The Finale Read online

  When Lisa’s mother died, she finally felt the burden of being a mother. Tasha had grown so attached to her grandmother, she even thought she was her mother, calling her Mama, and Lisa by her first name.

  Lisa met a man by the name of Glenn, a pimp in the neighborhood. He was in no way as successful as Ray, but Lisa was drawn to him. In some way, he reminded her of Ray.

  Glenn introduced Lisa to weed. She liked the way it made her feel and began to smoke it so much, it didn’t get her high anymore.

  Then he introduced her to cocaine, telling her, “It makes you feel good.” Lisa used to snort a little cocaine with Glenn, but that quickly grew old. Eventually she needed a new high, and Glenn provided that too. And so it was that she got hooked on heroin.

  Notes

  Halleigh looked up into the blue Baltimore sky as the clouds passed her by. It was so beautiful the way the billowy pillows formed above her. A tear slid down her face as she realized that she was on her way to live amongst them. At least she hoped that she was going to be with God. She had done so much dirt in her life, walked through so many fires. She had already felt everlasting pain and had been to hell. She felt like she had been there and back, so surely in her dying moment God would let her into his pearly gates.

  As she felt the life leave her body she heard her son screaming. He was crying out . . . a shrill desperate cry as if he was begging for her to stay with him. It was like he knew what was happening. Her blood-soaked shirt made her feel cold, and as her eyes searched Malek’s, she knew he was thinking the very same thing that she was at that moment. I love you.

  It had all been for him, everything she’d ever done, and even though it had led to this, there wasn’t a thing she would take back. If she had to do it all over again to be with him, she would. He was worth it. He was her prince.

  Everyone has a story to tell. Every tear has an origin. Every wrinkle on every face has a reason for being there. Her story was tragic, and Malek was her starring character, but amidst the bullshit, amidst the agony that had been her life, he was her silver lining. The son that they had made together was her silver lining.

  She had loved hard and had played the game harder. Now it was her time to experience the flip side of the game.

  When the bullet had entered her chest, she felt a brief moment of excruciating pain, but it was more like shock. It was like a punch to the sternum that had knocked the wind from her and caused her mouth to drop in an O of surprise. Then she saw the blood and felt the concrete as she fell. This was not a game. This was really the end.

  She saw Malek began to convulse. He had been shot so many times, there was no way he was going to live through this one. His expiration was here. Endless tears began to flow from her doe-shaped eyes. She wanted to call his name, to tell him how she felt, but the blood that filled her throat choked her. It suffocated her. She couldn’t even purse her lips to say the words, but as she looked into his dwindling eyes, she knew that he knew.

  He knew exactly what she wanted to express, because he felt the same way. They were young, they were in love, and they were dying for that love. Together.

  I can’t believe this is how this is going to end. After everything, after all of the obstacles, the haters, the drugs, the murder, the escape, we’re dying on a cold street in a city that has never shown us any love. We’re not even home. This isn’t Flint, and I’m lying here bleeding on this city street.

  Baltimore had been no better to her than her hometown. In fact, it had sucked the life right out of her lovely bones. If she was going to come here and die, she could have stayed in Flint to fight amongst her own jungle.

  They say your entire life flashes before your eyes when it’s your time to go, but Halleigh didn’t need any mental playback of her life. She had lived it. She had survived the worst, and now that it was time to die, she only wanted to think about the good in her life. So she stared at the clouds and watched them pass her by as she thought of her family, her sweet son and Malek.

  She could see feet around her, and she felt a hand reach down to touch her neck.

  “Get a bus out here! She’s barely alive, but she’s alive!” she heard someone cream.

  It didn’t matter how quickly help came. Halleigh knew she would never leave the city block breathing. She could feel her body giving up. When Malek took his last breath he had written her future, so she had no reason to hold on, no reason to live. Without him, she was dead anyway.

  As her blood continued to flow, she was grateful she didn’t have to go alone. She knew Malek was waiting for her to pass on. Only in the afterlife would they find the peace they had searched for in life.

  The sound around her dissipated, and even the sound of her son crying ceased. It’s time, she thought. She felt her last breath leave her body and voluntarily submitted to the grim reaper, to be reunited with Malek, the love of her life.

  Urban Books, LLC

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  Flint Book 7: The Finale ©copyright 2010 Urban Books, LLC

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior consent of the Publisher, except brief quotes used in reviews.

  ISBN: 978-1-6016-2271-6

  This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living, or dead, or to real locales are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places, and incidents is entirely coincidental.

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