3.

Daivon Jaamar Bennett | Chicago IL

same day

Daivon waited patiently for the nurse to come back into the hospital room beside his brother's bed, watching the overhead heart monitor steadily move up and down, the beeps of the ventilator oddly calming the tension he felt.

Just hours before, they were all hanging out and joking, not one genuine care in the world. Now the one person that cared for him was out for the count, which scared him.

He moves from the stool and onto the small bench in the corner in front of the room's big window, resting his head back and pulling his hand down some more over his eyes, spreading his legs to get comfortable, and shifting the gun on his side.

He started to doze off. The sound of all the machinery and rasping breathing from his brother oddly calmed him to sleep.

4 HOURS BEFORE

Treyvon, Durk, Booka, Daivon, and a few other dudes sat in the sprinter van, passing around a blunt, Durk pouring 1942 into their styrofoam cups and passing them back to the others as he poured them.

Anthony was rambling about a girl who tried to suck his toes and eat his ass, causing everyone to laugh at how he vulgarly spoke about the female.

"Like this bitch was really trynna toss a nigga salad like I do not condone any ass licking in these parts," Anthony stated, his eyes practically jumping from their sockets the way he was widening them to make his point.

"You a clown ass nigga. Was she fine?" Booka asked, putting his arms behind his head and closing his eyes as they smoothly drove across the road.

Anthony pulled his phone from his pocket, scrolling through his camera roll for a picture of the girl. After finding the image, he tossed his phone to Booka, a smirk on his face.

"I woulda let her let her do whatever the hell she wanted to me, ass bout big as the sun," Booka stated, pinching the screen to zoom into the picture.

"Give me my phone nigga," He yelled, snatching the phone from his hands and turning it off, and putting it into his pocket. The van had finally come to a stop. Durk and a few others hopped out, leaving Anthony and Daivon.

"She seems like she really likes you, or she just nasty like that," Daivon stated, looking to his brother as he began to roll up another blunt, licking the sides and folding it in on itself.

"Shut up nigga," Anthony replied, mushing his head, taking the blunt from him and taking a pull after he passed it to him.

"When you gon let somebody tame yo lil angry ass?" Anthony asked, taking a big puff from the blunt and passing it back to Daivon, exhaling the smoke from his nose.

"Mane, when you gon settle down? A little mini you running around uh be a trip," Daivon responded, sitting back in his sea. t.

"I don't think Imma have time for that, Von," Anthony mentioned looking at his brother before pulling one of his chains around his neck.

"Keep this safe for me, alright? I got something I have to do real quick. Love you, man," Anthony stated before opening the door to the van.

Three gunshots sounded off, then the thud of a body hitting the floor. Von quickly jumped out of the van to see his brother blood-staining his wife beater.

Daivon was awoken from the shuffling around the room and the soft hum of one of the nurses checking Anthony's vitals. He shot up, standing to his feet.

The nurse quickly turned towards him, clutching her chest and dropping the clipboard in her right hand.

He watched her as she squatted to grab it. "Sorry if I disturbed you," She stated, nodding as she made her way to the other side of the hospital bed.

"The doctor should be here in about an hour to catch you up on everything." She smiled before signing her name onto the sheet of paper hanging from the wall with a few other documents with Anthony's information.

Daivon muttered a small "thank you" before sitting on the bench and pulling his hoodie over his head.

"Daivon Bennett," He heard, causing him to quickly pull the hood off of his head to look up at the doctor who had just entered the room.

"Yes," He replied, watching as he went towards the documents the previous women had written on. "Is he okay?" Daivon asked, referring to his brother, hope etched across his facial features.

The doctor flipped through his documents and reached his hand towards Daivon, causing him to look from his hands to the man, a close look on his face.

"I'm Doctor Reynolds. I'll oversee Anthony from now on, keeping a close eye on him as we try our best to keep him alive. The gunshot happened to pierce a few vital organs, which caused fluid to fill up in his brain. With that being said, he's essentially a vegetable, which means he's still alive, but he isn't responsive." He concluded, looking back to Daivon from his clipboard.

"We will be trying our best to get him back. I promise," He stated, a serious look on his face as he reached to shake his hand, to which Daivon complied.

"Thank you," He stated, watching the man turn to leave out of the hospital room. Davion's leg began to bounce as anger seemed to bubble up in his body.

They had just had a conversation mere hours ago, laughing and joking. In the blink of an eye, it seemed as if he'd lost every single person he's cared for or had cared for him.

Anthony and Daivon didn't have any other family, their father was incarcerated, and they had different mothers, who neither knew.

Daivon stood from the bench, moving to the end of Anthony's hospital bed, leaning his weight against the end of it.

"Whoever did this shit gon get theirs. I promise you that," Daivon grumbled, a scowl gracing his face as just thinking about it made him angry.

Daivon walked towards the door before leaving. He turned to his brother, shaking his head before softly closing the door and making his way toward the elevator and out through the hospital's exit.

He was surprised to see the van hadn't been towed. Daivon jumped in, started it, and headed out of the hospital's parking lot and onto the main road.

Whoever did this had it coming to them. It was a fair game now. You mess with his. Yours will be found with a smoking hole between their eyes.