Queen Media Collective

  “I got the last laugh Carolyn,” Rasheeda said as she broke down her rifle.

  The shot felt good for her, shooting from far away with no one knowing where the shot came from. She saw Johnathan in the distance looking off to where the bullet came from and trying to find out the distance, but with the darkness surrounding him, he couldn’t see anyone out there at all. As she goes through his range of emotions, Rasheeda emerges from her apartment like it’s just another night as she heads to her club to perform.

    Rasheeda hadn’t picked up a gun in a long time. Once she turned 18, she registered and went to the military for over ten years. During that time, she learned how to shoot and how to survive, even getting to go on a tour of duty before her time was over. The career she built for herself was going to benefit her and her family as she was providing an example for her brother, who was only eight when she left. Unfortunately, she suffered some trauma and was discharged earlier than she wanted to. Living with PTSD has not been easy for her, but the singing had been a thing for her to release her tension and stress.

  The singing became her focus when she came back home, but unfortunately the singing and her veteran benefits weren’t exactly paying the bills. She was down on her luck when she saw this tall, dark-skinned man staring at her from across the room sitting at the bar.

“What’s your name,” said the gentleman.

“My name is Rasheeda.”

  Rasheeda was instantly attracted to him and wanted to skip her performance to give him a few lessons in love. But of course, the bills needed to be paid and she had to sing, there was not other option.

  When she sung that night, she was actually performing for the gentleman, whom she would later find out was Johnathan. After her performance, she would take him back to her home and they would have a couple passionate love sessions as he spent the night with her. Little did she know, this rendezvous with Johnathan would be a gift and a curse for her.

   Johnathan left the next morning and after the information she gathered from him, she thought she had met her perfect man. And in that, Rasheeda thought she met the man that was going to help change her circumstances. Johnathan did pay off, but not in the way Rasheeda thought, as he received a curious call from an unfamiliar number.

  The woman on the other line was Johnathan’s wife Carolyn. Rasheeda was shocked when she heard Carolyn say she was the wife of Johnathan because as far as Rasheeda knew, Johnathan was single and mingling. He definitely wasn’t wearing his ring and he was definitely letting her know of his interest. How could this be? Her perfect man was someone else’s. Bracing for the wrath of Carolyn, Rasheeda instead got something she did not expect. Carolyn not only wasn’t mad, but she offered to pay Rasheeda weekly to continue to sleep with Johnathan. Carolyn would pay Rasheeda the first time and in her joy for this setup, she uttered some words that she should not have said.

“This affair you all are having is gonna look good when I get my divorce.”

Rasheeda, who saw this as an opportunity, quickly spring into action.

“Since you know I heard that, why don’t we up the payments weekly for me to sleep with Johnathan.”

  Carolyn could not turn down the deal, after all, Rasheeda had a good scoop and could tell Johnathan at any time.

“I cannot believe this,” Carolyn muttered under her breath.

  She would reluctantly agree to the deal. Rasheeda had now found her way to make things work in her favor. Carolyn also sweetened the pot by saying she would write her a check after the divorce happened.

  Rasheeda’s lifestyle began to change. She was buying more expensive clothes to perform in and she ended up moving closer to where she performed, even though the rent was twice what she was used to paying.  She was living the high life and it was all off the dime of Carolyn while she continued to have sex with Johnathan. Things were going well until Carolyn told Rasheeda she would not be cutting her any more checks and threatened to report her for extorsion for doing so. This move by Carolyn was a huge blow to Rasheeda. She had been depending on that money to live, telling Johnathan all the time she had been given a bonus with her singing. What was she to do? Bills weren’t going to go anywhere. Then she thought of something that may help. Rasheeda was in love with Johnathan and maybe if she got rid of Carolyn, she would have him all to herself and life would be better at least with him there with her. The only question was how would she do it? She had no idea how to get it done, but she knew just who to contact and who she could count on.

  DeWayne, now all grown up, was Rasheeda’s little brother. He did not go to the military, but he did make a commitment to the police force instead. Over his years of being a police officer, he and Rasheeda had gone shooting together and more importantly, they had grown even closer as adults. Rasheeda reached out to DeWayne, letting her know of the situation she found herself in and the intentions she had. At first, DeWayne thought she had lost her mind, but he just could not turn her sister down. After all, the bond was thicker than the job. DeWayne suggested Rasheeda try to lure Carolyn out to speak to her about this money situation in a discreet location with just them two and in doing so, she could kill her in silence. Rasheeda, already building up the gumption to do this, had bought in. She was determined to get Johnathan and do it at all costs.

  “You available to meet with me regarding the money,” asked Rasheeda when talking to Carolyn over the phone. 

  Carolyn was amused by this conversation.

“There is nothing to talk about. You overplayed your hand girl.”

  Carolyn ended the phone call, but the thing that didn’t happen was the end of Rasheeda’s pursuit of her blood. With both Carolyn and Rasheeda having iPhones, she was able to trace where she was. She got the address and gave it to her brother to track Carolyn, seeing where she was and where Rasheeda could get her. Rasheeda stayed ready, as she had her rifle as well as her 9 mm ready for action. She knew her brother would help her, she just did not know when.

 Then, out of nowhere, DeWayne rang and told her Johnathan and Carolyn were out on a date near a movie theater where she was. Rasheeda, her blood boiling, was ready to snap, but DeWayne talked her out of it and introduced a new plan to her.

“Since they are at the movie theater and where they are parked is not far from your house, why not use your rifle from there to get Carolyn?”

  Rasheeda began to laugh hysterically as she started gathering her rifle bag. She was a master markswoman from her days in the military and tonight that would serve her well in getting rid of Carolyn. DeWayne called her and let her know Johnathan and Carolyn were easing towards the car and getting in prime position for her to shoot. At this point, Rasheeda had made it to the roof of her building with a perfect view to knock Carolyn off.  

  Then, unexpectedly, some mugger got in the way.  Was he going to do harm to Johnathan? Rasheeda got nervous as her brother was telling her to take the shot and move on.

“I don’t want to accidentally shoot Johnathan. I love him.”

“Well you better do something because this is getting tense and now they are wrestling with the gun down here.”

  Rasheeda, getting increasingly nervous, looked through the scope and saw her opportunity. She squeezed the trigger and she saw Carolyn fall. She got her in the right in her back near the lung area and she was hoping for death. At the same time, she saw the reaction of Johnathan and this mugger. Both looked at each other and the mugger ran while Johnathan went to hold Carolyn as she eventually was lifeless.  The job was done, as she had Johnathan all to herself she believed.

 DeWayne was the first officer on the scene, consoling a sobbing Johnathan at the scene as he held Carolyn’s dead body in his hands. “Well, what happened,” asked DeWayne.

 “Some thief shot my wife!”

  At this point, DeWayne was confused. He knew Johnathan was always with his sister, so he could not quite understand why he was crying over this woman and if he only knew that woman was paying his sister to pleasure him. Keeping that to himself, DeWayne answered Johnathan telling him he was sorry  his loss and that help was on the way.  

After getting the scene secured, the police determined there was no way the mugger shot her, but it was someone else no near the scene. DeWayne, knowing that information would eventually come out, was already putting his plan together to get the murder weapon from his sister. He went home, changed clothes and then headed to her job. As Rasheeda stepped off the stage, DeWayne got her attention and signaled to her to come over to his table.

“Time to get rid of the rifle. Give me your keys.”

  Rasheeda did not want to get rid of one of her weapons but she knew she had to, so she gave the keys to her apartment to DeWayne. DeWayne left the club, went to her apartment and found the gun. He quickly thought of where to dispose of it and went to the river, dropping the rifle to sink to the bottom of it. And after dropping the rifle there, he then drove back to the club, getting Rasheeda’s keys back in her hand and getting rid of all evidence for her. Now it would be next to impossible for the police to get his sister for the murder of Carolyn.

  DeWayne returned home to relax. It had been a long day for him with all he had been involved in and he looked forward to doing nothing else but relaxing at home with a cold beer and some sports playing in the background. He was all comfortable and then his girlfriend Cherry walked in the room.

“We need to talk DeWayne. I’m pregnant.”

  DeWayne was excited as he had always wanted to have a child and was hoping for a boy for his first one. As DeWayne began to think on how he was going to be as a dad, Cherry continued with the rest of the news.

“The baby may not be yours DeWayne.”

  DeWayne was shocked. He had been with Cherry for years and they were on the track to get married soon, as he was saving up money to get a specific ring Cherry wanted.

“Well, who is this other gentleman? I need to pay him a visit.”

Cherry started crying.

“Well, it is someone I used to work with. You don’t know him. His name is Johnathan and he told me to just tell you it was your baby, but I could not lie to you,”

“Oh, his name is Johnathan huh? Well maybe it’s time to pay this Johnathan a little visit.”

  At that moment, DeWayne stormed out the door, slamming it so hard the vibration shook the apartment. Cherry was scared because she did not know what he was going to do next. The happiness that was supposed to be with the pregnancy birthed a fire within DeWayne that Cherry had never seen.