2BookBoxSet

by Nicety

  “Just what I said. She’s not in there and it doesn’t appear anyone has been there for months even.”

  Quetta stared blankly into his eyes. She had a feeling something was up with Goddess but she didn’t expect her to run off on her like that. The cop shook his head at her as he grabbed her wrists and began reading her her Miranda rights. Tara and Clara fought him off trying to free their mother from his grip. Everyone was confused as to what was going on. They had told the truth but it obviously wasn’t good enough.

  “What the fuck are you doing? I’m not lying. Damn y’all not even gonna look for her ass? I’m telling the truth! I’m telling the fucking truth!” Quetta cried out.

  “Get off me before I arrest y’all little asses too!” The cop shouted.

  “But my mama is innocent. You got the wrong one! She didn’t do it.” Tears flowed from Tara’s eyes not wanting her mother to be hauled away for no reason.

  “Tara get back! Get your brother and sister and go in the house okay! Call my momma!” Quetta demanded as the cop pulled her away pulling her towards the car.

  “No mama! No! Wait!” The words flew out of Tara’s mouth like a flock of birds. “Officer, it was me! I did it! I killed the song of a bitch!”

  The crowd of people now gathering in the streets behind the yellow tape shuttered and stopped. The cops surrounding the building doors leading up to Quetta’s apartment all halted in their tracks tuning into the girl’s words more clearly. Quetta paused thinking in her head that Tara was beyond crazy to say something like that out loud but her next set of words would prove to be even more shocking than the last.

  “Let my momma go. I did it. I killed the son of a bitch and I’m not sorry for it.” Tara dried her tears and held her head up high figuring that she had done a great deed in her heart.

  “Tara what are you doing?” Quetta screamed in agony.

  Tara ran up to her hugging her neck tightly. “Ma, they’ll let me go. I’m a kid. But you have to take care of the kids. I can’t do it.” She whispered.

  “Baby, no. Call your grandmother, she can help. I need you here not in jail. Go on now. Go on!” Quetta nudged her but she wouldn’t move.

  “No! She won’t help and you know it. I wanna do this. Let me do this! What’s done in the dark will come to the light momma. They gon’ find out the truth and I’ll be free momma. Trust me.” Tara grabbed her cheeks staring at her mother square in the face.

  “What’s going on here?” The officer interrupted.

  Quetta locked eyes with her daughter knowing that she was serious about what she wanted to do. Out the corner of her eye she could see the jump suited men haul Scully’s dead body out and load it into the white van where a cluster of other bodies waited to be transported. The mother in her could not allow her child to go and do this to her future but another part of her wanted to be relieved to be free. Either way she knew she knew all of their lives would be even more fucked from then on out. She lowered her head then looked up into the cop’s eyes.

  “She’s lying. Take me.”

  Quetta couldn’t look up into her daughter’s face at her screaming and attempts to pry her way through the unit of officer’s arms. She fought, scratched, kicked and punched her way through them but it was no use. They were hauling Quetta off to jail and there was nothing she could do about it. Her heart broke as they loaded her in to the squad car and turned to look out the back window at the scene. The detectives escorted her kids back inside the hallway so they didn’t have to watch as the car drove away with their mother inside.

  ****

  “Can I see your ID please ma’am?”

  “Sure, here you go.”

  The representative typed her fingers away at the keyboard of the computer looking to see if she could pull up her ticket. She found it and printed it out on the spot then handed her back her ID quickly. She ripped the ticket from the printer and handed it to her as well.

  “Here you go, Ms. Young. Have a nice flight.”

  “Thanks.” Goddess took the ticket then headed for her gate.

  At Hartsfield-Jackson, it was a long walk to Gate C but she made it loading her three backpacks worth of clothes onto the conveyor belt and watched as they disappeared into the wall. The airport was unusually empty for it to be so close to the holiday season and just weeks away from Thanksgiving, but it was all the same to her. She hadn’t been on a plane in years. Her flight wasn’t due to take off for another thirty minutes but they were loading the plane with the first class passengers already. The flight attendants were standing at the front of the gate greeting passengers with wide friendly smiles and scanning their tickets.

  Goddess looked out the window realizing that there were barely any planes outside. It was scary for her to fly at night because she had never done it before but she wasn’t about to let that stop her from getting the hell out of Atlanta. Inside, she felt it was wrong for her to leave her friend like that but she offered to take the rap for it anyway. Goddess looked at it as her get out of jail free card.

  Grams, 8pm arrivals. She texted before taking one last look at her phone and dropping it in the trashcan behind a wall where no one could see. It was like a large weight was being lifted off of her shoulders.

  “This is the last call for passengers on AirTran flight 749 Hartsfield to Midway.” The flight attendant announced over the intercom.

  Goddess closed her eyes and took a deep breath before heading for the gate opening. Once through, she headed down the attachable jetway to the plane’s door and boarded the plane to find her seat. She hated the middle seats of coach because of the lack of space and she couldn’t look out of the window when she wanted. She needed more room for her voluptuous curves but she was not in the mood to fight for a window seat. She accepted the seat that was given to her determined to sit back, close her eyes and enjoy the flight to freedom.

  Chapter 5

  The Land of Lincoln

  The two-hour flight seemed to take ten minutes as Goddess awoke feeling groggy and unrested. She exited the plane bypassing all of the overly excited flight attendants handing out bags of single serving pretzels and headed for the luggage claim. When she arrived, no one was there but her and her bags looked as if they went in rotation twelve times before she got there, tagged, bagged and dusty. She lugged them over her shoulder and headed for the arrival exit doors of Midway, dreading the sight of her grandmother’s face.

  “Well for once in your life you did something right by coming right out here for your mother’s funeral. She would be devastated that she missed this moment.” Venus grinned as she fake hugged Goddess.

  Venus was tall and slender like a runway model. Her salt and pepper short Halle cut naturally fit her face along with the oversized sunglasses she wore even when there was no sun out. She smoked Paul Malls and wore thick red lipstick on the bubble lips that she paid for. In some twisted little world she figured red lipsticks accentuated her caramel complexion skin and double d implants that she had purchased as well. She reached out one hand taking one of the backpacks from Goddess’ hands and loaded them into the trunk of her apple red BMW. Goddess followed her placing the rest of the bags inside. She then shut the trunk a bit annoyed that Venus had decided to pick her up from the airport in thigh high boots and tight fitting jeans as if it weren’t the dead ass of winter. She huffed and rolled her eyes not wanting to dignify her sarcasm with a response and hopped into the passenger seat slamming the door behind her.

  “Hey! Just because you don’t have nice things don’t mean you don’t know what to do with them. Don’t slam my door no more!”

  “Sorry.”

  “Well looks like you got an army of bags there for a few days. You ain’t stayin’ is you?” Venus side eyed her before she took off.

  “What if I did?” Goddess raised her eyebrow.

  “I don’t know where you gonna stay ‘cause grandma got a life and now that your mother’s gone I got my house back.”


  If it was not for Venus repeating the reason why she was in Chicago in the first place, Goddess could have easily have mistaken her arrival as a vacation. It was the inevitable it seemed, not to talk about it. No matter how she looked at it, she counted her mother’s death as a blessing for her to escape the misery she was in. Venus was no walk in the park to live with but anywhere was better than the rodent infestation she just came from.

  “So…how’d she die?” The answer was one Goddess did not want to hear. “Did she get caught with dope on her or something? You know you told her those drugs would get her in trouble one—“

  “There was a bank robbery downtown. She was a victim. Shot twice, one in the head. She never saw it coming.” Venus replied coldly.

  The car was silent the rest of the way home. Goddess felt bad to learn that she was murdered instead of her death being by her own hand. Her mother did drugs heavily and was what she called a functioning crack head. She worked hard at an accounting firm by day and by night she was like a dog in heat looking for her next fix. She had been like that for as long as she could remember and the addiction was the reason why her father fell off the face of the earth. So to hear that her mother died unwillingly by the hand of some neurotic asshole pained her a tad bit inside.

  Venus’ house was no mansion in the well to do suburbs but instead a very nice two car garage two story brick in the very well known middle class of OakLawn. It was a nice quiet close suburb of Chicago that was only about five minutes outside of it. The area was very nice and quiet with shopping and restaurants only about a few blocks away on 95th and Pulaski.

  When she walked inside, there were mahogany hardwood floors spread throughout the place and stainless steel appliances in the kitchen. As she made her way through to the living room, she noticed that every light in the house resembled either an Ikea type fixture or had a ceiling fan attached to it. It was chic modern and nice, especially with the all white plush sofas adorning the large screen TV in the living room.

  “So where will I be sleeping?” Goddess dropped the heavy bags on the living room floor.

  “Ugh. Not in here.”

  Venus trotted towards the hallway making her way to the stairs hoping that she would take the hint. Goddess struggled to gather her bags then annoyingly followed her up the stairs and into a room at the end of the hall, down from a huge gorgeous blue bathroom. Venus unlocked the door, opening it up and walked in looking around with a faint smile on her face.

  “This was your mother’s room. She would have liked for you to stay in here.” Venus said as she headed back out.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait a minute, now. I gotta live in a dead woman’s room?” Goddess had a shitty look on her face.

  “Not just any dead woman, your mother. And who said anything about living? Cause come Monday, your ass is back on the next plane smoking to Atlanta. That’s where you wanted to be, right?” Venus snarled then walked out of the room shaking her head at her granddaughter.

  Even though they had not seen each other in years, one thing was very clear to her. Goddess had not changed at all and was still out for herself. She went downstairs to her dining room and grabbed a bottle of Grey Goose vodka and small shot glass from the small corner bar. She then sat down at her large true antique wooden dining table. Her daughter was everything to her, no matter how she lived her life and when she was stripped away from her so suddenly it became more than she could bear. Venus had always been a drinker but it had been kicked into high gear for the last three days. Even if she wanted to she could not stop.

  Goddess looked around the room realizing her mother had good taste as well. The clothes in her double door closet were all name brand though she was much smaller than she was, so she couldn’t fit any of them. But her shoes luckily were precisely her size. There was a whole fleet of them spread throughout the bottom of the closet in all colors and styles. She was in heaven. The queen-sized bed in the middle of the room was adorned with a huge lavish purple spread and matching silk pillows. She melted into the bed lying back with enjoyment then looked up finding her eyes staring back at her wondering what kind of freak her mother must have been with a mirror placed over the bed.

  “Oh my God.”

  Goddess gasped as she walked over to the white wooden vanity table. It held some of her mother’s favorite scents, most she was notorious for even though they were old fashioned. It held her make up, which she so flawlessly placed on her face everyday like clockwork. But most importantly it held her picture. The mirror was covered in pictures of her from when she was a baby on up to her wedding day. Goddess remembered sending her the picture but since she had never written her back she had just assumed her mother threw it away. It was the warmest feeling she had ever felt about her mother, making her feel like she did care but was too honoree to show it.

  She plopped down in the large bed staring up at herself and feeling right at home. She breathed a long sigh of relief and thought about her grandmother's words. There was no way she was going back to Atlanta without a fight. It was palpable what she needed to do. It was the only thing that would gain her trust so she would allow her to stay. Goddess kicked off her black Chucks and snuggled deep within the comfortable bed not even concerned with taking a shower or unpacking. She would put her plan to action first thing in the morning but tonight she would rest.

  The next day she rolled over staring off into the sunlight shining through the window. Her eyes squinted as she rubbed them looking around at the well-lit room remembering just where she was. She rose from the bed to check out the beauty of the neighborhood in the daylight, noticing a light cover of snow on the ground. A terrible feeling of being locked in an icebox overcame her as she began to shiver wondering where the hell the heat was in that huge house.

  "Grams? Grams?" She yelled waiting for a response. "Grams?"

  There was silence. She headed downstairs to get a more thorough look around to find out what Venus was up to. When she reached the spotless kitchen it was empty as was the rest of the house. She shrugged her shoulders then headed to the oversized refrigerator in search of something to eat. She found a bagel and some cream cheese and poured her a glass of orange juice. There was a yellow sticky note on the refrigerator door that read like a list:

  Appointment

  Shoes

  Clothes

  Dinner

  She didn’t understand what it meant shrugging off her grandmother’s logic. Once she was done eating, she headed upstairs to dress for success in order to go job hunting. There was only a short amount of time for her to find a job but no matter how cold it was outside, she was determined not to come back in the house without good news.

  ****

  “You don’t have much time. I would say a few months. I’m sorry dear. I’ll give you some time.”

  The doctor walked out of the room with his head down feeling sorry that he did not have good news for her. Venus sat on the table clenching her hospital robe together fighting back her ever-flowing tears. This was her second round of Chemo and she just could not understand why the treatment was not working. In fact it was actually spreading heading for the bone. The doctor's words in the beginning of her treatments resonated through her brain from the first session. If it makes it to the bone, that's it.

  After she dressed, she slipped out of the door without a trace. She could not bear going through one more drug induced hospital procedure. If she would do this, it would be on her own terms. Not lying helpless in some cold white-sheeted hospice bed praying for death. Her pride and dignity was worth much more than that.

  "Hey baby. I'm going shopping. You taking me or what?" Venus asked putting her cell on speakerphone while she sparked up her cigarette.

  "What did they say, V?"

  "Does it matter? You know same old thing, my uterus is infested you know and there's nothing they can do."

  "Awe babe. Well what happened to Chemo?" Truth asked angrily.

  "Nigga fuck that
shit. I'm just finna live my life while I still have one left. Now is you coming out or not?"

  “You know I’m coming babe. But I’m just worried about you. You keep blowin’ off the fact that you need to continue treatment.” Truth’s voice grew heated. “But yeah I’m on my way.”

  With that being said, Venus hung up the phone. She was done talking about her condition and she was done trying to fix it. It was over and she was ready to face it head on and deal with whatever came her way. She figured Truth would just have to get over it as she had plans to get rid of him anyway. He was becoming too clingy and wasn’t spending money like he did when they first met two years ago. She understood that he had just quit his long-term factory job to get his barbershop off the ground and needed to spend money wisely, but she was used to being pampered by every man she got with. He was a youngster compared to her coming in at just barely 30 years old but he was a chocolate cutie. He had a face like Lance Gross, facial hair and all with a body like he worked out twelve times a day. It was his looks that kept her hanging on so long and the fact that his stroke was as long as the Mississippi River.

  Truth pulled up on her in his 2009 silver Cadillac CTS Coupe looking like money. Venus loved to be seen in it because it made her feel like a celebrity and it was better than riding in his 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid, which is the car he truly loved because it was fuel efficient. He rolled his window down as she walked up to it leaning in as sticky icky seeped out.

  "What's good baby momma?" He greeted her with a Kodak smile.

  "Yeah right nigga. You know ain't no more kids poppin' up outta here and you'd lose your mind if you popped up with some kids anyway." Venus sent out a raspy chuckle.

  "So. That's not gon' stop you from being my baby momma."

  "Whatever, just follow me home so I can park my car."

  Venus hopped in her car turning the heat on blast then headed for home with Truth tagging along behind her. Once they were there, she parked her car in front then jumped out and into his, then pulled away. She would take her anger and frustration out on not only her credit card but his as well. Her little social security from her illness usually paid her mortgage but this month it would pay for her small measure of happiness.