Gone Away...

Bryheem up there.

Jaylen POV

  I opened my eyes to see Darren mouthed "I'm sorry." before dropping to the ground. "Darren!" I yelled as I watched as a pool of his blood start to form. "He almost had me. Thanks Leek." Bryheem said as he started to cough. "Boss!" he said as he went to catch him. The remaining flunkies of his gripped me up. Some of them looked between me, him and Darren and the dead bodies before acting. "What about him?" one of them said pointing to Darren's body." "He's dead stupid. He's of no use to us. Round everybody up. We're leaving." Bryheem responded. "Get y'all shit! We getting the fuck outta here!" they yelled. "But we just got here-" "BITCH! WHO YOU QUESTIONING?! GET YA SHIT AND GET THE FUCK IN THE VAN!" he yelled back as the only sounds you heard was feet scuffling around. In the midst of me being dragged to the van, I  made eye contact with Allure. I inconspicuously shook my head as her eyes widened before she hurriedly walked away to her get her things. 

  I was pushed up against the car as they started to whoop my ass. "You thought we wasn't gonna get your ass back?!" one of them said as punches were being sent to my body. I left out a gasp of air as few were landing dead in my stomach. This went on for a few minutes before Bryheem limped his ass outside. "Get in the car." he simply said as they threw me in the car. I could feel something staring a hole in me. I looked in the rear mirror to see him looking dead at me. This look was different then the normal ones. It was almost like he was.....hurt? The one I returned to him was that of pure hatred. I hated this nigga for bringing me here, for forcing me into sexual acts and worst of all for killing one of my best friends. It may not have been him exactly but it was people that worked for him. That made him just as guilty in my eyes. I'm guessing I won this little staring contest because shortly after that, he adverted his eyes elsewhere.

  Ironically, we both started coughing, for different reasons though. Me trying to catch my breath as well bare the pain from the  ass whooping I just received. Him from the gunshot wound Darren inflicted on him. At least he gave him a taste of how we felt, thanks D. "Hang in there boss. We're almost home. " Maleek said as he sped up the car. "This isn't nothing." he responded still coughing. If he drove any faster, he'd kill us all, especially with how he was turning. The van was slightly tilting in the direction of the turn. "Slow down some. Otherwise you gonna kill me. I don't care about him but nigga I got a business to run." he said as I glared at him. Fuck him and this "business". "But boss-" "I told you it's good. Just a flesh wound. I should beeeee gooooo......ddddd" he said slurring those last few words as he started to out of consciousness.

  "Boss! Wake up! Come on, stay with me." Maleek said using his right hand to shake him awake. Just a flesh wound huh? "I'm ight. Just a lil tiiirrred." he said as he leaned his head on the window. I took a closer look at him to see that he was starting to sweat.  Poor tink tink. I took a deep breath as the pain coarse trough my body. "Shit." I mumbled. I looked up to see Bryheem lazily looking at me still. I rolled my eyes as I clutched my chest. "We here boss." he said as he ran over to the other side of the car and helped him out. The nigga ain't dying, yet anyway. Me on the other hand, I limped my ass out of the car weakly following behind them. Not even before I hit the doorway, I was picked up and tossed to the back of the house. Luckily I caught my balance before I would've been even more broken up.  Slowly I heard everyone walking in behind us, mumbling in confusion. "LISTEN THE FUCK UP! NOBODY BETTER NOT EVEN THINK OF GOING BACK THERE TO VISIT HIM! HE DON'T GET SHIT! NO FOOD, WATER, NONE OF THAT SHIT. IF I CATCH Y'ALL BACK THERE, I WILL KILL YOU" I heard them yell. 

  Now these niggas wanna be the goonie gun gang. Please. Nobody said anything else but you could hear everyone walking up the stairs. They gonna starve me huh? OK. "Here." I heard Allure say as she handed me 3 cakes and a mini bottle of water. "Thanks. Now get out of here." I whispered to her as she didn't blink twice before doing so. Damn it Darren! We were almost free! We should've just stabbed the nigga instead. "Darren...." I mumbled as the tears fell. The image of him mouthing "I'm sorry." replayed over and over as more tears came down. "You was supposed to wait until we finished school. Now what do I tell Roman? How can I tell him? You were the love of his life. Darren!" I whisper yelled as I slowly curled myself into a ball. I just witnessed my first murder and I had to have been my best friend at that. After that I was knocked out.

  I woke up the next morning with a split head and in sharp pain. I groaned as I looked around the barely lit room. I went to the area that had the faint amount of light peaking through and examined the damage. From what I could see, my arms had bruises on em, my legs had cuts and scrapes on them. I decided to test my luck and lift my shirt up. "Fuck." I mumbled as I did that. There were bruises all over my stomach. If you wanted to even call it that. I decided to touch my rib cage. I immediately hissed in pain. Way to go dumbass. I gently slid my shirt down as I sat by the wall. I don't want to be here. I put my head down as I drowned myself in my thoughts. That moment didn't last very long because I heard the door open as well as the lights cut on. As I rubbed/adjusted my eyes, I looked up to see Mario walking towards me. Me and him were somewhat cool. He was Bryheem's right hand man after all. He had a chair in his hand. I prepped myself for a fight. I may be weak now, but I'm not going down without swinging. 

  "Easy. I just want to talk." he said with his hands up. "Here, I figured you'd must be hungry." he said as he tried to hand me half a cheese steak. "Those cakes can only fill you up so much. If at all." he said pointing at the cakes in the corner. Shit I forgot about those. I stared at him for a few minutes as he did the same. "Can you at least take the food?" he said as he cracked a weak smile but I didn't find shit funny. I'm already in hell so why not take one of Satan's gifts. I sniffed the food, might try to poison me. "Now you know I wouldn't do that shit to you." he said before sighing. My fucked up stomach betrayed me and started rumbling. I had no choice now but to eat the it. I took small bites of the food as he looked at me. "I just want to know why did you do it Jay?" I looked at this nigga like he was the worlds clueless mother fucker. Even Blue her self couldn't solve this fucking mystery. "You shouldn't be here. They said they would kill anyone they caught back here." I responded. 

  He started laughing like a told a funny joke. I looked around the room for said joke, wincing in pain in the process. "You know as well as I do that shit didn't apply to me. Motherfuckers couldn't even looked me in the eye without pissing their pants." he said as his expression turned deadly. If this was anyone else, they move then likely would've been intimidated. After all the shit I seen in the last 24 hours, I don't have anymore emotions to give. I see why they didn't dare try him.  I guess he noticed that my face wasn't going to change and decided to soften his. "Now that I answered your statement, could you answer my question?" he said smiling. "Mario. I know your not stupid. You know why I did it. My telling isn't gonna change what you already knew. You can't play me." I said as I just looked at him. "I guess you're right." he said showing a hint of sadness before it quickly disappeared. "You know he's gonna be on your ass now right?" "You think I give a fuck? Darren should've killed his ass" "Watch your mouth." "Or what? You'll kill me? You mines well do that shit now and get it over with. I'm already dead anyway." I said finishing the last bite of the sandwich.

  He held his hands up in surrender. "I'm not gonna do that. You've already been through enough and I don't wanna do anything to add to that." he said handing me a can of soda. "Thanks. I murmured. "He has manners. You're welcome." he said as he raised his eyebrows. "Lemme just say this, I was the one who stopped them from damn near killing you. Not looking for a thanks or anything but I just wanted to tell you that." he said as he started to get up. "Here before you finish that soda." he said as he gave me two pills. "They're for your pain." he said as I stared at them. "You can suffer. I was just trying to help." he said as he started to close his hand. I stopped him midway and took the pills. I down the with the last bit of soda before handing the can back to him. Not that I had a choice because he still had his hand out for it. He took one more look at me. "I'll try to see if he can let you out by tomorrow night. It won't be easy but I  should have you out." he said before walking out. 

  When he left, I felt a sense of sleep come over me again. 

 The Next Day  

  "Get up." I heard someone say. I looked up to see Maleek standing there. I must've been out for damn near a day because it was pitch black  in around the room. "He's letting you out." he said as I slowly stood up. Looks like he made good on his word after all. As I was walking past him, I heard him mumble "I should've killed you while I had the chance". I turned around to him. "Problem?" he said as I blankly stared at him before turning around and limping up the steps. He couldn't take me even in this condition. I was met with nothing but stares and gasps as I walked into the living room. I looked up and made eye contact with last person I wanted to see. He sat there with a bandage on his should. "Come on. It's time for your range of motion exercises." one of the girls said as he got mad. "Bitch I'll do it when I get ready." he said as he slapped her with his free hand while still looking at me. Tsch, pathetic. I removed my gaze from his as I headed upstairs. 

  "Treat him like he has the plague. Nobody comes near him or even speaks to him." he said as we made our way up the steps. I really wanted to kill this nigga. Once I made it to my room, he instantly slammed the door. I laid on my bed and curled into a ball once again. I was awakened later by someone shacking me. "Darren don't be annoying." I grumbled.  I turned around to see Allure standing there. I just stared at her as she started to speak. "Uh, he sent me up here to help take care of you." she said as I simply stared at her. It was quiet for 10 minutes as I just looked at her. "Let's get you showered." she said as she cleared her throat and headed from my dresser. I grabbed the clothes from her and headed to the bathroom. The heat from the shower definitely washed away some of the pain. Once I was done, I got dressed before heading back to my room. "I'm just going to give you small massages in your arms in legs if that's OK with you." she said as I nodded my head. Slowly but surely, the little crooks in my arms and legs were gone. Within in a few minutes, I was out again. 

 She must've left because when I woke up, she was knocking on my door. "May I come in?" she asked as I got up to the door. She was in her night clothes. Well I don't really know if you even considered sweats and as spaghetti strapped shirt night gear in this place. I looked to my left and right for any weirdos before stepping to the side and letting her in and locking the door behind her. She took a spot on my bed as I looked at her. "You look like you have a lot on your mind so I'm not gonna pressure you into telling me anything. I've just never seen you so defeated." she said with a sad facial expression on her face. "We were so close to being free." I mumbled as she nodded her head. I proceed to tell her how exactly everything went, including Darren's death. When I got to that part, tears instantly came rushing out of her eyes as she hugged me. "I'm so sorry Jaylen. I should've tried harder. I could've-" she said choking up in between sobs   

  "I don't blame you. You did your best. You were an amazing part of this plan and for that, I wanna thank you." I said as I hugged her back. I continued to tell her about everything leading up until now. "That explains the bruises on you as well as him. He should've kill the pussy." she said with venom laced in her voice. "That makes two of us." I said in agreement. "What did they do with his body?" she asked me. "They left him there. Said is was no use for him. Since Bryheem was injured, he basically was their first priority." "Oh my God. They just left his body out there?!" she exclaimed with her hand over her mouth. The thought of him still being out there hit me harder before. I was a mix of emotions. From sad to pissed to remorseful. Worst of all, I felt fucking useless! "Jaylen, please, please, please don't hesitate to call me if you need anything. Please." she said as she gripped me tighter. We sat there for another 10 minutes before she heard someone yell her name. She didn't want to let me go but Bryheem was already on edge. Ain't no telling what he'd do next.   

  "Jaylin......" she said before bursting into tears again as she exited the room. She left leaving a very confused Roman standing there. I was confused as to how he even was allowed up here. "Hey J, what you moving or something?" he asked as he laughed. I didn't respond. "Darren got a client or something?"  He said coming into my room. "I knocked on his door but he didn't answer. Knowing him, he's probably sleep or in the shower. He gotta look fresh for daddy." he said as I weakly smiled. "Maybe he's playing a joke or something." he said as I still didn't respond. I must've missed him on my way up." "Roman." "Or he probably forgot something" "Roman..." "Or he could be setting up fo-" "ROMAN HE'S DEAD!" I yelled as he completely stopped everything and dropped the flowers he had in his hand. I didn't even notice those. "What?" he said as I looked at him with a unreadable face. Luckily for us, almost everyone was playing music so I doubt anyone heard me. I got up a double checked my surroundings before closing and locking the door. 

 
  "Roman....Darren's dead." I said as lower monotone voice. "Ha, ha, ha, nice joke Jaylen. Stop playing." he said as my facial expression did not change. "This isn't funny." he said as he gripped me up. The contact from his hands and my chest made pain singe through my body once more. "Do you see me laughing?" I simply said to him as tears welled up in his eyes. "What happened?" he said as I just looked at him, my heart breaking once again. "Jaylen please. I need to know. Please." he pleaded as I took a deep breath before telling him what happened. "I'm going to finish what he started." he said as he got up and pulled his gun out. I stopped him. "You'll be running into an early grave and he wouldn't want that. I wouldn't want that. I can't lose another friend/loved one." I said as he sat back down. "That idiot! I told him to wait until he graduated. I had everything under control! He was supposed to wait. We was going to be together." he said as he pulled me close and cried. "I'm sorry Roman." I said only for it to be drowned out by his cries. Darren, I'm not built for all of this. How am I supposed to handle this? 

"I had everything mapped out, we would've had our happily ever after." he said. We would've been happy." he said as he hugged me even tighter. 

I'm sorry. 

Thoughts?

Jaylen?

Bryheem?

Maleek?

Allure?

R.I.P Darren