“Coming!” I said as I got closer to the door. I opened it and saw two officers examining my appearance. I probably had a new busted lip, and my hair was all over the place.
“Ma’am, are you okay? We received a disturbance call from someone in the building about a man and woman fighting.”
“It was probably Carol’s noisy ass. The nerve of her when she’s running an illegal daycare.” I said nonchalantly.
“Is the person who did this to you still here?” The dark skin officer asked.
“Yeah,” I said as I opened the door up some more to let them in. “He’s right there,” I said, pointing to Jemar, holding a bag of ice to his eye.
“Who did that to you?” The light-skin officer asked Jemar. Jemar’s bitch ass nodded towards me. Go figure, he can dish it, but can’t take it. I got his ass good too. Gave him a black eye and a busted lip. He came in about two hours ago on his bullshit. He’s been gone for two days, and I told him about doing that shit. We ended up getting into it, he hit me, and I hit his ass back. I know y’all probably thought I was going to allow his ass to beat and mistreat me, but I wasn’t that kind of bitch. I may have been a little naive, but one thing my parents taught me was to never let a man put his hands on you. I never witnessed that with my parents, and I wasn’t about to become that girl. Jemar did a lot of shit that I put up with, but beating on me wasn’t one of them. As much as he hit me, I hit his ass back as much too. I probably let a month of his abuse go on because I was in shock and scared, but one day I woke up with super strength and fought back. Like I said, I was staying for my daughter, not me. And hopefully, you’ll understand that before this book is over.
“How many months are you?” The dark skin officer said, I looked at his name badge and saw Officer. Haywood. His partner’s name was Officer. Stanton.
“Seven, I’ll be eight next week,” I stated, proudly. Only a month and a half left, and I couldn’t wait. I had everything I needed for my baby girl, except for a stable living environment. However, I was working on that, and hopefully, I would have it before she gets here.
“What are you having?” He asked.
“A girl,” I said.
“How old are you?”
“Excuse me, officer, is this a damn social hour? You see how I look compared to her. She assaulted me!” Jemar said.
“You want to press charges? I mean we can take you too because she looks like a minor and she’s pregnant. You have more bruises, but we can’t ignore her bruised lip? Want to tell us how she got that?” Officer Haywood said.
“I was defending myself,” Jemar said.
“You liar!” I said as I started to walk over to him and bust him in his shit again. I didn’t care if the officers were there.” The two officers held me back.
“See! Look at her.” Jemar said.
“You’re under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you.” Officer Haywood handcuffed me. I started crying, I’ve never been arrested before. And to make matters worse, Jemar had a smirk on his face like he was enjoying this. We both were at fault, but yet I was being arrested.
“I think she should stay the night in a cell. Maybe she’ll learn something while she’s in there.”
“Shut up. Don’t give us a reason to arrest you or search the premises.” Officer Stanton said. That shut Jemar’s ass up.
“Are they too tight?” Haywood asked. With tears running down my face, I shook my head. They led me out of the apartment and down the stairs to their police car. I was so embarrassed as they walked out of the building. People looked at me, and it’s not like I made it easy for them to turn away. My hair was in an untamed ponytail, I was in a black tank top, gray biker shorts, and clear Fenty/Puma jelly slides. And I had a busted lip, a healing black eye, and bruises on my body. My life was spiraling out of control, and I was trying to do better for my daughter. Maybe I had shit wrong and was going about it the wrong way.
The ride to the station was awkward and silent. Once we got there, they got me out and led me in. I thought I was about to be booked, but Officer Haywood continued to lead me to down the hall and eventually downstairs. It was way colder downstairs, and I saw a sign that said, “Morgue.” I instantly got chills and was scared. Officer Haywood spoke to someone then led me inside where they handled dead bodies. I’ve never seen a dead body like this, so I was scared. I closed my eyes because I didn’t want to see anything that scarred me for the rest of my life. We stopped, then I felt him, uncuff me. I relaxed a little but still kept my eyes closed. Those handcuffs were very uncomfortable even though they weren’t that tight.
“Open your eyes, it’s okay.” Officer Haywood said. For some reason, I trusted him but instantly regretted it. Lying before me was a dead corpse. I immediately closed my eyes again.
“Open your eyes, Bre. You need to see this.”
“No, I don’t, and how do you know my name? I never gave you my name.” I said, and started to get even more scared. Did Jemar hire these cops to take me out or something?
“I know your dad.” He said. I relaxed a
