Best Dressed Lie (Keisha Jackson)

by Batiste, Kimberly

  Jason ran towards the door and stopped as if he saw a ghost. He stood there staring at Randy and Randy stared at him.

  “Jason baby, do like Mommy said and call 911,” she whispered, fanning her hand at him. Jason just stood there, he pointed at Randy. We all stared at him, waiting to hear what he was about to say.

  “I saw you naked with my Momma too,” he said.

  Zan laughed. “Jason what has Mommy told you about not telling the truth?”

  My body went numb. I could not believe my ears. “But Mommy it’s true,” he whined, “I saw him in your bed.”

  Earlier Jason told me he saw his mother naked with a short white man. Never in a million years would I have ever thought she fucked Randy too. Hearing no denial from Randy, my eyes filled with tears. I waited for someone to say it wasn’t true. Zan eyes teared up too. She slid her backside down the wall, landing on floor.

  “I can’t do this anymore,” she sobbed. “I can’t keep hurting her. She deserves to know the truth.”

  Randy stood there. I could tell he did not want me to know how everything went down. Judging by the look in his eyes, he was about to break at any moment.

  He started spilling the beans, not giving Zan time to explain herself. “Every since our relationship got rocky, we stopped having sex. At first, I started watching online porn and jacking off. It wasn’t enough, I wanted more. I wanted sex. One day I was surfing the internet and stumbled on a website where you can meet up with women.

  “The first time I did it, she performed oral sex on me. I became obsessed with it. I hooked up with women every other day while you worked. I was spending so much money, the owner of the site wanted to meet me and let me invest with him. I knew we were having financial problems so I met with him.

  “He told me since I didn’t have any money up front, all I had to do was help him get a job where I worked so that he could cover his tracks. He didn’t want the authorities to get suspicious. That meant I could hook up with women free. Well, at least that’s what I thought.

  “One night, I met up with a woman. I didn’t know her identity and she didn’t know mine. It was kinky for both of us. When I arrived at the hotel, she was blindfolded. She didn’t want me to know her identity. She told me she wanted to get straight down to business. She dropped down to her knees and started sucking my penis. Then I sucked on her vagina. Once my penis was inside her, the blind fold fell off. She looked at me, signaling me to continue.”

  I was so hurt and disgusted I went ballistic. “Who was she? Or should I say who were they?”

  “Zan… One of them was Zan and I’m sorry,” he cried.

  I tried to slap the skin off his face.

  “I deserved that,” he said, rubbing his jaw.

  “Jason baby, go to your room!” Zan sobbed. She was sitting on the floor with a guilty, pathetic look on her face.

  “I will not stand here to listen to this bullshit!” I was literally shaking as I gathered my things.

  “Keisha, please hear me out. Let me tell my side,” Zan sobbed.

  I was an emotionally wreck at that moment. “Hear you out? You’re supposed to be my best friend, my sister… How could you…why would you do this to me?! Why?” I cried. It felt like a demon crawled inside of me. I started yelling as if I was possessed. “So, was that your naked picture sent by text message to him?! What about the anonymous calls? Was that you too? Huh? Answer me got damn it!” I wanted to slaughter her.

  “No Keisha,” she said, wiping her tears. “I was not the only one he slept with.”

  “You’re disgusting! I thought you were my friend?” I said furiously, crying my heart out. Snot was running out of my nose.

  “She wanted to meet up again after that. She begged me, but I wouldn’t do it baby!”

  “Liar,” Zan yelled. “Tell her why she was beat! Tell her how you owe BJ hundreds and thousands of dollars because you slept with all those women without paying him for them.”

  “If I owed BJ, he would have said something to me at work. We work together remember bitch?”

  “They fired him months ago! Liar!”

  Randy retaliated, “Yeah? Tell her how you were in an intimate relationship with both of them; Kayla and her fiancé, BJ. You are pathetic Zan. You sold your own son! He was never adopted!”

  I had to sit down; I could not stand to hear anymore. The pain was getting worse. I raised my hand, interjecting, “Please, I can’t do this.” I said, choked up. “I don’t care who fucked who, who lied, or who said this or that. Both of y’all are disgusting! I loved both of you with all my heart.

  “Randy, I gave you all of me. I made sure you had everything you needed, even if meant my last dime. I tolerated a lot shit from you, stressing out about rumors of betrayal. Only to find out all of this time it was my best friend fucking you. It takes a person with a depraved mind to do something like this.

  “How could you? How could you pretend as if you hated each other to throw me off from the scent? How could you lie to my face, when all along you were fucking each other? I will never forgive you for this, never! Do you know the person who nearly killed me? Both of you move out of my way so that I can leave.”

  Randy knelt down in front of me. He gazed at my puffy red eyes, and then slowly wiped my tears.

  “Don’t leave!” he said, grabbing my arm.

  “I don’t care anymore, can’t you see that?” I cried. “You ran a whorehouse! You slept with all these women unprotected. You… you slept with my… my best friend. I hate you!”

  Zan interrupted viciously, “Randy, you’re a malicious, conniving son of a bitch! You never loved Keisha! You used her; you used all of the women and me. I am so glad she had a miscarriage. You don’t deserve to have a child with my friend.”

  “Zan, Stop it!” I screamed. I hated him. He hurt me to the core. I knew that finding out that I lost our child would devastate him.

  “Pregnant?” tears rolled down his face. “What do you mean? Keisha was pregnant?”

  He walked towards Zan as if she was to blame for the termination of the pregnancy. “Why would you say something so cruel?” he grabbed her by the hair and dragged her to the bedroom.

  “Leave me alone! Stop it, Randy,” She yelled, kicking her legs. “Keisha, make him stop!”

  I grabbed Zan’s car keys, Jason and dialed 911 I limped as fast as I could out the front door. As we headed towards the car, I heard Zan screaming. The 911 operator asked what the emergency was.

  I was petrified. All I wanted to do was get in the car and reverse out of there. I did not have time to talk to the operator. I wanted to get off the property and get Jason to safety. As put the car key in the driver’s door . Two gunshots sounded loudly one after the other.

  “Mommy!” Jason screamed, running towards the house. I grabbed Jason to keep him from going inside the house.

  “No, come here Jason! Get in the car.”

  Panicked, I picked up the phone and said, “Operator we need help! Please send someone to 555 Elm Street!”

  I backed out so fast I knocked down the mailbox.

  “What’s the emergency, ma’am?”

  “We heard gun shots.”

  “What’s your name and please try to calm down, ma’am. You said we, who else is with you?”

  I was in a state of shocked, I started yelling whatever came to mind.

  “Randy!”

  “My name is Jason, not Randy,” he said, looking up at me with tears in his eyes.

  “I’m sorry, baby,” I said patting the back of his hand.

  “My name is Keisha Jackson and I’m with a nine year old boy.”

  “Miss Jackson, the police and ambulance are on the way. Are you still at the house?”

  “No, we left,” I said, shaking.

  “Ma’am, the police and ambulance were near the address. They arrived at the house. Who started the fire?”

  “Fire? There wasn’t a fire!”

  “Ma’am, are you there? Who started the fire?
”

  “I don’t know,” I said, hysterically.

  “The police need you to come down town to the station.” “Okay. What… what’s the address?” I stuttered. “2257 Norwood Drive.”

  “We’ll be there.”

  “Ma’am would you like me to stay on the line until you arrive?”

  “No, I’ll be fine. Thank you.”

  I glanced at the fuel gauge and noticed we were low on gas. I was not about to stop. Jason was finally asleep. He had sobbed so hard it wore him out.

  All I could do was pray his mom was okay. I hoped no one got hurt, despite the pain and hurt they caused me. Jason needed his mother. I was not sure what the outcome would be and I had no way of contacting Jason’s adopted mother. The last thing I wanted was for child services to be involved.

  TEN

  Ten minutes later, we arrived at the police station. I was so nervous and felt like I couldn’t breathe. I reached over and woke Jason up, “Get up baby.” I was afraid of walking inside, I did not know what to expect.

  “Okay little man, it’s time to get this over with,” I said, looking down at Jason. I looked inside through the outside door. The lights were dim and the precinct looked run down. I saw a glimpse of an overweight white man sitting behind the check-in counter damn near asleep. His face was so red; he looked like he suffered from a major sunburn.

  I struggled pulling the heavy glass door open while holding Jason’s hand. My body was still sore. Before I asked any questions, the man interrupted me, “I need you to remove all metal and open your purse,” he said.

  “Shouldn’t you be standing?” I mumbled.

  He gave me a long, hard stare then nodded me through. As I soon as limped past security, I heard someone calling my name, “Keisha Jackson?” It was the voice of a tall, suited-up, biracial woman. “Yes. Are you social services?”

  Before she could answer, Jason screamed, “Nana!” “Hey baby,” she smiled, reaching for Jason. “I’m Jason’s foster mom Anne and this is my neighbor Tom.”

  “How do you know me?” “I saw the news and rushed down here. Once I arrived, they stated you were on your way to the station. So I waited.”

  “Oh okay. They’re supposed to be asking me questions about tonight’s incident, but I really don’t have the strength to answer any questions. I’ve been through so much the past few days. My heart can’t take anymore.”

  “No need to wait. I’ve already spoken with the police and cleared her name. My husband was the police commissioner before he passed away. I spoke with Zan and she’s fine. She’ll just run off like she always does, then call me when she’s down or needs my help to dig herself out of her mess. Most likely, she’ll collect the insurance money from the house. She has this thing with setting houses on fire and parking cars in random places and then reporting them stolen just to collect the insurance money.”

  “Wow. I’m almost lost for words. What about Randy? Did she mention him at all?”

  “No, she didn’t mention anyone else.”

  “That’s strange considering they were together when I left her house. Before tonight, I would have said, ‘That doesn’t sound like the Zan that I know. Tonight I found out who she really is,” I said.

  I knelt down in from of Jason and gave him a tight hug. “Be good, okay? Take care of Miss Anne. If you ever need me, here is my number. Call me anytime.”

  “Anytime?” he said sadly.

  I smiled. “Anytime.”

  “Thank you,” Anne whispered.

  I gathered my things and headed towards the door. I wanted to stop by Randy’s house to get a couple of things before I left Georgia. I still had unfinished business with him. After thirty minutes of driving, I arrived at Randy’s place and to my surprise; the car parked on the side of the road.

  “Son of a bitch,” I mumbled.

  I hesitated before proceeding towards the door. I dreaded the confrontation. “Please don’t let him be inside,” I thought. The closer I got to the screened porch, the more nervous I became. I opened the squeaky screen door and Chico dashed out the cracked open front door.

  “Hey, girly,” I said, rubbing her ears. She was hyperactive and never got this excited. The door squeaked as I slowly pushed it completely open.

  “Randy? Are you in here?” The house was dark and cold as ice. Chico’s poop was splattered all over the floor, the stench was unbearable. I flipped the light switch up and nothing happened. I started having flash backs of the attack. The aroma of his sweat permeated the room.

  I walked into the den fearfully. On the coffee table laid a huge yellow envelope from the hospital’s lab with Randy’s name on it.

  “When did he go to the hospital?” I whispered, opening up the envelope. No one was in the house so I figured, why not.

  ‘Randy Carter, these are your test results,’ I kept reading, ‘Your chief of complaint was night sweats and headaches. Diagnosis is…’

  “Glad you stopped by!” he said, startling me. I dropped the envelope and backed up towards the wall. He appeared out of nowhere. “Randy! You scared me.”

  “What are you doing here and why are you going through my things, Keisha?”

  “Are you serious?” I said, calmly. “After all the shit you put me through? You still want to gripe at me?”

  He grabbed my shoulders and said in a desperate tone, “I messed up. I know you hate me Keisha. Will you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?” He stared me in the eyes. “Do you have any idea how much I love you? I gave it all up for you because I could not see myself hurting you anymore. I love you girl. I am willing to do whatever it takes to get you back.”

  His eyes teared up. He started getting obsessive and possessive. “I’m not going to let you leave me!”

  “What do you want from me?” I said, shaking. “You have HIV, Randy! I saw your diagnosis from the hospital. What can you possibly do for me, other than infect me, if you already haven’t. I came here to get my things and my puppy. I had no idea you’d be here. Last time I saw you, I heard gun shots.”

  I shoved him away from me and headed towards the door, but he yanked me back towards him. He started shouting at me, “I shot the gun to scare Zan off. When I rushed back to the room, you had already left. The crazy bitch set the house on fire while I was in it! I managed to jump out the window and get away. I can’t see myself with anyone other than you. There will never be another woman like you. Please… please forgive me. I need you girl.” I stood there scared to death. He was yelling so loud, my body jerked after every syllable. His words were like blows.

  “I can’t… I can’t be with you Randy.”

  He grabbed my face and backed me up against the wall. “Now you listen to me! If I can’t have you, no one will.” He snatched a gun from under his shirt, held it up to my head, and started crying. “I’m not gone lose you Keisha. You came back because you love me, didn’t you?”

  “Please, don’t do this,” I cried.

  “Stop right there!” a woman’s voice yelled.

  It startled Randy. He slid the gun behind my back. I prayed that whoever she was, she saw the gun. Randy moved to one side of me and I saw it was Kayla. She was standing there with a gun in her hand, pointing it towards Randy. “Keisha, are you good?” she asked quickly. She was standing as if she was Al Pacino ready to shoot.

  Randy dug his fingernails into my skin on my arm, signally me to lie. He whispered in my ear, “Answer her question baby. Are you good?”

  “Yes,” I muttered. “I’m good.”

  He aggressively kissed my forehead. “See, my baby is good. Now get the fuck out of here!”

  Kayla was not buying it. She demanded Randy to turn me lose.” Let her go Randy, now!”

  Randy reached towards his pocket. Kayla’s gun went off, firing two shots. I fell to the floor along with Randy. I didn’t know if she had shot me or not. I glanced over at Randy. Blood was squirting out the side of his head. I grabbed a throw off the sofa and put pressure on the wound.
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  “Randy!” I screamed, hovering over him. “Kayla call 911! Randy, talk to me.”

  I was getting hysterical. Kayla stood there with her hand on the trigger. She had no remorse for Randy. Even though he hurt me, I didn’t want to see him die.

  She bent down and placed two fingers on his neck to check his pulse. “He’s dead, let’s roll,” she said, nonchalant. “What? We can’t leave him like this!”

  “Did he say that when he apparently gave your ass HIV? Let’s go Keisha!”

  I grabbed my keys and ran out the door behind Kayla. “Wait! I need to get my dog!” I said running back towards the door. “Come on Chico, come to Momma.”

  Grabbing Chico we ran into the street. We jumped into her raggedy-ass station wagon and fled the scene.

  I was racking my brain as to why Kayla was there in the first place. I was so shaken up. My thoughts were all over the place.

  “Oh my gawd, what just happen? We cannot just leave him there Kayla!”

  Kayla ignored me. She drove through an alley 2 miles away from Randy’s house and made a stop at an abandoned building. Two Homeless men were sitting around a bonfire. They each had a beer in their hands. “I know she doesn’t live here,” I mumbled to myself.

  “I’ll be right back. I need to get my things out of this hellhole. Don’t speak to anyone and lock the doors.” I couldn’t decide whether to stay in the car or run like hell. “Are you in sane? You just killed a man! We must call the ambulance to get him help!”

  “Shut the fuck up Keisha! I’m tired of the bitching and whining, he slept with your friend and possibly gave you HIV? I don’t want to hear another word out of you! You got that?” she said, pointing down at her gun.

  “I got it!” I said, wiping my tears. “This bitch is crazy.” I muttered.

  Within ten minutes of Kayla walking towards the abandoned building, I saw her running back towards the car. She had two black duffle bags and a little girl with her. The little girl looked no more than eight years old. She was barefoot with a dirty white teddy bear and a Sippy cup in her hand .