Trap Queen.

2♛

                                                    C H A P T E R - 2

      “Wake up, baby.” Mom’s voice was soft but groggily, like she was smoking. I had a very vivid dream, and I was kind of upset my mom woke me up out of sleep. School wasn’t a reason why, either—I dropped out a my sophomore year to help out more around the house. Regardless if it was legal or not. I was a pretty smart kid—I was in even advanced placement—but I had to do what I had to do. I didn’t expect mom to do everything by herself; she was way too dependent on me.

     “Huh?” I asked, half asleep. It was freezing cold in here, which was unusual. We couldn’t afford the AC being on, and since it was California, I barely felt in winter weather.

     “I’m gonna go job huntin’, and I want you to be wide awake. I’ll be back before the day ends.” Woah. Job hunting. Momma was gonna go finally find a job. Honestly, it was surprising to me—last time I checked, Momma ain’t do nothing but lay up and drink all day. If the employers knew that, they probably wouldn’t think twice about not hiring her.

    “Okay, Momma,” I replied. Even though I knew she never lied, something made me think she was lying. Why all of a sudden did she wanna get a job? I was the source of all income, and she didn’t seem to have a problem with that. Momma left my room swiftly, and then I heard the front door close. I figure I should get up and cook. 

     I took a glance at the clock. It was 7:30 on a Sunday. I put a skillet on the oven eye and turned it on high. Out of the refrigerator, I set out bacon and two eggs. I cracked the eggs over the counter and watched them ooze out of the shell onto the pan. I threw the shells away, and got ready to cook some bacon.

     Someone was making a beat on my door, so I looked out of the window to see who it was. Reggie and Rah. They was what we called the infamous cousins—you wouldn’t see one committing a crime without the other right beside him.

      I opened the door. “Good morning, niggas.” I let them in, and they smelled like weed and cigarette smoke. Reggie set down on a fold up chair by the window, and Rah sat down on the couch in front of the T.V. They didn’t say anything else, so I knew something was wrong. They were both talked too much and was always energetic. 

     “What, y’all got sticks up your asses? What’s up withcha?” I gave Rah a dap, but Reggie was still staying silent.

    “Look, I know you may not be down, but I got a problem,” Reggie finally says, his lisp heavy. I raised an eyebrow. Quickly, I went into the kitchen to get my eggs off the stove. I put them on a plate, and went back into the livingroom to see what the hell Reggie was talking about.

    “When you hit up my house a few days ago, you took some weed. I understand that. I know you—only take like five baggies or some, but how come I come back to house and all my dro is missing? Do you know how fuckin’ expensive that can be—”

     “Woah, nigga. Calm the hell down. Basically, what Reg is tryna say is, we need yo’ help to end the opp that stole all this damn weed. Shit ain’t cheap,” Rah said in a low voice, almost in a whisper. I could tell that Reggie is enraged, but Rah was keeping his cool. Usually it was the other way around, but I guess Reggie wasn’t playing about his weed.

      “So, what y’all want me to do?” I asked, taking a bite of my sunny-side-up egg.

      “I know your moms don’t like this shit, but we gonna need your helping catchin’ a body. We don’t know who took the weed, but we gotta idea. Do it for gang.” Rah was convincing, but I promised to mom and God that’d I’d never kill anyone with intent again. I’m tryna get a ticket to heaven, even though there ain’t no heaven for a thug.

      “Rah, you know. . .”

       “Egypt, we family. Family first. Please, you know we was gonna be the first to pull the trigger if anyone crossed you.” Reggie had a point. Even though me, Reggie, and Rah weren’t related the least bit, it felt like it. I was down for them, and they was down for me.

     I swallowed my egg down hard. “God, please don’t send me to the fiery pits of hell for this shit,” I prayed. Reggie smiled brightly, his deep dimple showing.

     “We setting out when it start getting dark out. Don’t be be runnin’ your mouth about this, neither. I know how you get when you get information,” Reggie announced. Reggie and Rah left my house, and I sighed deeply. Lord knows that I don’t wanna kill nobody. I was horrible at peer pressure; I felt like I needed to do this. But I knew I wouldn’t be making my momma proud.

▲

           “You ready to go, E? We got the uzi and the Nina. We ready.” I could tell Reggie was excited for this, even though this wasn’t going to be his first kill. Rah however, was shaking in his boots. He was sweating and he looked nervous. I ain’t bring it to his attention because I thought it would be embarrass him, so I stayed silent.

      “Yeah, I’m set.” I had a black hoodie on, black jeans, and black construction boots. I wrapped a black bandanna around my mouth and nose old-school style. In my right pocket, there was a glock. I was over-armed, but in Compton, that was almost impossible.

     “Where this niggas house at? I ain’t tryna run up in a family’s house or nothing,” I whispered, as I walked out of my house into Rah’s hummer. I began to cold sweat, because even I was nervous.  I knew karma was gonna back to bite me in the ass, but I had to be down for my homies.

     It seemed like only a few minutes, but we showed up to a house. It was on the other side of the neighborhood, and it was a small, modest house. “C’mon, y’all. I’m ready.” Rah and I stepped out of the backseat to run into the house. Reggie busted down the door, and started screaming at the top of his lungs. “Which one of y’all niggas stole my dope? I’m not playin’ no more!” Bullets started spraying all of the room, and I heard men and women screaming, which kind of got to me.

      “Shut the hell up!” Rah screamed, shooting a man in his face at point blank range. A voice that sounded like a little girl’s in the back was screaming.

      “Mommy. . . Daddy . . . What’s wrong. . .” Her voice was faint, which kind of broke my heart. Egypt, what the hell are you thinkin’? You getting soft now? I thought. On the outside, I knew I looked like an idiot for just staring around the room looking at the dead bodies, but I was frozen.

      “Egypt! Go get the lil’ girl in the back,” Reggie exclaimed at me like I was crazy. I was praying to God he wasn’t going to ask me that, but I knew he wasn’t going to let up. “Fuck you standing around for? We can’t leave no witnesses!” Reggie’s voice was serious. I sighed deeply and marched to the back of the house, where I saw a little girl playing with her dolls. She couldn’t have been older than seven.

      “What’s going on with Mommy and Daddy? Are you the bad people that she was talkin’ to me about?” Her voice was so innocent, but I couldn’t stand to hear no more. If I continued to talk to this girl, the guilt would eat me alive.

     “I’m so sorry baby,” I whispered, pulling the trigger and shooting the girl in the head twice. Tears were about to stream down my face. I had to clear myself up before Rah or Reggie saw me.

    “C’mon, Egypt! Let’s get the hell out of here!” Rah exclaimed. I swallowed my tears and followed his orders.