Glass Heart

15

Kennedy slowly sat up in the hospital bed, groaning in pain as Rosetta helped him as best she could. She held a cup of water up to his lips and he drank it.

"You know Jamie startin to have doubts, right?”He stated, slowly stretching out his neck making it crack. "I saw him and that boy from yesterday talkin in the hall" he said referring to Tyreke.

"Think he said something?"

"Yea, I do" he nodded "And you know what needs to be done, don't you?"

Hesitantly, Rosetta stood up from the bed and looked down at her fingers "I-I can talk to him first. Maybe it was nothing" her hand moved up her arm, moving over the fresh track marks.

"No, cause all he'd do is lie. So go home, look under my side of the bed and grab my gun" she bit her lip, trying to keep from crying "And do what you need to do. I expect it done before I get out of here"

Rosetta opened her mouth to speak but thought against it. The last thing she wanted was to upset the man who provided drugs for her.

She ended up driving over to the house and grabbing the gun from under Kennedy's side of the bed. She held the cold steel in her hands and quickly wiped the tears that started to fall. In her mind, drugs and the love of a man were much more important than the lives of her children. That's what drugs do to a person. Joyce looked over at her son, who was busy trying to get in touch with Sage but she wasn't answering the phone. She bailed him out and expected an explanation as to why he was in jail for the night, but didn't get one.

As he requested, Joyce dropped him off at the hospital and he jogged to the room he was told about yesterday. He slowly pushed the door open to see a tall, Hispanic man standing over her with a clipboard in his hands.

"Hello, I'm Dr.Lopez. You are?"

"Her boyfriend. How is she? Did she wake up yet?"

"Nice to meet you, and yes she did. Whatever made her faint really must have had an effect on her because she woke up disoriented. But she complained of a headache so I gave her something for it, which put her back to sleep. She should be up soon though"

Dr. Lopez looked at Kareem and stepped a little closer and lowering his voice as he spoke "I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but she has quite a few bruises on her body. Mainly her back and torso area. Do you think she'd be willing to talk about that to the police?"

Kareem shook his head "As much as I'd like her too, she won't. But because the bruises are old, why haven't they healed yet?"

"That's what happens with deep bruising. It takes a while for them to heal, longer than usual but they look like they'll be gone soon enough"

"Ok, thanks for that"

Dr. Lopez left the room and Kareem took a seat in the chair beside her bed. He grabbed her hand and kissed it, making her turn towards him.

Her eyes were slightly opened "Hey" she mumbled "What happen?"

"You don't remember?”

"Only bits and pieces. Where my mom? Where's Kennedy? "

"Your momma, ion know. But Kennedy, I f****d him up. And when I see him again, imma f**k him up again"

"I was told you went to jail because of what you did" she mumbled.

"I did, but to me it was worth it. And I'll do it again"

"Keemy, don't ruin your life because of me. It’s bad enough I pulled you into my family drama, I don't need you in jail either. "

He ignored her comment and kissed her hand again "How you feelin though? You need somethin?"

"I need you here, with me" Sage said, sincerely "You're the only person I feel I can trust right now. After what Jamie did by bringing Kennedy around me without a warning, he's not sitting right with me"

"That's understandable. Anyone came to check on you yet?"

"You're the only one from what I know"

"Imma call Jamie and tell him to come by" Sage nodded as he released her hand and pulled out his phone. He dialed Jamies number and the call rang and rang.

But went to voicemail.

He tried again but it rang and rang.

Going to voicemail again.

"He's probably busy baby"

Meanwhile across town, the lifeless body dropped to the floor as blood spilled quickly from the bullet wound right through the eyes. The front door opened and was shut closed behind the person as they walked out. They slowly looked back, hurt by what they had to do but knew there was no other choice.