Kenney: Still Waters Part 2

Chapter 63

        

"Charity?" I tried to keep my eyes open long enough to see her. "What's wrong?" She was just standing there. Staring at me with these huge eyes, all of the blood gone from her face. It reminded me of Sammy when she used to have nightmares. Don't start that shit again. I closed my eyes and started to drift back out.

            Charity just started sobbing out of nowhere, and put her head on my chest. "They shot you, Kenney!"

            "Who?"

            "Rico!"

            "Oh, yeah..." I tried to move her off of me as the memory started floating back in and blended itself with the present. I didn't feel like dealing with her emotions right then. "Where's Jazz?"

            "What?"

            "Jasmine, gul." Was she trippin? I know I was talking out loud. "Where mama?"

            "Kenney...you know she can't deal..."

            I closed my eyes and started to drift back out again. "Get Wallace."

            Charity paused for a minute, probably not expecting me to ask for him of all people, and then walked out into the hallway to get him. A few seconds later, Wallace walked in the room with Charity close behind.

            "Charity..." It hurt to talk. "Get out." She gave me the stink eye. "This man business."

            She was surprisingly cooperative and nodded once before leaving the room. Wallace pulled up a chair and sat down next to the bed.

            "What're you doing here?" I was testing him.

            "You know your mama..." his voice trailed off. "So I been comin' up here wit' Charity instead. She didn't need to be up here alone. In case...anyone showed up." He eyed me. "You been out for a while, son."

            I closed my eyes. Wallace had us. So I knew it was safe to ask my next question.

            "Wallace...get Jazz."

            "Where she at?"

            "I don't know." I opened one eye and then the other and looked at him. "Find my aunt and take her home with you. Don't give her to Rico."

            Wallace nodded. He already knew what was up. He was just like daddy. Rico didn't scare him. Nobody did. That's why I knew it was a safe thing to ask.

            "Take care of her until I get out. Then I got her."

            Wallace nodded again and stood up. "Aight."

            When he left the room, Charity came back in. She walked over to the chair that Wallace had been sitting in, dropped her purse on it and started digging through it. I watched her for a minute, then laid my head back onto the starchy pillows and drifted back to sleep.

            When I opened my eyes again, Charity was dripping oil on my head.

            "The fuck?" I swatted her hand out of my face.

            Charity paused for a second, and then kept dripping the oil like she didn't even hear me. Then she started dipping her finger in it and putting it on the walls.

            "Hell you doin' Charity?"

            "You have demons." She was dead serious. "We have to get them out of here."