In Times of Trouble

by Yolonda Tonette Sanders

  Calling her his wife was still a habit that RJ hadn’t shaken, even though they had been divorced for nearly six years now. It no longer bothered or surprised Lisa when he did.

  “Do either of you know this young lady?” The officer held Chanelle’s driver’s license.

  “Yes, she’s our daughter. What’s wrong? How’d you get that?”

  “Sir, I’m afraid I have some bad news. . .”

  • • •

  Lisa’s father walked into the hospital room. “Skeeter, I wanted to let you know that Kyle and Stacie are out in the waiting room. You want me to tell them to come back here?”

  “Yes, that’s fine, Daddy. How’s Mama?” she asked, her face felt sticky from dried tears. They’d been at the hospital all night, waiting. . .hoping. . .praying for something to change.

  “Not good. I’m going to take her home to get some rest. I’ll be back in a few hours after I pick Callie up from the airport.”

  “Baby, do you mind waiting a few minutes before allowing Kyle and Stacie to come back here? I would like to be alone with Chanelle for a minute,” requested RJ.

  She nodded. “I’ll walk out with you, Daddy.”

  People had been in and out all night—Hattie, Raymond, Pastor Burlington, Chanelle’s best friend, Gericka and her parents, Lisa’s former assistant, Megan, plus others from the rehabilitation center and church. RJ just wanted a minute alone with his daughter. He continued leaning over her comatose body, his tears splashing on her cheeks. “Chanelle, if you can hear me. . .I want you to know how much I love you. I’m so sorry, baby. I’m so sorry that I haven’t always been a good father. I’m so sorry. . .” He broke down. The tubes and monitors connected to his baby girl reminded him of his guilt for failing his family years ago. Traces of the conversation he’d had with David Thanksgiving night still played in his mind, but those memories didn’t stop the nagging question: Would Chanelle be in this position had he made different choices? Was he Achan and had his entire family been destroyed because of his sins?

  “God. . .” RJ sobbed. “I’m sorry I let You down; I’m sorry I made so many mistakes. God, do whatever You have to do to me, but please. . .please don’t punish Chanelle for anything that I have done.”

  CHAPTER 36

  A Few Choice Words

  Stacie walked with Lisa as she escorted her parents to their car. Kyle, the vibrant young boy Lisa had grown to love, had stayed behind in the waiting room; all the joy drained from his eyes. He made no attempt to hide his pain as tears freely flowed down his face when Lisa hugged him.

  “My nerves are too messed up. I need a cigarette before going back in. I’ll meet you up there,” said Stacie.

  Lisa wasn’t crazy about engulfing secondhand smoke, but she stayed outside with Stacie anyhow.

  “How is she?” Stacie wasted no time lighting up.

  “Not good. She was conscious for a little while before we got here, but she’s been in the coma ever since.”

  “And the baby?”

  “He’s hanging in there. I pray he pulls through. He’s so tiny.”

  Stacie blew circles with her smoke. “It’s all over the news. Thank you for calling and telling us.”

  “I know how much you guys care about Chanelle. I didn’t want you to find out about this through the media.”

  “The police better catch up with Olivia before I do because I swear if I see her, I’m going to kill her.”

  Lisa identified with Stacie’s anger, remembering the gut-wrenching feeling she had when the police officer stated that Chanelle had been involved in a drive-by shooting. He gave her and RJ all the information that he had at the time. The “friend” Chanelle had gone to meet was Olivia. The police have a 9-1-1 tape of Chanelle calling for assistance from her cell phone after having been shot. During the call, Chanelle stated she had agreed to meet Olivia at a restaurant because Olivia wanted to make amends and be in the baby’s life.

  According to what Chanelle told the police, she was in the process of following Olivia home so she could pick up some things that Olivia had bought for the baby. As they were about to get on the freeway, Olivia’s car came to a complete stop and another car pulled alongside Chanelle. When the passenger of the other car began firing into Chanelle’s vehicle, Olivia sped off. Chanelle was able to give the operator her location, which helped them find her quickly. Lisa and RJ were told that Chanelle was able to talk to the officers when she was initially brought into the emergency room; and when she was no longer able to speak, she wrote sketchy notes, scribbling Olivia’s name repeatedly. Unfortunately, RJ and Lisa never got a chance to speak with their daughter because she had slipped into a coma minutes before their arrival. The last words RJ and Lisa ever heard their daughter say to them were “I love you.”

  Chanelle had been shot four times: once in the head and neck; and twice in the abdomen. It was by the grace of God that the bullets missed the baby. He was delivered via an emergency C-section. The doctors were still concerned about him, though, since he was six weeks premature and had been born under stress.

  “That woman is ruthless to do something like this, especially to the baby, who is her own flesh and blood.” Stacie continued puffing her cigarette.

  “She obviously doesn’t care. I’ve learned the hard way that Olivia is vindictive. I bet this is her way of trying to take my child from me since she blames us for Justin being in jail. The crazy thing is, I do feel responsible. . .not for Justin, but for Chanelle. Maybe if I had reported the times I suspected Olivia of following me. . .”

  “What! When was this?”

  “Last year sometime, before the trial started. I mentioned to RJ that I had seen her a couple of times, but after a while I stopped telling him. He was being very protective, and I appreciated it, but I guess I really didn’t consider her a danger; and I didn’t want him getting all worked up about nothing. I didn’t see her anymore once the trial really got underway, so I figured it was over. I should have known she was capable of something like this. I remember—”

  “Remember what?”

  “Nothing. . .” Lisa thought back to the day when Olivia sat in her office listening to her vent about Kyle and jokingly told Lisa that a hit could be arranged. In retrospect, Lisa believed that Olivia was serious and had she shown genuine interest, Olivia may have arranged for something similar to happen to Kyle. “I feel like I should have seen this coming.”

  “Lisa, this isn’t your fault,” Stacie said along with some other things. She called Olivia a few choice words that, quite frankly, Lisa had thought, but hadn’t spoken out loud.

  “I really appreciate how much you and Kyle have been there for Chanelle. I don’t know if I can ever thank you enough.”

  “You don’t have to. I’ve liked Chanelle from the first time I saw her. She was so sweet. Then, when she and Kyle broke up and she started hanging with Justin, I didn’t hear from her for a while. I’ll never forget the night she called and asked me if I would pick her up.”

  “Was that the night she and I got into a fight?”

  “Yeah. . .truthfully, I planned to bring her home, but when she told me what Justin had done to her, I identified with her pain in more ways than one.” Stacie lit another cigarette. “I was raped by my mom’s boyfriend when I was thirteen. I told her and of course he denied it. She’d only been going out with him for a month, but he wasn’t the one she kicked out; it was me. She sent me to live with my alcoholic grandmother who didn’t care whether I came or went.”

  Stacie’s voice cracked and Lisa sensed that she was still dealing with some issues in her childhood. Guilt briefly came over her as she was reminded how she immediately made assumptions about her based on her outer appearance. Having had the last several months to see glimpses of her heart, Lisa knew that she had completely misjudged her; and learned that judging a book by its cover wasn’t always wise.

  “I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve done a lot of buck wild things. I got pregnant by a man thirty-four years ol
der than me when I was fifteen. I wasn’t necessarily a good mother at first. It took a few years for me to get my act together. Sometimes I feel like I failed. I mean, I’m freakin’ thirty-three and I have an eighteen-month-old granddaughter. I wanted better for my kids than I had and I don’t seem to be able to give them that. I work night and day to make ends meet, but I can’t afford to send my son to college.” Stacie swallowed hard. “My point for saying all of this is that I could immediately tell that Chanelle came from a good home. She wasn’t the type to experiment with drugs or do any of the wild things that I’ve done. I know she got drunk that one time and all, but for real, that’s mild compared to my teenage years. Chanelle is a good girl. It’s just messed up that something like this happened to her.”

  Lisa admired Stacie’s compassion. “Thanks for being there for her when I wasn’t.”

  Stacie put out her second cigarette butt. “This is not your fault,” she repeated. “We all make mistakes with our children, but you’re not responsible for what happened to Chanelle.”

  Stacie sounded extremely sincere and Lisa wanted to believe her, but she still felt an overwhelming amount of guilt. She forced a smile. “Thanks. . .C’mon, let’s go back in. We left Kyle in the waiting room. Seeing how upset he was, it’s probably not good for him to be alone.”

  CHAPTER 37

  Any Given Day

  Pastor Burlington mounted the pulpit slowly, leaning to the right with his cane. “Ladies and gentlemen, we’re gathered here today because Robert and Lisa Hampton have been forced to lay their one and only daughter permanently to rest.” Chanelle’s lifeless body rested in a charcoal-colored casket amidst various floral arrangements just a few feet from where RJ and Lisa were sitting. “I’ve done a lot of eulogies in my life. I’ve buried both of my parents, one of my sisters, my best friend and countless others. Yet, no other service has challenged me like this of eighteen-year-old Chanelle Hampton.”

  “As I began to prepare for this service, I wondered, ‘Why do bad things happen to good people?’ It’s the same question that the prophet, Habakkuk, had asked God; and the same question I know many of you have recently asked after learning of the circumstances surrounding this young lady’s death.”

  Deep moans and groans echoed throughout the sanctuary. Chanelle’s grandparents, friends and other family members seemed to be the most affected, though people who didn’t know the family well were also moved to tears. Several surprise guests included Detective Troy Evans and his wife, Natalie; Attorney Richard Griggs and his wife, Sylvia; and even the Ohio State head football coach came to offer his condolences.

  RJ kept his arm snugly around Lisa who had been holding up much better than he had expected. Chanelle never came out of her coma. It was just Lisa and him in the room, in addition to hospital staff, when the doctor had pronounced her dead, making Chanelle’s murder the sixteenth one of the year thus far.

  RJ will never forget that moment. “Time of death: 11:41 a.m.,” the doctor had said. Those were the most ear-piercing and horrifying words he’d ever heard. Yet, he believed that the Lord had prepared him for what was to come. During the time he’d spent alone with Chanelle when Lisa walked her parents out to their car, the Lord had settled in his spirit that Chanelle wasn’t going to pull through. Initially, RJ went into a crying and praying frenzy because he felt like he was responsible for what had happened to his daughter. “It should be me! I should be the one fighting for my life!” he pleaded. God allowed him to vent while at the same time ministering words of encouragement to his spirit. It was in that moment when RJ was freed from bearing the burden of guilt. He had a choice: to wallow in self-pity over his mistakes or to trust that God was in control of all things and to stand on His Word to make it through.

  Not wanting to upset Lisa any further, RJ never spoke about what would become of their daughter. Perhaps the Lord had prepared him because He knew that Lisa would need to be comforted by him. Whatever God’s reasoning for the revelation, RJ stayed glued to Lisa’s side. When Chanelle passed away, instead of calling friends and family immediately, he took Lisa off alone and held her as she wailed in his arms. In such situations most people would have tried to think of something spiritually deep to say, but RJ didn’t utter a word. He allowed Lisa the time to grieve, just as God had allowed him.

  “I look down into this casket. . .” Beads of sweat dropped from Pastor Burlington’s bald head as sorrow drenched his countenance. “And I see potential that never got to be. I see a young girl who was unfairly snatched from this life when, in many ways, life was just beginning for her. Ladies and gentleman, Chanelle’s death is proof that we live in a fallen world—a world in which evil is present. There used to be a time when we as a society collectively took care of our senior citizens. Now the elderly have become prey. . .easy target for thieves. On any given day we can turn on the news or open the Columbus Dispatch and find cases about robbery, sexual molestation and as in Chanelle’s case, murder.”

  RJ pondered a moment on how many things had transpired over the last year.

  Just twelve short months ago, he had begun settling into Columbus and his new position as the Director of Hope Ministries Rehabilitation Center. Chanelle was driving Lisa crazy and he would have likely sold his right arm to be this close to Lisa again. Now he and Lisa had a bond that he was sure was much stronger than the one they had during their marriage. He was a grandparent, and his baby girl—the only seed he had planted—was dead, courtesy of Lisa’s ex-best friend who had been arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder. RJ truly had been delivered from his drug addiction; Chanelle’s death would have been enough to push him over the edge had it not been for God guiding every step he made.

  “I’m sure by now you are all aware of the high-profile nature of this case,” Pastor Burlington stated. “Though each of us have our own opinions about what should be done to the individuals responsible for such a heinous act, there’s one thing we must agree on. What happened to Chanelle Hampton was purely a work of evil! In Ephesians, six, verse twelve, Paul tells us that we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood. In other words, the true enemy in this case, or any case, is not those who have been arrested for this crime, but our real enemy is the devil. And he will do whatever and use whoever is willing to try and destroy us. Men and women who engage in evil are too ignorant to realize that they are actually doing Satan’s bidding. The devil can’t make anyone do anything. What he does is entice people with things like power, money and revenge, all the while luring them into sin. And sin, no matter how small it may seem, will always take you further than you meant to go, and leave you longer than you meant to stay.”

  “Folks, the devil is knocking at every one of our doors, waiting for us to give him the opportunity to come in. Robert and Lisa, you have walked a very tough road. I want you to take all the time you need to grieve. You have every right to be hurt. To be honest the pain may never go away, but hopefully, over time, it will diminish. You also have every right to be angry about what happened to your daughter. What I encourage you two, and the rest of y’all, not to do is allow your anger to turn into resentment or bitterness. It’s during tough times like this when we are tempted the most to question God. We think ‘God, if You’re so powerful and mighty, and You have the whole world in the palm of Your hands, then how did this happen?’ Sometimes people go through things and turn their backs on God, but the Psalmist tells us in chapter nine, verse nine that the Lord is our refuge in times of trouble. Robert and Lisa, I want you to know that this is the time when you need God more than ever. Not only will you need Him, but you will also need each other.”

  Lisa squeezed RJ’s hand as if to affirm Pastor Burlington’s last point of them needing each other. Perhaps that was her way of letting him know that she needed him. RJ patted her hand softly as if to say that he would be there with her every step of the way. He’d let her down before, but never again.

  Not only did she need him, but so did their grandson. Chanelle had pi
cked out his name weeks before her death. Both he and Lisa wanted to honor her wishes and so they named him Chandler Robert Kyle Hampton like she’d wanted. Chandler was still in the hospital, but he was a fighter and his prognosis was very good. That didn’t surprise RJ. He knew his little man wouldn’t give up easily. He came from a long line of headstrong females and determined men who didn’t give up without a fight. Chandler was going to make it. He had to. . .

  “We may never understand why God allowed this to happen to Chanelle,” Pastor Burlington continued. “I want everyone here to understand that Chanelle’s murder was never part of God’s plan for her life. In Jeremiah 29:11, God says ‘I know the thoughts I think toward you. . .thoughts of peace, and not evil, [thoughts] to give you an expected end.’ So, if God thinks only good toward us then we’re still left with the question of why do bad things happen? The only answer I have to that is sin. God doesn’t ever promise that bad things won’t happen, but Jesus promises to be with you always, even until the end of the world. Despite all of your unanswered questions, I implore you to continue trusting in God. I’ve walked with the Lord long enough to know that the devil’s plans never thwart God’s power. Keep trusting God and over time you’ll see that what the devil meant for evil, God will ultimately work out for your good.”

  “Fortunately for Chanelle, she is with Jesus right now. Let her sudden death be a warning to all of you who don’t have a relationship with Him. Tomorrow is not promised. Death does not discriminate. It can come at any moment in your life. Ask yourself this one question: if you were to die right now, would you be ready to meet Jesus?”

  CHAPTER 38

  Knight in Shining Armor

  Lisa’s family gathered at her house after the service to help her polish off some leftovers. She appreciated all the food that was brought over, but she didn’t think she would be able to eat one more piece of fried chicken or chicken casserole for quite some time. Lisa laughed silently to herself as she watched her mother devour one of the casseroles, claiming how good it was, not realizing that Stacie had made it. Had someone told her beforehand, her mother would have claimed not to eat “white folks’ food,” and if someone told her now, she would probably swear she was sick.