Wiped Away

Tameika had just cleared her last client’s details when Erica tapped on the glass. “Hey girl you want to get together for a late dinner tonight?”

“Who all coming?” Tameika asked.

“Just me, Tammie, and Josh”

“Gay Josh or straight Josh?”

“The gay one, you know straight Josh hates us.”

“I know right all he does is talk shit about us. I’m beginning to think he’s secretly gay.”

The girls laugh as they head out the office. They agreed to meet up at Vamp’s 24/7 Diner on Broadway street. Tameika got to the diner first and got a table. She noticed a guy that looked at her, but he would shy away whenever she looked at him. A few minutes later, he left. The others came in shortly after and joined her. She greeted them then begin looking around to see if she saw that guy again, but she didn’t. deciding to let it go she continued with her friends. One by one they place their orders when the server came. Shockingly they all got some form of a hamburger and fries. As they waited on their food they talked.

“Josh what is the one question you get asked a lot that’s annoying?” Tammie asked.

Josh stopped sipping his drink and said, “When girls ask if I can do hair. I hate that because I really don’t know how to do hair. I don’t even like hair. I be like you see this low fade just because I’m gay don’t mean I know how to do hair.” The group laugh then Josh says, “Erica what’s a question you get asked a lot that’s annoying? I know this answer, but I’m gone let her answer it.”

“I get asked to cook a lot. I can’t cook they think because I’m fat I can cook. No, I’m fat from eating everyone else’s good cooking and sitting around.” The group laugh then Erica asks Tameika a question. “Tameika what’s a question you get asked that’s annoying?”

“I get asked what’s my gym and workout plan. And I’m like I don’t even workout.” They all laugh.

Then Josh says, “But Tameika, honey you do look like you workout though. Look how nicely toned your body is I know you see that.”

“Josh if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were hitting on me.” The group laugh again then she says, “What about you Tammie, what’s an annoying question you get asked?”

“I get asked all the time am I mixed. I stay telling people no but then I started saying yes with a light skinned black mom and a brown skinned black dad. Then the infamous but you look so exotic. I be like I am exotic because I’m blowing your mind.” The group laughs.

Another crowd of people comes in then the server comes up with their food. “Oh my God it’s them again.” She says.

“Who is that honey?” Josh asks.

“It’s a group that always come in late and start a bunch of trouble. Everyone usually leaves when they start because it is rough.”

“Aw I didn’t know you dealt with this type of mess. I only suggested here so you could go out with us when you get off.”

“I’ll still go. Let get over here and deal with this.” She walks off.

“Josh who is that?” Tammie asks.

“That’s my cousin Syn she’s usually off but she had to work tonight. She’ll be getting off soon then we’ll get together.”

The group eats their food and talk more. Halfway through their meal they hear a commotion then gunshots fired. The group get under the table to hide when they hear a man yell let’s go. The next thing they hear is the pounding of feet as the guys run away. Tammie peaked from under the table and saw blood. She got freaked out and hysterically whispered, “Oh my God, guys it’s blood by the door on the floor! I think someone got shot!”

Before they could react in any kind of way, they heard a strong voice say, “Is everyone alright? It’s safe now. I am detective Andrew Johnson here with Vamp’s manage Cole Tate.” Then he turned to Cole and said, “Aye man how many people did you say were in here?”

Cole replied, “After everyone started running out it was about six people left in the lobby and my work crew of four. So, about ten people besides me.”

Then everyone slowly started coming out of their hiding places and sitting back in their seats. It was clear by the expression on everyone’s face that they were still shook by what had just happened. Some of them actually saw what happened and others just heard. One by one each guest was called to a secluded area. Detective Andrew Johnson and a few uniformed cops talked to the guests and got statements then let them go. As everyone gave their statements, they were given police cards and told they could leave. Once the friends were finished, they regrouped near their vehicles and waited for Josh’s cousin to be finished.

“Whew that was crazy, right?!” Tammie said.

“Crazy is not the word. That was wild. I think I really need those drinks now.” Josh said.

Everyone agreed except Tameika who was feeling a bit lightheaded from what had just happened. “Not me. I think I’m good for the night. I’m just gone head home.”

“Aww we’ll miss you, but we understand take care of yourself. Call us tomorrow.” Erica said as they parted from Tameika.

Tameika hopped in her car and drove home. When she got there, she was so busy getting her bags out the car that she didn’t notice a light that was on when she pulled up went off. She went in the house, sat her bags down then went in her kitchen. She pulled out a bottle of wine that had been sitting in the refrigerator all week and decided now was the time to pop the bottle open and pour up a glass. Just as she was about to take a sip, she heard a gun cock and some heavy breathing. She looked up and saw a guy dripped in blood. She instinctively reached for a draw that was near her.

“Aht aht aht. Look closer. Is this what you were reaching for?” he asked.

“Who are you and what do you want?” Tameika asked.

He lowers the gun then says, “Look I’m not going to hurt you. I saw you earlier in the diner and I thought I was seeing a ghost until I heard you speak. I could never forget your voice. I thought you were pretending you didn’t know me, but you look genuinely confused. What did they do to you? Ahhh!!” he said.

“What did who do to me? Are you alright?” she asked. “Sir I don’t know you, but I do remember seeing you in the diner. I stared because you stared at me.”

He revealed to her that he had been shot. Then said, “You have to get the bullet out and stitch this up for me.”

A little hysterical she said, “I don’t know how to stitch people!”

“Yes, you do. You’ve done it many times before. Not on me but on others.”

“I can’t!”

“Well if you don’t, you’ll have a dead man on your kitchen floor and you’ll never find out who you really are.”

After hearing this her interest was sparked so she reluctantly agreed to help him. She helped him to an area in her house where she had a room that she kept setup like a make-shift operation room. She helped him on the table then suddenly she was gathering items like this was her natural environment. After hooking him up to an IV and heart monitor, she numbed him up. She gave him pain medicine through the IV and proceeded to remove the bullet out then she stitched him up. After she was done, she cleaned him, and the area up then waited for him to wake up. Listening to the light sounds of the beeps the machine was doing made her sleepy. She closed her eyes for a few minutes then jumped up. He was still sleeping, so she looked at the time. It was close to time for him to wake up, so she sat and waited. A few minutes later his eyes fluttered then she said, “How did I know how to operate? More than that how did you know I could? Why did you say you know me?”

“Ahhhgh.” He said in pain, as he tried to sit up.

“You can’t move too fast after surgery. Let me help you.” she said as she let his bed up to a sitting position that wouldn’t compromise his recovery. “There now you can continue.”

“Well as you can see you are a doctor. You were one before we met, and you always talked about a school you wanted to go to, but I can’t remember the name. Jackson or…”

“Johns Hopkins but I went to Howard University instead.”

“Yeah that’s it.”

“No! You’re trying mess with my head. I’m a research specialist and my name is Tameika Lawrence.”

“Who told you that?”

“When I woke up in the hospital, they said I had an ID that with that on it and a driver license…”

“Calm down. That is one of your alias’, that isn’t your real name. Your name is Skylar James. You and I are were working for these people that are a group of professionals in their area. We basically steal among other stuff. One night we were on a mission and you were attacked. Someone hit you upside the head and knocked you out as we were escaping. I went back for you and couldn’t find you anywhere.”

“The hospital showed me a clip of me crawling into the hospital. I don’t remember any of this. So how can I be sure you’re telling me the truth?”

“Bring me my bag.”

She went and got his bag then he pulled out some pictures of them and showed her some videos. She looked at everything and was shocked. A tear rolled down her cheek as some of the stuff she was seeing was starting to look familiar. Then she came to a video of her sleeping and him coming in singing happy birthday to her. In the video they hugged and kissed, she lowered the camera and looked at him. More tears fell then she wiped her face and said, “I remember some of this, but I still don’t know your name.”

“My name is Aidan Chase. We were engaged and we were planning to leave the group so we could live a regular life but then I lost you.”

“What will we do now? Who shot you?”

“Those men that came in the diner were looking for us. The shot me and we have to get out of here before they come here. I don’t know how they keep finding me.”

“Uh I think I do. I found this as I was looking for the bullet.” She shows him a tracking device. “It shorted out when I pulled it out and threw it in that magnetic pan.”

“Oh shit. What time was that?”

She looks at her watch and say, “That was about two and a half hours ago. Why what’s wrong?”

Aidan jumps up and start gathering stuff and getting dressed. “We got to get out of here.” He said in between movements.

“What’s wrong?”

“It doesn’t take them long to catch up to me and if it was almost three hours ago when you took it out and they haven’t come in then they must be waiting for something.”

“I have a secret way out.”

They run to her secret exit and as she is unlocking the door bullets start to ring out. She hears men yelling as they exit the house.