Trap Queen.

26♛

                                                    C H A P T E R - 2 6

      I position my Momma’s ashes on top of the entertainment center at my new house. It was weird to think that now my momma’s not a living person anymore. She was ashes in a glass jar. I smirk a little bit as I stare at it, but it still upsets me.

     “You alright Egypt?” A.J. asks me, putting his hand on my shoulder. I thought I was the only one in the house. I shook my head yes, and A.J. smiles as well. “You’re strong, you know that? When I lost my momma, I was fucked up for years,” A.J. tells me. I remember him telling me a while ago that his mother had passed away and that forced him to live with his father. Still, that don’t amount to my pain. A.J.’s mother probably died peacefully, but someone took my momma’s life.

     “Did I tell you that my dad was questionin’ me about the case?” A.J. asks me. I almost had forgot that his dad was Adam Withers; the guy that interrogated me. I knew A.J., and I knew he was nothing like Serena’s snitching ass.

     “No,” I reply. “What happened?”

     “My dad wanted me to tell him anything I knew about the case. I ain’t tell him shit, and I left the house. How is that lawyer comin’ along?” A.J. questions.

     “It’s good. I just need a couple more thousand, and then we’re gonna be good. My dad is helping me pay for it, and Reggie and I are going to share a lawyer. That’s three people already,” I say. “He’s ‘posed to be one of the best lawyers in all of Cali so I thnik we’ll win this case. We may not even need it, though.”

     “I can help y’all,” A.J. offers. “I’m not hurtin’ for no money.” I shake my head no.

     “Naw, A.J., you don’t need to help us. We got it,” I assure him. “If we need help, we’ll let you know.” I smile.

      “No, Egypt. Let me help. I like you a lot, so just let me. Reggie is like my best friend, I don’t want to see y’all hustle too hard to get money together. I ain’t sayin’ I’ll pay for all of it, I’m just sayin’ I’mma help y’all out,” A.J. persuades. I swallow hard.

      “Fine, I’ll let you. But don’t expect nothin’ back,” I jokingly reply, smiling. I could tell that A.J. really did like me, and I thought I was starting to like him a little more everyday, also. He was a good dude, and he cared about me. I ain’t seen nothing like that before, especially around here — dudes really ain’t pay attention to these females.

     “All I expect is a good friendship. . . maybe more.”

      I smirk at A.J. Someone starts knocking at the door, and I walk away from A.J. to go get it. When I open it, it was the guy I saw a while ago while I was slanging. He asked me what my name was, and after that, he didn’t cross my mind no more.

      “Egypt. . . yo’ name is Egypt right?” The guy asks me. No one else is with him, but I still feel suspicious. How did he know where I lived at? How did he even remember my name? I was feeling so confused because this shit just wasn’t adding up. Something wasn’t right, and now in retrospect, I shoulda never gave that nigga my name. Ever.

     “I already told you what my name was,” I reply simply, barely answering the question. “Who wants to know anyway? I don’t know you like that. . .shit. I don’t know you at all.” The dude sucks his teeth and rolls his eyes at me like I’m annoying him or something. I almost slam the door on him, but I keep it open, listening to whatever he had to say.

    “Look, girl. I’m tryna help you out. Get the hell out of the Compton in about an hour. The killas are looking for you foreal.”

     “How do you know?” I question him, raising one eyebrow. Lord knows I didn’t want to be in this bullshit all over again. I didn’t even know this nigga, and he was actually trying to ‘help’ me. It didn’t make no sense and I didn’t really trust him.

      “Don’t worry about how I know. You just need to watch your back. I got your best interest at heart,” This dude says, and then walks off. I sigh deeply. Now this shit is too good to be true. I knew for a fact that not everybody had my best interest at heart. That’s just how it was in Compton or anywhere.

      “Did you hear that shit, A.J.?” I ask him. He turns around and he nods his head.

     “Yeah, I heard him. Don’t believe everything you hear, though, Egypt. Dudes out here are grimy as hell. The pretend like they with you or some shit like that, and next thing you know they’ll be out to get you. Tonight, we ain’t gonna leave this house,” A.J. promises. “We’re fully protected, so we gonna be aight no matter what the circumstance.” 

       • • • •

      Outside, I heard rubber burning from somebody’s car. It woke me up immediately from the long nap I was taking on Reggie’s couch. I look around, and A.J. isn’t by my side anymore. Since I just woke up, I just sat on the couch trying to recollect what was going on. Maybe that nigga that told me to get out of Compton was right. For protection, I stand up and go to the back of the house. I open Reggie’s drawer and grabbed his loaded .44. Only for emergencies, I can remember him warning me.

      The gun felt cold in my hands. It felt like it didn’t even belong there. I clutched on it tightly, promising not to let it go. I walked slowly back to the front of the house, making sure the boards in the floor didn’t creak. No one was in the house yet, so I was safe so far.

     I sat back down on the couch, and my heart was still racing. I heard the car doors slam from outside and gunshots sprayed in my windows. I ducked immediately, and beginning crawling until I got into Reggie’s bedroom. I hid under his bed, and now I knew this niggas was actually in the house at this point. My heart began to race. Where the fuck is A.J.? Where is Rah? Where’s Reggie? I didn’t care who it was at this point, I just needed someone to save me.

      “Where the fuck is she?” I heard a masculine voice ask his partner. I bit down on my lip and a tear rolled down my cheek. Is this the end? Will these niggas find me? 

     While I was under the bed, I saw two feet approach the bed. I closed my eyes tight and tried not to scream. I scooted over a little bit, just to ensure he didn’t see me. The first place this nigga went is to the weed drawer, and I could tell he was stealing some of Reggie’s product. My nails were digging in the closet trying to stay calm and collected.

     “Yo’ bruh, none of them niggas is here. Are you sure we got the right address?” The dude asks. I don’t hear the other dude reply, and I’m still surprised they don’t realize I’m under this bed. I just want to shoot them both in their feet, but I don’t wanna give too much away.

     I ain’t sure how the rest of the night is gonna go.