The One That Got away
Britney’s heart slammed against her chest as Jah stepped closer. The sight of him standing in front of Grandma Mae made her blood boil.
“Move from in front a har!” Britney barked.
Jah turned his head slightly and smirked.
“Or wah? Yuh ago do wah?” he challenged.
Grandma Mae slowly rose from her rocking chair despite Britney trying to keep her seated.
“Jah, mi tell yuh already. Leave di girl alone.”
“Stay outta dis, Mama Mae,” Jah snapped.
Britney immediately stepped between them.
“No. Yuh nah talk to har like dat.”
Jah clenched his jaw. Months of anger, rejection, and obsession sat behind his eyes.
“All mi did waan do a talk.”
“Talk?” Britney scoffed. “Yuh beat up mi sister. Yuh terrorize mi family. Yuh call mi phone day and night. Dat nuh look like talking.”
Jah pointed at her.
“Mi never touch Terry Ann.”
Britney laughed bitterly.
“Stop lie. Everybody know seh a you.”
For a brief second, Jah’s expression changed. The smile disappeared.
“Yuh really believe mi capable a dat?”
“Yes.”
The single word hit harder than any slap.
Jah stared at her silently before looking away.
Grandma Mae folded her arms.
“Son, love cyaan force. If somebody nuh want yuh, yuh affi let dem go.”
His eyes watered for the first time.
“After everything mi do fi har?”
Britney shook her head.
“Everything yuh do fi me come wid conditions. Yuh never love me. Yuh wanted fi own me.”
The porch fell silent except for the sound of distant dogs barking down the road.
Jah’s face hardened again.
“So a dat yuh think?”
“Mi know.”
He looked at her for a long moment before nodding slowly.
“Alright den.”
Britney didn’t trust the sudden calmness in his voice.
Jah backed away from the porch steps.
“Yuh win.”
But as he reached the gate, he stopped and looked back.
His eyes landed on Grandma Mae, then Terry Ann watching nervously from the doorway.
A cold smile spread across his face.
“Nuh everybody get fi move on as easy as yuh, Britney.”
The smile sent a chill through Britney’s body.
Before she could answer, Jah walked through the gate and disappeared down the dirt road.
Grandma Mae grabbed Britney’s hand.
“Mi nuh like dat look him just gi we.”
Neither did Britney.
And as she watched Jah disappear around the corner, she couldn’t shake the feeling that he hadn’t come there to make peace.
He had come there to make a promise.
Britney stood frozen at the edge of the porch long after Jah disappeared from sight.
Grandma Mae squeezed her hand.
“Come inside, chile.”
Britney shook her head.
“No, Grandma. Something nah right.”
Terry Ann stepped out of the doorway, one hand holding her sore ribs.
“Mi tell unnu seh him unstable.”
Grandma Mae kissed her teeth.
“Mi done call police already.”
The three women went inside, but none of them felt safe.
Hours passed.
The sun had begun to set when Britney heard a vehicle outside.
Her body tensed instantly.
“Stay here,” she ordered.
She peeped through the curtain.
A black pickup truck sat across the road.
The windows were too dark to see inside.
Britney’s stomach dropped.
The truck had been there for almost ten minutes.
Not moving.
Not leaving.
Just watching.
“Who dat?” Terry Ann asked.
“Mi nuh know.”
Grandma Mae walked over and looked for herself.
The old woman’s face tightened.
“Close di curtain.”
Britney did exactly that.
A few minutes later, the truck finally pulled away.
Nobody relaxed.
Not even a little.
That night Britney slept on the couch with a kitchen knife under the cushion beside her.
Around 2:00 a.m., a loud noise jerked everyone awake.
BANG!
Grandma Mae screamed.
Terry Ann sat straight up.
“What was dat?!”
Another crash echoed from outside.
Britney jumped to her feet.
Someone was in the yard.
She looked through the window and saw a shadow moving near the side of the house.
Her heart pounded.
Without thinking, she grabbed her phone and dialed emergency services.
The shadow disappeared behind the house.
Then came another sound.
A bottle shattered.
Terry Ann limped over to the window.
“Oh God.”
“What?”
“Somebody throw something.”
Britney cautiously opened the front door.
The smell hit her immediately.
Gasoline.
A glass bottle lay shattered near the porch steps.
Gasoline soaked the wood beneath Grandma Mae’s rocking chair.
The color drained from Britney’s face.
Whoever had done it hadn’t come to scare them.
They had come intending to burn the house down.
Grandma Mae covered her mouth.
Terry Ann began trembling.
And then, from the darkness near the road, a voice called out.
A familiar voice.
Jah.
“Next time mi won’t miss.”
Britney’s blood ran cold.
By the time she rushed toward the road, he was gone.
But this time there was no doubt in her mind.
Jah had just declared war on her family.
Powerful 🔥🔥🔥