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She turned the corner where her apartment building
was and saw Chico and his gang hanging out in front of it. She slowed her
steps down, trying to think of a way to avoid dealing with them tonight.
She was too exhausted to put up with their lewd remarks or worse, one of
them trying to pinch her ass like some immature schoolboy. She usually
tried to stay quiet and not look at them in hopes they would ignore her.
They didn’t even live there but they sold drugs
out of an empty apartment on the first floor. None of the residents liked
it but they all lived in fear of Chico and his gang. One of her neighbors,
Mr. Lopez, had tried to tell them to leave or he would call the police.
They had beaten him and put him in the hospital. After that everyone made
sure to stay out of their way.
She noticed Chico was arguing with a man who was
wearing different colors than Chico and his boys. The colors they wore
indicated which gang they were from. If luck was on her side, maybe she
could sneak into the building quickly and quietly without them noticing
her. She jumped and screamed when she heard a loud pop. The man fell to the
ground bleeding and holding his chest. Chico shot him! She stood there for
a second in complete shock watching the man bleed on the sidewalk.
Santos, one of Chico’s boys, turned and looked at
her. He said something to Chico, who was still holding the gun and started
walking her way. Lacy didn’t stick around to see what he wanted. She turned
and ran as fast as she could down the street. She crossed the street,
dodging cars and people who were beeping their horns at her. She heard
yelling and running footsteps behind her. The fear of being caught made her
speed up. She was almost at another crosswalk when Santos grabbed her by
her long hair. He turned her around and grabbed her arms in a tight grip.
She winced with pain, but she fought back, kicking his legs.
“Ow! Stop fighting me, you stupid bitch. Chico
wants to talk to you,” he yelled, shaking her hard.
“Yeah, right,” she said sarcastically, desperately
trying to pull away. She knew Chico wanted to kill her, not talk to her.
A cab driver stopped at the red light, rolled down
his window, holding his cell phone up, and yelled out, “Leave the girl
alone, punk. I called the police already.”
Santos turned with an evil look toward the man and
loosened his hold on Lacy. “Mind your own business before you get hurt,
mister.”
While he was distracted Lacy brought her knee up
and kneed him in his groin as hard as she could. Santos bent over in pain
and Lacy took that opportunity to run, hearing the cab driver laughing
behind her, yelling out his window, “Run, girl!”
Ahead she saw a parked car with open windows in
front of a bar. She looked behind her but didn’t see Santos or any of the
others. She checked to see if the car was unlocked. She opened the back
door slowly without making any noise and got in. She squished herself down
to the floorboards and held her breath, trying to be quiet. If they found
her, she was dead.
A few seconds later she heard Chico yell. “She has
to be here somewhere. Find her and kill her now. Check inside the bar.”
She didn’t know how long she hid in the car,
afraid to get out, but it was cold and dark outside. She got out and her
legs cramped up. She groaned with pain and straightened her legs out.
Thankfully the owner had never come out to check his car.
Now what? Should she go to the police? Would it be
her word against Chico’s? She was sure they would have dragged the body
away by now; they weren’t dumb criminals. If the police had no proof of any
crime taking place, then they wouldn’t protect her and Chico would kill her
for sure. She was friendly with the other waitresses at work but not close
enough to ask any of them to risk their lives by hiding her. Besides, she
wouldn’t want anyone in harm’s way because of her. No, she was completely
alone. She wanted to break down and cry with frustration and fear at the
realization.
“Hey, lady! You getting on or what?” a voice
yelled in the darkness.
Lacy jumped with fright and turned to see a city
bus driver talking to her. She hadn’t noticed she was standing in front of
a bus stop. The sign on the front of the bus said downtown, so she
hopped on, wanting to get out of this neighborhood before Chico or one of
his boys found her. Once downtown she saw the Greyhound station and decided
maybe getting out of Detroit might be the best thing to do until she could
figure a way out of this mess. She found an ATM and took money out. She
bought a ticket for whichever bus was leaving first. She wouldn’t be able
to calm down until she was as far away from Chico as possible.
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