Kiss the Rim (Book 1)

Chapter 30 Past Mistakes Come Back

Chapter 30

 The old apartment building was cold inside and I laid on the hard broken floor. The moon hit me as I laid there, with it's beam of light going through the window. I started to cry because I was in so much pain. The reason they came here was because I was in a gang in Oakland. I went to school in Oakland because it was cheaper for us at the time and we didn't have a lot of money back then. I never wanted to be part of the gang, but I joined because Stephan convinced me to join. We were friends back then, until I decided to leave the gang. One of the rules of the gang was that if you left the gang leader position, you were killed and one day he told me, "If you leave the group and I'm suppose to kill you, I'll have to do it." "I will would never leave the gang, you know that," I would always say. 

 I thought the pain would go away, but it didn't and I couldn't even stop the bleeding! I was panicking a little because it wouldn't stop. Then I heard the door opening, with someone saying, "Ren, you bastard where are you?" It sounded like Kagami, but who knows. "Who's there?" I asked almost in a whisper. The voice answered, "It's Kagami, where are you?" "I'm over here, near the window," I answered. I took my pocket knife out just in case it wasn't him. It was Kagami, thank god. Then I saw Kuroko next to him and Kuroko said, "Ren, who did this to you!?" "I can't say now, I need to go to the ER right away. I'm losing too much blood." Kagami knelt right beside me and carefully lifted my leg. "Yea she needs to get there before she loses to much blood. Kuroko call the paramedics now," said Kagami. Kuroko started dialing his phone and Kagami tore some of his shirt and wrapped it tightly around my leg. I had lost so much blood, that I was getting super dizzy. I asked, "Who sent you here?" "Your brothers sent out a search party to find you. He knew something was up when you didn't come home," he answered, "Oh yea, Kuroko call Aito to tell him we found her." 

 I was sent straight to the hospital, with Kuroko and Kagami right next to me. If Aito was here he would remind me of the past and probably scold me. "So, how did you get a bullet in you leg?" asked the paramedic and I answered, "Somebody shot at me." "Wait, someone shot at you," said Kagami. I answered, "Yes, some gang did." 

 After the operation of getting the bullet out of my leg, I was put on anesthesia, so I couldn't feel the pain during the operation. I was asleep, when I heard Aito come in saying, "Thanks for finding Ren, Kagami and Kuroko. What happened to her?" "Somebody shot her in the leg," answered Kagami, "She said a gang did." "Damn, that gang from Oakland," said Aito. Kuroko asked, "What gang from Oakland?" "She use to be part of a gang that was from Oakland, and at that time we didn't have enough money to take her to a better school," said Aito, "Soon enough I found out, but when I did she was already their gang leader." "Ren, a gang leader," Kagami said laughing, "That's bullshit." I opened my eyes saying, "Then how could I beat you up Taiga." They looked at me and I continued, "Anyway, once I moved I quit being in the gang. One of the rules was that if you're the gang leader, you would be killed." "That's why we moved here," said Aito.

 I spent one month in the hospital and a couple of weeks in physical therapy. Ms. Tanka was my physical therapist for free, while I helped Keiko do her homework. Aito again joined me in my physical therapy, but he left in the middle of it because he had to go to the Americas to play.