For the Love of Peter Jones

by Adaeze Okoli

  She said my name so quit, that if someone else were talking you wouldn’t be able to hear it. I flipped over on my back, I was already half asleep. When I flipped over to lay in a different position, I felt her shift as well. Trinity had moved and put her head down on my chest.

  “For the love of Peter Jones, you are precious, and mean the world to me.”

  Her words trailed off, she fell asleep after she said those last couple of words. Trinity King is a beautiful person all around, there was no doubting that. The word beautiful should have her face printed next to the definition in the dictionary. Although I was feeling all of these new feeling, I still felt conflicted. As if something wasn’t quite right. I couldn’t place my finger on it quite yet. Something in the back of my mind kept telling me I was wrong for feeling calm, wrong for feeling okay. Nonetheless, I tried shaking the feeling off me. I remembered my mom’s words which told me it was ok to be happy because she was sharing the same happiness as me.

  “Thank you. I have no idea how I could ever repay you. I love everything that you have done for me today Trinity. I won’t take your kindness for granted. I promise.”

  I felt Trinity move her body closer to mine. I felt my lips curve into a little half smile. I may no longer have a home, no family, but I do have Trinity. Thanks to her, life may be worth living. I can do this, I thought to myself. I brushed some of her loose curls that didn’t stay in her scarf out of her face.

  “Trinity, you are a princess,” I said in a hushed tone, and within a blink of an eye, I was asleep.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Waking up was frightening, I woke up with a great deal of panic. I was waking up from a dream. I shouldn’t say a dream, I was having a nightmare. I was surrounded by a thick fog, nothing else was around me. I was searching for someone, anyone, a sign of life. But there was nothing there. I kept pushing through the fog. Finally, I start to see the light at the end of the fog, the lights turn into red and blue lights. Cops? As I continued to walk through the dense, thick fog, I finally saw him. My father had called the police on me.

  As soon as I emerged out of the fog I saw my dad point at me, all the cops turned their heads to look at me. Without saying a word, the police started running towards me. I started running back into the direction of which I came from. I looked back at my father. His leg was still bleeding, I blinked and noticed he was bleeding from everywhere. He hadn’t been stabbed on his leg. His arms, face, and stomach had stab wounds as well. The cops were getting closer to me, the further and faster I ran the more their lights grew brighter. I started to lose my breath, it felt like the fog that surrounded me was blocking my lungs. I fell down, and I began to crawl. I was desperate to get away from being captured.

  My body froze. I looked behind me, ten cops were surrounding me with their guns pointed out at me. I surrendered, and the police put me in handcuffs. My dad’s girlfriend, Jessica was standing in the background near the light. She was laughing at me being carted away. Although I had never heard the woman laugh before, I know this laugh was not her own and distorted. I glanced over at my father who was smiling and waving back at me. I turned away from them, and let the thick fog take my vision away.

  My heart was still racing, even though the nightmare had ended a while ago. I was paranoid at the thought that my father would call the cops on me. I mean if he planned on calling law enforcement wouldn’t he have done it by now? Why would he wait this long? Then again, what could he say to the law, he doesn’t even know where I am.

  Picking up my phone I looked for any missed calls or texts. I don’t know what I was expecting the only person who ever texted me and gave me the time of day was my mother. I mean I have Trinity now, but still. I unlocked my phone, and as usual, there were no notifications. I went through the daily morning routine. I checked Facebook, as well as Instagram. Which was pointless because I have no photos up. Nothing interesting. I sat up with caution on the big and spacious bed. I looked around me, it took me a while for me to gather my surroundings.

  Trinity waking up every morning must be similar to waking up to a dream that will never end. I’d never leave my room if this is what my bedroom setup was like. Her words from yesterday popped back into my mind. Wow, I know she said most students at our school don’t live exactly like her. But she said they’re still living in areas nearby. They all have it made, yet people like Josh treat me like filth. As if I make life for them torturous, and they can’t survive without causing some sort of harm to me. Why would you even think to hurt someone if you live a life anything close to Trinity’s? There’s nothing to be angry about. Right?

  Trinity’s house was still deathly silent, well almost. The only noise I could hear was coming from Trinity’s bathroom, she was already up. I looked over at the clock. The time read 9:30am. I didn’t think it was that late into the morning, I figure the time was 7am. My body must have needed the rest. Trinity came out of her bathroom.

  “Morning Peter, if you want you can take a shower in my bathroom. I stole my brother’s body wash and shampoo for you to use. He was mad that I had I entered his kingdom of nerd. I made up a lie and said I need his body wash and shampoo because I ran out of my stuff. I laughed at the experience she went through to grab the body wash for me, although I was curious.

  Do people who are wealthy like Trinity run out of necessities? To me, the thought of that seemed impossible. Trinity let out a short giggle. “I don’t know, I assumed you didn’t want to smell like my shower gel Cherry Blossom from Bath and Body Works.”

  Trinity looked down at her feet.

  “Sorry, I know I’m talking too much.” I looked over at Trinity, she was so sweet. She has no idea that I could listen to her talk all day. I pushed myself up from her bed.

  “Maybe I do want to smell like Bath and Body, and I’ll be damned if I let you stop me.”

  She laughed hard. Trinity laughed so hard that I was able to discover that she had a snort. Trinity’s laugh was loud and carefree. I loved that. I don’t know why her laugh always seemed to surprise me and catch me off guard. People like her I assumed to always have fake laughs of some sort. Trinity shook her head, as she often did when something was super funny.

  “You’re totally right, who am I to stop you from smelling like a meadow.”

  We both smiled at each other and laughed. If I’m honest, I never found myself to be that funny, but here Trinity is, laughing at almost anything I say. Trinity makes me feel like I could go into comedy with the way she laughs at my puns.

  “Do you have an iPhone or Android? If you have an iPhone, I can charge your phone with my phone charger.”

  For once I didn’t feel quite as poor, an iPhone I did have. Now it may have been a bit of an older generation, but who cares. At least I had one. I nodded my head in response to Trinity’s question and handed her my phone.

  “You can go ahead and head into the shower, I’ll go and charge your phone. See you when you get out.”

  Of course, like Trinity’s room, as well as the rest of the house the bathroom was huge. Her shower and bathtub were facing opposite directions. Not attached like most but separate in two different parts of the bathroom. I was so perplexed, I hadn’t seen something like this before. The bathroom floor had marble as well, and paintings of flowers and sea turtles hanging up. Her toilet, I kid you not flushes after you stand up. And her bathroom sink was massive, along with the mirror hanging over the sink.

  We had one big bathroom in my old house, which now looking at Trinity’s it was tiny. The bathroom that I used had no wiggle room at all. You had a small and square shower, a toilet right next to it, and a one-person sink. I guess I thought my mother’s bathroom was a nice size because two people could move around in the room at once. If Trinity wanted, a whole party could happen in her bathroom.

  I began to undress so I could take my shower. Funny enough, I was excited to take this shower. There was two shower head inside the shower. What would it feel like to have water hitting you from the front and o
n your back? I stopped and looked in the mirror. The exciting feeling of a luxurious shower faded. I looked in the mirror. My bruise was currently an ugly dark purple that was tender to the touch. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the shower will take some of the soreness from my cheek away. Relief. The shower did precisely what I hoped it would. The water was delightfully warm, who knew a shower could feel this great?

  I hadn’t taken such a long shower like the one I took before. Trinity’s shower water actually stayed at the set temperature you wanted the water at. Unlike mine back at home. I stopped thinking about how good the shower felt. I stood completely still, frozen in time. My home, my house was no longer my house. I was no longer welcomed. Dad had made that crystal clear.

  You could tell by the way he said, “You’ve disrespected Jessica and me.”

  Dad didn’t think I deserved to live there. He made the home that I grew up in another woman’s place. Jessica doesn’t know the in’s and outs of our house, she didn’t grow up there. Jessica didn’t put all her energy and hard work into mom, and I home. I was given no warning, nothing. How could he not care about what he’s done to mom or me ? How is he able to live with himself knowing that I could be anywhere, hurt, or worse dead? Doesn’t the fact that he hasn’t heard from me, or seen me since our last encounter worry my father a bit? What makes what he did the other day worse, is the fact he wasn’t high off of any drugs. He had a few drinks, but not enough to be considered drunk. My father was conscious of his decision to make me leave our home. At least if his decisions were altered, he’d have an excuse for the words he told me the other night. My heart felt heavy.

  “Wow, even when my father is sober, he still doesn’t have any compassion towards me,” I said out loud.

  I was going to continue this long, sad train of thought, but Trinity’s voice interrupted.

  “Are you okay Peter?” I stopped the water.

  “Yeah I’m great, thanks,” my voice cracked from being on the verge of tears.

  I could tell Trinity was still standing by the door. I knew she didn’t know what to say, it was apparent from the tone of my voice she didn’t believe me. Once again, Trinity ignored the crack in my voice. I appreciate her knowing when to ask about certain things and knowing when to let other stuff go. Trinity cleared her throat.

  “Alright, once you’re done with your shower and everything, come downstairs. Meet me outside by my truck. Don’t ask any questions, go with the flow. Okay?”

  I thought about where we could be going. No offense, I hope it’s not a mall. It’s too early to be going somewhere like that.

  “Ok, sounds good,” I called out to Trinity. Huh, I hadn’t noticed this before, but I see it now. Trinity had left the foundation on the counter for me. I debated whether I even wanted to put the product on my face. Is it even worth it? Then again, I don’t want to end up going somewhere nice and not look up to par. Who am I kidding? Wherever I go, I won’t look all that great, bruise or no bruise. Especially if Trinity is next to me. I’m sure people look at her and then me and pray that I’m not her boyfriend. Or wonder how I’m even in the same room as Trinity. I’m not bad looking, but I’m not stunning like Trinity, or my mom was. I’m average. Brown hair that’s thick and has volume because of my mom, hazel eyes that aren’t quite green like my mom’s. I have fair skin and a lanky body. There isn’t much to see. My mom always called me handsome, but of course, that was my mom. I’m sure every parent sees their kids as perfect, gorgeous beings.

  I stopped obsessing over my appearance. Instead, I focus on the foundation. I put on the product exactly the way Trinity taught me. I realized I had no extra clothes to change into. I picked the dirty clothes off the ground to see how they smelled. An advantage to having a low percentage of fat on my body is that I don’t sweat as fast as others. My clothes didn’t smell like they came out the laundry, but they didn’t stink. You know they’ve been worn for a bit, but hey it could be worse. My pants were old, I’ve had the same pair for three years. The color was beginning to fade. I got dressed, cleaned up the mess I made in the bathroom and headed downstairs.

  As I was reaching the top of the staircase, I stopped. What was Trinity thinking? What if her family is downstairs? They would be alarmed and upset that I was in her room without them knowing. I shook my head, I’m sure Trinity already figured all this out. At least I would hope so.

  “Hi, Mr. and Ms. King,” I began practicing what I would say.

  “Oh me, no? Don’t worry I haven’t been in your daughter’s room this whole time. Matter of fact, she’s downstairs.”

  I took a deep breath. But wouldn’t they be wary of the fact that I was Trinity’s room while she was downstairs in the car? There would be no reason for me to be up there then.

  “Why was I up there? I was taking a shower. The water at my house stopped working. So, Trinity offered up her bathroom.”

  Yeah, that could work, couldn’t it? But what if they wondered why I didn’t call any of my friends that lived near me, so I could borrow their shower.

  Then I’d have to admit how much of a loser I am and say, “I don’t have any friends.” Enough what if’s, I need to go down those stairs. Whatever happens, I need to stay calm.

  Why would Trinity try to set me up like this? I hope she didn’t set me up to get in trouble with her family. I shook my head, that’s a ridiculous thought. If I get in trouble then so does she. Is it possible she’s already got caught, and they’re all waiting for me to come down? The palms of my hand were becoming sweaty.

  Reluctantly, I walked down the long stairwell. When I got down the stairs I was expecting to receive a bunch stares from Trinity’s family. I can imagine her brother standing in front of everyone laughing. Her mom would be disappointed in her daughter, and her father wouldn’t even be focused on Trinity. His eyes would be burning holes into my skull. Here goes nothing. I braced myself for what was to come next.

  To my surprise when I got down the stairs no one was there. If I didn’t know Trinity and her family lived here I’d think this is a house up for sell. They keep this place spotless, no signs of people living here was able to be detected. Trinity’s house as usual, was completely silent. Something else I noticed is that her family had no pets. I mean neither did I, but everyone on my street did. Since she comes from a family that has wealth, I assumed they had poodle. Or some sort of expensive animal.

  The coast was clear. I looked around at the house once more, before heading out the front door. I guess you could say I could get use to Beverly Hills being the first thing I wake up to. The house next to Trinity had a Maserati coming out the driveway. The other house to Trinity’s right had a pitch-black Jaguar coming out the driveway. Car’s like these I thought were a myth. I had never seen a luxury car up close. How can you own homes like these and luxury car all at the same time? The sun was hitting my face, it was like the morning was giving me one big welcoming hello. Across the street was a woman with her son walking their Great Dane. On this side of the street there was a couple going for a jog. The streets didn’t appear to be littered with trash. There was no liquor store were men stood outside of loitering. There were no arguments that broke out of nowhere. Hell, on the drive over here once I reached Beverly Hill, I didn’t see a single cop patrolling the streets.

  I continued to walk down the pathway, until I reached Trinity’s truck. The first thing I did when getting into Trinity car was grab my shoes, and put them on. Trinity was smiling. I guess if I lived her life, with two parents in the home who were healthy, I’d smile all the time too. Trinity handed me my phone. I didn’t care to check it, I kept watching the people that lived on this side of the city. I guess you could say I was people watching. My mom and I use to do that all the time. Sometimes my mom would take me to the parks out where we lived, and we’d watch the people pass by. Sometime we’d even guess what their life story was. My mom’s favorite part about people watching, is that you never knew what you were going to hear next. She’d tell me not to
talk when certain people passed by. One time when we were playing this game of ours, we heard a man get a call. We assumed the call was from his wife or child’s school. He was wearing a grey pressed suit.

  “Well that’s not my problem if my child decided to stuff sand up another kids ass. It’s your responsibility to watch him.”

  My mom and I couldn’t contain ourselves. We waited for the man in the grey suit to pass us before we busted out laughing. My mom was laughing so hard tears were running down her face. Those are the tears I miss. The tears of joy mom use to cry. Not the tears my father or cancer caused.

  Once the man in the grey suit passed, I remember my mom asking, “What do you think that was about?”

  I laughed and repeated exactly what the man said.

  “Well, I’d assume his child put sand up another kid’s ass, but hey that’s not our problem. It’s whoever was supposed to be watching his child.”

  My mom didn’t always let me curse, but this was an exception. She laughed, and soon enough gained her composure.

  “Shh..., let’s continue to listen to people’s conversations. This is fun.” I smiled at my mom, this was about a month before she was diagnosed with cancer. I chuckled.

  “Yeah, you’re right mom. This is fun.”

  If someone would have told me I was about to receive the worst news of my life at that very moment. I wouldn’t have believed them. My mom and I had the tightest bond. I’d sell my soul to the devil if that would allow more time with my mom. At least a week. If I had week with her I’d be able to tell her about Trinity and get advice on what to do with her. Trinity could have met my mom before she passed. It hurts me to know that I’ll never get an extra week with my mom. But then again, a week wouldn’t be enough extra time with her. Not even a month or three.

  Trinity interrupted my thoughts, right on time. I could tell they were about to start heading in a direction I didn’t want them to. I’ll happily accept the memory of my mom at the park. Trinity looked at me with curiosity written all over her face.