Watching from the Sidelines

Chapter 17

"Ray!" JG yelled coming in the house.

"What? What's wrong?" Raven asked confused.

"Aye ya girl down at county. They say some nigga raped her and beat her up real bad", he said out of breath.

"What? Who?" Raven asked.

"Nadia, I just gave Lit Jamian and his momma a ride up there", he said.

"Can you take me up there?" She asked.

"Yeah, go put on some clothes. I'll be waiting outside," he said walking back out the door.

"Shit," Raven said before wiping away the single tear that fell from her eye.

She walked in the room and found some sweats to put on before heading out the door with JG.

"Ray!" Jamian ran over as soon as he saw her walking in the waiting room.

"Hey Jay," she said giving him a hug.

"What happened? " she asked.

"I don't know man, I was walking with my homeboys when I saw twelve headed by my house. So we go see what's going on, they found Nadi in the alley. Some nigga raped her and left her for dead".

"This is all my fault. If I wouldn't have been tripping over that argument we had, then she would have been home safe", Raven said wiping away tears.

"Naw, I was supposed to be with her. I thought she was with you and Bri hell. Ian know she rode the bus by herself ", he said shoving his hands in his pocket.

"Mane it ain't neither one of y'all fault. It's the nigga who raped her fault", JG said wrapping his arm around Raven's shoulder.

"Where mama at?" Raven asked.

"Yo, she over there cussing everybody out in sight. Doctors ain't telling us shit. We don't even know if she still breathing or not", Jamian said, "But I was headed to get her ass something to drink. I'll catch up with y'all later", he said walking towards the elevator.

After waiting for three more hours, the doctor finally came out with some information.

"Ms. Jackson?" the doctor asked, referring to Sheila.

"About damn time! I been sitting out here for hours not knowing if my baby is dead or alive!" She yelled at the doctor.

"Ma'am I apologize for any inconvenience. I wanted to let you know, that we've stopped the bleeding. She received multiple blows to her abdomen. She has a cracked rib. She made it out just fine, but I'm sorry to inform you that her baby didn't ", he said calmly to Sheila.

"Wait a minute! Baby? You trying to tell me that my sixteen year old daughter is pregnant ?!" Sheila asked.

"Was pregnant ma'am. Nadia was about 12 weeks to be exact".

"Take me to my baby, where is she?" Sheila asked.

"You can follow me ma'am. Only two visitors at a time", the doctor said.

"Ray, you can go ahead with mama. Ian trying to see my sister like that", Jamian said.

"Me either", all three of his brothers agreed simultaneously.

"You good? " JG asked.

"Yeah, I'll be back", Raven said following behind Sheila.

When they walked into the room, Sheila instantly ran to her bedside.
"Baby mama's here, everything gonna be okay", Sheila said rubbing Nadia's hand.

"Ma", was all Nadia could get out before breaking down.

"Nadi", Raven said walking towards the other side of the bed.

"Ray?" She asked barely able to see through her swollen eyes.

"Yeah, it's me", Raven said smiling at her.

"Sheila Jackson?" A police officer asked, with his partner coming in behind her.

"Yes?" Sheila asked.

"Hi, I'm Officer Bennett, and this is my partner Officer Staples" she said, " from our understanding your daughter was assaulted on her way home. We wanted your permission to ask her a few questions, and to get a rape kit done".

"Yeah, that's fine. As long as y'all catch the motherfucker that did this to my baby", she said stepping aside out of the officers way.

"Sweetheart, I know this may be hard", Officer Bennett said walking towards Nadia's side, "But if you can remember anything about what happened to you tonight, it's important that you let us know".

"I-I, was headed from school. I had to ride the bus. This man tried to talk to me but I ignored him. When I got off the bus I took a short cut through an alley, and he followed me. I took off running and I didn't see him anymore. I thought he was gone. When I made it by my house, I went through the alley next to my complex. I ran into him again.. He was upset. He started hitting me, and then he pulled a gun out and hit me with it and started beating me. I could barely move it hurted so bad. All I can remember is him saying ,'Now you can't fight it'."

By the time Nadia had finished, Sheila begin to cry.

"Do you remember how he looked? His height, weight, skin tone, what he was wearing , any scars or tattoos-"

"Wait, he had a tattoo on his neck of a scorpion", Nadia said cutting Officer Staples off.

"Wait, what?" Raven asked.

"That's all I can really remember. He was light skin with a fade. He had on all black" Nadia said.

"Nadi, I know who raped you", Raven said.

"What?" Everyone asked, surprised.