Do or Die

08.

//Zonnique

"Can you move that table over to the dinning room? And please don't scratch it!"

The movers listened to me, grumbling under their breaths while they moved the table where I had asked them to. Carter tried to mimic me by pointing and babbling at the different pieces of furniture.

Chris, Omari, and Quincy came down the stairs a few minutes later, tool boxes in hand. Omari and Quincy looked like they hadn't done a bit of work while Chris was sweating up a storm.

"Carter's room is finished." Omari said proudly. "We got everything up for the most part."

"I got everything together." Chris corrected him. "Baby all you gotta do is put her clothes and stuff in there."

"Well thank y'all." I laughed. "Did y'all want something to drink?"

Chris damn near beat me to the kitchen trying to get ahead of Omari and Quincy. I chuckled following behind them, going into the kitchen. I fixed them all a glass of ice cold water and handed it to them.

Carter reached for Chris while he gulped down the rest of his water. He took her into his arms and she laid on his shoulder, rubbing his arm. The smile on my face watching the two of them could've brightened the entire block.

Everything was finally going the way it was supposed to. We finally had our house, Chris was back to his old self, and they had struck a gold mine with the club. It was set to open in a few weeks and there was already a lot of hype surrounding it.

We were gonna be able to finally live comfortably and not worry about living check to check.

Chris, Omari, and Quincy went to the living room to start moving things around the way I wanted. I let Carter down, making sure she didn't crawl around where they were putting stuff together.

The doorbell ringing caught me off guard because the movers were finished for the day. Looking out of the glass doors, I was even more taken back to see two police officers. I snapped my fingers over at Chris to get his attention as the policemen continued to knock on the door.

Chris glanced back at the door and I could tell he was shocked to see them too. He stood to his feet and went over to the door opening it. I picked Carter up and stayed behind, straining to listen to what they were saying.

"Can I help y'all with something?" Chris asked, throwing his sweaty towel over his shoulder.

"Mr. Brown, we're sorry to bring this news to you but, your mother has been shot in a fatal drive-by shooting. The doctors aren't sure she'll make it through the night.."

Omari and Quincy were to quick to catch Chris as he stumbled back some. All the color drained from his body as he fell to the floor. Tears filled my eyes watching him break down.

Ms. Joyce was the one who held everything together. When Chris and I were struggling, she would help whenever she could. And not to mention she loved her grandbaby with everything in her. She was the mother I never had.

Omari rushed over and took Carter, giving me a chance to comfort Chris. I hurried over and knelt down in front of him. I took his face in my hands and my heart broke seeing the tears streaming down his face. His fists were balled up and he was shaking.