by Carl Weber
“Tami!”
“Yeah, what?”
“Girl, have you lost your mind or something? Plug that damn television back in right now!”
“Naw, old man. We need to get something straight once and for all.” She now stood in front of the flat screen with her hands planted firmly on her wide hips. “I’m tired of the way you treat me! And guess what? Today it stops!”
“The way I treat you?” Mr. Lewis sat upright in his recliner with the remote still clutched in his hand. “And what exactly is the way I treat your big, overgrown, crybaby ass? Huh? You tell me. You got a lot of nerve in that big, hefty body of yours!”
“Seriously, do you hear yourself talking to me like that? Calling me names like I’m nothing or have no feelings. I heard what you said earlier when I was looking for Vance’s keys. Why would you say some shit like that?”
“And?” He openly showed no signs of remorse. “You act like I said something that wasn’t true. I mean, come on now, girl. Have you looked in the mirror lately? You could stand to lose a pound or two. I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t see any line of men beating down my front door to take your heavyweight ass out somewhere for a burger or two.”
Tami’s attitude only worsened hearing her stepfather not only trying to defend his verbal abuse but condone his always harsh delivery. Normally she’d retreat to her bedroom to hide and lick her wounds; however, this time the outcome was going to be much different. She was hell bent on standing her ground and beating the bully at his own game.
“So let me get this correct. You, an aging old man who has to take a little blue pill to halfway have sex with his wife, a man who absolutely is hated by his coworkers and practically despised by damn near everyone he comes in contact with, wants to always pass judgment on others. Now that behavior is rich!”
“Is that how you think you can talk to me in my own damn house, you little ungrateful bitch? No, excuse me, I mean you big ungrateful bitch!” Mr. Lewis’s veins started to bulge from both temples and his nostrils flared.
Still ready to get her feelings out on the table, Tami stood strong, refusing to back down. “Yeah, see what I mean? What kind of man treats his daughter like that? Oh, but this time you can excuse me. I keep forgetting you’re not my real father. You’re just some ratchet man my poor, naïve mother had the misfortune to mess around with and marry. Trust me, she has my sympathies.”
“Big girl, you run around here eating everything you can find, getting bigger and bigger. You stay jealous of my little princess because you wish you were her. I see it. Your mother sees it. Hell, the entire world sees it. I mean, I don’t know how Vance put up with your crazy ass hovering over him so long. It must’ve been that medication he’s on.”
Mrs. Lewis heard all the commotion and rushed downstairs, trying to break up the war of words. “Please, you two, stop it,” she loudly pleaded with her eldest daughter and husband.
“Naw, she came in here and started with me.” Mr. Lewis was heated, stating what were the facts in his eyes. “I was watching my show and this piece of shit offspring of yours came barreling through my front door like a hurricane.”
“Your husband is nothing but an old, twisted-mind bully and you know that. He got some nerve calling me a piece of shit. He’s been dogging you and me out for years. The only person who matters to this asshole is his precious, perfect little Tori. That stuck-up, skinny whore can do no wrong in his eyes.”
“You is damn straight she can’t do any wrong,” Mr. Lewis agreed while trying to lunge at Tami. “You wish your huge, overgrown self could be her. Matter of fact, I wish it was you in that accident. I swear I wish it was you over across town stuck in that damn hospital bed fighting for your life, and not my innocent baby.”
“Innocent? Who, Tori? Man, fuck you!” Tami was beyond deep off into her emotions. If looks could kill, her stepfather would’ve been dead the first time he’d opened his mouth trying to bring her down.
“Tami, I’m begging you. Please don’t talk to your father like that!” Coming in between the two, Mrs. Lewis tried once more to defuse the explosive situation from going any further.
“Father?” Tami sinisterly laughed at the mere mention of the word. “This rotten-mouthed motherfucker ain’t no father of mine. My real father would never treat me like this monster has been doing throughout the years. And, Mother, how could you allow him to do so?”
Mr. Lewis felt he was being tame with his choice of words up until now, but he felt the need to step up his game. Standing on the truth as he knew it, the old, cranky man decided to fire back. Now would be the time he’d give his stepdaughter everything he’d been holding back on for years.
“You know what, Tami? You’re right. I’m not your goddamn father and am sure glad that I’m not. You see, as fate would have it, your real pappy was some back alley drug-crazed junkie who supposedly raped your mother and put a baby up in her ass. See, that’s probably why you’re so deranged now your damn self and can’t find a man to call your own like Tori. You’re just like that desperate dopefiend: crazy as hell! So what I want you to do the next time you call yourself marching in my damn house and passing judgment on me and the way you claim I treat you, don’t! Your bastard ass might need to take a few steps back and think about that tainted bloodline you’re hatched from. Now kindly plug my television back up and get out my sight!”
The room grew eerily silent. The ugly, mean-spirited biological bombshell Mr. Lewis had dropped was a lethal blow to Tami to say the least. She couldn’t believe what her ears had just heard. She couldn’t seem to make sense of what he claimed to be her conception. As the room started to spin, Tami felt as if she’d been hit upside her head with a hammer, or sucker-punched in the stomach. Used to being strong and brushing off the outrageously rude comments her stepfather was known to make throughout the years, this time she felt different. This information was a game changer.
The air in the living room seemed to get thin. Tami tried to catch her breath. In pain, she looked over to her mother for some sort of denial of what her stepfather had just blurted out, yet she found none. Shamefully, the woman Tami trusted to safeguard and protect her simply lowered her head.
“Mommy, say something,” she angrily demanded with huge tears forming, ready to drop. “Tell him he needs to stop lying. Tell him to take back what he said!”
After a few awkward moments, Tami’s mother finally spoke. “Listen, Tami, I’m sorry, honey. What your father said is somewhat true.”
“What?” Tami leaned toward the wall for support before she fell to the ground.
“Wait a minute, baby. It’s not all true, but yes, I was raped and you were conceived during the attack. However, the fact that he was proven to be a drug addict has no bearing on any of the problems you’ve faced over time. Those demons you face are just coincidence and nothing more.”
“Coincidence my black ass!” Mr. Lewis wasn’t done throwing mud, seeing how he had his stepdaughter against the ropes so to speak. “Oh, yes, the hell it does. I saw a television show about the bullshit on the science channel. Yeah, it’s probably hereditary in her genes, her DNA. They say the rotten apple don’t fall too far from the tree. So there you have it. Tami is a nutcase like her pappy and probably her grandpappy as well.”
Escaping the shocking reality that was just abruptly revealed, Tami ran up the stairs, retreating to her room. Throwing herself across the unmade bed, she buried her face into the pillow. Uncontrollably sobbing, Tami was past distraught, and her head pounded as if it were about to explode. Her plan of storming into the house and setting her stepfather straight for all the years of insults had backfired. He’d won both the battle and the war. She felt broken, as if she were about to snap.
Holding herself as tightly as she possibly could, Tami rocked back and forward in denial. She knew she wanted more direct answers from her mother concerning the monster who was allegedly her birth father, yet unstable in her current mindset, Tami didn’t think she could s
tand to hear more of the dark secrets of the crevices of her life being brought to the light. Instead, she continued to shed tears and wish that she could disappear from life.
If she only had Vance’s arms to lie in later in the night and comfort her, all would be well. However, for whatever reason, he had abandoned her. Tami was all alone and felt like she had nothing or no one on her side.
“Why would you tell her like that?” Mrs. Lewis couldn’t believe the man she’d married all those years ago could be so mean and spiteful toward her child. She knew Tami could be a handful at times, yet that still didn’t warrant him not only verbally berating the girl but revealing a dark, hidden family secret that definitely wasn’t his to tell.
“What do you mean, like that? You were standing here. Didn’t you hear your daughter attacking me in my own house? I was sitting here minding my own business when she brought her big, crazy ass in here.”
“I wasn’t here when you and her first started, but I was here to see that you took things much too far.”
Still having no remorse, Mr. Lewis continued revealing his own brand of act-right. “So, let me get this much straight. You think not only is that ill-conceived baby of yours gonna come up in where I pay all the bills and talk to me any sort of way, but you gonna give me lip as well. Is that what you think I’m gonna stand for? After all these years, you should know me much better than that.”
“Look, dear, I’m not saying that. But the family has suffered enough turmoil these past few weeks. We don’t need to be divided like this.” She tried reasoning with him. “I’m already upset that Tori is in the hospital bed clinging to life. I don’t need any more grief added to my mind.”
Mr. Lewis was not backing down. In fact, his voice not only got louder, but his contempt for Tami did as well. The more his wife tried to calm him down, the more he made sure his hysterical stepdaughter knew what he truly thought of her. “Yeah, I remember it just like it was yesterday. Here you came back from the corner store with some lie that made no sense at all.”
Mrs. Lewis once again lowered her head in shame as her spiteful husband took the entire household on a trip down memory lane.
“Oh my God, help me!”
Watching his girlfriend practically fall through the front door, the young man claiming to be so deeply in love quickly leaped to his feet. “Hey, what in the hell happened to you? Why is your shirt ripped off your shoulder? Why is your lip bleeding?”
“Please help me! That man around the corner—” She openly sobbed, trying to catch her breath.
“What man? What damn man are you talking about?” He grabbed her arm, trying to get a straight answer. “Around what corner?”
“Near the store. Near the alley. He . . . He . . .”
“He what? He did this to you?” Running to get the shotgun he kept in the closet, he was hell bent on making whoever pay the price for messing with the woman he was engaged to. “I’ll kill him. I swear to God I will.”
After roaming the neighborhood for over three hours straight, he finally gave up and started to question his fiancée’s story as being untrue. Already extremely jealous in nature, he thought that the more she told him the gory details of the attack and rape, the more she seemed to enjoy the added attention and sympathy he was giving to her. Considering the fact that she refused to go to seek medical aid, claiming she was embarrassed, the more she became a liar in his eyes.
Nine months later, she was giving birth to a bastard baby who, come to find out, belonged to a psychopath. Mr. Lewis swore he would take care of Tami and love and accept her as his own; yet less than a year later, he was treating not only the baby, but his new wife like garbage. When Mrs. Lewis became pregnant with Tori, it seemed to soften his demeanor, but not enough to soothe the ongoing verbal abuse he cast upon his stepdaughter.
If Mrs. Lewis would’ve have just put her foot down in the first place, maybe her oldest child would not have been up in the room now on the brink of suicide.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
It had been a good month or so since Tami’s mother discovered her passed out cold on her bedroom floor. She knew her older daughter was not built to mentally withstand the heart-wrenching blow delivered by her husband. Rightfully concerned about Tami’s demeanor in the days following hearing the dreadful news, Mrs. Lewis took it upon herself to get in touch with the therapist she knew her child had been meeting with. She’d found the journals Tami had been keeping and knew her daughter had been living on the edge for some time. Understanding it was against the law to fully disclose what she and her patient had discussed, the therapist advised in no uncertain terms that Tami may need some further consulting of medical professionals and help that she wasn’t able to provide at the free clinic.
Mrs. Lewis waited for the best possible time, her husband being out of town, to speak to her firstborn. Tami was totally receptive and not at all in denial about her problems. Realizing that her life was spiraling out of control and there was some sort of disconnect, she bossed up. Tami made the conscious decision to check herself into the mental hospital to get some help.
Although a part of her wanted to die most days, the other part of her welcomed the daily psychotherapy sessions at the Warrendale Health Services facility so she could fight to survive. Finding out her biological father was a sick-minded animal who not only raped her mother but had stabbed several others, including a small child with a dull screwdriver when he was high, caused Tami to grow more depressed, praying she’d never be anything like him.
“So, Tami, how are you feeling today? How did you sleep?”
“Last night was much better than the night before. I didn’t have any dreams, which is good.”
“And why is that so good?” The lady sat back with a pen and pad, taking notes.
“Because, like I told you before, most times I’m ’sleep I see faces.”
“I know you told me that, but do the faces ever speak to you? Do you recognize these faces?”
Tami started to feel antsy even discussing the faces she’d seen whenever she got off into a deep sleep. Opting to cut the session short, Tami returned to her room to gather her thoughts. Trying her best not to obsess about Vance, she wanted to at least call him and see how he was doing. She wanted to ask her mother if she’d seen him down at the hospital visiting Tori, but she knew her mom would only lie. Tami could easily tell by the questions her mother and therapist were asking that they’d found her journals. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize they were basing the help they believed she needed off of those sordid, drama-filled pages.
Tami was immediately placed on a special diet upon signing herself into the inpatient facility. The hope was that the on-staff nutritionist could pinpoint whether certain chemicals in the foods she was consuming were triggering bouts of severe depression or social rages. After the few weeks she was there, no traits were easily found. Even with the special diet they had Tami on, she seemed to be getting plump in the face, demanding bigger portions. By the doctor’s request, several tests were performed to take blood, skin, and hair samples to send to the lab. With the aid of modern technology, hopefully the chemist and the machines they used would determine the proper medication and dosage Tami should be on to stop her rages, depressions, obsessions, and overall peculiar behavior.
“Yes, Mrs. Lewis, this is Dr. Rivers at Warrendale.”
“Yes, Doctor, is everything okay with my daughter?”
“Well, Mrs. Lewis, we never like to discuss information about our patients over the phone, so I was wondering if you could stop by in the next forty-eight hours. It’s not dire; we just would like you here to sit in on the next session with your daughter.”
Tami’s mother explained to him that she had another child, Tori, in a coma in a hospital located far on the other side of the city. She promised the doctor that as soon as she cleared her schedule where Tori was concerned, she’d make it out to Warrendale.
“How are you feeling this afternoon, Tami?” the therapist as
ked, wanting to start the meeting off on a good note.
“I’m doing well, but I’m kind of confused. Why is my mother here? This isn’t a regularly scheduled family support group session.”
“Honey, aren’t you happy to see me?” Mrs. Lewis walked over to hug her daughter.
“Of course, I guess so, Mother. But once again, why is she here?” Tami directed her question to the therapist, who always looked as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders.
Sensing Tami was not in the mood for any cat-and-mouse games, the therapist removed her eyeglasses and cut to the chase. “Well, as you both know, we’ve been running test after test, trying to find out if Tami is suffering from any chemical imbalances inherited, or self-made by way of food consumption.”
“Okay and . . . ?” Tami was now sitting on the edge of her seat awaiting the verdict on her mental state of mind.
“Well, Tami, it seems as if we’ve run into somewhat of a roadblock in the way of testing.”
“Which is?” Mrs. Lewis was as eager to hear the verdict and update as much as her beloved daughter.
“Okay, well, it seems as if Tami is pregnant.”
“Pregnant? Tami? My Tami?” Mrs. Lewis couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. Her suicidal, overweight, mentally distressed child was pregnant. “There must be some sort of a mistake. She doesn’t even have a boyfriend.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Mrs. Lewis. We had the test run several times because in our intake records Tami stated she wasn’t pregnant.”
Mrs. Lewis was shocked and leaped to her feet. “Tami, please tell this woman they must be mistaken and their tests are wrong.”
Tami was dumbfounded as all eyes were focused on her. As her mouth grew dry, she got a lump in her throat. Throughout everything that had gone on in the past six weeks, she was not thinking about much of anything else. Learning who her real father was had her mind gone. Preoccupied, facing that insane, tainted-bloodline harsh fact, she’d put her obsession with Vance on temporary hold. Now, just like that, it was back.