To Live or To Die III

It was a beautiful Monday morning as I walked up to the finely polished oak door of Jamika's home. I knocked on the door three times and stood waiting for an answer.1

Eventually, Jamika's mom, a short, tan colored woman with long black hair, came to the door and said, "Hello Andrew. How are you today?"2

I cleared my throat and said, "I'm doing great! How are you?"3

"I'm doing well," she answered as she motioned for me to enter. 4

I entered the house, closed the door behind me, and said, "So...is Jamika ready?"5

"She should be coming down any minute now," her mom answered. 6

I walked over to the couch and sat down on its black, velvety soft cushion. I hated having to wait for Jamika, but I had gotten used to the fact that she always took a long time to get ready for anything. We had made plans a few days ago on Friday to go to the mall this morning and do a little shopping together. I was really looking forward to it. 7

"Hey Andrew," Jamika said as she emerged from her bedroom and began to walk down the stairs.8

"Hey beautiful," I answered as I stood up and kissed her on the cheek.9

Jamika was a medium height, tan colored young lady with black hair, and beautiful in every way imaginable.10

"So are you ready to go?" Jamika asked excitedly.11

"I sure am!" I responded.12

"Okay. Then let's go!"13

With that, the two of us began to walk out of the house saying "See you later!" to Jamika's mom. When we were both outside, I closed the door and said, "The taxi should be here soon. Let's wait on the curb." 14

The two of us walked over to and sat down on the curb. I dug into my pocket and fished out a folded note with a little tab that said PULL. 15

"Don't read it until I leave tonight," I said as I gave it to her.16

"I won't," Jamika said as she put the note into her purse.17

This was Jamika and I's first date and I felt kind of bad about not having some expensive limousine or something to pick us up, but what can I say. I'm not made of money. It's the thought that counts, right?18

After a few minutes of small talk between Jamika and I, a red taxi with a VACANT sign on the top of it became visible down the end of the road. Jamika and I both stood up and I began to wave my arm to signal to the driver that we were who he was looking for.19

The taxi pulled over to the curb in front of Jamika and I. I opened the door and Jamika entered and sat down. I then entered and sat down, closing the door at the same time.20

"So, where you two headed?" asked the cab driver.21

"To the Suffolk Downtown Mall, please," I answered.22

"The rate is $1.50 for the first mile and $1.25 for every mile after that," the driver informed me.23

"That's fine," I said.24

I had brought $300 with me to cover all expenses. It had taken me forever to earn the money, but when I did, I was glad to be spending it on someone whom I really care about.25

About thirty minutes later, the taxi arrived at the mall and stopped in front of the main entrance. I looked at the mile marker and saw that we had traveled 5 miles. I quickly did the math in my head and said, "Here's $6.50, sir." 26

I handed him a 10 dollar bill and he gave me $3.50 back. I put it into my pocket and opened the door. I got out of the car and held the door open as Jamika emerged from the vehicle as well. I closed the door and the two of us began walking towards the mall entrance. 27

About five seconds later, I opened the mall door and Jamika and I both walked in. I could tell by the look on her face that she was ready to do some major shopping. Great...28

"Where would you like to go first?" I asked Jamika.29

"Let's go to the Tweety Store!" Jamika said as she pulled me in the direction of a big store with a huge Tweety Bird figure in front of it. The sign said TWEETY AND FRIENDS.30

The two of us walked to the TWEETY AND FRIENDS store and saw a huge selection of differently posed Tweety's. Jamika seemed to become overwhelmed by the selection while I began to become overwhelmed by the prices. The cheapest thing I saw was $37! Just my lucky day...31

As Jamika and I walked around the store together, a lady walked in with a sad look on her face. With Jamika and I being the caring people that we are, we both walked to the woman and said, "Excuse me ma'am, what's the matter?"32

The woman seemed a little shy but said, "I'm just so depressed. One of my brothers was recently murdered and my other brother was sent to jail! It's just not fair."33

Jamika and I felt sorry for the woman. Jamika then said, "If you don't mind me asking, who were your brothers?"34

"Their names were Mark Holms Jr. and Mark Holms III. Why do you ask?"35

I had nearly choked on plain air upon hearing those words. The lady noticed my reaction and said, "And what may your names be?"36

"My name is Andrew and this is Jamika."37

"That's funny," the woman began. "The people who caused my family so much pain are known by those same two names."38

Jamika and I began to look at each other and the woman said, "Wait a minute. It was you! You killed my brother and sent my other brother to jail! It was you!" 39

I was afraid that she'd come to that somewhat obvious conclusion. Her face began to turn red in anger and she said, "I'll kill you two bastards!"40

She picked up a pen off of a nearby counter and held it up. She clicked the point out and swung it at my arm. I was still overcome by shock and recollections of past experiences with this family that I was unable to dodge it.41

The pen sliced about an inch of my arm and made me yelp in pain. I gathered myself and said, "Jamika, we have to get out of here, now!"42

This seemingly peaceful date was now becoming a nightmare. We ran towards the mall entrance and opened the door. Suprisingly, the cab that gave us a ride here was still parked in the front of the building. We ran to it and opened it's doors.43

Upon our entry, the cab driver said, "I was expecting you two."44

"How did you know we were coming?"45

"Oh, I had a feeling," he said as he began to tap on his name tag. 46

I felt compelled to look and it and so I did. It said Holms Sr.47

"Holy Shining Star!" I yelled as I deduced that this was the father of Mark Holms Jr. and III. "Get out of the cab!" I yelled to Jamika.48

She quickly opened the door and jumped out with me following right behind her. She hadn't seen the name tag so therefore had no idea as to why she had gotten out of the cab. I began to explain, "Jamika, that is Mark Holms Sr.! He's Mark's father! He must've followed us."49

Jamika began to understand the seriousness of what was going on.50

"We have to get home," I said to Jamika as the two of us began to run in the direction of her house. 51

As the two of us continued running, I began to feel a stabbing pain in my arm where the lady had sliced me. I can endure a lot of pain but this was just crazy!52

I began to slow down and said, "Jamika, wait. I have to stop for a second!"53

Jamika stopped and saw that I was trying to apply pressure to my wound and asked, "Andrew, are you okay?"54

To avoid worrying her I said, "Yeah... I'm fine. I just felt a little itch. That's all."55

In a relieved voice, Jamika said, "That's good."56

After about a minute of resting, Jamika and I continued running in the direction of her house.57

It had been nearly five months ago when Jamika and I ended up sending Mark Holms III to jail for trying to kill us. It was his own fault though. In that incident, I ended up being shot in the shoulder protecting Jamika from Mark. My shoulder wound had healed completely about a month ago and my health was perfect. That is... until today.58

About two miles later, Jamika stopped and said breathlessly, "Andrew... we... have... to... stop."59

"Okay. Let's just go to that tree over there," I said. 60

The two of us then walked to a nearby pine tree that was in the middle of a huge field and sat slumped against it's hard, hazel trunk.61

As we were sitting, a thought struck my mind. If Jamika and I had been on foot the whole time home, the taxi would surely have caught up with us by now. Maybe these people were setting some kind of trap...62

I continued to ponder on this thought as Jamika stood up and said, "Okay, we have to get going again."63

"Alright, let's go!" I answered as I stood up. 64

The two of us began jogging towards the house again when my suspisions were suddenly confirmed.65

The taxi from earlier appeared suddenly from around a nearby intersection in front of us. Jamika and I both saw it and I said, "Oh crap!"66

We stopped and began to run in the opposite direction. Our hopes of escape were again shattered when we saw a brown, old-model chevy speeding toward us from that direction. The driver of the vehicle was none other than the lady from the mall.67

Jamika and I stopped and stood cluelessly. We looked around and saw that we could never escape from these crazy people.68

The driver of the taxi and the driver of the Chevy both exited their vehicles and begn walking towards us. The lady was holding a small pistol and Holms Sr. was holding a very smooth edged, stainless steel knife.69

The two of us were tempted to run but the chance of getting shot was alarmingly high. The lady pointed the gun at us and said, "You two children have caused my family so much pain. I've waited a long time for this moment and now I finally have the chance to avenge my brother." 70

This woman was really sounding crazy to us. In a last ditch effort to save our tails, I said, "Ma'am, I can understand you being angry about your brothers,but I'm telling you that it was all out of self-defense."71

"You know what little boy? I don't give a damn why you did it because whatever the reason may be, it won't bring Mark back." 72

I didn't know what to say to this woman. What was I supposed to do? Let Mark kill Jamika and myself?73

The woman seemed to get tired of talking and said, "Well, enough of this. I'll go ahead and settle this right now!"74

She pointed the gun at me and shot. BOOM!75

I jumped back and lied on the ground motionless. There was one catch though. I wasn't really shot. When the woman shot at me, she had missed but I wanted to make her think that I was dead. So I executed the aforesaid.76

As I lied on the ground, the woman began to talk. "Wow! That felt so good! Now for this little brat. But I really want her to suffer. Dad, how about you just cut her up a new one?"77

Holms Sr. seemed to actually support that horrific suggestion and said, "Well, it'd be my pleasure!"78

Uh-oh...79

I slowly turned my head around and saw that the crazed father and daughter plus Jamika were facing away from me. I also saw Holms Sr. holding the perfectly sculpted knife up to Jamika. 80

My heart almost stopped. I didn't know what to do. Out of sheer instinct, I jumped up and ran toward Holms Sr. 81

Apparently, I'm a very loud runner because as I got directly behind Holms Sr. He began to turn around.82

Determined to save Jamika, I kicked Holms Sr. in the side near his kidney. 83

Apparently, I'm a very strong kicker as well because Holms Sr. lost all control of his body and began to swing his arms wildly to grab onto something and maintain his balance.84

This proved to be his fatal flaw, however, because as he swung around, the knife that he was wielding struck the lady, his own daughter, and sent her falling to the ground.85

He noticed his mistake and said, "Oh my god! What have I done!"86

He kneeled down and began to feel for a pulse on her neck and after a few minutes looked up and sighed. She was dead. 87

To my suprise, two police cars then came speeding down the street with their sirens on and stopped about fifty yards away from us. They emerged from their vehicles and began running towards us.88

Holms Sr. knew he was going to jail. He was determined to make a final move before going away. 89

He pried the gun from his daughter's hand and pointed it at me. Jamika saw it and said, "Andrew, watch out!"90

It was too late. BOOM! The force of the bullet slicing through my neck was unbearable. The last thing I rememebered was seeing the police apprehend Holms Sr. and Jamika kneeling down beside me with tears in her eyes...91

Later that day after Jamika's visit to me from the hospital, she went home and lied down on her bed. She thought of the days events and began to cry. She felt that it was her fault for all that had happened. 92

But then she remembered something from earlier that day. She remembered me giving her a note and telling her not to read it until that night when I'm gone. 93

She dug into her pockets until finally she came upon the note. She opened it and began reading. It said:94

My Love,
This past year has been amazing with you by my side. I can't imagine my life without you here. I don't care if anyone calls me soft, but I must tell you that no matter what happens, I love you and always will. And I'm looking forward to spending the rest of my life with you. And there's one fact to which I hold all belief. Without your love, I'd die...