In Between Lies

by Hill, Shawna

  She stepped out of the shower and dried herself off. Looking at her reflection in the mirror, she barely recognized herself. Her eyes, once glowing and sparkling, were deep set and black, her skin, tarnished with hate, and her mouth was turned up ready to growl at the first person that came her way or tried to offer her comfort. Comfort was not what she wanted. She wanted revenge.

  Kevin let himself in Savannah’s house and found her asleep in her living room floor. She was laying on the plush rug, wrapped in a thick comforter. She looked so peaceful. So much so that he didn’t want to disturb her. One miserable person was enough. He positioned himself next to her, wrapped his arm around her waist and laid there with her. Her scent was not only intoxicating but soothing at the same time. He needed her comfort more than anything else right now.

  Arson, he thought. It had to be Naomi. He’d thought and assumed that she’d moved on since he hadn’t heard from her or seen her in the past few days. So he happily went on his way, without giving her a second thought. When Savannah had called him, he was thrilled and felt exonerated of any wrong doings with Naomi. She was going to forgive him and give him another chance. That was all he wanted. Another chance.

  If Naomi stooped to arson, no telling what else she would do to disturb their new found bliss.

  Thinking of his burnt home and precious belongings, Kevin realized that they weren’t as precious as Savannah was to him and he would gladly trade the tarnished pieces to be with her. His life long journey as an anchor, a news caster, celebrity, and Meteorologist, meant nothing next to her.

  He drifted off to sleep beside her only to be awakened by the shrill sound of the phone and loud knocking at her front door.

  “Savannah! Wake up!” the voice screamed out. “Savannah!”

  Savannah woke up in a dazed and light headed state and realized that Kevin was there. “Who is that banging on the door like that? What time is it?” She hadn’t realized that she had fallen asleep on the floor.

  Kevin was the first to get up. He opened the door and Jazzy streaked past him so quickly, he didn’t get a chance to speak to her, let alone ask her what the problem was.

  “Richard,” Jazzy said. “He’s in the hospital, girl.”

  “For what?”

  “I don’t know what the problem is but it is serious.”

  “Serious?” That was all Savannah could say. “Let me get dressed. Hold on a minute. I will be right back.”

  Kevin followed her upstairs, leaving Jazzy to wait for them.

  “I’m coming with you,” Kevin said.

  “What about your house? Is it ok? Did it get badly damaged? Shouldn’t you be there?” Savannah couldn’t stop with the questions. She reached for a pair of faded blue jeans and a sweater, a pair of beat up socks and tennis shoes. She had the traditional soccer mom look, and didn’t care.

  “The house is …still there and will be there when I return,” Kevin said. I hope, he thought.

  Speeding to the hospital, all Savannah could think of was what could possibly be wrong with Richard. He is a strong, healthy man still in the prime of his life. She hoped it wasn’t life threatening, prayed it wasn’t. She held Kevin’s hand tightly as they approached the glass door entrance.

  Following the nurse aide to the room where he lay seemed to take forever. They wound through what seemed like a labyrinth, a maze of connecting hallways until they finally came to his room.

  Richard laid there, a heap of bandaged flesh. His head was wrapped in a white cheesecloth like bandage, exposing one eye and his mouth. The bandaging continued down to his waist and on his left arm.

  “My God!” Savannah screamed. “What happened to you?”

  “Kevin….Naomi…I tried to reason with her, but she got hysterical,” was all he could say, then drifted off to sleep.

  “He’s been sedated for pain,” a nurse said as she entered the room. She checked his vitals and advised them that visiting hours were just about over, but since they just got there, she would allow them to stay over an additional 15 minutes.

  “Nurse, what happened?” Savannah asked.

  “Multiple stab wounds. I’m sorry. Does he have any other family that needs to be notified of his stay here?” she asked.

  “I will let them know.” Savannah grabbed Richard’s hands while a tear escaped her eyes.

  Kevin stood back, alone in his own thoughts.

  “She did this to him? Why him? He didn’t do anything to her. He liked her.” Savannah muttered.

  They spent the remaining time they had in silence while they watched Richard sleep.

  “I can’t let that bitch get away with this. She is literally sick!” Savannah spouted once she got back into the car. “I mean, that bitch is crazy! What is she trying to prove? I should have let Jazzy whip her ass a while ago!”

  Kevin sat silent in the drivers seat, a dark cloud forming over his head.

  “Look, if she is gong to cause all these problems because of you and me, then I think we should cool off for a minute. You need to handle your business. Whatever that is. What did you ever see in her?”

  Kevin didn’t answer because now he was wondering the same thing. He knew she was off, but not like this. He swerved and made a u-turn in the middle of the road.

  “Whatever you did to her, it made her crazy!”

  “She was already crazy!” Kevin responded. “I just didn’t know how crazy she could be.”

  “Where are we going?” Savannah asked.

  “To finish this madness once and for all. Hell, for all we know she could be plotting something on us this very minute.”

  Chapter 17

  Satisfied that she left her mark on both Kevin and Savannah, Naomi continued to pack her belongings. It was time to leave town now. She didn’t want to be implicated with an attempted murder charge. But if Richard would have stayed in his place and left her alone, he wouldn’t be where he was now. That was entirely his own fault. No one told him to follow her around and spy on her.

  She’d just finish showering when he knocked on her door. Opening it, she saw him standing there holding a severely burned gas canister and her left shoe.

  “We need to talk,” Richard said as he pushed past her. “What the hell is going on and why did I see you crawling out of Kevin’s house just moments before it went up in a blaze?” He took a seat on her couch and waited for an explanation.

  Naomi stood there, wide eyed, looking like a deer caught in the car headlights. “I have no idea what you are talking about. And if you don’t mind…” she waved her hands down her towel clad body. “I was in the middle of taking a shower.”

  Dismissing what she said, Richard got up and saw himself into the kitchen and into the refrigerator. He grabbed a beer. “What the hell is going on?” he asked again.

  Naomi followed him into the kitchen. “I will tell you after I get dressed. Wait here,” she said as she tightened her towel around her and walked to her bedroom to get dressed.

  Richard waited a total of 20 minutes for her to return. She hadn’t so he went to her room and found her still packing. “Where are you going? What are you doing?”

  “I’m leaving this place. There is no room for me here anymore. I need to get away.”

  “Why? And you still didn’t answer my question…what were you doing in that house?”

  Naomi still didn’t answer.

  “Answer me!” Richard yelled.

  “You ain’t my man! I don’t owe you shit! Now get the fuck outta my house!”

  Richard looked at her in shock. What looked back at him was not the Naomi that he knew. Not the Naomi that he thought he was falling for. He had no idea who this person was nor what happened to the real Naomi. Or maybe this was the real Naomi and he was so blinded by her beautiful face, body, and freaky ways.

  “I said get out!” she screamed. Tears were now flowing.

  He didn’t move. He glanced at the phone then back at her. She flew into him and shoved him down the hallway.

  Ric
hard did what he could to try to restrain her from hitting him and hurting herself in the process.

  She gave him one last push and he went flying into the kitchen. Naomi grabbed the blade that was sitting on the counter top and jabbed violently at him. Making continuous contact with his flesh, he was unable to stop her full forward attack. The only thing left to do while he still had his strength and blood running through his veins was knock her out.

  Richard took three cold, hard punches at her in the face, chest, and stomach and down she went. He mustered what strength he had left and made it to his car then drove himself to the hospital. He picked up is cell phone and pushed redial. It dialed Jazzy’s number since she was the last person he’d talked to.

  Pulling up at his home, Kevin told Savannah to stay put. She watched him as he disappeared through his front door. The fire, now long extinguished, badly damaged the back of the house, leaving almost nothing but the foundation in some places. There was no doubt in her mind that Naomi was behind everything. Shocked at the amount of damage, Savannah found it hard to fight back the anger she now held toward Naomi. That coupled with the fact that she’d tried to do some serious damage to Richard was enough to make her insanely upset.

  Kevin reappeared in the doorway. He walked back to the car, quickly pushing an object into his inside jacket pocket. He put the car in reverse and backed out of the driveway. “I’m taking you home,” he said.

  “Where are you going? What are you about to do?” Savannah asked.

  “I’m handling the business at hand,” he replied.

  “Ok then, but I’m coming with you.”

  “No, you are going home,” Kevin insisted.

  “Look, we are supposed to be in this together right? Well, I appreciate the fact that you want to keep me safe, but look what that trick did to your house and my best friend! I can’t just stand by and let her walk away like that. Let the police handle it now.”

  Kevin stopped the car. “I need you to trust me on this…please. I feel responsible for all of this. You are innocent and pure, Richard was innocent. I want to keep it that way.”

  Reaching her home, he opened the car door and let her out. “I will be back shortly, baby.”

  He kissed her hard and long, got back in the car and left.

  “Where are you?” he asked. “I need to see you.” Kevin barked into his cell phone.

  “What for, Kevin? You got what you wanted,” Naomi responded. “You wanted it this way. You want to hurt me, well I wanted to show you what hurting felt like.”

  “Why Richard?”

  “The nosey bastard couldn’t keep his nose out of my business, so he got what he deserved. I didn’t want to hurt him but he left me no choice.”

  Naomi’s thoughts and her world had revolved around Kevin for so long that she didn’t know the difference between what was real and was wasn’t. Her vision had a tunneled view, and at the end of that tunnel was Kevin. All she knew was that she had wanted him and would stop at nothing to have him. It never dawned on her that he would dump her again. She’d been there, offered all she had to him.

  His brushing her off left her empty and void of feelings, logical thoughts and a hardened heart. She couldn’t come up for air any longer. She was suffocating in pain, self pity, hatred, and spite. Lashing out at him and the ones around him helped her to feel a little better, but that still wasn’t enough. She ached for him as if he were the only man in the world for her. Never mind the fact that Richard did care for her before she sliced him up. He didn’t count in her eyes. Her warped self worth and sense of being came from Kevin.

  Naomi knew she could practically have any man she desired…practically. All except for Kevin. The drive to have something that was just out of her reach made the chase and challenge more enticing, then turned cold deadly once she realized that it wasn’t going to be. Rejection was not in her vocabulary and certainly not part of her being as far as she was concerned.

  “I am at home, baby,” she said. “So come on over. I’ll even leave the door open.” She quietly placed the phone back on the receiver.

  Kevin pulled up at the apartment complex opening. Since her apartment was not far from the entrance, he decided to park just outside of it at the curb and walk to her place. He jammed his hand in his pocket to make sure things were in place.

  She saw his tall, dark silhouette moving towards her as the full moon lit the path to her open door. There was a deafening silence that had an eerie effect on her senses, making her flesh crawl at a fast pace. Even though she had enough nerve to do the terrible things she had done so far, now that she was almost face to face with Kevin, she found her courage or bluntness slowly seeping away. The closer he got to her, the more she wished she could take back everything she had said or done and start over again. She still loved him and didn’t want to harm him. She just wanted him to understand how she felt.

  “Naomi?” Kevin said as he took that last step into the entrance of her dark apartment.

  “I’m over here,” she said, then flicked her cigarette lighter on and lit a cigarette.

  “You should have had enough of fire,” he snidely said, referring to her burning half of his house down.

  “I am sorry about that, but baby, I needed to get your attention….It worked.”

  “Naomi, maybe I didn’t say this the right way earlier. I tried to be nice about it when I told you that I didn’t want to see you anymore.”

  “What did you come here for, Kevin? One last lay before you finish killing me off?”

  It was clear that Naomi had also been drinking. Her voice slurred as she spoke and she moved in slow manner when she rose from the couch. She put the cigarette out in the carpet and stood before him. “Come closer, we can do this. You know I know how you like it. Not like that bitch of yours, Savannah.”

  “That’s enough!” Kevin grabbed her by the wrist with such force, it snapped her from her thoughts and caused her to wince in pain.

  “That’s it, baby. You know I like it rough….what do you see in her anyway? I know I look better than she does.”

  He let go of her wrists then forcefully pulled her to him. His big, strong hands wrapped around her throat and tightened. “You like that baby?” he asked. “You like that shit don’t you?” he asked as he began to kiss her up and down her cheeks and across her lips.

  “Oh, Kevin. You sure you want to do this?” she asked. She circled her arms around his back, feeling his tight muscles tense at her touch. She went to unbutton his shirt and pull it off of him.

  Kevin beat her to the punch and pulled his own shirt off, exposing his hard, chiseled chest. He stopped and pulled away slightly. “Okay, let’s talk about it,” he said in between kisses.

  Naomi was busy pulling at his zipper. “And quit trying to talk to me like a psychiatrist. You ain’t no damn doctor up in this piece. What you want a confession?” She stopped talking for a moment. “Yeah. I burnt your house down and I cut up Richard’s ass. And I told you why I did it.”

  Kevin was silent, hands stuck in his pocket.

  “And I was about to get at Savannah’s ass but you showed back up at her house before I could do anything. That’s when I went back home and did Richard. He came over being nosey, so I got him instead.”

  He let her go and pushed her away from him. “Woman, you need some serious help. I don’t know what the fuck happened to you in your lifetime or childhood, but it really fucked your mind up. Now you want to fuck up everybody else because you are.”

  “You leave my childhood outta this. This is between you and me, here and now,” she spat back.

  “Let me get a last good look at what I am gladly getting rid of,” he said as he was grabbing his shirt to put it back on.

  “Thanks, that’s all I needed to hear, Naomi.” Kevin pulled out a small tape recorder, showed it to her and pressed play. Her whole confession now on tape, Naomi realized that he’d tricked her again.

  First, she stood there speechless. As her wits gathered
about, she realized he had tricked her yet again, this time into a confession. “You bastard!” she screamed. Reaching just over the arm of the sofa, she grabbed a large knife from the table that he hadn’t realized was there.

  As if she were in a hypnotic, violent trance, she threw herself at him, knife first and tried her best to dig the knife deep into his chest. He leapt to the side, just missing the wall and fell, hitting his head on the corner of the coffee table. In a state of panic now, Naomi swung everything she had trying to clear a way to the front door.

  Kevin grabbed her leg and she felt herself fall awkwardly, crashing in her own doorway. Laying just inside the apartment, she pulled herself free from his grasp and commenced to stabbing at him again. Unlike Richard, Kevin was very capable of defending himself effectively. So much so, Naomi felt the need to get away from him instead of trying to continue stabbing.

  She raised herself from the ground and ran for her car, which was already packed with her belongings, started the car and screeched off. Kevin did the same and followed her. Naomi skillfully swerved her car through the quiet upscale neighborhood, causing many neighbors to come out to see what was going on. Kevin followed suit and dashed out behind her. Had anyone known any better, they would have thought that both of them were running from some apparent impeding danger that was unforeseen. However that wasn’t the case.

  While following her crazy course to the interstate, Kevin skillfully drove with one hand and tried to dial on his cell phone with the other hand. His arms ached with thrashing pain as blood stained his shirt through.

  Savannah at home, sat on the edge of the chair, waiting for the phone to ring. Kevin had been gone for hours now and she’d not heard from him. She tried to call his phone several times only to get a busy signal. Trying to relax, she made her a cup of French Vanilla flavored coffee and tried to watch a movie on TV. Her mind raced at the thought of what he could be doing and wondered if he was okay.