Memphis Streets 4: Skeletons

Chapter 11- Brielle

Fuck sleep.

The way I feel right now I'll probably never sleep again. In the meantime, I have to force myself to lie next to Dice in his king-size bed and stare up at the ceiling. He can't sleep either, I can tell by his breathing.

Maybe he's waiting for me to have another breakdown. Hell. I'm not too sure that I won't. What am I going to do now? What's going to become of me? I'm supposed to be smart. Why don't I have an answer? Why have I never developed a plan B or a C? I was supposed to go to college and then medical school. I was supposed to become Dr. Brielle James—now who am I going to be?

Dice squeezes my hand and I sneak a moment to study him. He's no longer the thin, cute hottie I met at the mall almost two years ago. He's packed on muscles since his release from the hospital and his boyish good looks are transitioning into a handsome man—my man. I love him so much that I can hardly breathe—and yet, in the back of my head, a voice lays the blame for my pain at his feet. T

ears sting my eyes because, despite it all, I still don't want to live without him. He is my heart. To deny him and what we have is to deny life itself. To blame him is to blame myself. My gaze shifts back up to the ceiling and I will my tears to dry. There's only one person responsible for all this shit, and that's Le'Shelle. I'm tired of asking myself why things keep happening to me, why my own flesh and blood would torture me the way that she has.

Because there's only one answer: she's evil. Plain and simple. And somehow, some way, I have to stop her. I gotta beat her at her own game.

BUZZZZZ! BUZZZZ!

Startled, I bolt straight up in the bed. Dice sits up with me and presses a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "It's all right," he whispers, sweeping my hair back from my face. "It's my phone." On the nightstand, his cell phone, set on vibrate, rattles around.

BUZZZZZ! BUZZZZ!

He reaches across me to grab it. I feel foolish. Le'Shelle has turned me into some pathetic creature who's scared of her own shadow. "Yeah. Talk to me," Dice greets his caller. There's a long pause.

"Momma?" he asks. He listens again and then hops out of bed. "All right. Calm down. Now what happened?" Shock blankets Dice's face. Concerned, I go to him.

"What is it, baby?" He holds up a finger and concentrates on the call. Whatever is being said, it's not good news. What in the hell could be happening now?

"All right," Dice says. "Which hospital are you at?" He looks around the floor and snatches up clothes.

"Sit tight. We're on our way." He disconnects the call and barks out one order: "Get dressed."

"What's going on?" I grab my jeans. "My mother was kidnapped by some crazy bitch and almost killed tonight," he says with disbelief.

My mind zooms to Le'Shelle. "Fuck."

"Let's go!" "I'm going. I'm going." We dress in record time and we race out of the door. Even as we're jumping into the car, I can't get my mind to think straight.

Dice is a wreck. "Do you need me to drive?"

"Nah. I got this." He turns over the ignition, and then zooms out of the driveway.

"Do you think that Le'Shelle has anything to do with this?"

"I don't know what to think." He's rattled. I squeeze his hand to give him moral support, the same way he did me a few hours ago, but it's not enough.

"It's going to be okay," I ramble. "She called so that means she's all right." He doesn't respond. Hell, I don't even know if he heard me. He's so focused on the road.

At the hospital, we jet out of the car as fast as we can. The emergency room is choked with people, most looking like they've been camped here all night. Dice races to the registration desk, tugging me along.

"I'm looking for my mother. She called and said that she was here. The name is Barbara Lewis." The chick behind the counter with a phone tucked under her chin remains unfazed and lazily lifts a slender finger, telling us to wait.

With no time for bullshit, Dice reaches over the counter, snatches the phone out of her hand, and then hangs the bitch up. "The name is Barbara Lewis," he growls.

The nurse's face twists like she's about to get turned up, but Dice's look dares her to do it. Her attitude melts away and whatever shit she was about to spit is put on pause. Turning to her computer, she asks, "What's the name again?"

"Barbara. Lewis." We wait through her two-finger typing on the keyboard. "Yes. She's been admitted. She's in room 712."

"Admitted," Dice repeats. "What's wrong with her?"

"You'll have to talk to her doctor about that. I don't have that information."

"This is fuckin' ridiculous." He slams a fist down on the counter. The nurse jumps in her seat. "I'm sorry, but that's all I know."

"Dice, baby." I touch his shoulder in hopes he'll calm down. "C'mon." He grabs my arm again and pulls me toward the elevators.

I don't have the heart to tell him that he's pulling my arm out of its socket so I roll with the pain. He jabs the up button a dozen times in two seconds while the glowing green numbers above the door descend at a snail's pace.

"C'mon. C'mon," he grumbles.

"Dice, don't get yourself so worked up." He ignores me and keeps pacing. I drop my hands to my sides and let him roam around in a circle.

By the time the elevator doors slide open, I'm about to crawl out of my skin, too. We rush into the small box, press the button for the seventh floor, and then suffer through another excruciating wait as it climbs at the same slow-ass pace. On the seventh floor, we spring out and immediately notice a cluster of police officers in the center of the hallway—a major clue as to which room a kidnapping victim is lying in.

Dread creeps up my spine. Bad news is the only news we know lately. "Mom?" Dice inquires, rushing into the room. He drops my hand when he sees her lying in the bed. She's banged up pretty good: one black eye and a busted lip and nose. I hang back, awkward, like a third wheel.

"Raymond," his mother exclaims, opening her arms.

Dice leans into her embrace and they hold each other and rock together for a moment before he begins his interrogation. "Momma, what happened?"

KNOCK. KNOCK.

I turn around to see a woman with a police badge draped around her neck enter. "Hello, I'm Captain Hawkins," she says, jutting out a hand. "I'll be investigating your mother's case. I came to get a statement."

"Oh, no. She's not my mother," I correct her.

"She's mine," Dice says, eyeballing the cop suspiciously.

"Sorry about that." The captain smiles and then walks over to Dice to shake his hand. "And your name is?" Dice ignores her question and leaves her hand hanging in the air.

"Who did this shit to her?"

"Raymond, baby." Barbara says, patting a spot next to her on the bed. "Please, sit down." He shakes his head. He can't sit right now—not when he's ready to punch someone.

"That's exactly what I came here to find out." Captain Hawkins lowers her hand and then turns her attention to his mother.

"Okay, Mrs. Lewis, if you could start from the beginning. . . "