Chicago | LA Capone Story

$$ LIVE N DIE IN CHICAGO

We sat in the waiting room for about four hours now. Tears were still streaming down my face, I couldn't believe what was happening. He was in the intensive care unit for so long, with each hour that passed, my hope vanished more and more. Momma Capone, Lala, Lanika, Tay, JB, Jacie and I were all waiting. "I have to check up on Baybay and Pinky. Call me right away if something happens." Momma Capone said as she got up, avoiding eye contact as her eyes were red.

"Yeah." Tay answered and we all watched her leave the room. "It's them Young Money niggas from 051." Tay said. We all looked at him. "How you know?" Jacie asked. "They been plotting on L'A forever, man. They been waiting for this moment. I know it's them." He said as he balled his fists up. "It was them." JB announced. All our heads turned to him. "I saw them running away, shit, we was in they territory but fuck it. It was lil mick and that other nigga he be with all the time. They came from the back, prolly been waiting from the moment we entered the stu." He added. "Man, they fu as hell man. They better pray L'A don't kill they momma after he get outta here." Tay said, managing to get a chuckle outta all of us. Positivity and faith is what we truly needed. I knew all of us were having some fucked up thoughts but we needed to trust in L'A.

After another hour had passed, one of the surgeons came out of the room while putting on new latex gloves. "That's the one who went in with L'A?" Tay asked as he nudged JB who was staring at the ceiling for some time now. "Where?" JB asked as he was now slowly becoming aware of what was actually happening. "There he go, right there." Tay responded as he nodded in the surgeon's direction. "Yea, he one of em." JB answered as we all watched the surgeon walking towards us.

"I assume you are all here for Leonard Anderson?" he asked as he removed his surgical mask. We all nodded and watched him intensely. He exhaled deeply and I already knew whatever he was gonna say wasn't going to be pleasant to hear. "It's very hard, I have to admit. He is a strong young man but he's losing an extremely large amount of blood. We can't seem to compensate the loss but we're trying our hardest. Our goal right now is to stop the bleeding, the bullets are already removed and he hasn't suffered from other internal damages, so that's good. I can't tell how long we'll be working on him but I think it's going to take some time." "Is his heart still beating?" Lala asked.

"He stopped breathing independently a while ago, he's now plugged into the ventilator or what many call a breathing machine. The blood loss is taking an enormous toll on him." The surgeon explained. "Man," Tay muttered as he rubbed his face. "He's still gonna make it, right?" JB asked as he looked at the surgeon with a sad expression. "I'm sorry, kid. I can't tell. We don't know, it's up to Mr. Anderson himself." He answered. "Come on, doc." JB sobbed.

Jacie threw her arm around him and pulled him close as he started crying. "Why they tellin' us they don't know? Man I swear, y'all can't give up on my mans," he cried as he got up and walked towards the surgeon. "He was conscious in the ambulance car. He told me he ain't feel shit!" "Listen, kid," the surgeon began as he rested his hands on JB's shoulders. "I understand your frustration but this is what we do here. We try to help the people but it's up to a higher source if it's their time or not. Your friend is strong but I can't tell you what's going to happen. What I need you to do is stay strong for him, that's the least you can do right now." He spoke. JB shook his head disappointedly as he stared at the ground, tears falling from his face as he gnawed on his upper lip.

"I can't lose him, man. That's my brother in there," he sobbed. The surgeon looked at Tay and motioned for him to get JB. "I'll try my best, buddy." He spoke before entering the room again. Tay walked up to JB and hugged him as JB burst out in tears. Without even noticing, tears were forming in my eyes and blurred my sight. My chest felt heavy and I felt weak. Seeing JB and Tay crying was a first. I'd never seen them crying so much in my whole life and I've been around them a lot. I knew they felt as devastated as I did. "You know L'A, bro. He gon' make it, bro. We gotta trust in him man," Tay said as his voice was shaking, tears flowing down his face as JB's forehead rested on his shoulder. "It was like he was saying goodbye bro," JB sobbed. "Tellin' me that he loved us and his sisters, that he still loved Mani, tellin' me to take care of his momma. Man how he do that?" He continued. I could see Tay breaking, he couldn't stay strong anymore. Lanika was crying uncontrollably as Jacie tried to console her, but we all were a complete mess at this point.

Two hours passed and Momma Capone was back from checking on the kids. As soon as Jacie broke the news about L'A, she screamed out and cried. She almost ended up in a car accident on the way back to the hospital because she was fearing for L'As life, now she knew why. He wasn't doing good but we didn't wanna believe it. For some reason I never thought anything like this could happen to L'A. In my mind, he was invincible. Yes, he once got shot but he was out in the streets the next day, ready to fire back at whoever got him. But he was in the ICU for hours now and it drained all of our energy we had left. JB couldn't take it anymore and it was visible. His eyes were still puffy and red, but they started to hang low and had gigantic bags under them. Everything about his face showed how devastated he felt. "I can't be here no mo." He said after a while and got up from his seat, walking out of the waiting room. "Where you goin'?" Tay asked. He turned to Tay, who was now sitting next to me on one side of the room, and partly lifted his hoodie, unveiling the pistol that rested between his boxer shorts and pants. "Finna cook sum shit up for my bro." He answered in a low voice. "Aight, let's go." Tay said as he got up. I remained silent as I didn't wanna stop them from doing whatever was going to make them feel better. "Where y'all going?" Momma Capone asked. "Roll a blunt man, we'll be back." Tay lied. "Take care, guys. I love y'all." "We love you too." Tay answered. "Love you too." JB said and they exited the room.

Even though L'A had played me and pretty much neglected me, I'd forgiven him by now. Why? Because if something like this happens to him, it's like a wakeup call for me and I suddenly start realizing how much he actually means to me. He played a huge role in my life and I doubted if I could live without him. I mean, I pretended to be all tough and shit but I was so used to him being in my life that it would be fatal if he suddenly vanished. I just prayed he'd forgive me too. He told JB he still loved me, and I still loved him too even though I didn't want to, but loving someone doesn't mean you forgive someone. I would probably blame myself everyday if he wouldn't survive this. We all knew his drug use was causing the large blood loss, but the others, except for Tay, didn't know his drug use worsened because of me. Because of what I had said to him on Tay's birthday party. I made him feel like he got played by me, and I guess he wasn't able to take that well. All that I wanted to do now was just hug him. Hug him and tell him I'm sorry. I was selfish and wanted to see him hurt. But look what I got him into. A situation ten times worse than just hurting. He could lose his life. Tears were slowly forming in my eyes again, resting on the brim of my eye. I couldn't afford to lose L'A. I had been a bitch to him but I couldn't lose him forever. I already lost my brother, my best friend. I couldn't lose the love of my life now, the love of my life who I treated like shit when he tried to make things better. He wasn't all flawless either but I made it hard for him.

"Hello?" the voice of a woman sounded. I slowly opened my eyes and saw that everybody else in the room, Momma Capone, Lanika, Lala and Jacie, were doing the same. We had fallen asleep and I knew it had to be sumn in the AM. It felt like I had been waiting in the same room for two days, though. "I'm sorry to wake you all up but I'm here to inform you about Mr. Anderson's condition." She said. "Is he alright?" Momma Capone asked. "He's in a stable condition, now. He had been in a critical condition for the past few hours but we managed to stabilize his condition. The blood loss has lessened but he's lost a lot of blood. We're trying to work on him still, things are progressing slowly but it's still progressing, that's the good part about it." She said. "So he's going to be okay?!" Momma Capone asked for clearance. "We can't tell. His body lost a lot of blood and it's trying to make up for it now but it's going slow. He has a little bit of energy left but it's clear that Mr. Anderson is fighting for his life." She said. I covered my face in my hands. This all felt like the day I lost Dez. From arriving at the hospital to waiting in the waiting room for hours. Like a déjà-vu. I just prayed I didn't have to go through the same shit again. This time, nobody would walk in my crib, telling me they had gotten the key from Dez when he was still alive. No one is going to look out for me like L'A and Dez did. I'll just be alone.

"I hate this damn city." Lala muttered as she got up and stormed out of the room.

"Fuck Chicago!" She screamed.