What's His Is Mine Read Free Page A

my missing friend, Tanisha, who I haven’t seen in a year.
    Tanisha was not really missing. She just ran away. She thought she’d killed her boyfriend’s crazy ex-girlfriend, who was trying to kill her. The ex-girlfriend carjacked Tanisha and then tried to shoot her. Somehow Tanisha got ahold of the gun and ended up shooting the ex-girl. She came to my house all upset, bloody, and crying, saying she killed a girl in the park. I tried to calm her down and reassure her that everything was going to be okay. I consoled her, gave her new clothes, and drove her back to the park so we could see if the woman was really dead. At the park there were red and blue flashing lights and yellow crime scene tape in every direction. Just looking at the chaotic scene, we knew she must have killed the woman.
    Tanisha was hysterical and I had to help her. The first thing I did was to dump the gun. I thought if there was no gun and no one saw them together, how could they link her to the shooting? But then Tanisha’s daughter called and said the cops had already been to her house and wanted to speak with her about something really important.
    At that point I was so scared for her that I drove her to the train station. I just couldn’t see her going to jail. The only thing I could think to tell her was to run and never come back. I shouldn’t have told her to run, but at the time it seemed like the best idea.
    When I told her to run, never would I have thought that the woman she thought she’d murdered really wasn’t dead. And secondly, I wouldn’t have dreamed that Tanisha wouldn’t get in contact with me or her family for an entire year. After watching the news, I found out that Tanisha hadn’t killed anyone, I ran back to the train station to get her, but she was gone. I was hoping she would call, even though I instructed her not to.
    When all of this first happened, I was going crazy. I used to try to go and check on her children, but I couldn’t look in their faces. They were devastated. They weren’t sure what exactly happened to their mother, and I knew but couldn’t say anything.
    A few days after the shooting, the cops found her car down the street from my house. They questioned me twice and asked me if she had contacted me. I told them I spoke to her the night of the shooting, but our conversation was normal and she didn’t mention anything unusual.
    So, for a year I have been going through it. I wanted to tell the authorities what I knew. I wasn’t sure if she was dead or alive. I had no idea what happened to her, until she wrote me a letter a few weeks ago saying she was okay, living in Detroit, and coming back soon. I was so happy because I felt so guilty and it had been weighing me down.
    Initially, I thought about going to Detroit and finding her myself, but I decided against it. I was glad she was coming back, but I didn’t know what kind of charges she was going to face. She didn’t murder anyone, but she did shoot that girl.
    Knowing that she was okay was a relief, but now I just hoped that I didn’t go to jail, too. They could charge me with . . . I think it’s called aiding and abetting. I should have dropped her off at the police station and kept it moving.
    So I was already so over this. I lived with the guilt of her leaving. I’d already gained weight over worrying about the situation. I’d come to the conclusion that it was not my fault. I didn’t know that the woman wasn’t dead. I didn’t know the lady who tried to kill Tanisha shot Kevin, too! I told Tanisha to run, but she didn’t have to listen to me.

Chapter 2
    Zakiya Lee
    â€œA unt Kiya! Aunt Kiya! They fighting again.”
    I was startled out of my sleep by my six-year-old nephew Kyle’s voice. I jumped up and threw some clothes on.
    â€œStay here,” I ordered him as I ran downstairs to the kitchen. My sister, Lisa, was throwing canned food and