His First Lady

by Davis Boyles, Kym

  When the light turned green, Aaron took off roaring past the car seeing only that bald headed man in his rear view mirror. He laughed, began to rap again before seeing the reflection in his rearview mirror of red and blue lights suddenly illuminating from that same car speeding up behind him. He swore then hit the steering wheel with his palm. A pig!

  Chapter 45

  Ben drove extremely close to the maroon Mercedes. In an unmarked silver Camaro, he was ready for anything and down for a good chase in the city if that was what Aaron wanted. He needed a little excitement in his life. Since seeing Aaron’s priors and an admitted murderer according to the recordings, he knew to expect anything. The Mercedes still had dealer tags on it but Aaron had it so flashy that he drew too much attention to himself.

  Ben had been sitting and watching the car all day, waiting for Aaron. Parked across the street from the church’s property, he came to attention when he saw that stupid joker pull out of the parking lot, thumping his music without enough sense to wait until he was clearly off the church’s property before turning it up. Even Ben knew better than that.

  Ben was more than happy to put the siren on Aaron especially when he almost ran the traffic light; being an idiot was his first offense, reckless driving his second. Opening the car door and placing his hand on the piece on his side just in case, Ben approached the car slowly. Aaron let down his window and had his license, insurance, and purchase papers in his hand even before Ben could see his face.

  “How are you today?” Ben bent down looking at Aaron in the driver side window.

  “Fine,” Aaron cut his eyes over at Ben quickly refusing to hold the gaze, “how are you today, officer?”

  Ben took the driver’s license and the documentation and scanned over it. “Do you know why I stopped you, Mr. Middleton?”

  “Yeah,” Aaron laughed, “cause I’m a young black man in a shiny Mercedes.”

  Ben remained expressionless. “No sir; it’s not that. You almost ran the red light and you were going 40 in a 35.”

  Aaron looked over at Ben and smiled. “40 in a 35? Man, please.”

  “Have you had anything to drink, Mr. Middleton?”

  That caused Aaron to shift in his seat and become visibly upset. “Yeah, apple juice.” Aaron sucked his teeth. “Man, I been at church all day!” Aaron raised his voice. “Don’t come at me like that.”

  “Step outside of the car, Mr. Middleton,” Ben said standing back from the car.

  Aaron snickered. “Man, show me some ID.”

  Ben stood staring at Aaron wanting to reach inside the driver side window and pull him out of it by his big ears; instead, he placed his hand firmly on his side. “I’ll tell you again sir to step out of your vehicle.”

  “I know my rights; show me some identification, officer,” Aaron insisted.

  Ben wanted this to be by the book so he pulled out his badge. Aaron glanced at it then turned his head. “Now, step outside of your vehicle, Mr. Middleton.”

  An angry Aaron shook his head. “Why? I don’t understand why I have to get out of my vehicle.”

  Aaron looked at Ben and something in Ben’s eyes must have been an alert to Aaron that this was not up for debate because he unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the door, and got out. Aaron raised his hands in his air.

  “This is bogus, man!”

  “Turn around and lean on the car, please.”

  “Man, what!” Aaron yelled turning toward his car and looking back at Ben. “You trippin!”

  Ben kicked Aaron’s legs apart as he leaned against the car. “Do you have anything on you like weapons or needles that I should know about?”

  “Naw man! What’s this about?” Aaron shouted.

  Ben patted him down then grabbed his arms and yanked them behind Aaron’s back causing him to yell out in pain.

  “What you doing? This is crazy!”

  “Mr. Middleton, you’re under arrest.” Ben began reading a stunned Aaron his Miranda rights.

  “What! What!” Aaron screamed looking around in horror as the cuffs wrapped around his wrists. “Man, this got to be a joke!”

  “No joke.”

  “What am I being arrested for? Doing a 40 in a 35? Man, what!!”

  “Parole violation,” Ben said taking him to the patrol car by his arm.

  “Parole violation? Man, I didn’t violate no parole! You crazy!!” Aaron protested walking toward the Camaro.

  “Relax and cooperate and you’ll be fine.” Ben opened the car door. “Watch your head.”

  Aaron reluctantly got in. “Relax? This is illegal! What about my car? Can I at least have someone come get my car? I can’t leave it on the street with all these thugs around here.”

  As Aaron spoke, a tow truck pulled up behind them. He turned around then cursed. “What’s going on here?”

  Ben closed the car door then started the Camaro and fastened his seatbelt. He pulled off allowing the tow truck to pull directly in front of Aaron’s Mercedes.

  “Relax buddy, we’re going to the station and I’ll answer all your questions there.”

  Chapter 46

  Evan smiled when she walked into the quiet house and smelled Rosalie’s cooking. Rosalie was just like a mother to her and could sense when she needed a hug and con-con was Evan’s hug, grease and all. The day had been long and tiresome. She only assumed that Leon was at the church late again since he was never home and always claimed that’s where he was.

  After a long steamy shower, Evan turned on the television before throwing on her favorite pink pajama set and bringing her dinner in her room to sit on the floor and eat alone. As much as she had anticipated eating everything that Rosalie prepared for her, Evan didn’t have much of an appetite.

  Evan sat the plate on the floor beside her. She picked up the remote and began flipping through the stations when she thought about the gift that she still had yet to open. That’s just how busy she was, she hadn’t even opened a gift. Now, that never happens. She got up and walked over to the closet where she placed it with one section untapped remembering that she had at least started unwrapping.

  She sat back down on the floor and turned the television volume down. She turned the small package over to continue opening the side where she started to undo the tape until she just ripped the paper off of it; nobody was looking. She found a pretty pink journal covered with rhinestones and sequins. She smiled. It was cute; girly and quite thoughtful.

  Evan opened the journal then scrunched her forehead realizing that the pages were filled with someone’s writing. She looked inside the binder and saw Sundi’s name. An eerie feeling came over her and she closed it quickly. She took a deep breath wondering why in the world anyone would give her Sundi’s diary. Evan’s stomach felt strange as she opened it again and began reading it.

  In typical nine year old fashion, Sundi’s handwriting was a little messy as she wrote day after day about her kitten and how much she loved him which caused Evan to smile. Sundi had one best friend at school named Sharon who she trusted and sat with at lunch. But then there was Amanda who always made her feel awkward, always calling Sundi names. She read of Sundi’s emotions and reactions but it was all too strange to comprehend. Evan wanted to stop since it felt so intrusive and wrong but she didn’t.

  As Evan turned the pages, she saw that Sundi had written something about her ‘The first lady is the nicest prettiest woman I ever met besides my mommy’. Then she saw Leon’s name. Evan’s curiosity peaked knowing how much Sundi loved Leon.

  Evan continued to read and in one split moment of eternity, her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach. Rereading the first sentence and then the second one, it was as if her life had stopped and everything went black. Revisiting and carefully reading every letter and every word written by Sundi, it seemed as if a flood gate of fire had engulfed Evan’s body. The food that Evan had eaten suddenly moved from her stomach up into her throat. Her heart began pounding loud and thick and her hands began to shake so rapidly that she cou
ld no longer see the words as they all seemed to run together.

  Nauseous, Evan put her hand to her mouth, jumped up and ran to the bathroom, vomiting into the toilet. She reached up and grabbed a towel from the towel rack; put it to her mouth trying to keep herself from vomiting again. With her legs too weak to support its weight, she stayed on her knees and crawled back into her room, picked up the journal again just to be sure that she really had read that. Every muscle and function in her body seemed to give out reacting to what her eyes were seeing.

  With tears flowing on her cheeks, Evan continued to read Sundi’s writings about Leon touching her one day in his office and how much she hated him. Sundi wanted to die; Sundi said she would continue to try and kill herself until she was with Jesus and out of her pain. Evan screamed. Filled with fury and rage, Evan took her arm and wiped off everything on her dresser causing them to crash onto the floor. She picked up the glass lamp on the night stand and threw it across the room causing it to smash into pieces once it hit the wall.

  Evan stood up, screamed again as fury filled her body. She clawed at her peach comforter and duvet throwing them off of the bed and onto the floor, like a wild animal, she pulled down the drapes then threw the candlesticks on her vanity across the room to the floor length mirror causing the glass to shatter. Afterwards, she looked around at the chaotic mess and hated everything in that room. She hated that she had made a life with a monster and had relished in the luxury of a life that was an imitation of everything beautiful and true. She was getting everything that she deserved and she knew it. She had married a snake.

  Chapter 47

  Evan lay with her body quivering, curled in a fetal position alone on the dark living room floor with only the glow from the kitchen illuminating the downstairs. Her head throbbed from the countless tears and her eyes were swollen to the point that it hurt just to move them. Used tissues were strewn around her while she clutched some between her fingers. She didn’t call the police; she didn’t call anyone. There were so many thoughts running through her head but she’d decided to face the monster that had destroyed a little girl’s life, so she waited.

  Not hearing Leon drive up, she jumped hearing the front door close and the deadbolts being locked. She slowly forced herself to sit up from the floor. She heard Leon whistle a tune from their choir then throw the keys on the glass table in the foyer. She blew her nose. The whistling stopped as Leon realizing where she was, walked into the living room and turned on the light.

  He stood stunned looking down at her. “What’s going on in here? Why do you look like that?”

  Evan looked up at him with vicious red eyes. In all of the times he had mistreated her and belittled her, she had still loved him and she had forgiven him. But now it was the first time that she could truly say that she was repulsed at the very site of him.

  “I thought long and hard what I would say to you when I saw you. And now that I see you, I don’t know what to say to you.” Her voice was low almost a whisper.

  “What are you talking about?” He frowned.

  She looked up at him. “How could you hurt Sundi like that? How could you touch a child? You destroyed everything sacred and true to her to the point that she doesn’t even want to breathe anymore.” Evan’s words were slow and painful, hurting to think about them, to speak them.

  Leon walked further into the living room and leaned on the wall. “What are you talking about?”

  Evan took her hand and scooted across their slick hardwood floor to lean her back against the sofa. Putting her knees up, she rested her elbows on them and wiped her runny nose. “You sat in that hospital with all of us knowing that you were the reason that she was there and you sipped coffee pretending to care. How evil are you?”

  Leon’s eyes stretched wide as he stood staring at Evan becoming angrier the more he listened to her. “You’re talking crazy.”

  Evan gathered the strength and got up from the floor. “I am not crazy!” Evan screamed to the top of her lungs at him.

  Leon stared at her but she wasn’t afraid.

  Evan laughed through her tears. “Are you attracted to little girls?” Evan asked. “I mean, it’s not like you sleep with me.”

  “Shut up,” Leon said calmly.

  “You are disgusting!” Evan screamed before throwing the pink journal at him.

  Leon ducked as the journal went flying toward his face. He stood back up in shock and stared at Evan.

  “Everything makes sense now,” Evan cried as tears ran down her face. “She didn’t want to sing, she hated church…she wanted to kill herself. You knew all along!” Evan said wiping her face with a damp tissue.

  Leon stood in a state of shock looking at her. “That’s a lie. I would never do anything like that. Where are you getting that from?”

  “She wrote it down,” Evan said pointing at the book that barely missed his face opened on the floor near him.

  “She’s lying.” Leon picked up the journal and flipped through the pages as Evan watched him. “Where? I don’t see anything.”

  “She’s not lying,” Evan cried wiping her eyes and nose with the tissue in her hand.

  “She’s lying!” Leon yelled giving Evan a deathly stare. “She’s a little liar.”

  “She’s not lying!” Evan sobbed loudly as she sat on the sofa. “Who does that? Who touches little girls? Who hurts children?”

  “She’s a little liar and her mother is too.”

  “How could you stand there Sunday after Sunday pretending to know God? How could you?”

  Leon looked over at Evan for a moment then rushed toward her dropping the journal on the floor. He jumped on top of Evan, straddling her as he put both of his hands around her throat. She fought fiercely trying to free herself from beneath him but the harder she tried, the tighter he squeezed her throat. Evan fought for air, coughing, attempting to catch her breath while clawing at his hands and face.

  “I want you to take everything you just said back,” Leon hissed at her as she struggled to breathe. “Do it!”

  Evan continued to swing and kick as he held onto her neck. Leon loosened his grip slightly but kept it tight enough for her to feel the power he had over her.

  “You know I could kill you right now if I wanted to,” Leon said shaking furiously as sweat beads began popping out on his forehead.

  Evan fought even harder to free his hands from her neck. She wiggled herself off of the sofa and onto the floor. But refusing to budge, he held on to her falling onto the floor, still on top of her.

  Leon trembled as he held his hands on Evan’s neck. “You are going to forget any of this ever happened. Don’t mess with me or I will kill you!”

  As tears trickled down Evan’s face, she stopped her struggle. She relaxed and laid motionless, then locked eyes with him. She closed her eyes in surrender. Leon released his hands from Evan’s neck and got off of her. She rolled over on her side grasping for air, holding her throat, coughing as she tried to breathe.

  A hard breathing Leon stumbled on the floor toward the journal, picked it up, and with his chest heaving up and down walked swiftly into the kitchen. As Evan tried to catch her breath, she smelled smoke and forced herself off of the floor and into the kitchen. Standing in the kitchen entrance, she watched Leon who turned to face her with the burning journal in one hand and a long lighter in the other.

  “You let this go,” Leon demanded holding the burning journal up high. “This never happened and this never existed. You will show up at the church tomorrow like everything is fine. Do you understand me?”

  Evan closed her wet eyes and covered her mouth in disbelief. Leon dropped the burning journal into the metal trash can and stood watching over it until it was burned to crisp. Evan watched him walk out of the kitchen.

  Chapter 48

  Daniela got the text from Ariel asking her whereabouts as she was entering the restaurant. She was running late so there was no reason to respond as she was being escorted to Ariel’s table by the restaur
ant’s hostess. An impeccably adorned Ariel seemed ecstatic to see Daniela when she approached the table standing up and wrapping her arms around her as if knowing each other longer than their two months.

  “Who would have known that you had all that pretty up under that white coat?” Ariel asked sitting back down in the chair.

  Daniela didn’t quite know how to take the compliment but then again, she had never met anyone quite like Ariel before so she could expect anything. “Thanks. We techs clean up pretty well on our off days,” Daniela said sitting down.

  “You do; that white coat you all wear is hideous.” Ariel scooted up to the table in her chair.

  “They’re not so bad,” Daniela said placing her purse in the seat next to her.

  “Thank you for accepting my invitation to lunch. I just think we hit it off so well.”

  “I appreciate the invitation,” Daniela said although she almost canceled because she had never befriended one of her clinic’s patients before.

  “I hope you didn’t think it was odd that I asked you to lunch. People usually think I have a slew of friends but I don’t really.”

  Daniela didn’t exactly think about Ariel having or not having friends; maybe it was Ariel that assumed that she consumed more of people’s thoughts than she actually did.

  “I’m always so busy and I’ve never had lunch with one of our patients before.”

  “It’s not a conflict of interest is it?”