$TREET$

Candice wake up Candice wake up every body stand back......

As Candice wakes up in the Kings County Hospital with little to no memory as to what happened the night before so she thinks but little Candice knows she had been in the hospital for a little over four days with a minor concussion and a few contusions and three broken ribs she wondered what and the hell happened to her. Thank God you are awake says a familiar voice as Candice looks to her left and sitting to her side is the only person she remembers running from. Hi baby girl I'm so glad you’re awake I been here the entire time. (WTF its Luther Candice's pimp) she begins to cry and look away when he grabs her by the arm and whispers in her ear (I told you bitch you can't get away from me) then suddenly the nurse walks in and says Ahh Mrs.Hall glad to see you have woken up ill go and get the Doctor as she presses some buttons on the machine over Candice bed. Im sure your glad to see your wife has finally woken up, had us worried didn't she laughs the nurse and Luther. Yes I am I'm so happy she's awake now she can get better so I can take her home. I know thats right Mr.Hall he interrupts no its Mr.Shea Oh I'm so sorry about Mr. Shea. Do you need anything Mrs.Hall? Water Candice replies in a raspy tone as she try to clear her airways Umm honey try not to do that don't want to damage any more then what is done. Ill be back with your water Mrs.Hall and the Doctor asap. While unsure of what Luther was planning on next Candice lays there and agrees with Luther and said she will never try and run from him again. He laughs and says to her I know you won't because the net time you just might die. As he strokes her face and kisses her forehead and began to leave but just as he opens the door he turns to Candice and says I gotta go get my money from my other hoes but remember you are daddy bottom bitch and he leaves the room. Candice began to break down just as the Doctor walks in with the same nurse as before and says Mrs.Hall things will be alright I know the shock of things may have you feeling all hope is gone but just you know we here at King's County Hospital take great care of our patients. and just as Candice began to explain her reason for crying the doctor walks out the room the nurse looks at Candice and ask her wats wrong honey from past experience those look like tears of fear. let me guess that man is not your husband is he? Candice looks at the nurse but says nothing the nurse then says to Candice listen child its up to us as woman to look after one another and our children oh and I know them tears trust me I do so you can talk to me. I'm tryna get you some help girl. Candice silently speaks out but he will kill me as she cries even harder. no you listen to me I have a very close friend deals with battery and domestic abuse in our community and I will be happy to give her a call and they would even pick you up from here. Do you have a place to stay once you are discharged from the hospital? Candice I live with him and six other women. Thats fine ill let her know you also need shelter trust me dear we are gonna get you the right help. As she smiles at Candice and leaves the room to call her friend. Knock knock hey girl you ok says a familiar voice Candice recognize. Tamera ? Wait what are you doing here? How did you even know where to fin… Candice it’s your big sister you talking to now I have always known where you are? I alway keep one ear to the streets and the other in my sheets. But how Did you know I was here Candice ask. Tiff told me what happened she saw the whole thing even got it all on video. We gonna either kill this impatent little Dick mother Fucker or he going to prison where Lil Ray will get his ass. Either way lil sis he is Got. Ok Candice says.

Chapter 2

Get some rest sis ill be right outside that door you hear me Tamera says as she squeezes Candice hand and pulls the thin hospital blanket up around her shoulders like she used to do when they were little girls back on Fulton street. Candice closes her eyes but sleep don’t come easy not when your mind is running a hundred miles a minute and every time she close her eyes she see Luther standing over her with that look on his face the one that say you belong to me and always will. The nurse whose name tag read Brenda slips back into the room quiet as a church mouse and sits on the edge of the bed and takes Candice hand in both of hers and says ok baby I spoke to my friend her name is Ms. Gloria and she runs a place called New Mercy House over on Atlantic Ave and she said she got a bed with your name on it the moment they discharge you out of here. Candice opens her eyes and looks at Brenda and for the first time in she don’t even know how long somebody was looking at her like she was worth something. Like she mattered. How do I know he won’t find me there Candice asks. Because Ms. Gloria don’t play that mess honey that woman has a restraining order on half the pimps in Brooklyn and two police officers who attend her church that sit on that porch every night like they get paid to do it. Candice almost laughed but her ribs remind her real quick that laughing ain’t on the menu right now. Ok she says barely above a whisper. Ok Brenda repeats and squeezes her hand one more time before standing up and smoothing out her scrubs. Now get some rest cause when you wake up we gone have a plan baby girl. and she cuts the light off over the bed and slips back out the door.

Chapter 3

Two days passed and Candice was sitting up in the bed eating what the hospital was calling chicken soup but tasted more like warm water with ambition when Tamera walks back through the door and she wasn’t alone. Behind her was a tall brown skinned woman in a white button up and slacks with a badge clipped to her hip and Candice felt her whole body go stiff. Relax sis she ain’t here to lock you up Tamera says pulling up a chair. This is Detective Monroe she works trafficking cases out of the 73rd and she wants to help. Candice looked at Detective Monroe who pulled up a second chair and sat down without that stiff cop energy most of them carry around like a badge of honor no pun intended. She leaned forward with her elbows on her knees and said Candice I’m not here to pressure you into anything I need you to know that first and I need you to know that whatever you tell me stays between us until you say otherwise. I seen your file and I seen the video Tiff recorded and baby I want you to know that man has done this before. You are not his first and if we don’t stop him you won’t be his last. Candice picked at the edge of her hospital bracelet and said what if I talk and he walks. Detective Monroe reached into her bag and pulled out a folder and slid it across the tray table and said he won’t. Candice opened it slow like it might bite her and inside were pictures and names and dates and a whole story she didn’t even know she was part of and her stomach dropped all the way to the floor. There were four other women. Two of them had cases just like hers. One of them didn’t make it. Candice closed the folder and looked up at the ceiling and said what do you need from me.

Chapter 4

The morning they discharged Candice from Kings County the sky outside was doing that thing it does in early November where it can’t decide if it wants to rain or just be miserable so it settles on both. Tamera had brought her a bag with some clothes a pair of clean sneakers and her old hoodie from high school that still had the Erasmus Hall logo cracked and faded across the chest. Candice put it on and felt something she hadn’t felt in a long time and she couldn’t even name it right away until she was sitting in the wheelchair by the exit doors waiting for Tamera to pull the car around and it hit her. Safe. She felt safe. But that feeling got snatched real quick because just as the automatic doors slid open there was Luther standing on the sidewalk in his long coat with his hands in his pockets looking like he had all the time in the world. Smile on his face like a man who knew something everybody else didn’t. Candice froze in the chair and the orderly pushing her stopped and said you ok miss. Luther tilted his head and said there she is my baby coming home. The orderly looked at Luther then back at Candice and musta read the whole situation from her face alone because he turned that wheelchair around so fast and said ma’am I think we forgot something let me take you back inside and Candice didn’t argue one single word. Back behind those sliding glass doors she grabbed the orderly by the arm and said please call Nurse Brenda and please don’t let that man in here. The orderly already had his walkie talkie up before she even finished the sentence.

Chapter 5

Brenda moved like a woman who had been waiting her whole career for this exact moment. She had Ms. Gloria on the phone before security even got to the front entrance and she had Detective Monroe on the other line before Luther could charm his way past the front desk which he was absolutely trying to do. Candice could hear him from down the hall all that smooth talk and that laugh that used to make her feel chosen and now just made her skin crawl. My wife just got discharged I’m just here to take her home sir I don’t understand the problem. The security guard at the desk was a big older Caribbean man who looked like he had seen everything twice and was not impressed by none of it and he just kept saying sir you are going to need to step back from this desk sir. Tamera had pulled the car around to the back entrance on the other side of the building where Brenda was already standing with a wheelchair and a bag and Ms. Gloria herself who had driven over the minute Brenda called her. Ms. Gloria was a small woman maybe five foot two with natural gray locs and reading glasses on a beaded chain around her neck and she looked at Candice like she already knew her whole story and loved her anyway. Come on baby she said let’s get you somewhere safe. Candice looked back at the hospital one time. At Brenda who was standing in the doorway with her arms crossed and her chin up like a soldier. Brenda mouthed the words go baby go. And Candice got in that car.

Chapter 6

New Mercy House smelled like lavender and Pine Sol and something cooking in the back that turned out to be Ms. Gloria’s famous oxtail that she made every Friday without fail rain or shine or hell or high water. There were five other women in the house when Candice arrived and none of them asked her questions and all of them nodded at her when she walked in like they understood everything without a single word being exchanged because they did. They had all walked through that same door with that same look on their face. Ms. Gloria showed Candice to a small room on the second floor with a twin bed and a window that looked out onto a little yard with a garden that was sleeping for the winter but you could see where things had been planted and tended with care. There’s a journal on the nightstand Ms. Gloria said standing in the doorway. You don’t have to write in it but most of the women here find that getting it out on paper is better than keeping it in your chest where it just sits and rots. Candice sat on the edge of the bed and ran her hand across the comforter. Why are you doing all this for me she asked. Because twenty two years ago somebody did it for me Ms. Gloria said simply. And she pulled the door almost closed and left Candice alone in the quiet. And for the first time Candice didn’t feel like the quiet was something to be afraid of. She reached over and picked up the journal. Opened to the first page. And she wrote one word. Candice. Like she was introducing herself to herself for the very first time.