Freedom

Jamie’s POV

We sat quietly and peered out of the window watching the lights flicker as they discovered the mess we made. We couldn’t hear but we could tell by the body language, one of us fucked up. Mother was still alive and she knows who struck her. An ambulance arrives; I step back from the window and put the fire out of the fireplace. Lee sucks his teeth and turns from the window. Ciara shivered as she spoke, “she’s alive.”

“No shit. You said she was dead when we left.” Lee snapped

“She was!”

“She wasn’t.”

“They’re gonna come lookin fo us. They gotta tell us the news, ask us questions” I chimed in anxiously.

“Then hold your shit together. You knew what the fuck you were doin when you walked in there.”

I grabbed my cup of tea and thought about what just happened, what I would say, could I shed a tear. The last time I saw her was about two moths ago. She had finally decided to let the grey hair conquer the length of her locs. They brushed against her shoulder when she spoke. Her skin was light like coffee with mostly creamer and hung from her face like a bulldog. She was leaning back in her chair playing with the handle of her mug. We sat in her kitchen.

“I don’ even know you no mo” her voice cracked but was still stern. “You don’ care do you? You sit there.. l-like you’ve outgrown yo momma. Errbody still needs their momma.”

I shifted in my chair but didn’t respond.

“You get some money an-an-and start actin’ like you don’ know folks” she huffed.

“Momma I’m sittin’ right here with you—“

“But ya not hearin me! What you been up to?” She hollered.

“I’ve been— out ma.”

“Imma give you one more chance. You been eatin, I see you gaining weight. Where ya gettin’ this money from” She stood from her chair and placed one hand one the table the other on her hip.

“I haven’t eaten much momma”

“Why you tellin’ lies? Where you gettin that money from? You goin around trickin? You’s a prostitute ain’t ya?” She struck me across the face.

“ No momma! Ciara gave me that money” Tears start to run down my cheek. She struck me again this time I fell out the chair. You could smell she had been drinking earlier that morning. Spit ran down her chin as continued to yell at me. Beer cans were thrown at my head, she screams insults at me as she pushes me around the kitchen and into the living room. I fall onto the floor and curl into a ball, waiting for it to be over. Eventually Ciara bursts through the front door.

“Momma get off her! Get off her!” She shoves momma.

“You bitch!” Momma spat as she stumbled towards the front door. Ciara’s hand bawled into a fist ready to swing. Momma towered over her and let out a huff. “You spilled the milk.” She growled.

“I’ll clean it.”

A month later me and my siblings met up at our place. A cabin in the forest behind mama’s house. It was a good distance away where you could see the outline of her house but she wouldn’t know you existed back there. I lit a candle and set it in the middle of the room, and walked over to Lee.

“Remind me why we’re doing this?” I asked.

“Because she deserves it!” Lee scoffed. “We weren’t allowed to take showers, we don’t have no shoes that fit. Hell, we could only eat when she allowed us too.”

“So— We’re out now, we can live here.”

“We’re out now?” Lee brought his face close to mine and lowered his voice to a whisper “You’re a fucking prostitute, you ain’t make it no where yet.”

“Get outta ha face, Lee. When do we strike?”

“When the lights go out. We strike.”

We waited for hours. Momma loved staying up late or maybe she couldn’t help but stay up late because she slept all day. Either way if we don’t act now the sun will come up soon and more witnesses will be out on the prowl. We walked up to the house, stomping up the stairs to shake the snow off our shoes. The screen door creaked when we opened it. Lee knocked on the front door.

“Momma its me, Lee. Open up.”

“Oh, I see y’all have changed your mind ‘bout livin in that cabin back there. Not too warm back there is it?” She had a smug look on her face as looked down on us. No one replied, just stared blankly.

“Can we come in?”

“You brought something for me?” She rubbed her fingertips and Lee pulled some cash out his pockets.

“That’s rent for tonight, enjoy your stay.”

As we walked through the front door I whispered to Ciara, “She knows about the cabin.” She responded by elbowing me in the stomach. Looking around everything was in the exact same place as it was when we left home. The living room carpet was heavily soiled and dingy. Beer bottles and trash spread across the room. The windows were covered by thick curtains only little light seeped through the crack where the two ends meet. There was a yellowed ac unit hanging out the window complimenting the dull stained walls that surrounded it. The sofa had been so tired out that there were permanent body indents where the three of us used to sit watching reruns of the Fresh Prince of Belair and the Bernie Mac Show, waiting for momma to come home from her night shift. Once the doors closed, our plan began.

We were dressed in all black. Lee had on a hoodie, cargo pants, his black air force 1s and a fanny pack going across his chest. He wore a head band to push his chin length locs out of his face. He struck first with a hammer Ciara had left behind the door months ago. The hammer hit momma just above her ear. She fell to the floor. We began taking turns hitting and kicking her around.. We shouted that she deserves this to keep ourselves from stopping. Ciara took out a small pocket knife and ripped into momma’s chest. Blood was pooled underneath her body. Momma scratched and pulled at us. When we were tired we sat on the couch. We stared at the tv screen watching George Lopez’s face jump across the screen.

“We gotta go. Marty will be here with the mail. He sees us and momma, we’re done.”

“I can’t move Lee.”

“Jamie get the fuck up! You always start to feel sorry for people at the worst times—“

“People? Lee, Jesus Christ! She’s 16. Her momma just died.”

“Momma? That bitch ain’t her momma Ciara.” Lee grabbed me by the collar and dragged me out the house.

“Cee clean up a little and make sure she’s dead. She been doing a whole lotta twitchin in there.”

Ciara’s POV Last Night…

I pained me to watch her lie there, curled up into a ball, hand covering her most painful wound. Lee gave me the honor of making sure she was dead. Truthfully I wanted her to survive. I wanted her to suffer, because we had to suffer. She couldn’t get the easy way out.

“You are such an eye soar.” I nudged at Nioma’s body with my boot.

Nioma moaned as she turned over onto her back. I had to use the bathroom and while I was there I came up with an mischievous idea.

“Mom.” I called playfully.

“Do you need help? I brought something to help clean your wounds.”

I poured bleach onto her arms. Nioma howled and shook. Her tears ran down her cheek as she begged me to stop. She reached to move my hand away but I jerked it back just in time. Then, I pour some on her stomach. Her screams echoed in the house.

“P-please. Please. P-please s-stop.”

Just as I walked to her legs Lee swings the front door open. His eyes widened when he saw the bleach.

“Are you fucking crazy?”

I just stared.

“We can hear her outside. The goddamn neighbors probably hear her too. Kill her and lets go, stop playing round.” He turned and walked out

I threw my knife down by Nioma’s side.

“Kill yourself or I’ll pour more.”

“HELP! Somebody help me! Please!”

The sudden scream of her cry for help startled me. I feel to floor and grabbed the knife and held it to her throat.

“Shut up!” I punched her in her side repeatedly.

“Don’t you ever do that again!”

I stood up to fix my bun. Then walked back over to Nioma.

“Cee! What the fuck! You got two minutes.” Lee busted through the door again.

“Ugh. Play time’s over.” I whispered in her ear.

The knife glided across her throat. I did it twice. Then walked out.

Jamie’s POV

The next morning I shot up from the couch startled by the loud pounding on the front door. Ciara woke up too and shook Lee awake.

“Who do you think it is?” I whispered to Ciara. I sneaked to look out the window but was snatched back by Lee.

“You do one stupid thing after another.” He hissed. “Go to the back room. Both of y’all. Im coming.”

We stood to walk but stopped when we heard a familiar voice.“Lee! Jamie! Ciara! Y’all in there. I seen something bad at the house.”

It was Marty.

“Ciara! You there! Its about your momma.” He groaned.

Moments later after Marty left we saw flashing lights coming from Momma’s house. My stomach turned. I couldn’t help but think we were going to get caught. Soon they’re going to come looking for us and everyone is going to find out the truth. They wouldn’t even be surprised. After all we are the towns most wanted. Or would they have sympathy. Could they understand why we had to steal from them, why we were so quick to fight? Those thoughts ran through my mind while watching the police officers run back and forth from the house to back outside.

I put out the fire to the fireplace, we deserved to be cold after what we did.

“Ciara, you said she was dead.”

“She was. I made sure of it.”

“She clearly wasn’t, what’s all this commotion then if she was dead?”

I chimed in, “They gotta collect evidence. It’s a murder scene in there.”

We face back towards the window. An ambulance arrives and soon momma is being carried out by a stretcher. Then we see Marty. He was talking to a officer and pointing in our direction.

“We gotta go!” Lee shouted. We stumbled to put our shoes on. Lee and Ciara break through the back door of our cabin and ran deeper into the forest. I opened the front door and was met with shouting from police officers and guns pointed in my face. I raised both hands into the air.

“Don’t shoot! I was the one who called you.”

I told them Elliot and Ciara ran deeper into the forest. They were caught. I took a plea deal to testify against them both. Elliot has a temper and Ciara struggles with her mental health. I was scared to leave out of fear for my own safety. Marty was a character witness which just so happened to back up my testimony. I was set free. From everyone who tried to control my life. I was free to live how I wanted to. I spoke these words to momma. She had no choice but to listen cause she was on life support. I leaned over to kiss her forehead.

“Goodbye, momma.” I whispered. The monitor went flat. Nurses and doctors rushed in.

The voices quieter and now all I can hear and the birds chirping. The sun is beaming on my brown skin. I wear my scars proudly. Soon I’ll get a check with a lot of zeroes. Freedom.