Array Ashley - Tale of the Murda Mamas

Boom! Boom!

“No!” I screamed. I felt Murder’s gun directly underneath me and I grabbed it without thinking, and still lying on the ground, I scrambled backwards and fired.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The dude dropped instantly and in the blink of an eye, and behind some beef that I did not even own, I’d caught my second body.

Flashes of Perry came back to me. I started to relive that nightmare all over again… Anisa’s screams in my ear, the baby she had killed because of him… all of the sudden the man lying before me dying was Perry. The dude was scrambling, holding his stomach and choking on his own blood. Shakily, I stood to my feet, walked over to him, and put the gun to his head. I pulled the trigger again and again and again, until the click of an empty chamber forced me to stop, and his blood splatter covered my shirt.

“Oh my God! Oh my God!” Anisa yelled out. “I’m so sorry, Murder! I’m so sorry!”

I could hear sirens in my ears, but I couldn’t force myself to move. My feet felt like they were made of cement.

“Miamor, help me… he’s shot!”

I was in a daze. I heard Anisa calling my name, but it wasn’t until I heard Murder call me that I snapped out of it. “Miamor!” he called out sternly. I turned my head, my chest heaving, tears in my eyes, and distress in my heart. “I need you, ma!”

His shirt was soaked in blood, and Anisa helped him to his feet. He cringed in pain as her hands searched his body. “Where are you hit?” she asked, the sirens getting clearer.

Murder lifted his shirt to reveal the vest he wore underneath. “It’s just a shoulder wound,” he stated. “Come on, we’ve got to get out of here,” he said with urgency.

He led Anisa back to her car and put her in the passenger side. She was crying and kept apologizing over and over. “Get in the car, Anisa!” he yelled as he stuffed her inside and closed the door. He then came over to me. The sounds of the police were right around the corner now. I knew they would be here at any minute.

I looked up at Murder. “I shot him!” I whispered. My hands were shaking. The second murder of my life had not been as easy to commit as the first. This one shook me to the bottom of my soul. Did he have kids? A wife? He was somebody’s son. Did he deserve to die? All of these things ran through my mind in a split second.

Murder put his hand on the side of my face. “I know what you’re feeling, ma.”

I couldn’t look him in the face.

“Look at me,” he said. “You did what you had to do. Now, I need you to get your head together and fast. I need you to get out of here. Take this gun and take care of it for me. Listen to me, Miamor, it’s important.” He grabbed my shoulders and stared at me intensely. “No weapons, no body, no murder. I need you to make that happen. I’m trusting you, lil’ mama. I’ll distract the police away from you.”

“You’re hurt! What about you? He’s dead. They’ll arrest you,” I said as I shook my head.

“Just do it!” He pushed me inside the car and hit the top of the roof. “Drive, Miamor. Go now!”

I skirted out of the dead end and took off down the road as I watched him run back and get into his car. I made a right off of the dead end street just as a police car was pulling onto it. Then, Murder turned recklessly to the left and sideswiped the police car purposefully to get them to follow him.

“Oh my God! Miamor, they’re going after him! Why did I do this? This is all my fault! That’s not even me, Mia. I don’t even do shit like this!” Anisa cried hysterically.

“Shut up, Anisa!” I yelled. “What’s done is done. You have to calm down. I have to get rid of this gun, and we need to lay low. I can’t think with you in my ear with all that crying.”

Anisa sat back in her seat and muffled her cries, while I found myself driving back into the city. I worried about going across the bridge and paying the toll. I was paranoid. If by some chance the police had gotten the plate number on Anisa’s car, then they would be waiting for us for sure. If the car got searched, then it would be a wrap, because the murder weapon was under my seat with my prints all over it.

When I came to the toll, I felt like my heart was going to explode. I was sweating, my face was swollen from being slapped to the ground, and I knew I looked a mess. The worker didn’t even look my way as she took my money and allowed me to enter New York.

“Where are we going?” Anisa asked.

“I have to do something,” I replied quietly. “It’s important.” I found myself driving to Queens, to the pawnshop that Murder had taken me to when I first got out. I was surprised that I remembered where it was, but instinct led me there. He had told me to get rid of the gun. This is the only way I knew how to.

It was too early for the pawnshop to be open, so we waited. Anisa eventually fell asleep, but I couldn’t. Not after everything that had gone down. I was wide awake and more afraid than I had ever been. The moon disappeared as the sun kissed the city streets and welcomed a new day. Hours had passed, and when I finally saw the owner approach the pawnshop, I jumped out of the car and met him at the front door.

“I need your help,” I said frantically.

He looked at me curiously, probably wondering what hell I’d been through since my face was bruised and there was still blood all over me. “Murder sent me. I need to get rid of a gun.”

The older man nodded and ushered me inside, then locked the door behind us. I put the gun on the counter the same way I had seen Murder do months before.

“It’s five hundred each gun,” he said.

“I don’t have any money,” I admitted.

“I’m not running a charity, girl. Five hundred is my price,” he stated.

I held the car key to Anisa’s whip in my hand. I held it up for him. “Take the car.”

“For a five hundred dollar debt you are giving me a brand new car?” the man asked suspiciously.

“Look!” I yelled in desperation. “I need to get rid of this gun. I don’t give a fuck about the car. How much is the car worth?”

“I’ll give you ten grand for it,” the man stated. “Fine. Give me $9,500 and make this gun disappear,” I settled.

He nodded, and I followed him to the basement where the barrels of acid were located. After watching the gun dissolve in the acid, I felt relieved.

“You need anything else?” he asked, and motioned toward the wall of guns and weapons.

I nodded. After what I had just done, I didn’t want to be caught slipping. I had no idea what type of repercussions would come from my actions, and I wanted to be prepared. “Give me something small.”

The old man pulled a small black.25 from the wall. “How does that feel in your hands?” he asked.

I gripped the tiny handgun and nodded my head in approval. “I’ll take it.”

I rushed out of the shop to find Anisa waiting anxiously in the car. “Get out,” I instructed.

“What do you mean, get out? What’s happening?” she looked terrible. Her eyes were bloodshot from crying and she had bags full of worry.

“I sold your car,” I said.

“What?” she exclaimed.

“Nis, this car can be traced back to that murder scene. It’s not worth it.” I split the money I had left with her. “We’ll take the subway back home. We need to wait to hear from

Murder.”

“How did you know where to go to get rid of the gun?” she asked.

I stopped walking and turned toward her. “Murder taught me,” I replied.

Carter sat inside the Diamond Estate… his father’s home… now his home, and sighed in angst from his current circumstance. He had been released from jail just weeks before because the prosecutor’s star witness, Ace, suddenly had a change of heart. Carter smiled, knowing that Mecca and Zyir had came through for him and got him off the hook. Now that he was out, he had more important things on his mind instead of prison. Mecca sat across from him, cautiously watching Carter.