missed y'all.
Asanté leaned backwards on the bed, his eyes fixated on his bloodstained clothes that were wrapped up in a plastic bag. Donald and Esther were speaking to the nurse, occasionally sneaking glances at him. Anaïca sat at his bedside, her eyes filled with worry as she stared at him.
Esi stood on the other side of him, wiping her face with a piece of tissue. Since he'd been out of surgery, Asanté had not said a word. His family figured that he was still in shock and trying to process what happened.
They asked him if he remembered what happened but he remained quiet. The nurses and the doctor assured his family that once the anesthesia wore off, he would be a bit more alert and conscious. They encouraged the family to try and comfort Asanté as much as they could in the meantime—he would surely need it.
Bits and pieces were slowly emerging in Asanté's mind. As bullets continued to fly through the house, Asanté's life began to flash before his eyes. He hadn't known peace since the misdeeds of his brother.
He hated that his life was one big disappointment after another. Any other person was sure to commit suicide if they'd been through what he had—and Asanté had contemplated it many times.
Up until the following weeks, Asanté was slowly finding himself giving into the thoughts.
If he was going to die, why not do it on his own terms?
The only person who kept him afloat and from acting on his thoughts, was Luvie.
Earlier when he had asked her if she could adjust to life without him, it was a thought that been floating around in his mind since he began to feel suicidal.
Asanté's eyes gradually floated over to his cousin, a weird look on his face as reality finally started to settle in. He sat up and tried to remove the blanket from his body but Esi and Anaïca stopped him.
"Sioni," he murmured, pushing their hands away. "I need to check on Sioni,"
"And you'll be able to but right now you need to rest," Esi placed her hands on his shoulders and tried pushing him back down.
He slapped her hands away with a frown, "I wanna see Sioni, I don't wanna wait. I need to see her now," he swung his legs over the bed, grabbing onto bed rails.
"Okay, we'll take you to see her, just give us a minute." The nurse told him, stopping him. Asanté winced in pain, immediately laying back down, peeking down through his hospital gown to see what was causing his pain.
There were bandages wrapped around his abdomen and also around his thigh. He furrowed his eyebrows, eyeing the bandages in confusion. "W-what happened?"
"Tay...you, um, you were shot—you and Sioni," Donald said, Asanté's heart dropping into the pit of his stomach as the flashbacks instantly hit him.
Tyra, Faven and Mali ran out of their house, Faven on the phone with dispatch as they approached Luvie's house. A few neighbors finally emerged from their houses after the gunfire came to a halt.
"Sioni!" Tyra kicked at the front door, attempting to break it down. Mali pulled her to the side and slammed his body into the door. "Sioni! Can you hear me?! If you can hear me, hold on!"
They heard the locks being fiddled with on the other side, causing them to step back. Asantè stood behind the door, his knees buckling before he fell to his knees. The girls let out a bloodcurdling scream, seeing his blood soaked shirt.
"S-Sioni—ch-check on, she ain't re-respondi—" Asanté tried to tell them, as Mali held him. Tyra and Faven stepped over them to find Luvie on the floor, a small blood puddle pooling underneath her.
"Sioni! Wake up, Pooh! Please don't die!" Tyra cried, lightly tapping her cheek to get a response from her.
"I don't know if she's breathing! There's too much blood! Just fucking send someone!" Faven shouted at the dispatcher, before dropping the phone onto the floor and placing her hand on Luvie's neck to check for a pulse.
She had one but it was very faint.
"Pooh, if you can hear us, help is on the way, okay!? We're right here! We're not going anywhere, I promise—just keep fighting, okay?" Faven grabbed her hand and squeezed it, as more tears continued to flow down her cheeks.
Sandra ran into the house, letting out a loud gasp. "Oh my gosh!" she placed a hand on her chest, her eyes growing wide. She quickly unlocked her phone and went to dial Candice's number.
By then Asanté had passed out in Mali's arms.
About five and a half minutes later, the ambulances finally arrived along with fire trucks and police cars. Within minutes they had the road blocked off and the EMTs were inside beginning to work on both Asanté and Luvie.
Tyra and Faven cradled each other, still bawling their eyes out as they watched the medics try their hardest to keep the couple stable. Mali paced back and forth in the living, now on the phone with Asanté's grandmother to relay the dreadful news.
He never thought he'd have to be making that call. He tried not to think he would, even in Asanté's situation.
The thought of losing his brother was something that he couldn't fathom.
And if he ended up losing Asanté, he wasn't going to let his death go without consequences.
Neighbors stood outside on their lawns, watching in horror as the EMTs rushed Luvie and Asanté out on stretchers and into the ambulances.
This was the second time another tragic incident occurred on their street—involving the same family.
Marc's car finally pulled up on their street, he didn't bother turning off the car, instead he and Candice quickly got out and attempted to run over to the ambulance where Luvie was.
However, they were stopped by a few police officers.
"No, please! That's my daughter, let me see her!" Candice wept, pointing behind them, trying to push her way through to get to her baby girl. The feeling of Deja Vu washed over her, taking her back to when Richie was shot and killed.
"Let us through, dammit! That's our li'l girl man!" Marc sobbed, shoving the police officer out of his way. Finally, they obliged and stepped aside, letting the parents run to the ambulance. "Sioni!"
"Oh my gosh!" Candice bawled harder, almost fainting from the sight of her bloodied up child. She got into the ambulance, despite the EMTs protesting.
She refused to leave Luvie's side.
"Buttercup, mommy's here, okay? I'm not going anywhere," she softly cried, placing her hand onto Luvie's cheek, gently caressing it. She placed her forehead against hers, beginning to pray.
"Dear Lord, I come to you to ask that you please place your hands on my child. I have never questioned you before but please don't take my baby girl away from me. Please give her the strength, the courage to fight. Please hold her hand and guide her back to us, give her comfort and assure her that it's not her time yet. Please have mercy on her soul—I can't lose my baby," Candice started to sob again, squeezing Luvie's hand and burying her face in the crook of her neck. "A child isn't supposed to die before their parents, please don't put us through this, God, I'm begging you,"
Asanté blinked away a few tears that threatened to spill, he swallowed hard, intently listening as his dad recounted the events that were told to him by Mali.
Asanté didn't even remember opening the door for Mali. Up until after the gunshots ceased and checking on Luvie, his memory was a bit hazy.
When he did check on Luvie and didn't receive a response from her, he feared that she had succumbed to her injuries. He shook her a few times but she was unresponsive, in fact her body was limp—and that terrified him.
He couldn't have cared less about his well being, his main priority was making sure that they got to Luvie before she slipped through their fingers.
"P-please, I want to see Sioni," Asanté begged them. He would be more at ease if he was able to place his eyes on her. "Just for a few minutes,"
They all exchanged looks, then looked at the nurse. "Let the doctor take a look at you first and then we'll take you, okay?" The nurse assured him. "I don't want to move you without getting clearance,"
❦❦❦
Four times.
Luvie was struck a total of four times with the exception of being grazed in the back of her head.
Asanté laid there in utter shock, his eyes red and puffy as he listened to the detectives. They kept trying to ask him questions but his main focus was solely on Luvie, especially now knowing the severity of her injuries. It seemed as if they were tiptoeing around the state of her condition.
Mali and Easton finally returned to the hospital, after Mali had given a statement about what happened. While he was worried about Asanté, he now had to keep a close eye on Easton, who'd been ranting about taking care of the situation with Blaise.
While he did agree with Easton, they both knew that Blaise was going to expect some type of reaction from them and that would only add more fuel to the fire.
"I never saw what color the car was, it was dark—it only stuck out because there were no headlights on. I didn't hear anyone getting out of the car, it all happened too fast," Asanté groggily recalled, trying to keep his eyes open as the medicine was now beginning to kick in.
If it hadn't been for Asanté shielding Luvie with his body, her injuries would have been much more dire than they were. One of the bullets that struck Luvie, would have been fatal if Asanté's body hadn't been in the way, which ultimately slowed down after it passed through him first.
However, that didn't make him feel better. He felt like he had gotten off easily, only being struck twice.
"That's enough questions," Esi waved the detectives off, stepping closer to Asanté's bedside. Since waking up, Esi had been smothering Asanté and he didn't like it one bit.
It felt weird to finally receive affection from her and watch her act genuinely concerned about his well being. Though, when she tried to touch him or attempted to step up and do a favor for him, he quickly shut down her advances.
Despite being out of it, he saw right through her actions.
Her guilty conscience was eating at her.
"My son has tried to help you as best as he could, but he needs to rest now. I don't think he wants to relive last night again and honestly I don't think this is the best time to question him, he's still out of it," Esi told them, clasping her hands together. Donald and Esther surprisingly nodded in agreement.
A knock appeared at the door, causing everyone's attention to turn towards the nurse who walked in with a wheelchair.
"Sorry to interrupt," she meekly spoke, giving them a half smile. "The doctor said it was fine for you to visit your girlfriend, but only for a few minutes. We don't want to put too much stress on your body,"
"Okay," Asanté replied in a raspy tone.
"Well, uh, we'll try this again at a later time. If we have any other questions, we'll reach out—and of course, if you have any questions, let us know. I hope you make a speedy recovery," Detective Simms said, heading for the door.
Donald, Mali and Easton helped the nurse get Asanté out of the bed, and into the wheelchair. They put the blanket around him to keep him warm, and moved his IV bag onto one of the hooks attached to the wheelchair.
Asanté didn't utter another word as his mind raced with thoughts.
How would her family react?
Would they even allow him to see Luvie?
If Luvie was awake, would she want to see him?
Was she worried about him just as much as he was worried about her?
So many questions that he started to become overwhelmed with the different scenarios that could unfold the second he appeared at her door.
The journey to Luvie's room wasn't far, surprisingly, she was right down the hall.
They stopped right outside of the door, Joie, Asanté's nurse knocked on the door and stepped inside.
"Um, hello, I have a visitor who wants to see Ms. Sioni," Joie pointed behind her, standing in the doorway. Candice gestured her hand, remaining quiet. Joie stood to the side while Donald pushed Asanté into the room.
Luvie's brothers started to mug Asanté and his parents, but they said nothing. Even though they were pissed, it wasn't the appropriate time to let their anger get the best of them—out of respect for their sister.
Candice held her arms out to embrace Asanté, "I'm glad you're okay, we were planning to come see you after she woke up." she said, looking him over.
Asanté didn't reply, instead his attention was fixated on a sleeping Luvie. Candice moved aside, looking over at her. "It's not your fault," she mumbled.
"Don't lie to him," Nazim scoffed with a frown. Candice cut her eyes at him, shaking her head. "I told you I didn't like his ass for a reason and now y'all see why. My sister almost died because of him—he's even lucky he can lay eyes on her right now,"
"Asanté had nothing to do with this," Esi defended him, as everyone turned their attention to her.
"Oh, let me guess...it was your other son, right? Why the fuck are you even in here?" Nazim spat.
Esi swallowed hard, taking a step forward. "Listen..." she briefly looked down at her feet. "I know what I have said in the past and I hate that we're in this type of situation again because of Dante, but I am sorry. J-just please don't take this out on Asanté, he's been innocent in all of this and I-...I've been blind for so long,"
And surprisingly, there was truth in Esi's words. A week ago, Dante called his mom and asked for her to visit within the next few days, urging her that it was extremely important.
When she finally met with him, she hadn't expected to see him with a bruised up face. And more importantly she hadn't counted on him coming clean about Asanté being involved with Blaise. He tried to get his brother out of the mess he create but instead made the situation worse.
Blaise was a ruthless man who didn't take too kindly to threats. Within forty-eight hours, Dante found himself being attacked by a gang of four other prisoners, with the message that he officially sealed his brother's death warrant.
Esi was infuriated by this revelation.
For the first time in years, Dante had never seen his mother so angry with him. To curse him and call him every name besides his own.
Esi tried reaching out to Asanté, but she could never get a response from him. Each time she'd stop by Esther's house, he wasn't there or was over Luvie's house.
She couldn't blame him for cutting contact with her.
After all, she treated him with disdain and disrespect.
Donald pushed Asanté to Luvie's bed side, and then went to stand by the wall.
"I don't give a fuck about none of that shit," Nazim replied, standing up from the chair. Candice placed a hand on his chest as Marc placed one on his shoulder. "Your family got a fuckin' dark cloud over y'all and now my sister got caught up in that shit. I don't care if he's innocent in all of this, he's related to that nigga and all of the bullshit that's attached to him—which puts my sister in the middle of it and one thing we not standing for is her life being put in harm's way."
Asanté gently grabbed Luvie's hand, his eyes roaming over the bandages that were peeking out of her hospital gown. Her other hand was also wrapped in a bandage and was in a sling.
"I understand that, trust me, I do. But I don't think he would ever intentionally put her in danger—" Esi tried responding, but was interrupted by Asanté's sobs.
They all turned towards him, seeing that he was resting his head on the bed rail, still holding onto Luvie's hand. "I'm so fuckin' sorry, Sioni," he cried. "This shit is my fault man,"
A heavy, melancholic silence fell upon the room as they watched Asanté continue to break down in tears. Candice fanned her eyes that were teary, while Marc rubbed her back, a pained expression flashing across his face.
Usually Asanté wasn't one to cry in front of people, but the sight of his girlfriend made it next to impossible to hold himself together.
It was his fault.
The dark cloud that lingered over him was now ultimately looming over Luvie.
Although Richie's death caused the family an immense amount of grief, this situation surpassed that feeling. In the back of their minds, they all wondered how this event would affect Luvie and more importantly how long would it be before she bounced back—physically, mentally and emotionally.
But then again, being on the other end of the gun this time around, might leave a long lasting scar on her—altering her personality.
And little did she know, this would not be the end of her grief.
❦❦❦
*sigh*
🫠