Sighing, she turned to look at Trinity. “Honestly, I don’t know yet.” Trinity opened her mouth to say something, but Nicole beat her to it. “I do know that I would like to keep this just between the two of us, for right now. Malachi and you seem to be the same person anymore, with no secrets, but I would like it if you wouldn’t tell him this; not yet anyway… not until I’m ready for others to know.”
Trinity looked almost hesitant, but eventually nodded in agreement.
“Thank you.” Nicole looked expectantly toward Trinity. “I do have to go now, though.”
Trinity jolted, as if snapping out of her own thoughts. “Oh, okay.”
A frigid gust swept in once Trinity opened the door, and Nicole watched as the wind started whipping her friend’s clothes around. Bending back down, she brought her head back into the car. “You are to call me, if you need me. Understand? I don’t care that we’re not living next door to each other anymore, I will be there.”
Nicole nervously nodded. “Will do.”
Once the door was shut, it only took another minute before she started backing out of her parking space. Remembering how concerned Trinity had been made her smile. Yes, that was her friend, always trying to take care of her. She had always been that way, even when they were children.
They both were put into the same foster home, and instantly hit it off. She had already been there for a couple months before Trinity came, and so she had already known what kind of a hell it was. All kids were assigned chores, and were on set schedules. If you didn’t do something right, you were punished. If you were caught playing or talking during quiet time, you were punished. If you showed any signs of mistreatment outside the home, you paid for it later. Kids would get punished for even the littlest indiscretion.
Trinity was placed in the home, after coming from a loving one. Those were the kids that always got into the most trouble because they didn’t understand the system.
The first night that Trinity was there, Nicole spilled a small amount of milk on the dinner table. She apologized profusely, and even got up from the table to get a towel to clean it. She was not allowed to return, and instead had to stand in the corner, arms spread, with a book on each hand. If she lowered her arms in the twenty minutes she had to be there, she had to start all over again. It was something no kid could accomplish, and when they failed, eventually they got the belt.
Trinity had been horrified, to say the least. Ten minutes into it, she got up and tried to take the books away. When they warned her about interfering, she marched over to the table and knocked over every glass of milk she could see. At that moment, Trinity became her hero. That night, when Trinity was curled in her bed, crying from the pain, Nicole snuck into her bed and held onto her to sooth the hurt.
Day after day, that’s how it went. If she did something wrong, Trinity would take the blame, get the beating, and she would take care of her after. Trinity would always say that she did it because Nicole was so much younger and smaller. What she didn’t know, was that Nicole had come from a place that was much worse. The concept of someone trying to take care of her was so foreign, but had felt nice all the same.
They had been inseparable ever since… always coming back to each other. For a little while, they even lived right next to each other in the same duplex, and saw each other every day. That was until an electrical fire, and the whole place burned to the ground. Everything they owned was lost, but at least they both hadn’t been home. After that, Trinity moved in with Malachi, and Nicole found a cute little house to lease only fifteen minutes away from her.
Now, Trinity was trying to take care of her once again. It wouldn’t work, though. Nicole had gotten herself into this mess, and it was up to her to get out of it.
With a new resolve, she pulled into the parking lot of a super-center, and found a space close to the front doors.
As she walked to the pharmacy, she secretly observed the other mothers walking through the store. There was one that was wiping a green looking substance from a child’s face, and another that looked as if she needed a good night’s rest as she put back everything her kid had grabbed off the shelves. What’s so wonderful about motherhood, she thought?
Standing in line to turn in her prescription, there was a woman in front of her holding a toddler in her arms. The boy was snuggled into the woman’s shoulder, and Nicole smiled at how loving the pair looked.
Two little brown eyes peeked up, and caught her attention, so Nicole smiled and did a little finger wave. The boy brought his head up enough to stick his tongue out at her before snuggling back into the waiting shoulder.
It took a large amount of restraint not to stick her tongue back out at the boy. All day long, she helped kids by finding safe and suitable places for them to live; trying to find a compatible match between the adults and child. Could she be an adult that was responsible enough to take care of a child? Did she want to be?
“Ma’am.” Someone tapped her on the shoulder, and she gasped from being startled. Looking back, the man behind her pointed to another open window that had a woman behind the counter asking if she could help whoever was next. Could I turn back the clock a few months, she thought?
She walked up to the window, and handed the woman her prescription. “I need this filled, please.”
The woman looked at the prescription, then back up to Nicole. What? Is her internal struggle that obvious? “Is there a problem?”
“No, not at all… I was just thinking. I can go ahead and fill this for you if you want, but it will be the exact same thing that you can get off the shelf, over there.” She pointed to the isle behind Nicole. “We are swamped right now, and it will be close to a half an hour before your prescription gets filled. I’ll have it filled if you want...”
“Say no more.” Nicole held up her hand to stop the woman from talking. “I’ll just get it off the shelf, thank you.”
“No problem. Here ya go.” The woman handed back the prescription slip, and Nicole put it back in her purse.
Walking over to the shelf, she saw the area with five different brands of prenatal vitamins. Making a quick decision, she picked the one that looked more organic, and walked to go check out.
Looking down at her watch, she saw that there was forty five minutes to grab her stuff from the office, and make it to the house she was visiting that day. The parents of the boy she was looking in on would be home by then, and she wanted to make a surprise visit. It had been an ongoing case for a few months, and the parents never failed to put her in a bad mood. What a perfect day, she thought sarcastically. She just wanted the day to be over as soon as possible.
******
Pulling up to the house, Nicole examined the surrounding houses. It looked like a quaint little neighborhood. All the houses ranged between, twenty to thirty years old, and it looked as though they had been kept up nicely.
The sun was shining, and she thought back to what the block looked like when the trees lining the street were in full bloom. With the tree houses and tire swings, it was almost magical looking; a place she would have liked to live growing up. Nicole knew better than anyone, though, that looks could be deceiving, and it’s what goes on inside the house that counts.
Grabbing her bag, she got out of the car, and quickly walked to the front door. As she knocked, she tried to peer inside the windows to check for movement. It was a habit she acquired quickly after realizing how many people hid from her.
Just when she was about to knock again, the door flew open before her knuckles made contact. Pasting on her best smile, she looked up into the face of a very irritated looking Benjamin McGrapht. “Good Afternoon. How are you today?”
The large man was leaning against the door jam, blocking the entrance with an arm resting on the handle. “What are you doing here?”
“Now Ben...”
“Don’t call me that. Only my friends call me that, and you’re not a friend.” He interrupted her before she could finish.
“Very
well. Mr. McGrapht, I told you that I would be making unannounced stops to check in on everyone.” She opened her arms and held them out to her sides. “So, here I am.”
Deepening his scowl, he stood his full height to block the doorway. “Today’s not a good day. If I would have known you were coming, I would have made the house a little more presentable.”
She resisted the urge to pull out her hair. Instead, she placed her hands on her hips, and kept the sweet smile in place. “That wouldn’t be very unannounced, now would it? Could you please step aside, so I can come in?” When he still didn’t move, Nicole reached into her bag, and pulled out her phone. “Am I right to assume that you are refusing me entry?”
“What if I am?”
He knew what would happen; she went over the exact same thing with him the last time, and the time before that. Figuring rolling her eyes wasn’t very professional, she looked up at him, and went over the same information as before. “If you don’t let me in, I will be forced to call the authorities as well as my superiors. In the end, it could result in the removal of Shane as well as your arrest. Now… Are you refusing me entrance to your home?”
He didn’t move, and Nicole was afraid that she would finally have to make that call. She looked down at her phone to go to her contacts, which must have been what made him finally move.
Stepping to the side, he kept one arm on the door to hold it wide, which made it so she had to walk underneath it to get in. Unfortunately, she found that he was in desperate need of a shower or deodorant from the smell emanating off of him. Finally making it inside, she pivoted to keep the man in her side vision, not wanting him to be behind her.
He shut the front door, and it was as if she was plunged into a whole new world from the serenity outside. All the blinds and curtains were shut, and the lights were turned off. If it wasn’t for the small amounts of sunshine peeking through at spots, she would have been in total darkness.
The temperature was cold, as if the furnace wasn’t running, and she could definitely smell some sort of must or mold. All of her information so far had been taken from the entry way, so she almost didn’t want to walk in the rest of the way.
The house was a split level, and Nicole veered to the right to walk up the small flight of stairs. “Is Shane home?”
“No. If you would have given me a chance, I would have told you that before you came in.” The stopping on the steps behind her made her quicken her pace to make it to an open area.
Waving as if it was no big deal, she started to take in her surroundings. “No need. I’ll just have a look around, and then we can talk some.”
Hearing a door slam in the hallway behind her, she turned to see Ben’s wife hobble out of a room, and head in their direction. “Hello Evelyn.”
“What is she doing here?” she sneered in Nicole’s direction while passing to get to the living room.
Before she could answer, Benjamin walked passed her, and moved into the living room as well. “She’s snooping again.”
“It is a random house check, and I do this for the welfare of Shane.” She defended herself and watched as they pushed magazines to the side and onto the floor so they could sit down.
Picking up a remote, Evelyn started flipping channels. “Shane’s fine. He’s not here, so you can come back another time.”
“I tried to tell her that, but she said that she still needs to look around.” Benjamin tried to explain.
Evelyn turned her gaze once more toward Nicole. “Maybe we should sue you for harassment.”
Taking out her forms, Nicole made her way into the kitchen to look around. Out of sight, she finally let into the urge, and rolled her eyes. “You go right ahead with that.” There was no response, and the only sound was from the television, so she continued on.
The kitchen looked good enough. Dirty dishes in the sink and the counters needing wiped down were not indiscretions. Opening the fridge, she noticed that everything looked in place, but there was not as much food as she would have liked to have seen. Walking over to the cupboards, she opened them up, and saw the lack of food in there as well. Taking note, she moved on.
Walking down the hall, she peered into the open bathroom and spare room only to be impressed on how picked up they were. Turning the nob to the Master Bedroom, she opened the door and was stunned at what was found. Clothes were scattered on the floor, cigarette burns were on the bed and carpet, and a part of a slice of pizza was seen upside down and halfway under the bed. The stench reminded her of a urinal; so bad that she had to quickly step back out into the hallway and shut the door.
With one hand still on the handle, she shut her eyes and threw her other hand over her mouth and nose. Don’t get sick! Not here, she thought. Once the initial wave of nausea passed, she looked down at her paperwork, and took comfort in the order and precision of them. Holding onto that feeling, she clicked open her pen.
Making more notes on things to talk with them about, she turned around to move to the basement. When she made her way to the stairs, she had to pass the living room, and saw the couple was engrossed in what they were watching. “Where is Shane, anyway?”
The question made them jump, as if they had forgotten she was there. They glanced at each other before Evelyn looked back in her direction. “He’s at a friend’s house.”
“Okay.” Nodding in understanding, Nicole turned to go down the stairs. Something was off, she could feel it. It was the same feeling that she’d gotten three months ago when she first came here.
The stairs creaked as she walked down the first set of steps, then again on the second. The smell of mildew and must slowly increased the farther down she made it, and the damp air in the basement, she guessed, was the reason why.
Opening the door to the left, she shivered at the cold air that had seeped into the garage. Looking around, she saw the cars parked in the garage, but nothing else of great importance. Shutting the door, she turned to make her way into the laundry room. At closer inspection, she noticed water around the base and behind the washing machine. By the looks of it, the thing had been leaking for a while. She peered over the top, and noticed the black on the floor and on the wall. If her guess was correct, this was what the cause of the mildew smell throughout the house was.
Leaving the laundry room, she grabbed the doorknob to the last room she had to inspect, and it was locked. What the hell? Knowing that this was Shane’s room, she jiggled the handle once more and whispered his name. When nothing happened, she stopped to listen for any noise upstairs. When everything was silent except for the slight hum of the television, she reached up to pull a hair pin from her hair, and stuck it into the hole on the nob to try to get it open.
Picking locks was a talent that she had acquired earlier on in life, before she made it into the system. It was nothing extravagant, and she could only do it with simple household locks, but once in a while it came in handy, like now.
Once she got the lock popped, she pulled back the strand of hair that had fallen and put the pin back in her hair, precisely where it had been before.
Carefully opening the door, she looked around to take it all in. The room was picked up of all clutter, and was fairly clean. “Shane?”
She said his name, but she could tell that he wasn’t there. The room was too put together, and nothing looked disturbed. What drew her eyes to the back of the room was the gigantic mural that took up two different walls. It was dark and somewhat disturbing.
The way it was painted; one wall preceded the other. From left to right, the mural depicted a battle on one end, with figures she couldn’t quite make out, and moved to the next wall that showed a field painted in red. She was assuming that the red was there to represent the blood from the carnage going on in the scene.
In the far right was a massive wave of water that looked as if it would crash into the field at any moment. Vaguely, she wondered what the field would look like once washed away by the wave. Would it be completely destroyed or would it look as i
f nothing had ever happened there?
Taking out her phone, she held it out and took a few shots of the mural, some close and others far away. It was a magnificent piece of work, and she wished Shane was here to talk with her about it. Putting her phone away, a spot of white on the wall caught her eye, and she was drawn in to take a closer look. In the field, there was a man standing tall with his long white hair blowing in the wind. He was not old by any means, but in fact looked to be in his mid-thirties, and was pointing in the direction of another man. The other man’s face was contorted with anger and his hand was raised as if to strike. In front of him was a disturbing vision of a woman and child, kneeling and cowering in fear.
Quickly, Nicole looked away from the trio, and returned her attention to the man with the white hair. He looked almost angry himself. He must be ordering that man to stop what he was doing, she guessed. Taking her hand, she lightly ran it over the painting where the unknown man stood.
“Kind of eerie, isn’t it?”
The deep voice behind her made her yelp and jump back from the wall. Smoothing a hand down her skirt to regain her composure, she turned to see Benjamin standing close, a little too close, behind her. She had let down her guard, and that was something she never did it these situations.
Sidestepping away from him, she made it to the center of the room before she spoke. “Yes, well… it’s actually quite remarkable that a ten year old did all of this. You have a very talented son.”
He said nothing, but instead showed his distaste of the walls.
“Anyways, we have a few things to talk about before I’m on my way.”
Completely ignoring her statement, he took a step in her direction, and looked at her quizzically. “You know… I could have sworn this room was locked.”
Not missing a beat, she scrunched her eyebrows down, and looked mildly shocked. “Really? I just walked right in.” It wasn’t a lie, so much as omitting the fact that she had to unlock it before “walking right in”. Not letting him say another word, she turned and gestured towards the laundry room. “Now, we need to talk about a few things.”
The Divine Whisper Page 7
