The driver takes off not saying anything about where we're going. "Please just take me home," I beg looking over at Da'Vonte. "Let's go for a little drive sis come on trust me." He says leaning against the door. I sit quietly looking at my lap. "I know dad has been outta town." He says as we drive further away from the block into Freeridge. "Yeah, he's on business," I say trying to act civil with Da'vonte. "And he just leaves you alone in Freeridge." He says looking over at me and raising his eyebrows. "I'm usually at school, ya know my senior year now," I say looking over at him.
We sit in silence for over an hour as the driver speeds away from anywhere I'm familiar with.
"It's been a while hasn't it Alyćia." He says looking over at me with a blank face. "I'm gonna go to school," I say picking at my nails, A beauty school so I could learn to do hair and nails to bring in money to help our father. It was getting late in the day and few cars were going by at this point. "You're not gonna get out of here," Da'Vonte says sounding certain. It was almost 2 hours before the car stops at an empty abandoned greyhound bus station far from Freeridge.
Da'Vonte opens the car door stepping out and pulling me from the car with him. "You think Spooky can save you from everything?!" Da'Vonte yells slinging me around away from the car. "No! No, I don't!" I say putting my hands in front of my face. "You keep running to him like he's some type of hero!" He says stepping closer so the two of us are toe to toe. "Please Von I'm your sister," I say feeling my heart racing, knowing there's no point in stepping back.
"Family doesn't mean shit, family is what we make it." He says pulling his gun from his waistband and pointing it at me backing me towards a concrete pillar covered in graffiti. "Please don't hurt me," I say the words barely coming out as I look down the barrel of a gun. "I want your boyfriend to know how easy it is to take shit from him." He says spitting at me making me sink down. "You don't mean shit to me." He says cocking his gun. "The only reason you're not dying today is for the sake of our mother." He says firing the bullet beside my head clipping my shoulder and causing a sharp pain followed by a ringing sound.
Da'Vonte turns to get back into the car and drives off leaving me behind. I can feel sticky blood slowly leaking onto my neck covering the collar of my sweatshirt. I slide all the way down feeling my ass against the cold concrete before my body goes slump onto the ground while pulling my phone from the back of my pants seeing all the missed calls and my almost dead battery. I quickly find César's number dialing it. Answering after the first ring. "Alycia! Where are you." he asks the phone being taken before I get the chance to answer him. "What the hell wrong with you!" Spooky's voice comes through the phone. I could feel all the overwhelmed emotions making my stomach tighten and my voice straining to talk from the pain.
