5ive Star Bitch

by Tremayne Johnson

  “Frozen!”

  “I’m sorry for the inconvenience Miss Parker, but that’s all the information I can give you,” she said.

  I was so pissed off, I hung up on her. This shit was not happening. I grabbed my phone and tried to log into my account and got the same message as I did on the laptop, so I called the number.

  The operator I spoke with told me that the only way my bank account would have a freeze on it is because someone has filed a case for an unpaid debt.

  “Unpaid debt? I don’t owe anybody. There must be a mistake,” I said.

  “Sorry, Miss Parker, but I’m only giving you the information I have in front of me.”

  I was trying to stay calm, but my anger was slowly building.

  “So, what do I need to do?”

  “You can either deal directly with the person who filed the case, or you can file an order to show cause to vacate the judgment. Those are your two options.”

  “Oh my God, I can’t believe this,” I thought I was saying it my head, but the words came out of my mouth.

  “I’m sorry, Miss Parker. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

  No, that’s it. Thank you.” I said, ending the call.

  This was crazy. My account with over four million dollars was now frozen. Every penny of it, and I had no clue of why. Then a thought popped into my head. Nah, it can’t be. The only person I could think of was Marlon. But why would Marlon file a debt against me? I didn’t know what to think, but I knew I needed to get in contact with him, so I dialed his number, but after three consecutive tries, I didn’t get an answer.

  “Fuck!”

  I rushed to my closet and pulled out the Nike sneaker box I kept my cash in. I removed the stacks of money and started counting them. At least I had some cash on hand. I counted two hundred thousand dollars which was more than enough to hold me over until this issue got resolved.

  I took a quick shower, got dressed and headed out. I needed to find Marlon. Deep in my gut I knew he had something to do with this. I just knew it.

  I called every number that I had for him, but never got an answer. I also went to his apartment, but no one was there. Something was up. There was no sign of him at all. Not one trace.

  I sat in my car in front of his apartment building and tried to figure out what the fuck was going on, but I didn’t even know where to begin. I felt my emotions twisting and twirling. I wanted to cry. I just wanted to sit there and cry my eyes out, but that wouldn’t help, so I started the car and drove off.

  When I pulled up to my grandmother’s house, I parked and ran inside. My nerves were so shot; I didn’t know what to do. I had plans to go to church, but now I didn’t even feel like going there, and I probably needed it. I sat on my bed and stared at the wall. What else could go wrong?

  After ten minutes of doing nothing, I decided to use my time wisely and get some laundry done. My grandmother usually washed Dorian’s clothes, but since her visit to the hospital, I had taken over that responsibility. I gathered my things and bought them downstairs to the laundry room in the basement and then I went into Dorian’s room to get his things.

  I carried his laundry basket downstairs and emptied the soiled clothes onto the floor to separate them. When I shook out a pair of his jeans, something fell out the pocket. I reached down and picked it up. It was a wad of cash; all one hundred dollar bills. I couldn’t tell how much it was, but I knew it was a lot.

  With so much on my mind, I didn’t pay too much attention to the money. I just put it to the side and made a mental note to say something to Dorian when he came in, but when I grabbed one of his hoody sweatshirts, a brown paper bag fell out the front pocket.

  I stared at the bag lying on the floor. Something told me not to open it, but I was too nosy. I just had to know what was in it. I reached in and pulled out the contents. It was plastic baggie with a big, white rock in it.

  “I don’t believe this muthafucka…” I mumbled.

  Immediately I pulled my phone from my pocket and dialed Dorian’s number, but I kept getting his voicemail. I stormed upstairs to let my grandmother know what I found. She was going to be very upset, but I had to tell her. I had to let her know what her grandson was out there doing.

  On my way upstairs, I heard a reporter on the news discussing a trade in baseball, and they mentioned Marlon’s name. I stopped in my tracks and was glued to the television.

  “And reports are coming in this morning about the trade involving Marlon Giles to the Los Angeles Dodgers for a fourth round draft pick in next year’s draft…”

  “I think this is a good trade, Bill. What do you think?”

  I grabbed the remote and hit power. I heard all I needed to hear. Marlon was on the other side of the country; that’s why I couldn’t reach him.

  I continued up the steps to inform my grandmother of what I had found. When I pushed open her door I could see she was sound asleep, but I had to wake her up.

  “Grandma…” I called out, “Grandma,” I walked over to her while she lay in bed and shook her leg. She was stiff as a rock. “Grandma, grandma wake up,” I said. I moved to the top of the bed and shook her shoulder, but I still didn’t get a response, “Grandma, grandma wake up!”

  I started to panic. My grandmother never slept this hard. I shook her shoulder a second time and her head rolled to the side.

  “Oh my God, grandma, wake up, please!” I shouted.

  I bent down and put my ear to her face to see if she was breathing. I didn’t hear anything. I put two fingers under her nostrils, but I didn’t feel anything. When I placed my hand around her wrist to check for a pulse, I lost my mind when I didn’t feel one.

  “No, no…. no, this can’t be happening,” I was pacing back and forth in front of her bed, “Grandma, please wake up… please,” I begged, but she was just lying there with the most peaceful look on her face.

  Tears started to form in my eyes and fall down my cheek. My nerves were everywhere. I was sweating profusely and shaking like I had turrets syndrome. I snatched my phone from my pocket and dialed Dorian’s number again, and again I got sent straight to voicemail.

  I didn’t know what to do. I slumped to the floor and sat at the foot of her bed, distraught, crying my eyes out. The tears were flowing so fast my shirt was soaked in minutes. I cried until no more tears were able to fall, and I prayed. I prayed to God. I prayed that he would end this horrible nightmare that was going on in my head. I prayed that he would make everything okay. I prayed for my grandmother. I prayed for Raquel. I prayed for my mother and father, and most of all, I prayed for me and my little brother Dorian.

  It felt like an eternity had passed, but when my phone rang, and I looked at it, only seventeen minutes had gone by. I attempted to stop crying so I could answer it. I didn’t want Dorian losing his mind.

  “You need to get to the house, now,” I told him.

  “What’s wrong, sis?”

  “It’s an emergency, Dorian… just hurry up and get here.”

  “Aight, I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” he said.

  The phone went dead and I dropped it on the carpet. I peeked at my grandmother to see if something had changed, but it didn’t. She was still lying in her bed, dead.

  15

  “Cherish, Cherish! Where are you?”

  I could hear Dorian’s voice, but I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even shout to let him know where I was, but I heard his footsteps coming up the stairs. I heard doors opening and closing, like he was looking for me, and when he pushed open my grandmother’s room door, all I could do was stare at him with tear filled eyes.

  “Cherish, what happened?”

  I tried to get the words out of my mouth, but they just wouldn’t come out. I saw Dorian’s facial expression when he realized what was going on. He looked like a deer caught in some headlights in the midst of the night.

  He kneeled down beside me, and wrapped his arm around me. He didn’t say a word. He didn’t have to. We knew what
each other’s thought were. He picked me up and walked me to my room, which was down the hall, and we sat there in silence until the ambulance arrived.

  A part of me didn’t want to see the medics carrying my grandmother out in a bag, but a part of me did. Dorian stayed close by my side which helped a lot. He was taking this whole situation much better than I was. I guess he was prepared for it. My grandmother had always told us to prepare our minds for the worst, but wish for the best. I never had a clue that this is what she was referring to.

  I couldn’t stop crying. Even when I thought I had it under control, just one smidgeon of a memory about her made my emotions boil over and I would start balling again. I covered my eyes while the medics rolled her out the house on a gurney. I wanted to peek, but I didn’t. When I pulled my hands down from my face, they were closing the doors to the Coroner’s van.

  A WEEK LATER

  On the morning of my grandmother’s funeral, the sun was shining bright. I got up early, made breakfast for me and Dorian and got dressed. As I stood in my room, looking at myself in my full body mirror, my nerves suddenly calmed. I wasn’t as anxious as I had been the past few days, and my stomach no longer had that queasy feeling. I was trying my best to come to grips with the fact that my grandmother was gone, and never coming back, but it was hard. I could still hear her voice in my head. I could still understand every word that she was saying to me, but the words were distant now; like they were miles away.

  I was proud of myself because when they lowered my grandmother’s casket into the ground, I smiled. It was a natural reaction; something that just happened. It reminded that my grandmother was now in a better place. She was at peace.

  She once told me that when God needed her services he would call for her. I guess this was the call she had been waiting for. She always said that she was going to straight to heaven to cook a meal for her God. Back then, I couldn’t find the humor in those words, but now, now things were different, and I was fully aware of what she was trying to tell me.

  After her service, we invited her close friends and some of their family members over to the house for some personal memories, some laughs and a lot of food. We ate, talked about my grandmother all night long, and had a great time getting to know each other.

  Raquel and Jillian was the last people to leave. I adored our friendship because Raquel was going through so much on her own, that I didn’t know how she was able to be there for me. And Jillian was always going to be herself. I already knew what to expect from her. She was always right at my side when something went down. I could always count on her. That was my girl.

  “Hey,” I said, stopping them before they left out. “I appreciate you guys sticking around and helping us out.”

  “Please, girl, you know how we rock,” Jillian said.

  “We’re here for you, Cherish… and we’ll always be,” Raquel said, giving me a hug.

  A phone beeped and we all looked around to see where it was coming from. I spotted it on the end table and went over to get it.

  “Oh, that’s mines!” Jillian said, realizing she didn’t have her phone.

  I snatched the phone and couldn’t help but to see the text message displayed across the front screen.

  Meet me at the spot in 2 hours

  It surprised me because the contact was Colin. Why would he and Jillian be meeting up at three o clock in the morning? But right now wasn’t the time for me to be thinking about that. So, I handed Jillian her phone and her and Raquel left.

  The house was silent. It was eerie silence. A silence I didn’t want to get familiar with. It was too silent for me. Dorian had gone out with God knows who and it was just me, myself, and I in this big ass house. I would make it my business to let Dorian know about what I found. I’m sure he knows that I found it, because at the time I found my grandmother in her room, I had the sweatshirt with his drugs in it. I had forgotten all about it, but I’m pretty sure Dorian saw it when he came in the room.

  As I sat there flicking through the television channels, my phone rung. It was Simeon. I hesitated at first, but then I picked it up.

  “Hello,”

  “Cherish, I’m sorry to hear about your grandmother. I send my love and condolences to you and your family. I miss you baby. I hope you’re alright,” he said.

  “Thank you, Simeon. It means a lot, but since when am I your baby. What about your fiancé?”

  I think the question startled him because there was a long pause.

  “Listen, Cherish… I was gon’ tell you about that,”

  “Oh yeah, when Simeon?”

  “I’m not getting married, Cherish.”

  “Did you tell her that, because I’m not the one you need to be telling that to.”

  “I haven’t gotten around to it yet, but I will,” he said.

  “Well, when you handle that, then you call me.”

  “But, Cherish—”

  “No buts, Simeon… Kaylin is my little sister,” I told him.

  There was another long pause.

  “Hello?” I didn’t know if he hung up or not, “Hello?”

  “Your sister?”

  “Yes, my sister. My father’s daughter; and I’m just as shocked as you are because I just found out myself.”

  “Your sister?”

  “Listen, Simeon… I like you. I like you a lot, but I got a lot of shit going on in my life right now. I don’t have time to deal with bullshit, and I’m not going to waste my time on something that ain’t going anywhere.”

  “But Cherish, I understand that. And that’s why I wanna be there for you. I like you a lot too, fuck that… I love you Cherish, and I want us to be together. I’ll do whateva I need to do to make that happen. You got my word. Just tell me what I need to do and it’s done,” he said.

  This time I paused. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know how to react. This man just told me he loved me.

  “I don’t think it’s the right time, Colin…”

  “Colin, who the fuck is, Colin?”

  “”I’m sorry, Simeon. It’s just not the right time,” I corrected myself. Damn, I was slipping.

  “Oh, so, that’s what it is, huh? You got somebody else.”

  “No, Simeon… you have somebody else… your fiancé, remember?”

  “Stop tryna throw that in my face, we know that, but what about, Colin, who the fuck is he? Must be someone important to have you calling me, him,” he said.

  “I said I was sorry, Simeon. Listen, my grandmother just passed away, my friend is going through a lot of shit and I’m just stressed right now. Like I said, it’s not the right time,” I told him.

  “Well, when is the right time, Cherish?”

  “I don’t know, Simeon.”

  There was pause. All I could hear were the cars riding by on the street.

  “I’m coming over there, Cherish. I need to see you.”

  “No, Simeon, you can’t.”

  “Why not, Colin’s there?”

  “Goodbye, Simeon…”

  “I’ll be there in twenty minutes…”

  “I said—”

  The phone went dead and I just stared up at the ceiling.

  “God, why me?”

  5ive Star Bitch Part 2 Coming Soon!

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