Page 11

Snatched Up…

I didn’t know what the hell was going on. What I did know was that I was getting the hell out of here because I didn’t want to know. That shit was none of my business, and I didn’t want it to become any of my business. All I did was my job and look at this shit!

I thanked God that Lucas was a deep sleeper.

He could sleep in the middle of being sucked into a tornado.

You couldn’t convince me otherwise. While he slept, I moved around my house and packed our shit.

Normally, he’d be awake by now, but God knew I needed him asleep.

I had no idea where the hell I would go.

I literally had nowhere to go, but I would find somewhere.

It was my third trip to my truck with bags.

When I got home from Mama Bee’s house, I sat down with Lucas in my arms to gather myself.

I messed around and fell asleep, which put me behind schedule.

I wanted to be out of here before the sun came up.

Maybe God felt I needed the nap because I was exhausted.

After a final sweep of my house, I felt like I had everything of importance for now. I would be able to potentially slip back in at some point if I left anything. Lucas sat up in his bed when I came into his room to get him. Shit! I wanted him to still be asleep.

“Mama, we go to Grammie Bee?”

All of the kids referred to Mama Bee as Grammie Bee. My baby had no sense of time, Lord.

“No, baby. We’re going to go on a lil trip. You wanna go on a road trip?”

“Yay! We going on a trip in our favorite rocket ship!” He loved that damn show. Anytime someone mentioned a trip, that was his response.

I scooped him up into my arms to put him on my hip.

With a final look in each room, I prayed that I would be able to come back.

My house wasn’t much, but I worked hard to turn it into a home.

I strapped my baby into his car seat, turned on his tablet that hung from the back of the seat, then got myself into my truck.

I pressed the garage opener button at the same time that the vehicle turned over.

My face tightened, and my heart dropped at the sight of a car parked in my driveway.

Who the hell is this? I didn’t want my baby to be scared. I turned to him.

“Baby, you want to wear your big boy headphones?” I bought him a pair of Beats headphones that he deemed big boy headphones.

His eyes lit up like I knew they would. “Yes! I been a good boy at Grammie Bee.”

I took the headphones out of the center console and turned them on. Once it connected to the tablet, I made sure the volume was good, then put them on his ears. I stepped out of my truck, took a deep breath, said a quick prayer, then walked back to the car.

Two men stepped out of what looked like a Charger. They didn’t look like they were here to kill me, but what did that really look like?

“Reya, what’s up?” The driver greeted me.

“Um, hi. May I help you?” I told myself to remain stoic. If I acted like I didn’t know shit, then maybe they would think that I didn’t know shit.

“Yeah. So, I’m Joey. It looks like you’re headed somewhere.” He pointed at my truck, which had light tints. You could see all my damn business.

I glanced over my shoulder. “Oh, yes. I am. I’m taking my baby on vacation.”

When he took a step toward me, I stepped back. “Yeah, unfortunately, I can’t let you do that. I was sent to gather you for AK. He wanted to chop it up with you about something.”

Tears immediately escaped my eyes. The only thing that ran through my mind was to protect my baby. I took a step closer to him.

“Joey, I’ll go with you willingly if you promise not to hurt me in front of my baby boy. I don’t want him to be scared or traumatized by whatever this is.”

His eyes softened. “You got that. My boy right here is going to follow behind us in your truck, okay? Go ahead and get your lil boy.”

I gave him a soft smile then wiped my eyes. He walked behind me as I walked to the passenger backseat. Lucas looked in our direction when the door opened. I pulled off his headphones.

“Hey, baby! This is Joey, mommy’s friend. We’re going to go on our trip in his car.”

Lucas looked confused as he looked between us.

“I can take my TV and big boy headphones?” That was all he cared about.

Joey stepped up. “Yeah, man! You can bring your TV. Guess what? There’s a real big TV where we’re going.”

You could see the stars in my baby’s eyes. “Oh, I want to see. Mama, we get pizza and watch Lilo and Stitch?”

I peeked over my shoulder at Joey. I didn’t know what kind of environment that we would be thrown into.

The big television gave me hope that it wouldn’t be horrible, but there could be big televisions in dungeons.

Joey helped me get Lucas and his tablet out of my truck.

His friend climbed in the driver’s seat after we had Lucas, his car seat, and tablet out of my truck.

Joey, with my help, strapped the car seat in his car.

The entire ride to our destination, my body shook. I jumped when Joey put his hand on my thigh.

“Aye, calm down. You ain’t did shit wrong, ma. AK just wants to talk to you. He’s out of town, so I have to keep you where we’re going, but it’s not on some fuck shit.”

That should have given me a sense of calm, but it didn’t. “So, I can’t leave until AK gets there? Is he going to kill me, because if he does, they’re going to put my baby in the system. It’s just me. Can you tell him to take my baby to Mama Bee, please?”

He glanced at me with a tilted head before he put his eyes back on the road. There was no response to my request. God, please keep me and my baby.

When we passed the state line into South Carolina, I got nervous.

My mind took mental notes of landmarks in case there was a chance that I could escape if things went deadly— Fort Mill.

When we pulled into a very, very nice neighborhood, my brow rose.

This didn’t look like the type of place that a trap house would be.

We pulled into the driveway of a nice house that was in a cul-de-sac. It had a three-car garage that we pulled into. My truck pulled in next to the Charger before the garage doors closed. We all got out.

“Do you need any of the bags out of your truck? You’re going to be here, so get whatever you need.”

“Can I get Lucas settled in front of the big television first and give him a snack?” I asked. I really needed to feed him breakfast. I didn’t want to ask for too much, though.

Joey nodded. “Yeah, you can do that. I’ll show y’all to the room y’all will be in. Once we get situated, we can order some breakfast.”

I got Lucas out of the car and carried him as I followed Joey into the house.

The friend had yet to say a word. We walked through a nice kitchen that I would love to cook in.

Why the hell am I thinking about cooking and these niggas kidnapped me ?

It’s more like a nice-nap because they are so respectful.

The beauty of the home was hard to ignore.

We got to a bedroom that was clearly a master suite.

“This is very nice.”

“Did you think we were going to have you in the back of a warehouse or some shit?” Joey asked with a titter. “Ma, I already told you that you didn’t do anything wrong.” His attention went on to Lucas. “Aye, man, you see that big TV over there?”

He pointed at the huge television on the wall. It had to be at least ninety inches.

“Whoa! That’s big!” He tapped me on my leg. “Mama, look! A big TV!”

I smiled at him. “Yes, baby, I see it! Go sit on the couch.”

There was a full living room in the damn bedroom. The room was huge!

I took notice of the bars on the windows. So, I am a real hostage. Once Lucas was squared away, Joey, his friend, and I headed back to my truck. I turned to his friend.

“Um, are you allowed to tell me your name?”

He chuckled. “Yeah, my name is Ethan. My bad. I’m a quiet person.”

Well, I guess that explains things. They helped me get out everything that I thought I would need from clothes and toys to my hygiene items. I wasn’t sure how long I’d be here, but I still unpacked some things and organized them.

By the time I finished, Joey had ordered breakfast. Lucas and I went into the kitchen to eat.

I appreciated that they didn’t make me or Lucas feel too restricted.

Lucas talked our ears off and was asleep by the end of the meal.

I laid Lucas down, then came back out to the kitchen.

“Um, can I ask if this has anything to do with the thing that I don’t know about that happened at the place that I wasn’t at? I’m just curious.”

Joey and Ethan glanced at each other, then glared at me before they both erupted in laughter.

“What, Reya? The thing you don’t know about at the place you weren’t at,” Joey said with laughter. “Yeah, Reya, that’s what it’s about.”

“Okay, well I won’t know what to tell him.” I shrugged my shoulder. “Did you guys want me to clean up?”

“Nah. You can go into the room,” Joey said. “You don’t have to do shit but chill. Either me, Ethan, or both of us will be here with you at all times. If you need anything, let us know. Don’t feel like you gotta stay in the room.”

My mind was all over the place because they made me feel so comfortable, but the fact remained that I had no choice in whether I wanted to be here or not. They kidnapped me in a nice way. All I could do was hope that AK was just as nice.

Back to the Present…

It had been almost a week since I had been here.

Joey took my phone after I called Louie to tell him that I had a family emergency and needed the week off.

I never took time off, so he told me that it was about time that I took some time off.

That was not the response that I expected.

It wasn’t a bad week surprisingly. The backyard had a very nice playground that Lucas adored.

Joey and Ethan threw a football around with him, so he loved that.