The Good Neighbor

by Beverly Ligon

  “Okay, good. How’s the baby?”

  “The baby is doing well. We’re both getting bigger and bigger every day.” She laughed for her mom to hear.

  “Yeah, that’s usually how it works.”

  They both laughed.

  “Well, it’s getting late. Tell the boys I called to check on them and I’ll be over tomorrow to spend time at your place.”

  “Okay…love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  Nyla hung up. She searched her memory for pieces of that night. She began to remember. It was dark. She had a blurry vision of a man slowly lifting her hospital gown, then dragged his hand from her lower abdomen up to circle her breasts. Because she was so weak, she couldn’t stop him. She remembered her voice was slurred as she said, “No,” but he continued up until his hands were around her neck and choking her. While gasping for air, she vaguely saw a light that came from someone opening the door. He quickly loosened the grip of her neck and started kissing her. Then, he shoved himself inside of her as the light went away and she slowly faded out. Nyla said, “Tabby…she saved my life, but that couldn’t have been Chance.”

  “How’s Mom and Dad?” Chance walked in and startled Nyla.

  “Oh, you scared me!” She answered nervously, “They’re fine. I was just checking on the boys.”

  Chance took the cordless phone from his pocket and held it up so Nyla would know that he heard her conversation. He looked at her strangely, a look that she’d never seen from him before. His eyes were no longer the soft, light brown eyes that once had her hypnotized. They now looked dark and empty. His jaw line hardened and lips sharpened as he stood in the doorway of their bedroom with a firm grip on the garden snips he’d just borrowed from Aaron.

  After talking to Dee and their mom, and slightly remembering the night at the hospital, Nyla didn’t know what to expect from Chance. Regardless of her fear and the uncertainty of that night, she tried to remain calm and act normal as possible.

  “What’s wrong?” She asked.

  “Don’t play stupid! You know what’s wrong!” He dropped the phone on the floor and slowly walked towards her. “Why don’t you tell me what’s wrong, Nyla?” He pushed her backwards against the wall and stood so close that she had to turn her head to the side to breathe.

  “Why are you doing this?” She asked him.

  “Why…because you are ungrateful and never appreciated anything that I’ve done for you!”

  “You’ve never heard me complain, so why would you say that? I’m happy with you!”

  “If I made you happy, you would be content with the way things are! You’d let me continue taking care of you like I promised. I thought I was doing good!”

  “You are!”

  “Then why do you keep trying to better yourself when you don’t have to? Why won’t you stay home and take care of home, like my grandma did?” He started pacing the floor. “Now, she was a real woman that knew how to take care of her man, my granddad. My mom on the other hand, was a whore like you. As long as my dad was taking care of everything, their relationship was perfect, but it wasn’t enough for her. She decided that she wanted to do her own thing…make her own money. So, my dad let her and no more than a month after she started working, she started having an affair. One of her close friends didn’t like that she was cheating on my dad after all he did for her, so she told him. Then, one day, my mom left for work earlier than usual and my dad decided to follow her. Some guy met her in the parking lot in front of her job. She left her car and got in his. Dad waited a few minutes before walking over to confront them. When he reached the window, they were already having sex. He must’ve known what he would find because he went prepared. He put a hole through them both with a single shot. Then, he turned the gun on himself...and left me sitting there to watch it all unfold. Because of my mom’s infidelity, I was put in the system…foster home after foster home…abuse after abuse, for years! Eventually, I was lucky to have my last foster parents adopt me. They raised me like I was their own biological child. They paid for me to get the best education and encouraged me to be the best me that I can be. I was grateful and played along, but the whole while I was growing up, I was holding in a lot of pain and anger. I hated a lot of people, many of whom I wanted to kill, but knew I couldn’t get away with it. That’s why I became a lawyer. I wanted to learn the law so I can learn how to manipulate it.”

  “So, you want to kill me? I’m not your mom...I never cheated on you!”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  “Yes, I’m sure!” Then, she thought about the whole situation. “Why did you rape me in the hospital?”

  He began to explain. “I wanted to put an end to this worthless relationship. So, after your mom called and told me to let the boys stay overnight, I waited until the hospital traffic had died down and returned to your room. I saw you laying there helplessly and felt like the perfect opportunity had finally come. I climbed in bed with you and was about to squeeze the life out of you until someone walked in. I knew I was seen, so I had to play it off.”

  Nyla looked down at the garden snips he still held firmly in his hand and noticed blood on them. “Chance, think about what you’re doing…the baby!” She tried hard not to cry.

  “I’m glad you brought that up. Whose baby is it anyway, mine…or Aaron’s?” He stepped back just to look at her.

  Nyla looked down at her small, rounded belly and didn’t answer.

  “Exactly! You cheated on me with a white man, our neighbor, your friend, and now you don’t know whose baby you’re carrying!”

  “Please! It wasn’t like that!”

  “Shut up!” He backslapped her and she fell to the floor, then demanded that she get right back up.

  Nyla shielded her stomach as she made her way back to her feet.

  He continued, “Did you think I wouldn’t notice a mixed baby?”

  Nyla knew he was about to kill her and started pleading for her life, but none of it seemed to matter to him at this point.

  He continued, “Now, I’m going to ask you again. Whose baby are you carrying? Before you lie, I want you to know that I overheard your conversation with Dee tonight. She said that Aaron raped you all those months ago and you didn’t say a word about it to me! So, I think you liked it! That’s why you asked about him in the middle of making love to me!”

  Nyla looked down, too afraid to face him and said, “I admit...I don’t know whose baby this is! I didn’t say anything because I was trying to protect my family...our family!”

  “From who? Aaron? Well, we don’t have to worry about him anymore.”

  “Why?” She looked at the bloodstained garden snips again. “What did you do to him?”

  Chance dropped the garden snips, then grabbed Nyla and started choking her. Nyla placed her hands on his to try to weaken his grip, but couldn’t. “Even now, you’re still worried about him?”

  She mumbled, “The boys!”

  “You don’t have to worry about them. I already have someone waiting to take your place. You remember the police officer that stopped you a little while ago, don’t you?” He slung her to the floor.

  Nyla remembered when she was stopped by a female officer. She then realized that she was the same lady that she saw walking with him at his job when her and Dee went to surprise him with lunch. She looked at him helplessly and said, “Chance, you have it all wrong! I was raped by Aaron before I had the accident!”

  “Stop lying! If you were raped, why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Because I thought he threatened our family!” She cried.

  “And you remained friends? I don’t believe you! I saw the way you smiled at him and the way he looked at you! You have feelings for him, which is why you didn’t tell me about the rape…if that’s what it really was!”

  “Chance please!” She begged. “We can work this out!”

  Meanwhile, Dee reached Aaron’s house. She saw the lights on, so she went to knock and the door came open.
She went in and called for him, but he didn’t answer. She checked all the bedrooms and bathrooms while she continued to call his name, but still no answer. Then, she remembered Chance was there asking for garden snips when she was on the phone with Aaron. So, she went to check the garage and it too was cracked open. She peaked in as she slowly pushed the door open and saw a pool of blood. Frightened by what she saw, she screamed and immediately turned to run, but stopped when she heard Aaron’s voice lowly crying for help. She opened the door all the way, and there was Aaron lying flat on his stomach with blood coming from his back.

  Dee ran over to him. “Oh my God! What happened?”

  “Chance,” he said weakly, “he knows.”

  Dee took out her cell phone. “I’m calling for help! I’ll let them know where you are! I have to go help Nyla!” She ran out.

  Chance was still enraged. “I don’t want to work it out! This whole situation helps with my plan to get rid of you and move on with my life!”

  “Your plan? Do you really think you’ll get away with killing me?”

  “Of course, I will. I’m a lawyer and I know judges. I know what to say and what not to say to each one of them. Besides, you’re having an affair. Your love triangle led you to your death. Trust me, I’ll figure it all out.”

  Chance walked over to his nightstand, opened the top drawer and removed a butcher’s knife and some cloth.

  Nyla was shocked to see that he had them right next to the bed she slept in every night. “Please don’t!” Nyla cried, but none of it moved him.

  He walked over to her and aggressively kissed her lips and forced her to the bed. Then he raised her shirt to look at her belly. He rubbed it gently with one hand. With his other hand, he placed the tip of the knife on it and said, “It’s over!”

  Nyla started fighting, but Chance was too strong. He managed to tie both of her hands to the headboard with the cloth, then sat on her legs. He proceeded to cut Nyla’s stomach with the knife. “Let’s see if this baby is mine or not!”

  Nyla screamed as blood ran out.

  Dee made it to their house and let herself in with a key Nyla gave her when they first moved in. She ran in and hit Chance upside his head with a vase she saw on her way in. He fell off Nyla partly and dropped the knife. He looked like he was knocked out, so Dee pushed him completely off of Nyla and helped her up.

  “Come on Nyla!” Dee said. “The police are on the way!”

  Nyla finally made it to her feet and was leaving the bedroom with Dee following closely behind her. Just as Dee was about to step out behind her, Chance grabbed her by her hair and slung her to the floor. He said, “Dee, I’m tired of you sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong!” He kicked her in her side.

  Dee was on the floor in a lot of pain. She looked at the doorway and saw Nyla peeping in. She yelled to her, “Run, Nyla!”

  Nyla ran and Chance left Dee to catch her. As he stepped out of the bedroom door, Aaron was there and stabbed Chance in his upper hip. He stopped and looked at Aaron who was already weakened by his injury and punched him, knocking him out cold. Chance took the knife from his hip and took a step forward. By this time, Dee had gotten up and jumped on his back to stop him from going any further. With the hand that held the knife, Chance started swinging at Dee to get her off his back. He slit her hand and she let go and fell to the floor. She looked over at Aaron who appeared dead, then looked at Chance who limped towards her with the knife in hand. He stood over her and drew back his hand to stab her. Then, there was a gunshot. Chance froze and after five seconds, he fell to the floor in front of Dee. Dee looked in the doorway and there stood Jack, Nyla’s other neighbor with a gun in his hand. Nyla stumbled back in the doorway behind him. She saw that Chance wasn’t dead. He looked over at her and immediately started getting up again.

  Nyla yelled to Jack, “Shoot him!”

  “Kill that fool!” Dee demanded.

  Jack didn’t shoot fast enough. So, Nyla grabbed the gun from his hand and shot Chance three more times. He fell to the floor and this time, he was dead. She dropped the gun and passed out in Jack’s arms.

  STARTING OVER

  Four months later, everything was slowly getting back to normal, although none of their lives would ever be the same. Jack was always a friendly person, but now it showed. He smiled and socialized more, so people wouldn’t prejudge him to be a bitter old man, like Nyla once did. Dee broke up with BJ and gave up dating men with more than one baby momma. Aaron was unconscious for two days after the incident. When he finally came to, he was told the horrible news that he was partially paralyzed from the waist down and may never walk again. He became depressed, blamed himself for everything that took place and didn’t try to get any better. Nyla was placed on bedrest after the bloody scene. Although she had been cut and lost a lot of blood, her and her baby were okay. Luckily, the cut wasn’t deep enough to do any damage to the baby. So, she was put on bedrest to prevent her from going into early labor. Seven weeks later and after five hours of labor, she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.

  After everything that happened, Nyla saw her house as a constant reminder of the worst days of her life and refused to go back. With the help of her family, she moved out of the house and neighborhood that her and Chance shared and moved into a house closer to her parents. She was at peace in her new home where she planned to raise her four children alone if she had to. She constantly reminisced about Aaron and one day decided that it was time to go visit him.

  Nyla arrived at Aaron’s house to find him sitting on his porch in a wheelchair. She got out of her car and went around to the other side to remove the baby from the car seat. Aaron stared as she slowly approached him.

  “Hey, how are you?” She asked.

  “I’m here...probably never walk again, but I’m here.”

  “Is that what they told you?”

  “Well, they say there’s a fifty-fifty chance that I may or may not.” He answered. “Either way, let’s not waste your time talking about me. I see you and your baby are doing well.”

  “Yes, we are.”

  “How are the boys?”

  “They’re fine. The younger two don’t know much about what happened. They know their dad was killed, but don’t know the details of how or why. CJ knows a little more because he’s the oldest and more aware. He calls himself the man of the house now.” She chuckled.

  Aaron smiled as he looked up at Nyla and with a soft voice, he asked, “So, who’s the dad?”

  Nyla didn’t answer, but handed him the baby instead. His eyes filled with tears when he peeled back the blanket and saw his eyes looking back at him.

  “Meet your daughter. This is Ava.”

  With his eyes still on his daughter, he said, “I’m so sorry for everything that I caused you to go through! I really am ashamed!”

  “It wasn’t just you, Aaron. Chance was fighting a battle within himself that I didn’t know about until that night.”

  He looked at her. “I don’t know how you had the heart to forgive me, but from the bottom of my heart, thank you!”

  “Aaron, when you admitted to me that it was you that raped me, I was shocked at first, then disappointed, then I was angry. You hurt me, both physically and mentally. I was heartbroken to know that you would do that to me. But, when you apologized, I realized that you’d rather face the consequences for your actions instead of letting me continue to live in fear. I felt your remorse, your regret, and sincerity and decided to forgive you.” She explained. “Now, it’s time for you to forgive yourself because we can’t undo the past. We have to make the best of the present so that she, our daughter, can have a good, normal life.”

  “You’re right and okay.” He looked back at Ava. “She’s so beautiful…just like her mom!”

  Nyla smiled, “Now you see why you have to try a little harder to get your strength back in your legs. It’s not just you anymore. She needs you to take her to the park, teach her how to ride her first bike, and walk her down the a
isle when she gets married. Chance is gone and I have the boys to raise on my own now. I’d like to have your help with her…if you’re willing?” She put her hand on his shoulder. “Plus, I miss you Aaron…as a neighbor and as my friend.”

  “What are you saying, Nyla?”

  “What I’m saying is that I miss you. I didn’t realize how I felt about you until you told me what you’d done. I wanted to hate you, but I couldn’t. I wanted to call the police on you, but something inside wouldn’t let me. Shortly after that, I found out I was pregnant and that brought about other emotions. Then, when you went away for a month, I missed seeing you, even after what you’d done. I started praying about my feelings and asked God to guide me in my decisions concerning you. I felt like I should forgive you. I don’t want to relive the events that took place between then and now, but this is where it has brought us. To make a long story short, Ava needs you…and so do I.”

  “You know…some months ago, I thought I loved you, but I was mistaken.” He said.

  “Oh...okay.” Nyla felt slightly disappointed. “I know this is a lot on you all at once. I’m sorry!” Nyla reached down to get Ava. “We’ll just go.”

  “No, wait!” He refused to let her take her. “Just let me finish. Like I was saying, back then I thought I loved you, but I was mistaken. I don’t think anything anymore because I know. Nyla, I love you! There’s no other explanation for the way I feel!”

  “You don’t have to explain.” She said. “I know the feeling.”

  “I’m going to be here for you, Ava, and the boys.”

  “Aaron, you don’t have to help with them. I can manage.”

  “I know I don’t have to. I want to. I’m all in…I promise.” Aaron reached over and gently squeezed Nyla’s hand, then looked back at their daughter. “Wow! I’m a dad!”

  They both fell silent and just smiled at their little beauty. Then, Nyla said, “Well, I guess we’ll go for now. You have my number…feel free to call anytime.” She reached down to get Ava.