make sure she was going to be okay. She was in so much shock. Imani had killed two people in one night. I know her mind was overwhelmed. As soon as we got there they put her on a stretcher and led her to a room. They told me and the guys we had to wait while they perform an inspection on her body. So we waited. It took an hour for a nurse to finally come out and update us. "You're Tyler right?" the nurse asked me. "Yes ma'am. Is everything okay?" "Well she's doing just fine. Before we even began to touch her she wanted us to promise that we'd tell you that she loves you and she wants to start over. And so I'm doing that now." My face lit up with joy. "Thank you so much. Um. When will she be able to leave?" I asked. "Well we're going to allow her to rest up, eat some breakfast when she wakes up, and then we'll be ready to send her on her way." she replied. "Okay, good. Am I able to be in the room with her or do I need to stay out here?" "Yes sir you can come. But only you." she answered. "You go ahead bro. We'll be out here." Michael said while patting me on my back. I nodded at him and then turned away to walk with the nurse. She led me to the room and then walked away. There my baby was, sound asleep. She looked so peaceful. Thank God she was okay.