Good Girlz in the Hood : The Chronicles of Ciara

A New Beginning Part 1

Chapter 45

“Wh-what do you mean ‘he’s been stabbed’?” I stammered; if this was a joke, it was far from hilarious

“I mean someone plunged into his body; that is what I mean!” she screamed

I didn’t respond so she spoke again

“Hurry up and just get fucking ready!” she said, hanging up the phone

I jumped out of bed, and picked up some tracksuit bottoms and threw a hooded jumper over my nightshirt. I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth, and rushed into Tyrell’s room whilst doing so

He was still awake; he was sitting up in bed on his laptop.

“Kyle’s been stabbed.” I said, waiting for him to do or say something.

He shrugged. “Are you going to see him?”

I nodded. He sighed, and rolled his eyes

“Let me know what happens then.” He said, turning back to the laptop.

I nodded and walked out and went to rinse my mouth.

**

I walked into the room he was in. He was laying completely flat on the bed; with an oxygen mask covering his face. He also had a patch on his chest monitoring his heartbeat.
 
It hurt me to see him like that. I walked closer and sat down in the chair next to the bed, holding his hand as I sat there. It was the only way that I could feel close to him at that particular moment.
 
I looked at the monitor for his heart, which seemed to be beating extremely fast. His hand was cold and clammy, unlike how they normally felt.
 
I sat there wishing that I could take back all the things I had said to him the last time we had spoken; all the times I had told myself I hated him, all the time we had wasted with stupid arguments etc.
 
Looking back now, and taking it all into perspective; they were all irrelevant. I loved him, he loved me, and we both wanted to be together. Even after everything he had put me through, I knew he was the only person I wanted to spend this current chapter of my life with.
 
Fuck the past, and take the future as it comes.
 
Kyle and I were just one of those couples. We weren't always good when we were together, but we were worse when we're apart.
 
We had been through enough bad times, and still wanted to be together. That proved that what we had together was for real, but not necessarily forever. I wasn't one of these stupid girls who thought they would remain with their teenage love for the rest of their lives.
 
Maybe we would, maybe we wouldn't. Either way, we should've been focusing on the present; tomorrow isn't guaranteed to any of us. The current situation we were in proved that.
 
I didn't want to, but I began thinking about what it would be like for everyone if he died. I had no idea what I would do, and began regretting having the abortion.
 
If I hadn't have gotten rid of that baby, if he died, I would have had a part of him in my life forever. But then if I hadn't had the abortion, I would've been left to raise the baby alone.
 
Meisha and Derome had told me on our way to the hospital that they had been on their way back from a late night film, when Rachel (Kyle's sister) had gotten out of the car to withdraw money from an ATM. A guy had come up behind her, trying to rob her, and Kyle had gotten out of the car to protect her and the guy stabbed him and ran off with Rachel's things.
 
Rachel was being looked after by a nurse, and Derome and Meisha were in the waiting area. There was nothing any of us could do, except sit there and wait to be told news of Kyle's condition.
 
***
 
I had begun to doze off with my head on the bed when a doctor and nurse came into the room.
 
"Who are you, young lady?" The nurse asked.
"His girlfriend" I said, sitting up and stretching. "Is he gonna be okay?" I asked, hoping for the best
 
"Your boyfriend is going to be fine; he's just very heavily sedated at the moment. The stabbing luckily didn't do any lasting damage, he's just going to need a lot of rest and care. We'll probably let him go home once the sedation wears off"
 
They left the room and went towards the room where Rachel was. It was now about 5:30 am, Kyle had been in the hospital since about 1am, but I didn't know when they had sedated him.
Hopefully he would wake up soon so we could finally have a proper conversation. We needed to sort the tension between us, once and for all. It was best for us to make the most of what existed between us, not everyone was lucky enough to have someone who loved them.
 
I fell asleep again, and was woken up by a nurse. I wasn't sure how long I had been asleep, but I noticed the bed was empty...
 
"Oh my God, is he dead?!" I asked, jumping up.
 
"No, no, no. He's just having his wound cleaned up and re-dressed. He'll be back in a few minutes, but I just wanted to ask, how will he be getting home?" She said, looking at me, waiting for an answer
 
"Erm, I think our friend will drive him home." I said, referring to Derome.
 
She nodded and left a jug of water on the bedside cupboard, then left the room.
 
About five minutes later, Kyle was brought back into the room by another nurse. She helped him onto the bed, then left us alone.
 
Neither of us wanted to be the first one to speak, so we sat in silence for a bit. Then he spoke:
 
"I've missed you."
 
"If you hadn't just randomly cut off all contact with me, you would have no reason to miss me. I wouldve probably been with you all this time." I said, rolling my eyes and crossing my arms over my chest.
 
"I thought I was doing the right thing, I didn't wanna be the one bad thing in your life anymore-"
 
"You aren't the one bad thing in my life, I don't know why you would think such a stupid thing! Even if you and I never spoke again, there would still be negative things in my life at some point-" I said
 
"Yeah, but I'm the cause of most of your problems. Ever since we got together I've made you cry, and hurt you so many times. I felt that you deserve better." He said, looking down at his hands
 
"Yeah, sometimes I feel that way, but then when you're doing the lovely, romantic things that we both know you're capable of, I feel like I can do no better than you. But if you don't wanna be with me, I can't force you. Just let me know once and for all, are we doing this or not? We can't let idiots like Trey and Georgia and their lies come between us any longer."
 
"You know I love you; and I want us to be happy. But you have to accept that you're not the first girl that I've been with sexually, and I need to learn to listen when you say something." He said
 
"I never said I can't accept that, I just don't wish to find out any more secrets. If there's something or someone else you've done that you know will upset me if it comes out, tell me now."
 
He nodded and said : "There is nothing and nobody else."
 
"Okay. I don't want you to be offended by what I'm about to say, but its what I need to put my mind at ease..."
 
"Yeah..." He said, waiting for me to continue.
 
"There are just two things I need you to before we can continue on, peacefully. I want you to compile a list of every girl you've been with sexually, and I want us to both get tested for any STD's. We've had sex without using something more than once, so we both need to know that we're clean."
 
He nodded but didn't speak. We sat in silence for a while
 
"And after I do those things, what happens between us?" He asked
 
"We'll live happily ever after, to the best of our abilities."

© Natalie Appiah 2011