“I’m just curious. Renee, I’ve heard so much about you, but Keithon never told me how beautiful you are,” Mrs. James said while holding my hand.
“Oh, thank you, Mrs. James,” I said, smiling.
“Um, Mom, where is Dad?” Keithon asked while sipping the lemon tea.
“He went goofing around with a couple of friends from work. He will be back in a few hours. If he’s not back in time to meet you, I’ll tell him you came over,” Mrs. James replied.
We sat and talked for hours. I even saw old pictures of Keithon when he was a baby. Keithon was always cute, even when he was a baby.
Keithon’s mother treated me nice the whole time. She asked questions that were a little weird, but overall she was very sweet. But then the question came up that scared me.
Mrs. James asked me, “So where did you two meet?”
I was ready to tell the truth when Keithon said, “Um, we met in the grocery store. She dropped her wallet, and when I picked it up, we looked into each other’s eyes. And from then on we have talked ever since.”
He saved my life with a big lie, but it looked as if Mrs. James did not believe him. “Wow that’s something,” Mrs. James replied sarcastically.
Then we all spent a couple more hours on small talk.
“I’ll see you later, Mother. Don’t forget to tell Dad I was here,” Keithon told his mother.
“Okay, and it was so nice to meet you, Renee,” Mrs. James said, hugging us both then letting us out the door.
Back on the way to the motel, I asked him why he told that lie to his mother for me. He told me he would do anything for me, and he thought he found the one woman he could spend the rest of his life with.
This meant a lot to me. I felt the same way about Keithon.
As we drove, I looked out the window at the houses, big ones and little ones. One stood out to me. It looked a lot like my grandmother’s house I went to when I was really young. It was a normal-size house with bricks. It had a pink door, and the windows were outlined with pink. I never knew why I never saw my grandmother again, but I’d never forget that house for some reason. Maybe she’d died, or maybe she moved far away where she could not visit.
As we passed the house, I turned my head to see it once more. “That is her house!” I said to myself. I knew it was my grandmother’s house at this point because I noticed the paint drawing on the side of the house of my name and the name of one of my childhood friends. “Renee and Todd” was written on her house. Maybe this was why I hardly saw my grandmother. I never knew when we went to her house it was all the way in New York. But then again if we went a lot when I was little, that was not a good reason to just stop going.
I remembered that day because Todd and I got in a lot of trouble for painting on her house. It was around the time she first moved in this house, and it was one of the first times my mom ever got mad at me. My mom was always a nice lady and hardly ever got herself upset, other than the time my dad left us. Even when Tyrone hit her, she was hardly ever upset. Maybe she just knew that once my dad left, our life was going to go downhill from there. Maybe that’s why she was so upset with my dad. He was the first love of her life.
This made me just continue to think about how much I was loving my life right now and how I felt the same about Keithon. But I hoped he’d never just leave me like my dad did to my mom. I did not know how I could deal with something like that. That was why I would always know how strong of a person my mom was.
But where my grandmother was, I guess I would never know. My mom never told me why we stopped going to see her. Maybe I was just too young to understand.
Chapter Nine
Keithon and I went to see his mother and father again. We arrived, and Keithon’s father answered the door.
“Oh, hey, son,” Mr. James said.
“Hello, Dad, how are you?”
“Hey, Mr. James, I’m Renee,” I said.
He replied, “Hello, young lady. Nice to meet you finally.”
His mom was cooking. You could smell the food from the front door.
“This smell is amazing,” I said as Mrs. James walked out of the kitchen to the front door.
“Well, thank you very much, Renee,” Mrs. James responded.
We sat down at the table. Ten minutes in we were all eating at the table. Mrs. James seemed a little quiet. This was kind of weird, but I ignored it and continued to eat. Two more minutes passed, and I had to use the bathroom.
“Please excuse me,” I said, and I asked where their bathroom was located.
“Go straight up the stairs, then make a right, and you will see the bathroom,” Mrs. James told me.
I walked upstairs and entered the bathroom. As I was using the bathroom, I could not help but hear voices through the heat vent in the bathroom. I got up and washed my hands fast. I cracked the door open, and I could hear the voices more clearly.
“She is no good, son!” Mrs. James told Keithon. “I invited you here to let you know the cops have been coming around here more and more lately asking questions about her.”
“She was in a mental hospital and escaped! We told the police she’s with you. But did you know this?” Mr. James asked.
After I heard Mr. James say that, I walked down the stairs, nervous because I knew Keithon did not know about me escaping the mental house. Of course, the first thing I thought as I walked down the stairs was whether Keithon would judge me and no longer care about me since I lied to him.
Keithon came over to me and grabbed my hand tight. He walked me to the elevator. As the elevator door was closing, Mrs. James yelled, “Where are you going, Keithon? Come back!”
Once we got out of their condo building, Keithon opened the car door for me and walked to the other side and got into the car. I could see Mr. James standing at the door in his blue jeans and black-and-white button-up shirt. He was right next to Mrs. James in her yellow and white floral dress, looking at us as we drove off.
I hadn’t paid attention to how Mr. James looked until now, seeing him at the door with a disappointing look. He was a fairly tall man with black hair with light amount of gray. He had a really thick head of hair for someone as old as him. His eyes were really dark brown, almost black. I could tell right in that moment, looking at Mr. James’s face, how much Keithon looked like him. I never ever wanted him to look at me the way his father was looking at us right now.
Why was this happening? Bad things were always happening to me. Keithon was silent the whole time we were driving.
“Hey, where are we going? Are you going to turn me in?” I asked him.
“I love you so much,” Keithon remarked.
I could hear power in his voice, but there was also sadness. I replayed those words back-to-back in my head. He loved me, and I loved him too.
Keithon never answered my question. So I did not know where we were going, but I assumed it wasn’t to go turn me in.
An hour and a half passed. I still did not know where we were going. I could see that the gas was pretty low. It was right above E. At some point, Keithon had to stop and get some gas. What made me notice the gas was low was that every two minutes Keithon would take his eyes off the road and look at the gas. It was starting to get dark outside. With the headlights on and shining bright, I could see a gas station not too far ahead of us. Keithon started to slow the car down as we got closer and closer to the gas station. Keithon turned into the gas station and parked by a gas pump.
“Stay in the car,” Keithon said, and he got out of the car and walked in the gas station.
Keithon took a couple of minutes staying in the gas station. So I started looking around. There was only one car other than ours in the station. It was blue and small, and an old Asian lady was sitting in it. I could see into the lady’s car, but I was only looking because I had nothing else to do while waiting for Keithon.
He finally came out of the gas station. He started pumping the gas. As the gas was pumping, he got in the car and sat down. Keithon h
ad two bags full of things in his hand. He left the bags in the car when he got out to finish pumping the gas.
“This may be a while, so I bought some food for us to eat,” he said to me, looking deep into my eyes for a second.
We stopped at the motel. Keithon went in and got all our clothes as I sat in the car waiting for him. He finally came back out two minutes later, and we started to drive again.
Chapter Ten
There I was again, hiding out, but this time I wasn’t alone. I was tired of hiding and tired of running away. I still believed in God even though this was happening. And I thanked God for not turning me in and staying by my side through these last couple of days.
Keithon and I had only known each other for a little while, but to us, it felt like we knew each other for a lifetime. At this point, I knew in my heart and in my soul that Keithon loved me, and I would never second-guess this again. He and I were hiding out at his second house. Only his mother and father knew where it was. He’d never come to this house before, so he assumed that the police would not find us here or even think of this house as an option of us being here.
We kept the house very dark and stayed in the basement to make it seem like no one was here. This almost felt like I was back in the abandoned building like before where there were no lights. But at least I had food and a fellow person to keep me safe. This thought made me a little happy inside. We both stayed in the house at all times, and Keithon was still on his vacation, so he didn’t have to go to work.
After years of Keithon being a police officer, he had never gone on vacation until now. He let me know that he did not think it was safe for him to go into work anyway because the police were already coming to his parents’ house asking questions. He still answered his calls so everything could seem normal so the cops wouldn’t think anything about him possibly having me with him somewhere. But he did avoid actually seeing the cops so he would not have to answer any questions.
“Why do you think the officers asked your parents about you and me?” I pondered.
“I really don’t know, but maybe because once Officer Tanner found out who you were he told the cops he and I were the last two to see you, and how I wanted to take you to the shelter.”
“Oh, okay, that is probably it. I did not even think about how Officer Tanner was there when we met,” I responded.
“Yeah, Renee. I’ve been avoiding asking you this, but why would you lie to me? I love you, and that’s why I took you here instead of turning you in, but what you did was messed up,” Keithon said to me. Then silence hit the room like a wrecking ball.
I finally responded to Keithon. “Because I didn’t want you to judge me and leave me. What guy wants to be with someone from a psychiatric hospital?”
“Damn, Renee. How can you make a decision like that for me?” he fumed then turned his back to me.
A few moments later he turned back around and said, “Oh, and by the way, I would have chosen you.”
He and I didn’t talk to each other for the rest of that night, but we connected a lot during that time of us hiding out. We told each other stories that happened in our life. It was there I told Keithon exactly why I was in the mental hospital. I literally told him almost everything from Tyrone killing my mom to how I killed Tyrone when I was trying to defend my mom. But I even told him about everything that happened while I was in the mental house. He knew everything about Shondra and how she was the only friend I made in all the time I spent in the mental house. Keithon also told me of the time he found his ex-wife with another man and that day she died in a car accident. It was a long story he told.
“That is why I wanted to move to Cleveland to get a new start,” Keithon explained. “I did not feel like telling you before because it was a dark time in my life and I hate thinking about it. But my wife cheated on me a bunch of times. I found out she even cheated once with my cousin John. John and I were best friends as children, but I never talked to him again after I found out he slept with my wife. I hated her so much for hurting me like that. When she died, I felt so bad for hating her even though she had hurt me so much. But she did not deserve to die,” Keithon told me then paused for a second.
Keithon took a deep breath then continued. “I’m still hurt today, but I’m a lot better. I slept with strippers and even one of my lady coworkers. I knew all of this was wrong, but I just did not know how to deal with my wife cheating and her dying soon after. I wanted to be loved, but I knew all that was not real love,” Keithon told me as he started to cry, remembering all the pain he went through with his wife.
“I’m sorry,” I sobbed as I hugged him tight. “I will never cheat on you.”
After a couple minutes of Keithon crying, he wiped his eyes and told me how he was still legally married to his wife because she died right after he found out she was cheating, so he did not file for divorce.
In his basement, there were three rooms. We stayed in the back room with a lock on the door. In the room were packs of food, a refrigerator, our clothes, one bed, a toilet, and a lit candle. We also had a window that the sunlight would shine through every morning to wake us up. We had a small sink to wash up in and to hand wash our clothes. It was nighttime now, and Keithon and I were lying down and talking as usual.
“We are going to be just fine. I promise you I will protect you if it kills me,” Keithon said while kissing my forehead.
“I feel safe in your arms, and I know you will. But how long do you think we will have to hide? I’m not saying this is not nice being with you, but I’m just tired of hiding,” I said, sitting up and looking Keithon in the eyes.
“I don’t know, Renee. I really do not know how long we will need to hide. But until then we will be safe down here. We have food, a toilet, things to wash up with, and each other. You do not have to worry. This will all be over soon, and we can live a normal life together,” Keithon said, holding me in his arms.
After all of what he just said to me, all I really heard him say was “together,” and I loved the sound of that. Us together always was nice to me. I wasn’t alone. I knew he was there for me. Millions search their lives for someone who cares for them as much as Keithon cared for me. And I, a woman from a mental hospital, had found a man who would do anything for me. I loved this man with all of my heart, and I knew he loved me with all of his.
“Maybe you should turn me in. All I’m doing is getting you into more trouble, and I do not want to do that to you,” I told him in a serious voice.
“No. Why would you say something like that? You have been hurt your whole life, Renee, and hearing and seeing you hurt, it also hurts me,” Keithon replied with an angry reaction.
“I’m just saying this has gone too far. I don’t want you to lose your job or go to jail for me. I know you care about me, and I really do care about you, but you have a mother and father who love you, and I don’t. Don’t waste your life on me. I’m nothing special. I can’t imagine hurting you, and if you don’t let me go now, you will probably get hurt.”
“I love you too much for me to do that, Renee. I do not have control over how I get hurt, but I do have control over who I let hurt me.”
Keithon began kissing me on my lips. I enjoyed it then did the same. It was then we began undressing and holding each other close, unable to unlock our lips. Keithon unlatched my bra. I returned the favor and unbuckled his pants. We locked tongues and were in the motion of intimacy.
“Stop, Keithon,” I said eagerly.
“What’s wrong, Renee?”
“This is the second time so go slow.”
Keithon laid me down slowly and kissed me from my neck to my navel. The feeling was amazing. I felt like I was in a dream. We lay in bed naked and ready to pursue intimacy. I saw a bright light flash into the window of the basement.
“Keithon, stop. I saw something in the window.”
“It’s probably just an animal,” Keithon said while kissing my neck.
Outside the door began breaking down and thi
s startled us.
“Shit, Renee, come on,” Keithon screamed and ran out of the room.
“It’s the police. Come out with your hands up!” They had finally found where we were hiding.
Keithon and I tried running out the back door to go under the porch. We both were naked, and this was very uncomfortable as we tried running through the bushes. Three officers tackled Keithon and me to the ground and put handcuffs on us. In this moment I knew it was all over. We had been caught. The officers gave us clothes then put us into the cop car.
“Renee, do not tell them anything. When they ask you questions, say you don’t know.”
I started crying because I knew after this Keithon and I would not see each other for a while.
“I love you, Renee. Do not worry. This will work itself out,” Keithon said in a worried tone as the officers drove away.
I blocked out the sounds of the police sirens as I sat there and cried tears into my lap. I put my head in my lap and tried closing my eyes to forget what was happening. I had gotten very curious about how the police found out about this house. Who told them we were here? The only people who knew about this house were Keithon’s parents, Keithon, and I. Of course, it had to be his parents who told, because when we left it was clear they wanted their son to have nothing to do with me.
The officers drove away with me in the back seat of the car. I watched as the house we just made love in was far gone into the dark distance. I had never been in the back of a police car before, so I was a little scared. It started to rain and become gloomy outside. There was a thick fog against the window, making it hard to see out. The memories, the passion, and the love we shared for this short amount of time would always be with me.
Chapter Eleven
Interrogation. I never thought about it before. Maybe when I was little and my mom and I would sit and watch interrogation shows. But I never thought of interrogation until now. The cops took Keithon and me to separate rooms. As Keithon and I were walking the opposite way from each other, the cop was holding my arm as he walked me to a room. I turned around and looked at Keithon.
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