One Mississippi

Chapter Thirty Two

Chapter Thirty Two: Three Birds, One Fist.

VIOLENTLY. Aaliyah's body shook violently as she sat in the back of the ambulance, rushing Khaiyon to the nearest hospital. He was unresponsive.

A silence she couldn't endure much longer.

The EMTs were doing their best to get him to respond. To breathe. Something. His body let her, him, and them down. It was as though it were over life itself.

Arriving to the hospital, Aaliyah felt torn as the doctors did their best to pry her from his gurney. Her hands were covered in his blood. Quickly, she slipped her hand into his pocket and grasped his phone before they had finally gotten him away from her.

"Please don't leave me, Khaiyon," she begged pathetically as they rolled him away, taking her heart with him.

Sloppily, her bloodied hands fumbled for the phone as she unlocked it and went through his contacts. The first name she found was Killian. Calling his phone, her breathing was erratic and the exact definition of terrifying. Like she had seen a ghost.

The phone continued to ring and when it became evident no one would answer she shook her head, searching through it again. Jahmez didn't answer and neither did Martavius. Her last hope, Jaylon.

Closing her eyes, she prayed to God as the phone rang. After three rings, the line was answered and Jaylon's muscular voice filled her ear. "If nobody answering the phone that mean don't nobody wanna-"

"Jaylon, Khaiyon's been shot!" she explained frantically. He immediately silenced himself upon hearing the new information. "We're in the hospital now and it doesn't look good. There was blood. So much! Jaylon it was everywhere!" she cried, shaking her head. She didn't even want to believe herself, but being witnessed it, there was no choice.

Images of the incident began to flood her memory.

Loud shuffling could be heard on the other end and yelling. Things fell and Jaylon spoke in a loud angry voice. "I'm on my way," he said, just as the sound of a door slamming shut echoed in the background. "I'll be there as soon as I can, send me the hospital information."

"Jaylon, we're in a completely different state."

"Send me the fucking information!" he yelled before hanging up.

After sending the information, Aaliyah sat in a chair, her leg bouncing up and down nervously. She then stood up and paced the lobby, rubbing her arms to heat her skin; to feel some kind of friction. Her bloody hands wrangled through her hair as she tugged at it from the roots. "This isn't fair!" she cried, shaking her head.

She slid out of her jacket, tossing it onto a nearby chair, looking around the room.

What do you do in a hospital?

Suddenly, images of the man whom had shot himself before killing Khaiyon flooded her memory. The horror of watching a man's soul leave his body had traumatized her unfairly. She hadn't wanted to witness that. She hadn't wanted any of this to happen.

Life was unfair.

She exhaled deeply, sitting down in a chair and staring at the wall ahead of her.

This is going to be a very long night.

Minutes had turned into hours. She didn't move. Not for food or the rest room. Not to make phone calls. It was her and the chair.