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chapter eight:
poised turned dolorous.
"GO eat, girl, I gotta go." angel told coco as the clingy pet kept clinging onto the material of her sweats.
it was a quarter 'til seven in the evening and angel was on the way to see what the issue was with marvin. she received a phone call from him that seemed urgent, so she got dressed to go see what was up with him.
"let me go, coco." angel pushed the cat over gently to get her off of her, and quickly left the home so she wouldn't be able to follow her out of the door.
she shook her head as she heard coco's cries from the other side of the door. she didn't understand why she was acting as if she was going to be home alone because as far as she knew, xavier was in the other room fast asleep. usually she'd go in there with him but today was different for some reason.
she got in the car and started it, pulling off. her eyes stayed ahead of her as she drove her vehicle. nothing filled her ears but the revving engines of her car and others. this changed due to her phone vibrating in her passenger seat, causing her to lowly sigh. she picked it up and read the screen, seeing that she had an incoming call from xavier. she slid her finger across the screen to accept the call, and put it on speakerphone.
"hey, everything good?" xavier asked the woman with concern evident in his voice.
"yea, everything's fine. why you ask?" she responded while easing on the break, arriving at a traffic light that had turned red.
"you left without warnin', so I thought whatever it is you got goin' on was urgent." he told her, yawning slightly into the phone, and she let out a huff, running her fingers through her hair with her free hand.
she mentally groaned, throwing her head back in frustration. with her mind fixated on one thing, she forgot the let him know that she was leaving for a bit.
"I'm sorry, handsome. I forgot to let you know that I had to go." she said with regret in her tone.
"it's cool, I get it. I'm the same way sometimes." he said with a small chuckle. "I'll see you soon though. stay safe, 'ight?"
"thank you." she says before he gives her a 'you're welcome' and ends the call.
she tosses the phone back into the passenger seat and begins driving once the traffic light changes. she continues to drive for a good little while and arrives to her destination: marvin's house.
she grabbed her phone and texted darius' phone, letting him know that she was outside. she unlocked her doors and waited silently. the sounds of her car doors opening and closing filled her ears, one of them slamming shut.
"don't slam my door, marvin." she said in a calm tone, giving him a look that was full of irritation.
"my bad, ang'." he apologized before looking in the back seat at his nephew. "get out."
"what? why? I can't come witchu?" the series of questions came spewing out of darius' mouth.
"I said get out, darius." marvin gritted through his teeth, raising his voice at him.
"ms. angel!" darius exclaimed in hopes that she would back him up.
angel looked at darius in the rear view mirror, rolling her eyes and leaning her head against her window. as much as she wanted to drag him along, something told her to not let him.
"go back in the house, baby. we'll be back." she told him in a low tone, causing him to kiss his teeth with an attitude.
darius mumbled under his breath before getting out of the car. angel locked her doors and looked over at marvin who stared at what was ahead, fists balled up and jaw clenched with anger.
"what's up witchu, marvin?" she broke the silence. "why you so damn mad?"
"no reason, let's go." he ordered.
"let's go? you tellin' me to pull off and I don't even—"
"I'll show you where to go. just drive." he cut her off and she let out a heavy exhale, shifting the gears and pulling off.
other than marvin giving instructions, no other words were exchanged. angel couldn't help but to shake her head at the potential mess he was getting himself in. she just prayed that it wasn't going to be more than what the two could handle.
the two eventually arrived to a brick home and marvin wasted no time getting out of the car. as marvin stormed up the sidewalk, angel turned off the engine and got out as well, grabbing her keys.
"don't do nothin' stupid." she told him while stuffing the keys in her pocket, leaning on the door as she watched him approach the door and wave her off.
he began to bang on the screen door once he stood on the owner's doorstep, making angel roll her eyes. the banging echoed throughout the neighborhood, startling nearby birds out of their resting places. this continued until the wooden door opened, revealing sway. angel watched from afar as they exchanged words with one another.
"where yo' homie at? I need to speak wit' him." marvin says, eyes scanning the living room behind sway.
"go look for him if you wanna know where he at so bad." sway told him from behind the screen door with a laugh, bringing the beer bottle he had in his hand up to his lips.
marvin inhaled deeply, looking back at angel and replaying her words in his head. he looks back at sway who had a grin on his face, not taking him seriously.
"where ice at, nigga?"
"I'm right here." his eyes landed on ice who walked into the room, smile on his face as he approached the door. "whatchu want, fool?"
"I want my money." ice's head jerked back as he plastered an expression of confusion on his face.
"what money?" he scoffed.
"don't act stupid. you stole from me."
it was now the second time marvin was stolen from, and this time, he had witnesses to back him up. it angered him greatly because of not only was ice stealing hard earned money, but ice betrayed him. he even gave ice the benefit of the doubt at first, only to be proven wrong in the end.
it hurt him deeply.
"ain't nobody steal from you, nigga." ice told him. "now go turn yo' ass around and go home."
"I'm not goin' home 'til I get my shit back."
"I said go, nigga."
marvin stepped off the porch and onto the sidewalk, prompting sway and ice to step out as they continued to verbally fight. they took off shirts and got to pushing one another defensively.
angel sighed as the three went back and forth. she looked around, hoping that no one was around to witness the bickering they had done. luckily, she didn't see anyone, but she knew the arguing would bring them attention sooner than later.
"yall need to chill out." angel spoke up while walking towards the three, projecting her voice so they all could here her. "yall gon' have these folks call the cops."
they all pretended as if they couldn't hear her and continued quarreling. angel pulled on marvin's arm to get him out of their faces but he snatched away. before she could even fully blink, they broke into a fight, with sway and ice jumping marvin.
"stop it!"
angel pulled one of the guys, sway to be exact, off of marvin in attempt to break up the fight completely. she didn't need the cops making an appearance, for it'd be worse than she needed it to be.
or so she thought.
sway took angel's actions as her trying to jump in, and he punched her in the face. she fell backwards into the grass, looking at him in disbelief. he rushed up to her and threw more punches. she dodged most of them but a few did land, resulting in light bruising on her cheekbone and eye area, and blood leaking from her nose. he began to stomp the woman out, foot going into her abdomen multiple times.
"fuckin' bitch!" he grunted, continuing to injure the woman with all his might.
marvin noticed this and pulled him back, punching him knocking him out cold. he rushed over to angel who could barely move, moaning and groaning in agony. she was balled up into a ball, holding her stomach and shielding her eyes from the bright street lights that lit their environment.
"I gotchu." he reassured, helping her up.
he noticed ice reaching for his waistband out of the corner of his eye, making his eyes grow wide. he rushed to get angel to the car, running down the sidewalk.
a strong, mighty sound rang through the neighborhood, a sound that made marvin and angel duck. this same sound filled the atmosphere twice more as marvin threw himself on top of the woman to protect her. ice helped his friend off of the cement and fled the scene with no remorse.
"you okay?" marvin asked her, checking her for any important wounds, and she nodded her head, looking around for the two men to see them nowhere in sight.
he got off of her, but was barely moving with ease. he groaned and winced in pain, but not enough to make angel take note of it.
"let's go." he said, breaths becoming heavy yet shallow with each breath he took. "you able to drive?"
"I think so." she struggled to articulate, more so focused on the pain she was in.
he helped her in the driver's seat, then limped his way around the car to get in the passenger seat. she started the car and shifted the gears, driving.
"listen to me, okay? and don't panic," marvin panted while grunting as the car drove over the potholes and bumps in the road. "but I've been hit, and I need you to drive to the nearest hospital."
"what?" angel said in panic, looking over at him to see blood all on her seat, more and more pooling in the seat with each second.
marvin realized he was hit after he shielded angel. three sharp pains struck his back as soon as he heard those shots go off. it cost him great pain but pain was temporary, and it was either him or angel. he didn't want to see angel in anymore pain she was already in, so he sacrificed himself.
"keep your eyes on the road." he instructed and she did as she was told. "ima be good, just get me there."
angel sped up the vehicle, cutting through traffic. as much as she wanted to pull over and scream, she couldn't. marvin's life was on the line, so there was no time to waste.
"no, no, no!" she found herself getting stuck in slow traffic, causing her eyes to grew large. "marvin, there's traffic."
"shit." he cursed under his breath, looking around for another route. "turn this way towards the right."
she managed to maneuver out of the long lines of traffic and went down the path along the right. frustration rummaged through her body as she found herself going down a road that only made the ride longer.
the car fell quiet. angel was stuck in her thoughts, internally scared of what could happen if she didn't make it to the hospital in time. she thought about how much things could change, how darius could be affected, etc. she knew that if she didn't make it, it'd be her fault.
she sighed out of relief to finally see the hospital from afar. with how things were going, she thought she'd never see it. she pulled up infront of the door and put the car in park.
"okay, we're here." she said turning the car off and grabbed her key, getting out.
she walked over to the passenger side and opened the door, bent over from still being in pain. she opened the door and her heart dropped to the floor.
"marvin!" she shook him as he laid in her car, unconscious and unresponsive.
'no's spewed from her mouth as she pulled him out of the car, kicking the door to close it and struggling to pull him into the building. she grunted while pulling with all her might, arriving to the lobby.
she grabbed the attention from the woman who sat at the front desk, and other staff that passed her. she grew frustrated as she found herself in the same spot for minutes at a time with a dying man in her arms.
"someone help, please!"
- 𝐌.