Code**** Chapter Sixty-Four

My health was not up to par and I knew I could not fight Tobias. He shivered as he spoke and demanded me to open the gate. I had stolen a single key from Trent's keyring and had it tucked in my bra. I instantly became nervous and tried to explain I could not get inside and I was waiting on Trenton, as if he knew I was lying he snatched the car keys from my hand and tried to open the gate while pointing his pistol at me. Tobias looked as if he had gone on a cocaine binge, and wreaked of liquor, I hadn't wanted to piss him off more than he looked already. Trenton had always rescued me and after seeing that nigga get out of that car I knew I had fucked up, he was miles away and couldn't save me. The last I remembered the lock had been unsecured, it was old and rusty and it would appear to be locked when it actually wasn't. Just as the thought occurred he got angry because the keys wouldn't work and hit the lock with the gun, it broke and the shank still remained hanging on the gate. He laughed and said, "By the time that nigga make it u gone be in the same grave that old man died digging for his granddaughter." He kicked the gate open, put his gun to my head and said let's go. I didn't have a prepaid phone but knew the signal was still weak, I would try to press send on the last number which was Trenton's while my phone was in my coat pocket. I was fucked and Tobias looked as if he had nothing to lose. "Bitch u got my brother killed, fucking with that nigga? I can't let u get away this time!" I tried to press send, but hadn't pressed the recent contact, my phone lit up in my pocket. He saw it, snatched it and put it in his own.

While I stood at the gate I saw a gas can beside the rear driver's side tire of the car he had driven and figured out he'd run out of gas, I wondered how long he had been out there and how he expected someone to come? I had only told one person where I was going and it was---Kerri? For some reason I felt Tobias never liked me and I wondered what was so important inside the Orchard. We walked between the rows of bare trees toward the shed, it was dark, he tried to power on his phone without success. "We use to play in this shed, Trenton would let us fuck his sister."

WHAT?

I slowed down, I already walked with a limp and my left side was weak, he snatched me and demanded me to speed up before he blew out my brains. I was slowly gaining weight but my diet plan had made it impossible to regain my strength, however I knew I would have to kill Tobias, it was my only way out. Whatever he wanted was inside of the shed and he had relied on me to lead him to it, he wouldn't kill me I concluded and decided to see how far he would go. I told him what he was doing was useless, and he responded by saying he could make one phone call and Kerri and I could be buried together. "Bitch u ain't slow, Twan told u every fucking thing, that's why u set him up! Im not kidding, open that fucking shed!" That nigga looked like Satan himself, spit flew from his mouth, but I knew he was nearing hypothermia, he would soon freeze to death. I decided to get the keys that were under the shed from the plastic bag underneath the brick, I didn't want to die. He pointed his gun while I got down on my knees and got them. As soon as I had them in my hand he snatched them and unlocked the shed. He fumbled for the light switch and knew where it was. I hadn't used it when I was there because I hadn't wanted the light to shine through the cracks. The light filled the dusty space and it wasn't as neatly organized as it had been when I was last inside and as Trenton had said, he had painted my confessions. My husband had to love me, I hated I had even come back to the Orchard. I knew there were rifles in the corner and whoever had been inside and thrown cloth sacks over them. I didn't give a fuck what was inside, I wanted to go back home to my babies! I loved my family so much and realized it then. I know my last chances were gone but I prayed. Tobias began to move in slow motion while moving the large cardboard boxes from on top of the safe. WHAT WAS IN IT! Why did he even know something was in it? How did Twan know? Twan had the key and part of the code, why hadn't he tried to get inside? When he turned around and raised the gun again toward my head I thought he would kill me right then, hadn't I given him what he wanted? "Now, open it bitch." WHAT? HELL NAW! "I don't know the code! How can I open it without a code?!" He pulled the trigger, I heard the trajectory as the bullet flew past my ear. I dropped to my knees and shielded my head. "GET UP AND OPEN THIS MUTHAFUCKING SAFE!" I tried to remember the numbers that I had saw highlighted but knew part of it was 3636. I didn't even know how many numbers it was but I knew I had better figure it out, I wanted to live! I crawled to the safe in the corner, I tried to remember anything Trenton had said about his Grandfather because people create specialized codes according to importance. However Trenton was smart and I knew he loved numbers. It somehow now made sense.

As I studied the safe I saw a wire, but knew his grandfather had built it in the shed years ago, it wasn't electric. Someone had an alarm on it. At a couple of different angles I focused on the numbers. "Granddad and Grandma were the same age. They would have been 82 next February."

It was 2018 and he had mentioned it the year before, they would have been born in 1936. That really wasn't helpful because if he had chosen their birthdates there were still other parts to the equation I couldn't figure out. Had it also been 4-8-1? They appeared to be worn and the 8 and 1 were more worn than the 4, I considered it to be the least used. It just couldn't be their birthdays! There was no 2! I prepared to die and could almost hear Tobias' knees knocking behind me. I stalled but was onto something. Emily Orchards established in 1948. It had belonged to Grandad's father but he was thrown from a horse when he was only 16. There was a sign at the Orchards entrance but something was missing I only saw 5 worn numbers it couldn't have been 1948, there was no 9!

As if Tobias had realized he was almost outta there he tried to circulate the blood in his hands, and then became angrier! He said I was the reason Twan had bitched out, and I tried to trap him with the children. Also Twan had fell off because of me and then I set him up. I could see that nigga honestly thought that and what Trenton had said about Carlita's brother probably wasn't true. He fired at the floor, I just balled up and waited for the warm blood to pool underneath me. "OPEN THAT FUCKING SAFE BITCH!!!!" I wanted to live I just began to punch the numbers, I could visualize different sequences but there were so many, "He paid off the Orchard in 1981."Ok but what was the 4?!!! 84? I tried 3-6-8-1-3-6-4-8, it was incorrect! How could it be? I could see the 8 was very worn! The 3 and 6 had had the same amount of wear and tear if not more. I wondered if I opened it would he still kill me, I almost knew he would so I continued to stall. I would kill that nigga if I could have made it to the rifles. "I think I chose the wrong brothers, I should have been with u instead, by the time I saw u I was already with Twan and then u were with Christy so---.

"Bitch, open the safe. I ain't got all night."

I see...

The thought occurred, there was a asterisk and pound sign for a reason. *3-6-8-1-3-6-4-8# WRONG!

I had to keep my composure, I knew I could not attack Tobias but he was beginning to sway on his feet. I punched the code again rearranging the numbers, when I punched in *3-6-3-6-8-1-8-4# and the safe clicked, I heard a thud on the shed floor as a bullet went through the roof. I turned the wheel and the safe opened. I was afraid to stay inside but I had to see, the safe was so deep and I could see vintaged Folgers cans and small iron boxes as the light shone down in the space. As I glanced around I wondered how I could get inside before spotting steps underneath where I kneeled. It apparently went into the earth. Tobias' foot was now shaking as if he was having a Grand Mal. His life was in my hands now, I knew if I got inside of the space I probably couldn't get out. I needed to know what was inside! As I stepped down and looked to my left I saw a shoe that was suspended on something, it was a white Keds, and just as I wondered why a shoe would be hanging on a branch I saw the rest of a skeleton laying on the floor as if the body had been thrown inside. I tried to climb back up quickly but I was unsure of what I was looking at. There were so many cans of old money inside but also it looked like a woman had died in there! What type of man was he? I could hear Tobias groaning and knew I had to run past him. When I climbed out, since he wanted what was inside he could get his ass in there and get it. I was so weak trying to drag that man to that hole in the floor, finally I snatched his gun and demanded him to get his ass up, as I thought he was almost outta there. He was unresponsive and I knew I had to drag that trifling bastard inside. I was just too weak, I snatched my keys from his pocket, took my phone and looked in his wallet, he was broke as fuck. Nigga didn't even have gas money. I was so weak, my knees were skint, I fell to the cold ground when I got on the other side, but locked the door behind me. I laid and cried, who was that woman? Eventually I crawled toward the gate, I was so scared I was expecting the shed door to open at any minute. I prayed and promised God I was done, enough was enough. I had a man that loved me, he had given me the world, I had come from the slums. I hadn't even known how to mention to him I had been to the Orchard and had the encounter with Tobias, I just wanted to go home, fuck Shreveport. I couldn't even trust my own sister. I loved Trent but we had some talking to do. As I drove away the text messages began to pour in the first one was, "Are u at the Orchard?" I then remembered the wires on the safe, it had a silent alarm. I flew down the dirt road and I as I turned off of Orchard Lane I saw the Sheriff make a U-turn and pull behind the Cruze before his lights came on.