Bang!

The sound was loud, but not quite jarring enough to register instant recognition in her reefer-dulled brain.

It could have been a firecracker. It was loud enough, and the acrid smell of gunpowder filled the Harlem night air in the basement level courtyard of the brownstone. But a firecracker wouldnt have caused her cocaine-dealing companion to lurch forward into a set of garbage cans, his manicured hands flailing wildly in the air. Nor would it cause a dark red spot to appear on the back of his silk shirt. A spot that bubbled and grew bigger as she watched.

Another blast rang out. Boom! The dealer fell screaming to the ground.

The second blast followed an instant after the first, but in that time 19-year-old Regina Harris’s brain had cleared enough for her to realize her big-time spending companion was shot, and she was in danger. Regina dropped her pocketbook and flexed her body to sprint, but before she could move, someone grabbed her head from behind and slammed her face into the brick wall. Again and again.

The coke-dealer was on all fours on the cement ground, gasping loudly. His eyes were wide, and his mouth dribbled a trail of bloody saliva as he tried a fast crawl out of the dark courtyard. Shit! a mans voice growled.

The hold on the back of Regina’s head was released, and her body folded to the ground. Her nose was numb and dripping even more blood than her mouth, making it difficult for her to breathe. Semi-conscious, she watched in a daze as a man walked over to the scampering dealer, bent down and placed a gun against the back of his head, then let go with yet another resounding blast.

The dealer collapsed to the ground, deadly still.

I’m next, Regina thought, but try as she might she couldn’t will herself to get up as the man walked back towards her.

Only a few feet away from her now, he pointed the gun and fired.

I’m shot. I’m dead, she thought, although she didn’t feel the bullet that entered her battered body. Then all of a sudden the scream of a police siren filled the air. The man didn’t hesitate. Gun in hand, he jumped over the courtyard railing and disappeared down the street. Oh, my God. Oh my God! From far away she recognized the hysterical voice as Tamika’s. Oh, Regina are you dead? You dead?

Regina painfully opened her eyes and looked at her friends tear-stained face staring down at her in horror, and replied honestly, but in a slur, I don’t know.