“Somebody call 911!” I hollered. Nobody was moving, too busy looking down at my brother. He started to shake like he was cold.
I looked around for Orlando, expecting him to have sprung into action or something, but he was just sitting on the ground with his mouth hanging open. I knew if I didn’t act quickly, I was going to lose Hell.
“I’ll take you in my car, it’s just there!” I heard a voice and looked up to see that it was Kairi. I nodded and then lifted my brother up, placing his arms over my shoulders to help him walk. Blood was still coming out of his mouth, which I didn’t fucking understand.
She ran for her car, and I was right behind her. Didn’t know if Orlando was following me or not, but right now, saving Hell was the only thing on my mind.
Kairi unlocked the car and opened the back door. I helped Hell get in, and then I jumped in next to him. He laid his head in my lap.
Kairi hopped in and sped away.
“Aye, I’m gonna need you to open your eyes for me, big bro,” I said. He was still shaking and muttering something I couldn’tquite make out. I took my jacket off and used it to try to stem the bleeding.
“Hold on. Hold on, we’ll be there soon,” Kairi said from the front. She was driving like her life depended on it.
“Makari,” my brother whispered. Another fit of coughing made more blood seep out of the corners of his mouth.
Why is there blood coming from his mouth though,I thought as I looked down at him.
I used the back of my hand to wipe the blood away.
“Open your eyes for me, okay?” I said. Tears rolling down my face. He nodded and said, “I’m just tired. I want to sleep.”
“Nah, you ain’t allowed to sleep. You hear me?”
Again, he nodded faintly with his eyes still closed. By now, my jacket and the whole front of his white shirt was covered in his blood.
Thankfully, Kairi pulled up at the hospital. She was out of the car and screaming for help.
“Kelechi, we’re here now, bro. Just hold on, okay? Promise me that you will hold on,” I leaned forward to say to him. His eyes were still closed, but I caught his subtle nod.
Hospital staff rushed over and helped me get him out of the car. I helplessly stood back as they wheeled my brother into the back, where I couldn’t follow him. This was the first time he went somewhere I couldn’t go too.
Bro, please don’t go where I can’t follow.
I tried to take a seat, but I couldn’t. My mind was racing, and the guilt was eating me alive. If I’d just put my foot down, that wouldn’t have happened.
A random young nigga walked right up to my brother and shot him. The scene replayed in my mind over and over again. And I realized it was the nigga who shoulder bumped me before we went into the club.
I’d missed him, and he was right in my face.
“My son!”
I turned toward the door when I heard Orlando’s bitch ass voice. Even here, this nigga wanted to make it about himself. Seeing red, I marched his way and grabbed him by his jacket collar.
“Mothafucker, didn’t I tell you something was going to happen! That it was gonna do nothing but make my fucking brother a target!” I gritted in his face.
“I didn’t know, I didn’t know!” Orlando wailed, but I wasn’t trying to hear that shit.
“Nigga, I told you!” I shoved him away from me. “Did you at least catch the nigga?”
When he didn’t answer me, I knew he had let him get away.
I slowly approached and said, “If it wasn’t for my brother, I’d snatch the breath outta you, nigga.”
To be honest, the only reason why I hadn’t dropped this nigga’s body a long time ago was because of Kelechi. As much as I hated this man, I knew my brother loved him and wouldn’t be able to survive without him. Kelechi hung onto every word Orlando spoke.
“He wouldn’t be in this place if he wasn’t listening to you,” I told Orlando. He looked at me, eyes widened and mouth open in shock, but he didn’t have shit to say to me because he knew that I was right. For the last few months, Hell had done everything my father asked him to do until it landed him in this fucking hospital.
