Kairi walked over and placed a hand on my arm. I looked down at her, sighed, and walked away with her before Orlando ended up in a bed beside my brother fucking around with me.
We took a seat in the far corner, far away enough from Orlando, and I dropped my head in my hands.
How the fuck did that nigga catch my brother like that, and how did he get away?
I lifted my head to look at Orlando. The look on his face told me he knew that I was looking to him for the answers, and he better find them soon, too.
Someone stepped through the doors they brought my brother through, and I stood to my feet.
My body stiffened when I noticed the look of regret on his face. The man couldn’t even look me in the eyes, and I knew why.
“Nah, I don’t want to hear that shit,” I spat. The man’s face dropped, and he looked down at my feet.
“I’m sorry. We tried everything, but he just lost too much blood, and we were unable to save him,” he said lowly.
I froze.
Orlando slowly walked our way.
“Wh-what did you just say?”
“I’m really sorry for your loss,” the doctor said.
I closed my eyes. I’d lost my best friend. The only person in this world who truly loved me and accepted me. The one who saw the best in me and pushed me to be better.
I felt my body start to convulse as a gut-wrenching scream erupted from my mouth. Orlando crashed to the ground and hollered. I slapped my head a few times and pressed my back against the wall because I needed its strength to hold me up.
My ears were ringing. The silence in the room hit me in the chest before I exploded.
“This is your fault!” I yelled at Orlando. I attempted to go over to knock his head off his shoulders, but Kairi stopped me.
“I will never forgive you. You hear me?!”
I screamed until my voice went hoarse.
“I’m sorry!” Orlando hollered, but fuck him. If he just listened to me, my brother wouldn’t be dead. So, fuck him and his weak ass sorry.
I clutched my chest—it was squeezing me.
“I can’t, I can’t breathe,” I cried bitterly. Kairi took me by the hand and led me outside to get some air.
The wind made the tears on my face feel like ice. I looked up into the night sky, wondering how I was gonna navigate this life without my older brother.
“I told you not to go to a place I can’t follow you,” I said to the night air. Tears spilling down the sides of my face. “I told you not to go. Not to leave me.”
I just stood there looking up at the moon and stars, knowing I would reach up and grab them just to have Hell back by my side.
“What do we do?” Orlando staggered over to me. “What do we do?” he asked as if I had all the fucking answers, but I didn’t. I was lost.
I dropped my head to look at him, but I had no words. Without saying anything, I pushed my hands into my pants pockets and walked away.
“Makari, let me go with you.” Kairi tried to stop me, but I just shook my head and kept on walking, embracing the fact that I was now all alone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
SHAKUR MOORE
TWO DAYS LATER
