Torn apart Tisha's Story

by LeTasha S. Robinson

  With her head still hung down, Tisha sighs and knew that everyone was waiting on her to begin her story.

  “David…David…. I was adopted. I was left at the hospital where I was adopted by my mother. When my mother Ernestine passed and after a long court battle my sister Georgie was granted full custody. My mom had left me some money and Georgie didn’t want me…she wanted the money. So, she fought and made everyone think she was the loving sister who just wanted to take care of me, but my mommy always told me to watch her. After she got custody of me things were ok at first until she found out she couldn’t get the money. My mom had it where only I could get the money. It was like she knew what would happen. So, she made a clause that I couldn’t get the money until I was twenty-five.

  Tisha laughed a little, “My sister was furious with mommy. I didn’t know what to do. Then she started telling people how she had gotten me and how our mom didn’t leave any money to help take care of me and suddenly, I became the golden goose again. People within the community started raising money for us. Thousands of dollars were given to her to help take care of me. Between the donations and my monthly check, she started acting better. But when Don came in the picture life was much better. Don was my saving grace. He treated me just like I was his child.”

  “After they had my niece and my nephew everything started being ok again. She stopped treating me as a problem and more like a sister. Everything was great at first. We were one big happy family that was until I turned 15.” Taking a deep breath, she looks down at the floor as she begins to tell the details that caused her life to spiral out of control.

  “I started developing early and by 15 I was constantly being mistaken for being older than what I was. One day when I came home, and my sister wasn’t there. Don came home right after me and I was in the kitchen about to start cooking. Don came into the kitchen and we were just discussing stuff when my sister came home. She flew in the kitchen and she saw me and him talking and she started accusing me of trying to sleep with him.” Turning her head to the wall she allows the tears that she had been holding back for so long to fall. “She started slapping me around and jumped on me. She fought me like a grown woman that day.”

  Tisha started playing with her hands before continuing with her story. “Don had to pull her off me. She was convinced that I was trying to sleep with him; he tried to tell her that she was crazy and that she didn’t know what she was talking about. She then got up and started hitting on him, he had to restrain her. She vowed that if she ever saw him talking to me again, she would leave him and take my niece and nephew with her. Don didn’t want that to happen, so he kept his distance from me. I wasn’t allowed to be in the same room with him. I wasn’t allowed at the dinner table with the family, I spent a lot of my time in my room. At first it worked, but then the midnight walks started.” Not being able to take sitting on the couch anymore Tisha gets up and walks to the window and stares out into the starless night.

  “She started coming to my room and she would open the door and just stare at me I would wake up and feel her eyes looking at me. She would stand there and just stare and then she would start with the yelling and the screaming. She would swear she saw Don in my room in my bed. She would walk the house for hours yelling out all kind of accusations. I don’t even remember her calling my name much just other names…”

  Swallowing the lump that formed in her throat she continued on, “If Don wanted to give me money he had to hide it in a place and I would have to go get it. It was so bad that if my friends would come over she swore that I was trying to hook them up with him. One night my nephew was going in and out of the house and I heard something going on in the bedroom. So, I got up to see what it was. It was her… she was fighting with the gun stand that hung on the wall. She was trying to get a gun from off one of the hooks. I asked her what she was doing she said that she was getting a gun to shoot me for letting those women in her house. My nephew came in and she saw it was him going in and out. She never apologized she just went back into the room.”

  Turning around to face them, “I know it may sound strange, but from that night forward I slept with this big Easter bunny in front of me that I got at a local grocery store just in case she did shoot me I thought that it would take some of the impact of the bullet.” Half grinning she turns back and looks out the window, “I have forgotten how many times she had kicked me out of the house or threatened me. I was so thankful when God opened the door for me to go to college. She was so angry at me for going to college. So angry that she wouldn’t allow any of my family to attend my high school graduation. I felt so alone having to walk across that stage, having no one to cheer for me.” Letting out a sob, Amber jumps to go console her, but Paul put his hand on her to stop her, looking at him Paul mouths to her let her do this on her own.

  “College was a welcomed getaway. I made some good friends and I was finally able to come out of the shell that I had put myself in as I was going through high school. That is when things between me and Ricky got serious. Ricky and I went to the same school growing up and ended up at the same college. Well things got serious and during the end of my junior year, I became pregnant.” Moments passed before Tisha regained the strength to continue her story. “I knew in my heart if I told my sister she would make good of her threat to throw me out for good. So, the day that I found out I was pregnant, I immediately applied for housing and started looking for a job. I was willing to sit out a year from school to get myself on my feet. I mean it was my baby. A baby didn’t ask to be brought into this world and I was going to give it the best living that I could possibly give.

  Ricky was very excited he had made plans to marry me after we got out of college, but I still hadn’t told my sister. It was Christmas break and I had made up in my mind to tell her. Well the doctor’s office called to confirm my appointment and she found out before I could tell her. I was coming home from hanging with my friends and had just finished dinner. I was four months, so I wasn’t showing much. I was knocked out and the next thing I know I was being dragged through the house. She punched me in my stomach and when I got up from the floor she rushed at me and started slamming me against the wall. She started yelling, ‘I hope that bastard die,’ she started saying that it was Don’s and how low down I was alone with some other things. She started running through the house, putting all my stuff in a trash bag, dragged me outside of our apartment, spit on me and told me that day that I died in her eyes.”

  “The neighbors all joined in on her side. I had nowhere to go so I went to Ricky. His mother told him that she didn’t believe the baby was his and then he started accusing me of sleeping around on him and then he finally threw me out. After all that stress I ended up losing my baby. I lost my baby two days before Christmas. My baby would have been five this year if she would have lived.” Closing her eyes, she allowed the realization that her baby wasn’t there, and that void was still much a part of her. “It was a girl.”

  Turning around to David with tears running down her face, “It is something that happens every day that I wish I could run home and sit with my sister and tell her, but here I am only 45 minutes away and she acts as if I never existed. Tears continue to fall down Tisha’s face as she faces the harsh reality turning back around and looking out of the window

  “And you know the worst thing about it?” Looking at her David is motionless, having to fight back going over and taking her into his arms and just holding her. Seeing that David was not going to answer, “Every day that I am with you, I fight you from getting close because part of me doesn’t think that I deserve to be happy and you are the closest thing I have had to that in a long time. I am afraid that you will walk out just like everyone else.” Not being able to hold back anymore he rushes towards her as she begins to fall on the floor, breaking out into sobs and gently pulls her into his arms and start rocking her back and forth.

  Chapter 9

  The End or Is It?

  David stands in his kitchen sippin
g on a cup of coffee. Staring out of the window he was still in awe of what Tisha had told him last night. Behind that hardened exterior that she held, was a little girl that just wanted to be loved. Last night after Tisha broke down in his arms she cried herself to sleep. He brought her to his house and put her in the guest room. He was still going over everything that had transpired last night in his head.

  So deep in thoughts that he didn’t realize Tisha had entered into the kitchen. “Good Morning,” hearing her voice startled him out of his thoughts, “Good Morning.” Coming to the table to join him, David looks up at her, “Would you like some coffee?” Shaking her head, “No I am not a coffee drinker, I prefer juice.” Getting up and going to his refrigerator, “Well I have apple, mango orange, and passion fruit.”

  Looking at the back of him as he was still in the refrigerator, “Can I have a glass of the passion fruit?” Taking the carton of juice out of the refrigerator and pouring her a glass, he sits it in front of her. They both sat in silence for what seemed like hours to Tisha but were only a couple of minutes. She was sure that David would not want to have anything to do with her after hearing what she said last night. She had awakened as he carried her into his house last night not wanting to let him know that she was woke she curled herself in his arms and allowed for a few seconds to feel safe as he put her in bed and tucked her in. Hearing him get up this morning awakened her, but she had only just mustered up the nerve to finally come into the kitchen.

  Wanting to go ahead and get it over with, she cleared her throat and looked up at him. She had already prepared herself for the letdown speech. I mean who would want a girl with so much baggage? She would go ahead and get it over and then put herself back into her shell. “David …if you can just take me to my car I will be out of your hair and I won’t contact you again.” Looking back down at the table she prepared for him to say, “Let’s go.”

  Looking at a bowed headed Tisha, David starts to laugh, “So you think it will be that easy to get rid of me?” Tisha looked up at David, he gets up, grabs and kisses her. For a moment Tisha allowed herself to melt in his arms as hot tears streamed down her face. Breaking away from the embrace, Tisha starts to shake her head no.

  “No David I can’t take this. I know that you can’t want me after hearing what you heard.” Grabbing her hand and leading her into the living room he sits down on the couch and pulls her onto his lap. Turning her head to him. “Tisha the only thing your story did for me was to make me sure of the reasons why I love you. Anyone who can go through everything that you have been through and still stand strong is the type of person I want to spend the rest of my life with. Tisha, I love you and with love, you have to take the good, the bad, and the ugly. Love covers a multitude of sins. That is what the Bible says about coming into God’s love. It is so powerful, it will cover your past. Tisha that is your past, and I am your present and future. I am not letting you go I love you too much to not have you in my life.”

  Stifling a cry, Tisha laid her head on his shoulder and allowed the remaining tears to just flow silently. Sitting up off his chest, she looks at him, “David, you don’t know how much I wanted you to say those words, but I was prepared for you to say you didn’t want me. I love you so much and couldn’t imagine my life without you but would not have faulted you if you didn’t want to spend your future with me. I was wrong to compare you to Ricky.”

  Looking puzzled at her, “What does Ricky have to do with this?” Leaning back on the arm of the chair, “After I lost the baby, I went back to college. I explained to the dean my situation and he made arrangements for me to move back on campus early. So, one day right before school started Ricky called me. He asked me could I show his baby cousin around the campus. That he was thinking about coming to that school and he needed someone to show him around. Of course, I agreed I thought that we were going to make up, so I was willing to do what I needed to do.

  So that evening his cousin came over and I started showing him around and we started talking and we were having a good time. Finally, we made it back to my dorm and I stayed in the honor dorm, so we were allowed to have visitors. So, we were sitting down still talking and all of a sudden, he stops in mid-sentence and start saying, “Man I can’t do this, I just can’t do this.” I started asking him what he was talking about.

  He then started telling me that Ricky had sent him over there to get some. He said that his cousin told him that I was easy and that the only thing he had to do was to show me a little bit of attention. I was crushed. He kept apologizing saying that he saw that I was a nice person and that he never would have agreed if he knew how nice of a person I was. I remember sitting there crying, thinking that I was just a common whore to him.” Sitting back up from leaning on the couch she looks at him, “I thought you were going to be another Ricky.”

  Embracing her back into his arms, he rocks her backwards and forwards and then stopping he whispers to her, “You are not a whore you are my Queen, and Ricky wasn’t a man he was a boy. You don’t have to do anything for me because your love is enough.” Closing the gap that was between them she kisses David. Letting the years of tears that had been held back for so long she silently cried thank you Lord in her mind as David held her.

  Later That Evening

  David and Tisha are in the front yard of David’s house washing their cars. As David playfully, wet Tisha with water hose. David and Tisha did not notice Mr. Graves had stopped in front of David’s yard and watched as David chased Tisha with the water hose. Grabbing her and holding her down he looks up and notices the stranger as he was just about to wet Tisha up.

  “Tisha, we have company.” Straightening up she sees it is Mr. Wallace.

  “David that is Mr. Wallace,” gesturing Mr. Wallace to come to them, Mr. Wallace comes walking towards them.

  “Hey Tisha,” Mr. Wallace said as he hugged Tisha, but kept a steady eye on David.

  “Hey, Mr. Wallace this is David, the guy I was telling you about.”

  “How do you do, sir? I wish I could say the same, but Tisha hadn’t said anything to me about you.”

  “Well in due time son. Tish, I hate to do this, but Don has passed.”

  Life stood still, and she could not hear David or Mr. Wallace voice trying to get her attention. Her beloved brother-in-law had passed.

  “When?” Tisha stammers out as tears started to flow down her face.

  “Two weeks ago,” Mr. Wallace said as he turned his face to look towards the sky as he had to deliver the God-awful news to her.

  “Two weeks, two weeks, why didn’t you tell me? Why?”

  “I gave your sister your number I thought she would have put all that nonsense to the side by now, but when I went to the funeral and I didn’t see you I knew she hadn’t. Baby I am sorry I thought…”

  “It isn’t your fault that my sister still has so much hate towards me. Thank you for telling me. David I am going in the house.” As she turns to go inside the house, but David would not let go of her arm pulled her into his embrace and embraced her as her shoulders gave away from the burden and she started to cry silently into his arms.

  “Wait, Tisha right before Don died I went to see him. He gave me something to give to you.” Reaching into his suit pocket, he pulls out a sealed envelope and tries to hand it to her, but Tisha is still so full of emotions, David takes the envelope from Mr. Wallace.

  “I will make sure that she opens it. Thank you.”

  “No thank you, finally my Tisha has someone who will treat her right and be there for her.” Turning around Mr. Wallace starts to go towards the car that he had parked three houses down thinking he had the correct address, but his dyslexia had mixed the numbers together and instead of 113 he read 131. He was glad he had heard Tisha’s laughter that lead him in the right direction.

  “Lord, I don’t know what Don put in that letter, but give my baby the strength to endure this. She has had so much hurt to happen to her. Help her Lord and let her find grace to forgive me for my
part in the lie.” Cranking up his Green Cutlass he pulled out onto the road with ease and blew the horn at David as he was still in the yard holding Tisha. Receiving a head nod, he knew that David would be there for Tisha and whatever Don had revealed in that letter.

  Later that Evening

  “Baby are you ok?” David said as he came through the door to his guest bedroom.

  “Yes, I am just still trying to process everything. My brother-in-law is dead now.”

  “Yes, but it is a good thing as well. You don’t have to go back there. You have people who love you right here. We are your family now. If you will let us be your family.”

  “Lord, thank you for keeping me for this man right here.” Laughing she leans up and kisses David. “Thank you for being there for me baby.”

  “Anytime, are you ready to read this letter?” Pulling the letter from his pants pocket and handing it to her Opening the envelope and pulling out the folded letter Tisha carefully unfolds the letter as David slides in behind her and holds her as she leans into him.

  “Tisha remembers the contents of this letter don’t have anything to do with how much I love you. You weren’t given a fair chance in life, but through it all you became great.”

  Taking a deep sigh, she shakes her head yes and begins to read the letter.