I looked wide-eyed at my brother’s limp body and then slowly my eyes went to Ramone.
“Thought you could stay away from me, you bitch?”
I moved to the bathroom hoping it had a window when I was suddenly hit with, shit, I don’t know how many volts of electricity and I hit the ground hard.
Unbearable pain ran through my body as I screamed out in agony.
This can’t be happening to me.
I closed my eyes, my last thoughts being how disappointed Brad would be in me. I thought that was the end, so you can imagine how surprised I was when my eyes suddenly fluttered open. I turned my head just in time to see Ramone remove a needle from my arm.
My brain was so scattered that I didn’t have a clue what was going on, but I knew Ramone did something to me. I could feel it running through my veins.
“What did you just give me?”
Ramone frowned. “You think you could just fuck me over? All you had to do was fight in one more fight… That’s all you had to do.”
Whatever he put in my arm was starting to make him go in and out of focus. The room started spinning uncontrollably and I started to panic. I’d been clean for years. I’d never done hard drugs, but whatever he gave me started making my heart rate increase as if it was going to bust out of my chest.
“What have you done to my brother?” I said to him.
“Why don’t you worry about what I’m going to do to you?”
I started to get up when he punched the shit out of me, not once but twice before he pounced on me.
He placed all his weight on me, and I could feel him touching me, caressing me but I couldn’t stop him. I couldn’t move anything. Every part of me felt like it weighed a ton. My eyelids felt as if they were bricks and I had no choice but to close them.
I could feel the bed shift and suddenly felt Ramone’s hot breath on my face, his smell taking over my nostrils, burning me from the inside out right along with whatever was coursing through my body.
“I heard you like to get high,” he whispered, in my ear. “So I made you something very nice. Something that will make you feel real good at first, but that won’t last long. You’ll start to feel an enormous amount of pain right before your heart explodes. But hell, it’s not like anyone will miss you.”
I felt him lick my face and then heard him laugh.
“Leave me alone,” I managed to say, albeit weakly.
“Don’t you worry. I plan to… I plan to. When they find your body, it will look like you overdosed and with your track record no one will dispute it. And best believe I’ll get to that bitch you’re hiding. Yeah, I’m thinking that’s what I’m going to do. Right after I kill that cop’s brother staying at the Aloft. What’s his name? Brad, right?”
“No, please,” softly fell from my lips. I tried to will myself to move, but I couldn’t.
Shit. I opened my eyes just in time to see Ramone grinning from ear to ear just before darkness suddenly took over my senses.
Then suddenly, as if a curtain went up on a stage play, I was laying poolside dressed in a white bikini, getting some much-needed sun. I had a tropical looking drink next to me, the sky was blue and so was the ocean. It was paradise.
I started to smile and looked around to see who was in paradise with me. I turned to the left and saw my brother and Lock. They were drinking beer and smiling at each other. That alone should have triggered some alarm bells but it didn’t. I didn’t know how to explain the feeling that came over me. It’s as if my brain was signaling that something wasn’t right, except I felt content with what I saw.
Lock and Terrence were looking off to my right, so my eyes traveled to see what had their attention and I saw Brad. He was dressed in an all-white linen suit, looking good enough to eat. He had a huge smile on his face and he was looking over at us. I smiled back and was about to get up to go to him when the brightest smile came over his features. He turned away from us and stood with his arms open.
I stretched to see who he was expecting and nearly passed out as I watched Nora jump in his arms and wrap herself around him. I couldn’t move. My heart started breaking instantly and when he brought her lips to his I heard “No” rip through paradise as if the words never came from my lips.
I opened my eyes abruptly to darkness and thought I was in hell, but the harsh sound of my heart beating in my ears told me I wasn’t there yet. Yes, I still had time. If only I could...
I sat up, trying not to vomit from the vertigo and realized I was alone. I needed to get out of here.
I moved to the front door, but the moment I stood and started walking, my legs went from under me. This feeling, something I never felt before, came over me. I just lay there on my back looking up at the ceiling.