by Dawn Desiree
“Shut the fuck up,” she whispered with her fingers up to her lips. “I’ve got 911 on the line. They’ve got me on hold.”
Sunshine hushed her voice into a whisper. “Sorry.” Then she pointed to the bags for Rain to see.
“Take that shit out to the car. All this shit ain’t go down for nothing,” Rain muttered.
Sunshine dropped the T-shirt she was holding and picked up two armloads of bags. Rain opened up the front door for Sunshine to help her out, making sure to wipe the doorknob off, so as not to leave fingerprints of her own.
Rain wiped all the doorknobs inside the apartment while she informed the officer on the line of Terrance’s address, so they could send some help.
“Would you like to leave a name?” the dutiful officer asked.
“Hell no!” Rain said and hung up the phone.
Sunshine came back inside just in time for Rain to hand her the last of the stolen items.
“Hold up for a minute,” Sunshine said. She ran back into the bedroom to Cathy. She kneeled down and pulled Cathy into her arms. Sunshine placed soft kisses on Cathy’s face. Tears fell from Sunshine’s eyes, as she could still feel the loving warmth emanating from Cathy’s corpse. She didn’t want to let go.
Rain had to drop everything that she was carrying to go help Sunshine. She was crying and trembling so hard that Rain had to pry her off of Cathy.
“Please, Rain, we’ve got to take her with us! We can’t just leave her here,” Sunshine cried.
“She’ll be okay, Sunshine. She’s better off here. Help is on the way. But we’ve got to get out of here before they come,” Rain said. “Come on, Sunshine, get up!”
Sunshine was relentless. She squeezed Cathy tight one last time, and then stood up slowly to leave. Rain pulled Sunshine away, trying to get her to hurry up. They could hear sirens coming from a distance.
“Let’s go, Sunshine! Come on!”
They grabbed the rest of their bags and slid out of the apartment before the authorities could identify them. Once they were outside, Rain double-checked to make sure that no one had noticed them. Fortunately for them, the bystanders hanging around were so engrossed in their own dealings that they didn’t even notice the two fleeing the scene of the crime.
Sunshine and Rain threw all the bags into the car, trying to appear as casual as possible. They hopped in the front seat, with Rain on the driver’s side. As they pulled out of the complex, they saw two police cars drive into the parking lot and stop in front of Terrance’s building. Rain casually drove off the scene without looking back
Sunshine was a wreck and cried uncontrollably all the way home.
SIXTEEN
Although the house was filled with all kinds of fly decorations, jazzy portraits, and cozy furnishings, it felt as empty as air when Sunshine walked inside. Sunshine and Rain sat on the hallway steps in silence. Sunshine couldn’t fathom the thought that there was no more Cathy. If she hadn’t seen her shot and killed before her very own eyes, she would’ve expected Cathy to come walking up right behind them, laughing and carrying on as if nothing had ever happened.
Sunshine didn’t want to accept this kind of pain. Not again. She didn’t know how she would be able to stay even one night in this house where she had shared so many special memories when it was just her and Cathy. Although their memories were short lived, they were priceless, and it was inconceivable that it had all come to such a bitter end.
Rain was also caught up in her own world. She was trying to focus and maintain, but just thinking about her life’s events, leading up to now, seemed sadly disastrous. It was as if everything she touched ended up fucked up in some kind of way, and as though she wasn’t meant to have anything worth holding on to. With both her mother and father dead, her little brothers gone, Terrance dead, and now Cathy dead and gone too, who could she run to? Rain began to feel sorry for herself because she didn’t have anyone left. What would become of her now? Would she merely just be a pass-around package, going from one foster home to another, until she turned eighteen and had to fend for herself? Hell no. Rain couldn’t see that happening. She needed stability, something she could call her own for once in this life.
Rain thought about Terrance’s safe that was still inside the Camry. She looked over at Sunshine, who looked near death herself. A clear, vivid picture flashed into her mind of Sunshine and Terrance’s trembling bodies sharing what seemed to be the ultimate orgasm. That was supposed to be her lying underneath Terrance, exchanging fuck faces.
Rain had to shake it off, because the dominating feeling of a severe ass whooping was becoming very hot and tempting. Rain managed to control the raging sensation to throw bountiful blows all over Sunshine’s deceitful body. Odd as it may seem, something within Rain’s soul told her not to react on her vicious thoughts. If it had been anybody else, she would have unleashed the tiger, but lucky for Sunshine, Rain had a little compassion in her heart for the girl.
Sunshine looked into Rain’s eyes and accepted the look of betrayal that reeked out.
“Rain, for what it’s worth, I truly am sorry. I don’t know what came over me today. I’m not going to sit here and blame it on the liquor I drank, or the weed I smoked. Everything I did was truly on me, and I take full responsibility. All I can say is that I’m sorry,” Sunshine cried on.
Before Sunshine could finish her sob story with a predictable, teary ending, Rain cut in. “Listen to me, Sunshine. I hear what you’re saying, but right now we’ve got some more important shit to tend to. What’s done is done.” Rain wasn’t trying to hear the rest of that bullshit Sunshine was about to say. They both had to get over it.
Rain stood up from the step where they sat. “Meet me back in Cathy’s room. I’ll be right back,” she told Sunshine. Rain walked out to the car and came back minutes later, carrying Terrance’s safe in her arms. She dropped the heavy safe on Cathy’s bed, in front of where Sunshine sat.
“I’m going to find a way to get this thing open, and you need to start looking around this room to see where Cathy might hide her money,” Rain ordered. “Two things for sure: I’m not going to continue to be state’s property, so I definitely got to get the fuck away from here, and I damn sure ain’t leaving broke.”
Rain began to play around with the knob of the safe. First, she tried using easy codes to see if Terrance was foolish enough to set a code as simple as 1-2-3 or 7-7-7. After several attempts, she realized that she wasn’t going to get it open that way.
“I’ll be right back,” Rain said to Sunshine. She jumped off the bed and ran out of the bedroom.
Sunshine got off the bed and began to search throughout the room for a spot where Cathy might hide her money. Sunshine wasn’t even sure if Cathy had any money stashed like Rain assumed, and if she did have money, it couldn’t possibly be much.
Sunshine lifted up the mattress. She didn’t find any money, but she did find several unused condoms, a vibrator, and a small book that apparently looked to be Cathy’s diary.
Sunshine began to feel uneasy about the idea of going through Cathy’s personal things. It didn’t feel right, like she was violating her in some kind of way. She briefly stopped her search, put her hands together, and looked up toward the sky. She pleaded out loud for Cathy to forgive her.
“Cathy, you know I love you, and I would never do anything to disrespect you. I know that you want me to have what I’m looking for. Lead me to it.”
Sunshine allowed tranquility set in while she continued with her search. She was careful to fix and put everything as she had found it once she was finished. Sunshine looked inside every dresser. She checked in the file cabinets, underneath the carpet, and inside every pocketbook. She also looked inside the walk-in closet.
After ten long minutes of looking throughout the entire bedroom, she was going to give up. Then she noticed a small opening in the lower part of the wall, inside the closet. Only a smart eye could have noticed it, because it was conveniently disguised, hidden right behind a dirty clothes hamper.
Sunshine sat frozen for a minute. Although she had asked Cathy’s spirit to guide her, she still felt like a criminal, even before looking at what was inside the laundry bag.
“Well, don’t just sit there. Open it!”
Sunshine’s chilled body almost burst into cold ice chips at the sound of the voice. For a quick instant, she thought it was Cathy’s ghost, until she turned and saw Rain standing at the entrance of the closet.
Sunshine did a double take closely at Rain. Rain stood firm, masked with a face shield, wearing a heavy pair of safety gloves, and holding a huge chainsaw with both hands.
“What’s all that for?” Sunshine asked with curiosity.
“Girl, this old thing,” Rain joked. “No, for real, though, this getup is about to get us paid. I found it outside in the garage,” Rain explained.
Sunshine sealed the opening to the pipeline back up and placed the hamper back in front of it like nothing had happened. She pulled the load with its contents beside the bed.
Rain set down the saw for a minute to place the safe onto the floor beside the bag. Both girls stared with admiration at the two concealed objects, ready to reveal the possible valuable treasures.
Rain picked up the ever-ready chain saw, pulled back the chain, and said, “Here goes nothing.” The motor sounded, and Rain began slicing away at the metal, driving its force impeccably, until it reached its center point. Electrical sparks and fire drizzled as she diligently proceeded on.
Sunshine had to stand back as Rain chiseled on. The piercing sound of the mechanical engine from the saw and the determined, thundering heartbeat eventually brought forth the expected treasure to behold. Once the safe was split in half, Terrance’s life savings were uncovered.
“Jackpot!” Rain screamed. She felt like she was hallucinating while she carefully examined all the hard-earned drug money that Terrance had stacked.
“Damn! I thought my nigga was small time, but he was bigger than a trigger!” Rain boasted. “Now it’s your turn,” Rain said to Sunshine, pointing to the unopened laundry bag.
Sunshine was relieved her effort wasn’t going to be as great as Rain’s had just been. Sunshine effortlessly unzipped the plastic laundry bag and unraveled a hefty load of dirty money. Bundles of dead presidents stared them right in the face.
Sunshine and Rain were both in awe of the green beauty of their newfound riches. There was so much wealth in the room that it temporarily erased all traces of guilt, sadness, anger, and dishonesty. The atmosphere was replaced with dreams, happiness, ambition, and power. There was so much money surrounding them that they didn’t even bother with counting it out or dividing it evenly. Each one simply claimed the pile that was closest to her. Sunshine scooped all her Benjamins into the laundry bag, while Rain stuffed her stash into one of Cathy’s MCM tote bags.
Sunshine and Rain both realized that eventually the authorities would have to come to the house to investigate, once they identified the dead bodies in Terrance’s apartment. Rain stood up to clean the mess from the broken safe. Sunshine went to grab a trash bag so that she could help discard the shattered remains.
“I’m going to throw this shit in a lake somewhere. That way can’t nobody point their nasty little fingers at us,” Rain said.
Rain knew she had to get rid of any evidence linking them to Terrance’s apartment if they were going to have a clean getaway.
“Would you like for me to ride with you?” Sunshine asked.
“Nah, I’m going to ride out and get rid of this myself. I don’t need no company,” Rain answered. “When I get back, I’m not staying long enough for none of them fake-ass social workers to come and get me. They won’t get this young girl to be another one of their orphaned statistics,” Rain fussed. “I’m going to take all this money and get the fuck out—do some big shit for myself. Just like you, I don’t have no family to turn to, so I’m going to do me,” Rain said daringly. “I don’t expect for you to be here when I get back, Sunshine,” Rain said.
She wanted Sunshine to understand that she didn’t want her to follow her wherever she ended up. This would be their separating point, with no hard feelings in the mix. Maybe if things had gone down differently, they could have still flown the coop together, but Rain wasn’t going to allow herself to get stationed with someone who she couldn’t even trust. The fact that Sunshine had fucked Terrance would always eat at her brain like a tumor. Rain didn’t get down like that.
Rain looked at Sunshine, who sat still, with her legs crossed, wearing a clueless expression on her face. Rain began to feel sorry for her.
“Why don’t you call Diego, Sunshine? That nigga is really feeling you. Spend some of that bread on his ass and make him your nigga,” Rain said.
A warm smile escaped from Sunshine’s lips at the mention of Diego’s name. She hadn’t even given him much thought after all the madness had happened. Rain was right. It wouldn’t hurt just to call Diego.
While Sunshine busied herself calling Diego, Rain left to dispose of the trash bag and all its incriminating contents. She made sure to take her money with her. Not that she thought Sunshine would take it, but shit, she hadn’t thought she would end up fucking Terrance, either.
Sunshine felt nervous when she heard Diego answer the phone. “Hello, Diego. It’s me, Sunshine. Are you busy right now? I really need somebody to talk to,” Sunshine said.
“I’m never too busy for some Sunshine,” Diego answered smoothly. “What’s going on? Are you okay?” Diego asked.
“I’m okay, but I would be better if you could come and get me,” Sunshine said.
“Just give me your address and I’ll be right there,” Diego said.
“It’s not that simple, Diego. I need a place to stay,” Sunshine said.
“Well, how about you give me your address, and I’ll be on my way so we can talk about this,” Diego said. “Whatever it is you’re going through, we’ll work it out,” he added.
Sunshine felt more at ease knowing that she had someone to confide in a little bit. Of course she wouldn’t give him all the gory details, but something was better than nothing. Plus, Diego sounded so compassionate, unlike Rain, who was ready to abandon her so easily.
Sunshine knew that she had been wrong for making love to Terrance, but she couldn’t change it. All she could do now was apologize and try to move on. Certainly she would miss Rain once she was gone; she had grown attached to her in a short amount of time, but this was her call.
Sunshine gave Diego her address and hung up the phone. She thought about calling Ms. Waters but hastily thought against it. Sunshine knew that Ms. Waters would try to make her stay, only to send her to another foster home. Sunshine wasn’t in the mood to meet and get to know a whole new family. She just wanted to get on with her life, with no strings attached to anyone, except for maybe Diego.
With Rain gone off on her little mission, Sunshine was able to have a moment to herself to say good-bye to the house and its memories to which she had grown so attached. Before she went upstairs, Sunshine searched around Cathy’s room for something small and meaningful that she could keep; something special that she would be able to remember her second mother by. Sunshine already had plenty of pictures of the two of them together, but she wanted something sentimental that belonged to Cathy. She thought about grabbing one of Cathy’s dresses, like she had done with Ayanna, but as she looked through her closet, nothing seemed to reach out to her.
Sunshine looked inside Cathy’s jewelry box and pulled out a pair of her favorite diamond studs. She held the earrings close to her heart, remembering the many tim
es Cathy had worn them on their nights out at Royals. Sunshine seized the earrings and ran upstairs to her bedroom so she could begin packing. She put only a few of her precious items inside her Louis Vuitton suitcase. She placed Cathy’s diamond studs on top of her mother’s dress, closed her valise, and went downstairs to wait for Diego on the front porch.
* * *
When Rain got back to the house, there was no trace of Sunshine’s presence. A surprising feeling of emptiness filled her heart as she realized that Sunshine was really gone. She swiftly shook that unwanted feeling and ran upstairs to her bedroom. When she got there, she noticed a white envelope on her bed with her name on it in red ink. Rain picked up the envelope and ripped it open. She took the letter out and unfolded the page. She read the writing aloud:
Dear Rain,
True friendship is a virtue so strong to behold; Some lies and deception may be hidden or told. Their souls meet, their souls touch, their souls love, their souls lock; and even through unintentional separation, their friendship holds as solid as a rock.
Love, Sunshine
Rain put the poem up to her heart and was emotionally touched by Sunshine’s words. Sunshine had told her she had skill, but maybe she had underestimated just how much. Tears escaped Rain’s eyes as she thought about what could have been. She couldn’t fight back the pain anymore. Rain let the tears that had always stayed hidden so well fall freely from her eyes. Moments later, her pain turned into anger.
She raised her head to the sky and screamed, “How strong do you want a bitch to be? How much more bullshit do I have to go through to show you that I am official?” When Rain didn’t get an answer from her higher power, she wiped away her tears and stood up to make her next move.
While Rain packed her bags, she thought about the endless possibilities. With all her money, she could travel to the end of the world and back if she wanted to. However, Rain just wanted to go somewhere where she could settle down and build a new life for herself until she was old enough to send for her little brothers.