Caught Up

Chapter 8

The bus arrived 5 minutes later and Taj inconspicuously hopped on. Cops were lining the block by the club and she was just glad that she could finally get out of that area unnoticed. She paid the fare and quickly found a seat in the back of the bus. With her thoughts racing and her eyes slowly closing, she leaned her head up against the large window. Before she knew it she was out like a light. Surprisingly, her public transportation slumber was more relaxing than she expected. What seemed like only minutes passed and the bus came to a halt.

“Last stop!” The bus driver angrily yelled to the, now 3, passengers left on the bus. Taj abruptly opened her eyes only to realize that she had missed her stop. Not only that, she had no idea where she was. The other passengers gathered their things and got off as Taj groggily made her way to the front of the bus.

“You goin back the way we jus came?” She asked the bus driver.

“I SAID last stop” The forty-something year old man said. He obviously wasn’t in a good mood so Taj decided to end the questions and exit the bus.

As she stood at the bus stop, she looked around for some type of idea to come to her.

How could I fall asleep on the damn bus?? Taj chastised herself. Her day was consistently getting worse and it wasn’t even close to over yet. Looking around one last time for any sign of hope, she gave up and started walking in the direction the bus just came from. She figured that eventually something would look familiar and she’d know where she was.

20 minutes into the walk, a car began to slowly ride just behind Taj. Looking over her shoulder, she could only see a blue Mustang with tinted windows. Her heart thumped from both the power walk she had been doing for the past 20 minutes and the unsureity of who was creeping behind her. Taj slowly reached for her gun holding her hand in place just in case she had to, for the first time, use it on someone. The car’s engine revved as it sped past her and down the street. A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she continued her walk. Almost instantly, the car came charging back in her direction.

Damn, imma get hit by another car, Taj thought as she moved further away from the street. On the outside she looked calm as the Mustang pulled up right beside her and stopped. The passenger side window slowly rolled down and the familiar face of her 25 year old brother Chris smiled at her.

“HAA! Scared yo ass didn’t I??” he yelled out the window. “The FUCK you doin’ out here lil sis?” The person driving the car, Taj had never seen before in her life but she was just glad a familiar face was in the Mustang.

“Man, long story!” Taj replied with a smile. Finally something was going her way today. “Lemme get a ride to the house tho”

“We bout to make a move, but we can drop u after… where yo car?” Chris inquired as he got out and lifted the seat up so Taj could climb into the backseat.

“I left it at the club last night apparently. By the time I got back to it, the feds was all over my shit” Taj explained. She hopped in the back of the car and they drove off. “So I just left it there”

“Good move” Chris said while taking a hit of the weed he had in his hand. He passed it to the backseat and Taj eagerly took it. She definitely needed it.

“And THEN.. hol up I aint tell u.. guess what happened tho? Fuckin Pheonix burned down” Taj took a long hit on the blunt n slowly let it out.

“Whaaaa?? Fa real? Damn yo. How that happen??” Chris said voice as smooth as dew rolling off a leaf. It was obvious he was high and Taj was just waiting to get to that point in her head.

“Iont even know. I just need to get to the house n talk to Laynaa. You got a charger in here?” Taj asked, hoping there was a car charger to give her at least a little bit of battery life.