reality.

chapter one. - longway.

bahja. ❀
june 29, 2014. ┌ flashback 001. ┚

The stars glowed beautifully in the nighttime sky as I occasionally glanced out of the window. Future's I Won played quietly in the background, and everything seemed perfect. Although I was out on a drop with my boyfriend, normally he wouldn't have to drag me along, but I wanted to spend the night with him, so he had no choice. I reclined myself back in my seat and continued to glance out of the window. More gang members began to enter the trap house, based on what I saw.

At that point, my mind started to race even more. Being as though only three people were with him that had been from his gang, I wasn't ready to lose him, and I sure wasn't going to lose him from dealing drugs. As much as I tried not to fear the worst, it was all slowly coming to an end. A part of me wanted to go in there and just pull him out. But he told me to stay in the car at all times for my own safety.

Right as my worries started to increase, I heard gunshots from the warehouse. I jumped up once I heard the sounds and watched people scatter out of the abandoned building. Tears started to trickle out of my eyes when he didn't come out with everyone else.

"This can't be happening right now." I said to myself as police sirens echoed from a distance.

As I was about to finally get out of the car, he and his boys came running from the warehouse with a trash bag over his back. Immediately, I unlocked the doors, and then everyone got in. Once everyone was inside safely, he proceeded to speed away from the warehouse before the cops could even get closer to us. I glanced over at him, and I could see that he was shot in the arm; blood was all over his shirt.

He caught me looking at him, and he reached over and grabbed my hand. "Wipe your eyes; I'm alright, I promise you. You're too beautiful to be crying, baby."

I nodded and wiped my face, holding tighter to his hand. He was my everything, and sometimes I don't know what I'd do without him. We pulled into a dark alley, and he turned off the headlights. I could tell something was about to go down because his facial expression wasn't the same anymore.

"Listen, baby. I want you to go back to the crib with Tremaine and DJ. I don't know if I'll have time to expl—"

I cut him off almost instantly. "What do you mean I have to go back with them? Where are you about to go? Why can't I stay with you?"

"I think you should explain it to her, bro; we have about twenty minutes for you to do so." DJ added to the conversation.

Jacob nodded and then turned his attention back toward me. "I'm about to explain everything to you right now. Things had heated up quickly; somebody fucked with my product, and Chino thought I was playing him. He ended up calling in the rest of his gang, and one of his boys was the first to draw. That's what started the whole shootout, but little did we know this was all planned. Cops were there undercover, and I shot about two of 'em along wit' Chino. The cops are on my ass right now, which is why I need you to go with the boys for a while. I don't want you involved in any of this, nor do I want you to go back to that abuse at home. They'll take care of you; that entire bag of money is yours. All yours. While I'm gone, you gon' be good regardless, understood?"

"What? No! What the fuck, Jake? What were you thinking? I can't try and live life without you. What am I supposed to do when you're about to be in jail? I can't do this."

"Baby, baby. Calm down; listen, it was either I shot back or I would've been the one dead. And you'll survive; I know you will. You will be the perfect independent woman there is." He reassured me. "I only have five more minutes before they come down this street and catch me. Get in the truck with them and lay low with them, alright?"

"Alright. I love you, Jacob." I unbuckled my seat belt and leaned over, kissing him softly on his lips.

"I love you even more, B. Don't worry too much; I'll be back for you soon."

I nodded and looked at him once more. This would be the last time I'm ever going to see him, and it's depressing. Tremaine, DJ, and I got out of the car and walked down the alley to the truck. We got inside, and everything was just quiet.

"It's going to be alright, Bahj. We'll protect you and make sure you good. Just like Jacob wants." Tremaine said with a warm smile on his face.

There was nothing I had to say to anyone at the moment. The police sirens got closer as we pulled out of the alley. We ended up circling the area, and it led us to see Jacob getting arrested. He slowly got out of the car with his hands up, and three officers came and bum rushed him to the ground. It only made the tears come out worse; silent cries turned into louder cries.

"Keep driving, man; she don't need to see that." DJ said as he leaned over and pulled me into his arms.

For the rest of that night, I cried in his chest and then eventually cried myself to sleep. My baby was taken from me, and I didn't know what to do.

— flashback over.

june 29, 2017.

For some odd reason, I didn't feel like doing much today, and I didn't know why. Something was putting me down in the dumps, and I couldn't put my finger on what it was. I sighed and pulled my laptop into my lap, laying back in bed.

"Good morning, beautiful." Chresanto said as he kissed my forehead and then plopped down on the bed beside me. "What do you wanna do today?"

"Nothing; I just don't have the nerve to do anything today. I'm not so sure why, and then on top of that, I had this weird dream last night."

"What was the dream about?"

"There was this mysterious man who was standing in front of me, really close. He knew about my whole dreaming situation but didn't tell me his name. It was incredibly scary, and I don't have a clue who it could be."

He chuckled. "If I find out you've been having dreams about being with Jacob again, I'm going to fight you. But, remember what Nique said he's dead, so he's probably just visiting you again."

"I guess. I don't really know. Anyway, we could sit and watch movies all day. I don't have plans on moving out of this bed, so could you go get us some food?"

"Sure thing, my lady."

I chuckled and turned my attention back to my laptop. Now that he said something, I started doing my research. I don't know what made me want to see if he was actually dead, but I did. I googled his name, and likewise, a police report popped up first. I clicked on it and saw the date he reported there. My mood has finally started to make sense to me now.

Every year on this day, I become this emotional person because I'm stuck with the image of the officers slamming him on the ground just to arrest him. As I was going through his profile, there was no death report date. Instead, there was a release date. I went back to searching for his name and found an article about him that was recently published.

"Felon, Jacob Latimore finally released from murder charges after two years."

So, he isn't dead? What the fuck...—

i told you i wasn't done messing with y'all mind. lmao. /:

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