Once we were upstairs, the officer approached the nurse and we were told to take a seat and the doctor would be out shortly. I didn’t want to talk to a doctor. I had watched my son take his final breath. What were they going to say? ‘Sorry, Miss, but your son didn’t make it.’ Well, I knew that already. I just wanted them to give me his clothes that he came in and to let me say my final goodbye. After about thirty minutes of waiting, Tamia and Jamiya came into the family waiting room and right behind them were Gio and China, and Ms. Tracy showed up about ten minutes behind them. I didn’t make eye contact with anybody. I didn’t want to talk and I didn’t want to admit that I had let my child die. So I didn’t say a word. I sat in the seat against the wall and leaned against it with my eyes closed. I could tell that everybody was waiting on me to say something but I wasn’t saying shit; at least, not until after I saw my son. After about an hour of waiting for the doctor, the waiting room was filled with family and friends, both the east side crew and the west side crew were there and Jizz had also showed up. It was too much for me so I got up and walked out.
I sat on the cold hospital floor with my back against the wall and my head in my hands. I was all out of tears right now I was just angry, angry that I couldn’t revive Chris just so that I could torture and kill him again. My child’s life was cut short and I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. I heard footsteps approaching and I looked up and saw a short Indian woman in scrubs coming in my direction. I stood up as she greeted me.
“Hi, I’m Dr. Sangreet. Are you the mother of the child that was brought in?” she asked.
“Yes, I’m Jaeda Johnson and my child was Antonio Taylor II,” I said, folding my arms across my chest. “The rest of my family and friends are in there. I would rather you say it to everybody so that I don’t have to relay any information.”
The doctor nodded and we made our way into the waiting room. I stood to the side of the doctor against the wall as she began to speak. “Hello, I understand you are the family of Antonio Taylor and on behalf of me and the staff here at the hospital, we extend our deepest condolences. When the child was brought in, he still had a very faint heartbeat, but as we tried to stabilize him, we realized that he had a lot of internal bleeding and major bruising to his organs.” Tears fell from my eyes as the doctor continued to speak. “His brain had been shaken around and he was beaten intensely. Even if he would have survived this horrific event, the brain and spinal damage would have been so extensive that he would have never developed fully and he would have remained in a vegetative state his entire life.”
Ms. Tracy was wailing and had slumped down to the ground. I watched as Brayden comforted her and it tore me up inside.
Dr. Sangreet took a deep breath and then continued. “The time of death was announced at 8:47 p.m. I’m sorry, the detectives on this case will be in to speak with you shortly. Ms. Johnson, if you would like to see your child, you can follow me.” I nodded my head and followed Dr. Sangreet out of the room to go and see my son.
I walked into the cold room of the hospital and stared at the bed that my son lay on. He looked so tiny and helpless. I broke down and threw my arms around him. I cried the hardest that I had ever cried in my life. The pain was unbearable and I just didn’t know what direction my life was going in. I was in school and running a five figure street business while being a full time mother. I didn’t know how to not have my son. He was my sole purpose in life. Now that he had been taken away so abruptly, I was lost and alone. I kissed my son’s cold cheeks and lips and talked to him for about ten minutes before I finally covered him up with the sheet and walked out of the door.
A plain-clothes detective met me. “Hi, Ms. Johnson. I’m detective Langston and I’m the lead detective over your son’s case. Can you come down to the station with me so that I can ask you some questions?” he asked but I already knew that I had no choice in the matter. I followed him out of the hospital and found myself in yet another police vehicle. It was ironic how I was in the police car and had done no crime and Chris was laying somewhere dead and wouldn’t be punished for his actions.
I had been at the police department for three hours as they asked question after question in regards to my relationship with Chris, the events that led up to him taking and killing my child and how I could have provoked the situation. I was exhausted and was glad when I was finally allowed to leave. I stood outside the police station and stared at my phone, there wasn’t one person that I could think of that I wanted to call. I didn’t want to be around anybody. I didn’t want the questions, the pity, the blame or anything. I couldn’t go home, either. I was puzzled and I needed to sleep so that tomorrow I could wake up and handle business.
I needed to get up with a lawyer for Lexis. She was being charged with murdering Chris and I needed to find the best representation for her. On top of that, I needed to start preparing for Baby Tone’s funeral. I knew I had a chance to wait a couple of days and let everything settle and soak in but I didn’t want my baby’s body just lying around any longer than it had to.
I walked a couple of blocks and then it dawned on me that Quinton was in town. I went to my contact list and pressed the call button. After one ring, he answered the phone.
“Hello, Jae. Where are you?” he asked.
I never had told anybody that I was going down to the police station for questioning and I had tons of texts from everybody that I didn’t feel like responding to. “At the Livermore Police Department. Can you come get me, please?” I asked.
Q agreed to come and get me and I hung up. It was well after midnight so I sat down on the curb and waited. After about twenty minutes, I looked up as Q pulled up in his all-white AMG. I stood up and climbed in and we pulled off.
I
opened my eyes and stared at the off white ceiling, the smell of fresh linen was still in the air. I lay there not wanting to move a muscle. I was afraid that if I moved, it would trigger the tears that were begging to spill from my eyes. I heard shuffling coming from the living room area and then a soft knock at my door. I wanted to play sleep but I didn’t.
“Come in,” I said hoarsely.
Q walked in carrying a container of food. I looked at my watch and saw that it was a little after 10 a.m. and I hadn’t fallen asleep until after 5 a.m. I had lain there, mind racing and heart aching like hell all morning, hoping that sleep claimed me but it had taken forever to do so. I lay in the two-bedroom suite in the dark and let the still of the early morning soothe me. Now it was morning again and I was going to have to pull some inner strength from God knows where to get out of this bed and take care of business.
“Hey, I went out and got us some breakfast.” Q handed me my container and took a seat at the foot of the bed. He was fine as hell and I appreciated him coming to get me and bringing me to the hotel.
I opened my container and the aroma of the chicken apple sausage, eggs, country potatoes and English muffins made my stomach growl. I opened the salt and pepper packages and sprinkled them over my food and then added hot sauce and ketchup to my potatoes. I dug into my food and it was so good that I barely came up for air. Q was staring at me and I felt embarrassed. I had a mouth full of food and I hadn’t even said thank you.
I finished chewing and then spoke. “Thank you, Quinton, for you know, picking me up and breakfast,” I said as I picked up my English muffin and added butter and apricot jelly to both ends.
“No problem, Jae. I know you hurting right now so there ain’t even no need to ask you how you are feeling but just know that I’m here no matter what.”
I nodded my head and stared into his eyes. I nodded my head and I could hear the sincerity in his voice. Tears began to drop from my eyes and I grabbed my napkin to wipe them away as I dug back into my food. Q and I had made small talk and I told him about all the things that Chris had been doing since we had broken up.
“I never expected he was crazy enough to want to hurt me by harming my son,” I said, getting choked up. “People say shit and make threats all the time after breakups but had I known that nigga was certified crazy, then I would have shot the nigga the other night when he came and scratched up my Acura.”
I shook my head and laid back down, covering my body with the comforter. I had about an hour before I had to be at the lawyer’s office to drop off the money for her to take on Lexis’ case and then I had to be at the funeral home by three. Q had volunteered to drive me where I needed to go today. I just didn’t have the energy to get my own whip and drive myself.
***
It had been a long few days. I hadn’t really talked to anybody since the incident but I had talked to Rico and Uncle Ken today and I told the both of them everything that had happened. Every time that I had to tell the story of my son’s death, it was like another piece of my heart broke. Greg had just gotten back from a two-day trip to Arizona to put together the move that we had talked about. I didn’t care about the businesses so I told him to get with Tamia and do what needed to be done. I had Jamiya handle the money and let her deal with re-ups and deposits because I had other things that I was focused on.
I had been planning Baby Tone’s memorial. I wasn’t having a funeral because I didn’t feel like dealing with a million different people so I had planned a small memorial at the gravesite for family and close friends. I had the officiating preacher performing a short ceremony and then his casket would be lowered into the ground. I couldn’t take anything more than that. I didn’t want to spend hours trying to sit still and hold it together in a church full of people that were waiting to see me fall apart. Everybody always talked about how sad it was to see the families cry and mourn and I wasn’t putting a show; I was honoring my son and that was all.
I kicked my shoes off and pulled the covers back on the bed before I climbed in and just lay there. I had been dealing with everybody via text. I just didn’t feel the need to open my mouth and talk to anybody unless absolutely necessary. I hadn’t much heard my voice in days but I was fine with that. My phone dinged and I picked it up and saw that it was a message from Q.
BigMoney Q:
What’s up Ma? Just checking in, my flight lands in about an hour. Do you mind if I come crash?
Me:
Nah, I don’t mind. Mi casa es su casa
I text and placed my phone on the pillow and closed my eyes. Q had gone back to Vegas a few days ago so that he could handle some business and had promised to be back before the memorial service. I had been staying at the hotel so he was more than welcome to come back. Plus, it was nice having somebody around. He didn’t crowd me or ask a million questions. He gave me space but also was there when I needed comforting. I picked up the hotel phone and dialed the front desk to let them know to issue a second key to Quinton Stewart when he arrived because I really didn’t feel like getting up to let him in when he came up, I sent him a text telling him to stop by the front desk before coming up.
I reached onto the nightstand at grabbed a blunt wrap along with the weed and rolled up a couple blunts. I had stopped at the store on my way here and grabbed a bottle of Moet. I needed something to unwind and this would do the trick but I also needed something else. I grabbed the baggy of Xanax and popped a half of a bar and washed it down with the champagne.
I had bought an iPad Air today so I pulled it out and opened it up. I had been in constant contact with a realtor that I had reached out to a couple of days ago. I had decided to put up my and Laela’s townhomes for sale. There was no reason to hold onto either one of them. Laela was gone and too much had occurred at my home for me to ever go back. I had hired a moving company to pack up and move all of my belongings into a storage unit until I could find a place. I opened up my email account and looked through the listings that the realtor had sent over. I sipped my champagne as I looked through the pictures of different properties but I didn’t really see anything that caught my eye. I liked the feel of not being in a home next to other people, so I didn’t want a condo but now that it was only me, I didn’t need a house so I was hoping to find another townhouse that looked nothing like the other one but still would feel like home.
I continued to get high as I looked through the pictures in my phone. I popped the other half of my Xanax and washed it down with more champagne as I lit a blunt and took a long toke of the fire ass purple weed. My heart was heavy and my mind was just as weighted but I had to get it together for tomorrow.
I looked at my phone and turned it off. Loren had been blowing my phone up these last few days and it was weird. That was my bitch all day but sometimes she could get a little clingy. I hadn’t been talking to much of anybody and while everybody else had backed down, giving me my space, I had about five missed calls and unread texts every hour. Lo would be asking where I was and if she could come see me. I appreciated her concern so as to not say anything that would in turn hurt her feelings, I opted to just ignore her until I was ready to talk. I closed my eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. I was high as hell and I was able to ignore the pain and not shed any tears as I lay here and thought about the people I’d lost in my life.
I was floating in the sky looking down on my city. From up in the sky, it was beautiful. I was flying high, peacefully enjoying the view until I felt myself being grabbed by the arm. I opened my eyes and looked into Q’s handsome face. I was having a crazy ass dream and Q had awakened me and was now seated on my bed with his hand on my arm.
“Hey, sleepy head. We got a couple hours before we have to be ready and shit but I figured you needed a hearty breakfast, so let’s go.”
I nodded my head and swung my legs over the side of the bed. Sitting up, I stared at Q. He was so understanding. I admired his compassion. Q was a hood nigga in and out but over the last week, I was seeing the different layers of him and I fully respected the man that he was.