1
Thursday, October 26th
The sound of Krist’s phone vibrating on the nightstand next to him caught his attention. It wasn’t like he was sleeping anyway with Atira’s possible pregnancy weighing heavy on his mind.
He sat up, glancing over at his wife as he reached for the phone. She was curled up in fetal position at the edge of the bed, an arm’s length away from him. Krist felt like she was trying to be as far away as physically possible and quite frankly, it made him feel like trash.
The caller ID read “Tia Marisol”. Krist immediately knew something was wrong as she rarely called as it was and the fact she was calling in the middle of the night meant something very, very bad had happened.
“Hey, what’s up?” Krist answered in a hushed voice, doing his best not to wake Atira or their sleeping baby.
All he could hear was sobbing, he could barely make out what she was trying to say other than “Fernando...Fernando.”
His stomach sank. After asking a few clarifying questions, he was able to make out that Fernando had been shot, was in the hospital and the prognosis was grim.
Fuck.
He ended the call, shaking Atira gently until she stirred, “Babe, I need to go down to Legacy Emanuel,” he whispered.
Atira sat up, confused, “What?” She mumbled groggily.
“Marisol just called me, she said somebody shot Fernando and that he’s in bad shape.”
“Oh my gosh!” Atira said, hugging the blanket to her chest, “Is he going to make it?”
“I honestly don’t know, baby,” Krist told her, trying to fight back the shakiness in his voice.
Atira squeezed his hand, “Let me know when you get an update, ok?”
Krist nodded, climbing out of bed, careful to not bump Gabriel’s Snoo bassinet as he searched for his Nike slides.
“Drive safe, babe, I love you.”
Krist’s stomach was in knots as he merged into the i-5, accelerating to a ridiculously stupid speed.
Fucking Fernando.
It wasn’t asurpriseto anyone that he’d gotten shot. Shit, someone had done a drive-by on his house barely a few weeks prior? Thank god his family had been unscathed. Physically anyway.
Emotionally was another story. His wife, terrified for the safety of herself and their children, had decided the drive-by was the final straw, packing them up and leaving Fernando for good.
Fernando was always involved in some sort of dirt or another whether it was gang-related, dope, or women. There were a lot of people out there who probably hoped to see him dead. Krist could assume that whoever shot up his house was the same person who’d finally gotten a hold of him earlier that night, though it might have been someone else completely.
The life Fernando led was one where an early death or prison was inevitable but Krist hoped to god that his homie would live to see another day. The two had been tight since Krist was a dumb ass teenager who was dating Fernando’s little sister, Nina.
And despite all the shady shit Krist had done to Nina, the two became good friends. Fernando hadn’t thought less of him for it, partly because it didn’t affecthislife and partly because for Fernando to judge him, he would be a hypocrite. A hypocrite was someone Fernando was not.
The closer Krist got to the hospital, the more his anxiety ramped up. Not just because of Fernando but over the fact the last time he’d gone to that same hospital, he was bleeding out and nearly died.
It had been almost a year exactly, Krist had been working the door at one of Portland’s many strip clubs when an altercation broke out with some piece of shit clicks and the bouncers. Amid the scuffle, one of them had stuck Krist three times. Once in the scalp, a small superficial one on his left side, and a final one that hit his spleen.
He’d needed a splenectomy and a few days in the hospital but beyond that and a little bit of emotional trauma, he was all-good.
Fuck, it was wild to think that was only a year ago. So much shit had happened in that last year. He had reconnected with Atira, gotten stabbed, moved her in barely two months into their relationship, married her, had Gabriel, and from the way things were looking, a second baby with her. That was if she was pregnant and decided to continue the pregnancy...but that was another topic at hand that he didn’t want to think about at the moment.
Drama was popping off in the parking of the emergency room when Krist pulled in. It looked like a girl and a dude stomping on another girl, as Krist got out and walked closer, he realize the dude was just a super masculine chick...and the girl involved in the beatdown was fuckingKarla.His oldest son’s biological mom. Which was also another story for another day.
And the girl on the ground getting her ass handed to her? Adriana. One of Fernando’s side pieces by whom he had two kids.
He hadn’t ever had an issue with Adriana and couldn’t stand seeing her get her ass beat like that. Fuck it. He was gonna have to get involved.
Karla weighed next to nothing, the masculine-presenting friend was not small though.
Krist was able to intervene enough to scoop Adriana up and get her to her feet, taking a couple of blows from Karla and her friend.
“You fucking bitch, you’re lucky I’m pregnant,” Karla yelled at him, as though she wasn’t just stomping on the head of another female. It hadn’t registered to herwhohe was, something Krist had been thankful for.
He helped Adriana walk away from her attackers, “Are you going to get looked at?” Krist asked, taking off his shirt so she could clean the blood from her face.
Adriana sniffled, dabbing the open gash on her forehead, “No, they’d try to make me file a police report and I ain’t trying to fuck with that. That bitch gone get hers, though. On god.”
Krist examined her face, “Bro, you look like you need stitches.”
She gave a half smile, “Really, it’s fine. Besides, your brother can stitch me up.”
“What happened with Karla?” He asked her.
Adriana rolled her eyes, “Bitch has had beef with me since she came back to town.”
“Fuck her,” Krist laughed, zipping his hoody up over his bare chest. She attempted to hand him back his shirt, he shook his head, “You can keep it, toss it, give it away. I don’t care, I’ve got like twenty of them shirts at home.”
He then realized he would have to explain why he came home shirtless to his wife who was already less than happy with him, “Fuck it, I’ll take it,” he told her.
Adriana handed the shirt back, “Thanks again, Krist,” She smiled.
“You going in?” He asked her.
Adriana picked at her broken acrylic nail, “No. I’m not trying to have any more problems with that fucking bitch and herboyfriend. I don’t even know why I came, I’m sure his wife is gonna be out here soon.”
When she began to cry, Krist wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tight. “He better not die on us,” she wept.
Krist made sure she safely made it back to her car, joking that it was like old times when he would escort her from the club to her ride after closing. He took her number, offering to text her any updates he had.
His adrenaline had stopped once he set foot into the waiting room of the Emergency Room. He scanned the room, looking for a familiar face, and saw none.
Krist approached the registration desk, an exhausted-looking woman staring up at him, “Can I help you?”
“A family member of mine is here, he got shot,” he stammered, struggling to get the words out.
“Name?”
“Fernando...Hernandez?”
The receptionist typed something, “You’ll want to go back to the Family Consult room,” She pressed a button, the doors swinging open, “Through those doors.”
A perky nurse approached the desk, “Where am I taking him?”
“The family room, he’s here for Fernando Hernandez.”
“Right this way,” the nurse smiled, leading Krist down a sterile corridor, her ponytail bouncing with each step.
She led Krist to a private waiting area, “There’s coffee, tea, water,” she told him, opening the door.
“Thanks,” he mumbled.
He entered the turquoise-colored room, hugging Marisol followed by Nina.
“Any update?” Krist asked carefully.
Marisol dabbed her bloodshot eyes with a tissue, “Just that he is in surgery and they’re trying to stabilize him,” she sniffled, “They still don’t know if he is going to...”
“Fuck, dude,” Krist exhaled, hugging Marisol again. He took a seat between the two women, “So what happened?”
“All we were told was that he was leaving Adriana’s apartment and that he was shot in the back when he was opening his car door,” Nina said.
“I saw her out in the parking lot,” Krist said.
“Yeah, she rode in the ambulance with him,” Marisol replied.
“Did you know Karla is here?”
Both women stiffened. “No,” they said in unison.
“You saw her?” Marisol asked.
“Fuck, I had to pull her off Adriana.”
Nina and Marisol exchanged horrified looks. “How did she even know to come here?”
Nina wanted to know.
“Fuck if I know. Bro, Karla said she’s fuckin’ pregnant. When I got her off Adriana, she was like ‘bitch, you’re lucky I’m pregnant!’ She didn’t realize it was me though.”
Marisol buried her face in her hands, “Ay Dios mío,” she murmured, shaking her head.”
“God, please don’t let her be pregnant,” Nina said.
“Fuck, for real. Bitch shouldn’t be having no more kids.”
Two hours passed with no news on Fernando, leaving the family unsure if that was a good or bad sign. Atira had called to get an update on his status, Krist told her what he knew, filling her in about the drama in the parking lot.
Angelina showed up around that time, she’d left her kids with Marisol’s husband, Chris, and Lisette, letting them know they were not aware of what had happened to Fernando.
“I just don’t have the heart to tell them,” she wept, “I don’t know what I’m going to do if he doesn’t pull through. Victor is already having such a hard time as it is, he’sangrywith me for leaving. He needs his father.”
“Who do you think shot him?” Nina wondered aloud.
Angelina wiped her eyes with her acrylic fingernails as she shook her head, “You know we don’t talk about those things.”
Krist recalled Fernando once telling him that if he was gonna be doing dirt, never talk to your girl or any bitch, about what it was. ”If you get caught up, the first person they always wanna talk to is your girl, and nine outta ten times, she gonna roll on you.”
Angelina continued, “I think that little bitch Adriana is involved somehow. Nando wasn’t active like he was no more. Funny that it happened right when he left her spot.”
“Why would you think her?” Krist asked cautiously.
Angelina laughed dryly, “You don’t know the snakey bitch like I do.”
g here…
