' 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗗 𝗠𝗘 𝗦𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗜𝗡 ' › D. SWING

06.

MARY.

I opened the front door as I walked into my house, closing it behind me and dropped the keys onto the table in the foyer. Stepping out of my shoes, I left them by the doorway before heading down the hallway to my bedroom, eager to wash the sweat off of my body as I had just come from my morning run. Honestly, it was my way of keeping my mind off of the drugs but could only do so much. I was still very much an addict and feared that I'd never be free from the urge of getting high. I wanted to get clean but I had too much work that needed to be done to go to some rehabilitation facility. Maybe some day but not now.

I walked into my bedroom, releasing a sigh of relief as I headed over to the phonograph I had on the tv console and placed the cartridge onto the vinyl record, Funkadelic's I Wanna Know If It's Good to You beginning to play through the speaker.

Making my way to the bathroom, I flip the light switch, quickly jumping back with my hand placed over my chest as I see DeVantè sitting on the rim of my bathtub.

"Hey, Mary. How you been?", he inquired with no true concern. His eyes were lifeless as he looked at me, a small grin playing along his lips while the pads of his fingers brushed along the top the water he had ran.

I could feel my chest tighten as my breathing became rigid, fear rushing over me, "I'm—I'm okay. What are you doin' in here? How did you—"

"So many questions", he dragged out as he had slowly risen from the rim of the tub, beginning to move his feet while walking over to me. "You know... Recently, someone told me I was similar to Suge and well, it kinda' hurt my feelings. Then after I thought about it, I no longer took it as an insult but of inspiration", he continued, now standing directly in front of me. "You see, Suge had a way of handlin' things when he was disrespected and that got him the results he wanted. So, I was thinkin' maybe I should go that route, you know? Give it a test run. See what happens...", he trailed off, his voice dark and his gaze cold, sending chills down my spine. Suddenly, his hand had grasp onto my chin forcefully, making me look at him, "I thought I told you to clear things up wit' K?"

Shit.

"I was gonna'—", I started to say but the index finger of his other hand had founded its way to my lips.

He kept his gaze intense and I grew silent, "Shh." He slowly began to smile at me, revealing his pearly white teeth, "I don't wanna' hear what you were gonna' do, Mary. JoJo told me all about your lil' pop-up at K's house. If anything, you kept the lie goin', which is the exact opposite of what I told you to do. Am I right?" I frantically nodded my head, about to speak up again to defend myself only for his hand to grip my chin harder, a rush of pain causing me to groan and wince, "You know, Mary... I never really liked you. From the moment I met you, you were trouble and ended up gettin' Rhonda in some shit she'll have to live wit' for the rest of her life. And now, you decided to add more to it and fuck wit' me and K's friendship." He chuckled, shaking his head, "You know you done fucked up, right?" I panicked as he snapped his fingers and whistled, hearing heavy footsteps come from out the corner and into the bathroom, feeling to sets of hands grasp onto both of my arms and dragging me toward the bathtub as DeVantè stepped aside and watched.

"D-DeVantè, please! Come on, now! Don't do this—Wait, wait—", I begged as one of the guards lifted my legs and stretched them out behind me while the other held onto my upper-half, tilting me downward and pushing my face into the water. I shook my head, squirming and attempting to fight my way out of their grip but it was useless. They were far too strong. After what seemed like hours of struggling, my head had finally resurfaced and I choking and coughing up the water that had made its way down my throats before gasping, sobbing, "I'm sorry, alright?! Just give me another chance to fix it! I'll fix it!" Before I could say anything else, he nodded at the guards and I was under the water once again, struggling to breath as the water had began to fill my lungs. I could feel myself drifting in and out of consciousness and finally, I was out of the water and laying against the tile floors of my bathroom, coughing with blurred vision as he paced in front of me then retrieved something from his pocket. I grew nervous, slowly sliding back only for one of guards to place his boot onto my neck and I winced.