is dead. You hear me, Cash? I need a pistol. I need a fucking pistol,” I said.
“Hold up,” Cash said before disappearing off toward his room.
Immediately he appeared back with two guns in hand. A black and chrome .45 in his right and a black 9mm in his left. He held them both out for me. I looked at the clip hanging out the bottom of the .45 and reached for it instantly.
I held the gun in both hands for a moment before putting it in my dip.
He popped me on my chest with his palm, “We out.”
I put the .45 in my dip and hopped in Cash’s Raiders colored Excursion. Cash picked up his phone.
“What’s the word?… Aight… Aight… Meet me across the street…”
“What’s good?” I said after Cash hung up the phone.
“Manny and the crew found Duffy and his crew in an apartment complex in the city. They out there now parlaying and shit,” said Cash.
“Parlaying, huh,” I said.
“Yeah, we bringing the music!” Cash said.
I stared out the window as my ears began ringing. In my mind, the world looked like a black forest. My entire body was cold. Music was playing in the car, but I could hear shells dropping and screaming in the back of my mind.
We pulled up to the side of an apartment set, and sure enough, there was a group of people in the parking lot, smoking and drinking. I could see Duffy with his dreads; it was a dead giveaway. We pulled up next to our crew who were parked over across the street.
“How you want to do this?” Manny asked Cash.
“Ya three stage around the side right there. They gonna try and run when we hop out from behind that staircase right there. We gonna push ’em your way,” Cash said.
I grunted as I began to feel the intensity of the situation.
“Twan, Hype, ya follow me,” said Cash.
Twan pulled me with him as we all moved quickly to get into our positions. We crept around the back and got low behind some staircases. I counted out eleven heads out there in the mixed crowd of boys and girls who had no clue what was going down.
“Look at these niggas, celebrating and shit. They don’t even know what’s ’bout to happen,” Twan said.
Cash looked over at us.
“Ya ready?” he said. I checked my .45 one more time. Twan stared straight.
“Go!” he yelled. We ran out from behind the staircase.
Doomd! Doomd! Doomd!
Doomd! Doomd!
We all started busting.
Doomd! Doomd! Doomd!
The girls started screaming and running immediately. One girl got hit before she could even hop down from the hood of the car. Everyone simultaneously dropped their cups. Duffy and two dudes from his crew, Ant and Lyles, pulled out and started shooting back. I slowed down and steadied my arm.
Pop! Pop! I let off two shots at Lyle’s face.
I then tried to aim for Duffy, but he was using the trunk for cover. Three other niggas tried to split. All of them except for one ran straight to where Manny, Crack, and Fatz were waiting, and they all got wasted. The one who separated from the group took off through the other set of apartments.
“Get that nigga!” yelled Cash. Twan took off for him as Cash and I kept marching forward. Duffy tried to be a hero and hopped out from behind the trunk.
Doomd! Doomd! Doomd! Pop! Pop!
“AWWW, shit!” Duffy yelled in agony as he hit the ground.
Ant then tried to turn around and run, but Cash rang his back up with four shots.
“Uh-huh!” yelled Cash. “Come on!” he said, grabbing my arm.
We ran over to where Duffy was squirming on the ground in pain, holding his hand over the hole in his stomach.
“You thought you was going to hit my man up and walk, nigga,” I said, kicking him in his side.
“Arghhh!” he yelled in pain.
“You fucked up this time, young nigga,” Cash said.
“Fuck you and your brother!” Duffy yelled out. I aimed at his leg and busted him one more time.
“Aagh!” Duffy cried out.
Cash squatted down, grabbing and lifting Duffy by his shirt.
“Them ain’t wise words considering you ’bout to die. You can make this easy and tell us who sent you on this mission, and maybe you can die in peace,” Cash said.
Duffy scrunched his face up almost crying.
“Don’t nobody send me! I go get it!” Duffy yelled out.
Cash let Duffy go and stood up.
“He a go-getter,” Cash said.
“You lost nigga!” I said.
“Sad song,” Cash said.
Doomd! Doomd! Doomd!
*****
I stood there staring at Duffy’s body through the smoke rising from my gun.
“Hype… Bruh!” Cash yelled grabbing my arm. “Come on. Let’s go!” Cash said.
Twan came back from the other apartment set with blood on his T-shirt. We all ran back to our whips and peeled out.
On our way back to Cash’s house, Mom called me. I didn’t answer. I was kind of shook up to be honest. I’ve robbed niggas, been in plenty of fistfights. I even seen a man gunned down right in front of me before. But I never murdered a man before. That black forest from earlier disappeared, and my insides felt sewn and tight. My mind was wired, but my body was exhausted. I had to put my head back, and I closed my eyes for a moment. Cash eventually woke me up, passing me a lit-up blunt.
We got to my brother’s house, and I went straight from the shower to the guest room. I tried to sleep, but that was the definition of impossible. I had so much running through my head. Eventually, I just got up and walked into the kitchen to get something to drink. I grabbed a water bottle and put a couple of Hot Pockets in the microwave before standing over the big screen. As soon as I cut the TV on…
“Eleven teens murdered tonight in cold blood. Police say they have some clues but haven’t found any suspects yet…”
“Oh shit!” I jumped up and ran to Cash’s room, busting the door open. “Cash, come lo—Oh!”
I
