Sent From Heaven (NOT EDITED)

uno

A six-teen year old Ray walked from the corner store with her brother Tae, laughing at the silly things he was saying.

"Tae, stop your making me laugh."
Ray belthched out as she held her black plastic bag in one hand and the other held on her stomach.

"I'm just playing with you little girl."
He mushed her head a little.

"Don't do th-"
She began her sentence but Tae cut her off.

"NOVA GET DOWN!"
She hesitated for a fraction of a second but soon obeyed her older brother.

She counted the gun shots as her brother threw himself on top of her to shelter her.

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

Five gun shots went off and her brother rolled off of her body and laided on the ground, cupping his lower abdomen.

Ray's eyes went wide, seeing the car speed off. He brother was coughing lowly calling her full name.

"No, no, no! Tae you can't leave me now!"
A panicked and shaken up Nova-Ray scrambled over to him and begged her brother as he laid on his back, blood gushing from his abdomen.

"I'm sorry Ray-"
Blood gushed from his mouth.

"No! Shush, stop talking."
She fumbled with her phone as she called for help.

" My brother Keyontae Jackson has been shot, he's fucking bleeding to death and you asking me stupid ass questions!"
She became frustrated with the man on the other end of the line.

"Calm down Ray."
Tae squeezed his eyes shut.

"We are right by Ralf's auto shop, and tell them to hurry. Please."
Her voice cracked as she watched her brother basically take his last breaths.

"I'm not going to make it Ray- "

"Don't say that please."
Ray's hand were pressed against his wound, trying to stop the bleeding.

His eyes lowered, the sound of sirens were heard in the distance.

"Tae, look they're almost here."
Tears ran down his face, his silver cross shined with his specks of blood spattered on it's shiney surface.

His hand fumbled with it snatching it off of his neck. He pushed it into her shaky hands. His breathing was slow and his pulse was slowing down rapidly. His eyes were shut.

"Take it, give it to-"
Her eyebrows furrowed.

"Qu-"
But before he could finish he stopped breathing.

Ray's screams for her brother to keep fighting sounded like the whole city of Charlotte, North Carolina could hear her.

"Please Tae, I need you! Ma needs you. You're my bestfriend, my protector, my father figure."
She plead and prayed to God as the ambulance pulled up and the paramedics put his warm, but going cold body on the stretcher and into the ambulance.

The police arrived and wrapped the blanket around Ray's shoulders and asked her mom's number. They continued to ask her questions. Her mom soon showed up they transported her along with her mom to the station.

Ray was too stunned and traumatized to speak or tell what happened she was  still trying to process the whole ordeal. The scene kept replaying in her head as she clutched his cross in her hand.

After eating the granola bar her mom handed her, she was ready to talk.

"What happened?"
The white detective asked her.

She gulped and began.
"We were walking from the corner store on the corner store of Royal and Jefferson. We were talking and having a good time but then an all white GMC SUV pulled up with a glock sticking out from the left backseat window. Keyontae yelled for me to get down then he threw himself on top of me to shelter me from the five bullets."

"Keyontae didn't haven't a gun in his so all he could do was push us farther back. When the firing stopped he rolled off of me and I saw he was hit in his lower abdomen. He was talking to me but I saw he had blood coming from his mouth so I told him to stop. Then I called 911."
She retold to story, trying not to leave out any key points.

"Oh and the driver had a star tattooed on his hand. All I could see was the drivers hand."
She whispered the last part.

Keyontae, or Tae was Nova-Ray's big brother. He hung with a group of boys and they slung drugs here and there. But most importantly he hit kicks up in the 'burbs'. They robbed local corner boys as well. That's the thing that got them in the most trouble. People wanted their heads but they were basically untouchable. They had protection from the inside.

"Is that all Ms.Jackson?"
The detective asked her. She had noticed that he had barely written anything down. She tried not the roll her eyes but she couldn't help but to.

"Are you even taking any of this serious?"
The detective was taken back fork her sudden outburst.

"What do you mean?"
He questioned her.

"You didn't even write down anything I just said, let me see the note pad."
Before he could hand it to her she snatched it.

There wasn't anything up there except the time, the date, and Keyontae's full name.

"Are you serious? Is there even an recording of this questioning? Let me guess no? None of this matters to your cracker ass does it?"
She spat angerily.

"Another black man killed in the hood doesn't matter to you right? Because you view them as competition right?"
The detective had nothing to say he sat back stunned.

"You couldn't give a fuck even if I paid you too. My brother just got shot and killed in cold blood and you dont care. But let it be a white boy, white man, hell a dog you would be all over it wouldn't you?"

"Ms.Jackson you are dismissed."
He mustered up enough words to speak.

"You don't have to tell her that bitch, we are already done with this."
Her mother snapped and grabbed Ray's hand pulling her to the door.

They walked out of the police department and headed home. Neither one of them mustered a sound, just road in silence.

Pulling up to the small brick house Ray got out of the car, she was still soaked in her brothers blood. She wanted to cry again but she didn't have any tears left to cry.

Sulking to her room she passed Tae's. His door was wide open, how he kept it. His gun was sitting on his night stand and she just knew there were still stacks of money in his wooden bed frame.

She closed his door and continued her way to her room. She stripped from her blood soaked clothes and threw them in the basket for the dirty clothes. She gently sat his cross on her dresser next to her silver plated name necklace with a tiny cross hanging from the A in Ray.

She could hear her mother crying in the living room, her sobs uncontrollable. Her son was gone, her baby boy was snatched away from her. And her last words to him were "you make me sick."
He only reply was "I love you ma."

She felt terrible.

Ray turned off scorching hot water and sunk down into the tub. Watching the water turn a burned orange color, her waterworks began again. She brought her knees to her chest and rocked back and forth.

"I'm sorry Tae."