by Mychea
Copyright © 2010 Mychea
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Chapter 19
Coleen couldn’t have been more thrilled. Plans had been set and things were finally being put into motion. She was almost giddy at the arrangements that had been made.
Ever since her practicing license had been suspended pending a review from the Licensing Board, there really hadn’t been any real joy in her life outside of her baby, Justin. After their fight at the Vaughn house, Emeri had made it a point to destroy her life by telling Coleen’s job about an inappropriate relationship between she and Kenneth. As if killing Coleen’s sister and father of her child weren’t good enough, Emeri had to take her job too. Coleen could care less if she had proof to back up her statement, she knew Emeri was responsible for Camille and Kenneth’s death’s. Justice would be paid. Coleen was going to see to it.
Chris was more upset with himself for ending up behind bars again than he was with anyone else. He’d vowed to himself that he would never come back to this place and yet here he was.
Both times had been on account of Haven. He knew he wouldn’t be getting out this time. They were going to throw away the key on his ass this time.
“Aye,” the guard said coming to unlock his cell, “you have a visitor.”
Following the guard down the hall to the visiting area, Chris was trying to imagine who would be coming to see him.
Taking a seat in front of the glass in his designated area, he was surprised to see Coleen sitting on the other side. She picked up the phone pointing her finger at his indicating that he should do the same.
“How are you holding up in here?” she asked him.
“As good as can be expected. What are you doing here?”
“I figured I’d stop by to see you to ask what the hell happened? You were the guy asking me to wait for the authorities to handle Camille and Kenneth’s case and then you turn around and get locked up on murder charges.” Coleen was looking at Chris through the glass as if he were crazy.
Chris shrugged, “I don’t know. I snapped. She told me she was taking Kaven and Kadir and moving out. I told her I would never allow her to take my children away from me. Then she told me that she was going down to the station to file a report of abuse and my black ass was going back to jail,” he shrugged again, “to much alcohol, to much hatred in our situation, all I Copyright © 2010 Mychea
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remember is coming to with my hands around her neck. I don’t even recall choking her.”
Shaking his head side to side in disbelief, “I tried to perform CPR on her, but it was too late. She was already gone.”
“Time’s up.” The guard said.
After leaving the jail, Coleen picked Justin up and took him to the park. Watching him play with the other kids, she was beyond emotional. Her little boy was getting so big so fast. She remembered the night she and Kenneth had brought him home from the hospital. He was a mirror image of his Dad. She was so sad Kenneth wouldn’t be around to see the kind of man that he would one day become.
Watching Justin play, Coleen took a moment to reminisce about Kenneth. She remembered the first time he had stayed behind after one of Emeri's therapy sessions to ask her if she thought Emeri could really be helped. She had been in a rush to eat that day because she had scheduled appointments back to back the entire day. So she had taken it upon herself to invite him to dinner so they could discuss Emeri, he had agreed. Through the course of dinner is when she'd come to see how the situation was truly grieving him.
He'd needed someone to talk too, she had been available to lend an ear. Soon, after each of Emeri's sessions they would accompany each other to dinner afterwards and that began the makings of their beautiful relationship. Coleen was no fool however, she knew he would never leave Cynthia. She and Kenneth never discussed it because Coleen never felt the need to bring it up. She knew her place.
The only serious life decision they'd made with one another was Justin. Coleen was getting older and had wanted a child. Kenneth was hesitant at first, but she had been able to talk him into it and once they found out they were having a boy, Kenneth was very excited. He had always wanted a boy, so she'd helped his wish to come true.
Breaking her attention away from Justin for a moment, her mind wondered back to Chris. She truly felt bad for him. She knew he hadn’t been the same since Camille’s death. She wasn’t sure if he would survive in jail this time, grief had began to slowly kill him. His spirit had already died of a broken heart. If Camille hadn’t died, who knows what would and wouldn’t be. Coleen blamed Emeri, inadvertently she was responsible for destroying so many lives. How could one person hold so much power? Up until this point, Emeri had been a lucky girl, but luck was funny like that, eventually it ran out.
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All would have been fine too, if Camille had never slipped and told Emeri about Coleen and Kenneth. Once that mishap happened, everything began to go down hill, which is why everyone's life was now screwed up. If Emeri was good at nothing else, she was defintely a master at destroying lives.
Tyson knew he and Emeri’s time had come to an end. Ever since their movie night her whole demeanor towards him had changed. As a therapist, he was trained to identify the warning signs and Emeri had warning signs all around her.
He looked down as his cell vibrated on his hip.
“Hello.” He said into the phone.
“Hi. Everything is in place. Two days.”
“Good. Two days it is.” He said disconnecting from the call.
Naima was tired. The new change of events in her life with all these children and their schedules was taking a toll on her. Their social calendar was more packed then hers. She loved them all and they were definitely a joy to be around, she was just exhausted from how quickly she had gotten thrown into a three ring circus and how she was forced to adjust. Kaden had been a huge help.
Naima was so grateful. Unlike when Kalani was born, Kaden was getting up in the middle of the night if Kadir cried and if any of the rest of the kids were having issues with anything, he was right there to help. Her mom was doing a great job as well. Since Naima couldn’t take so much leave since she had just gone back to work and Kaden had picked up a consultant gig, her mom had stepped in to watch Kadir during the day and pick up Alanna from half day kindergarten. It all worked out perfectly.
More than anything Naima was happy that Namiyah seemed to stop worrying herself to death about Emeri. She could tell they hadn’t called a truce, but at least her baby girl was no longer torturing herself about it. They hadn’t had any more discussions recently so Naima was happy, all seemed all right in the world now or whatever world was left after the numerous deaths they had experienced recently.
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Emeri was done with Tyson. She could tell that something was going on with him. Ever since their date night, something hadn't been right. It really sucked for him because now he would have to be disposed of; he knew entirely too much information about her and the things she had done.
This time Emeri didn’t have a ‘can do’ attitude about Tyson. She had really hoped that they would have been able to make it work. She should have known better. Happiness wasn’t for her.
She understood that now. Life was meant to be played like a game. Whoever had the better strategy succeeded at the game of life, no more, no less.
Between Tyson and Namiyah, she had her work cut out for her. There was no way she could do anything drastic right now; it would look too suspicious coming right after Camille and Kenneth’s incident. The authorities would definitely know that it was an inside job at the center.
"What to do, what to do?" She thought. She had already threatened Namiyah, but she couldn't be sure if that ha
d worked or not. The way that girl was always looking at her, Emeri wanted to stick her foot out and let her fall down the stairs and break her neck or something, anything to break that haughty attitude.
Emeri was already killing Namiyah with kindness. She could see her little teenage brain’s wheels turning. Hopefully, she was smart enough to bow out gracefully. Emeri knew she was much better at this game than Namiyah would ever be. Emeri had to hand it to Namiyah though; the girl really had a lot of heart. If Namiyah wouldn’t have waged a full on battle with her from jump, Emeri honestly would have liked the girl for what it was worth. Shoot, she did like her; Emeri saw a lot of herself in Namiyah. Too bad, it wouldn’t save her, but she at least at the end of the day could say that she respected her.
Looking around her room, she felt like she was confined. Ever since everyone in the universe had entrusted their kids to Naima, Ma Cyn’s house seemed more like a day care than a peaceful serenity. She hated it. There were children everywhere. Every time she turned around, she was tripping over one of those little bastards. It was sickening. The only one she showed the least bit of interest in was Kadir. She never let people know this, but she loved babies. The idea of having one had crossed her mind a time or two, but she couldn’t trust men enough to get to that point.
The one candidate that would have been perfect turned out to be a fraud. Which was fine, she wasn’t built for dating anyway. After the episode with Damir and then learning that he committed suicide, Emeri was glad she had decided not to pursue him. Who wanted a man that Copyright © 2010 Mychea
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would kill himself? Everything about that screamed of weakness. She was mad at herself for being attracted to him in the first place.
Her thoughts shifted back to Tyson, there had to be a way to get rid of him without drawing heat down on herself. Inexplainablee accidents happened every day. A slow smile spread across Emeri’s face. She had just thought of the perfect solution.
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Chapter 20
Namiyah crept up to Emeri’s room. It was now or never, she knew her Aunt, if she attempted to do what she planned and didn’t succeed, Emeri would come back for her and kill her. “It’s going to be her or me and I refuse to be the one.” She thought to herself.
Knocking and listening at Emeri’s door before she opened it, she didn’t hear any movement.
Knowing that Gram would be back in about two hours from the park with Kalani, Kaven, Alanna, and Kadir, Namiyah wasn’t that worried about time.
Pushing the door open slowly, Namiyah was surprised to see Emeri’s normally neat and organized room in such disarray. It seemed as if she must have been looking for something, had gotten frustrated and threw everything everywhere. Stepping back, pulling the door shut Namiyah began to get a little nervous. Where was Emeri? She was supposed to be in her room.
Her car was outside and Gram had said she was upstairs before she left. Emeri had to be in the bathroom she figured. Creeping slowly down the hall trying her best to avoid the squeaky floorboards, Namiyah finally made it to the end of the hall unnoticed. She was ready to get down to the dirty deed and move on.
Seeing the light coming from the bathroom, she pulled the machete her Granddad had kept in the basement from behind her back. She was going to slice her dear Auntie into bits and pieces, grill her up and feed her to the neighbor’s dogs, bones and all. Namiyah had never hated anyone as much as she did Emeri.
The bathroom door was slightly ajar. Pushing it all the way open with her foot, Namiyah dropped the machete in shock. Emeri’s lifeless eyes stared back at her. The mirror in the bathroom had been shattered and a single solitary piece stuck out from Emeri’s throat. Half of her body was in the bathtub and the other half was on the linoleum floor. The only way her body could be angled in such a fashion was if her back was broken and a bone was sticking out of her left leg as if she’d fallen and broken it.
Namiyah saw blood splattered everywhere. Looking down at her shoe, she noticed she had stepped in some. Disgusted with the whole thing she removed her shoe and entered the bathroom completely. She had to get the blood off her shoe so she didn’t track it through the house.
Taking another look at Emeri, she was upset that someone had beat her to the punch, but happy that she was gone. The world was a better place without her in it. Preparing to leave the Copyright © 2010 Mychea
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bathroom once she finished cleaning off her shoe, Namiyah picked up the machete, no point in leaving it there for someone to find, they may think she had something to do with this mess.
Opening the door, she jumped back when she saw Gram standing directly in front of the door.
“Chile, what in the world happened to Emeri’s room?”
Nervously, Namiyah tried to block the sight inside the bathroom with her body.
“I don’t know Gram,” she tried changing the subject, “What are ya’ll doing back so early? I thought you would be gone for a while.”
“Kalani left his basketball so we had to come back.” Giving her a hard look, Cynthia sensed she was hiding something. “What have you been doing?” she asked her suspiciously.
“Oh, nothing.” Namiyah wondered if she looked as guilty as she felt. In all actuality she really shouldn’t feel guilty, she didn’t do anything.”
“Really?” Cynthia wasn’t convinced, “What are you hiding behind your back?”
Namiyah knew if he owned up to the machete she would have to own up to what happened in the bathroom and she had nothing to do with that, so she remained quiet.
“Namiyah, I am not playing with you. Move out the way, you’re hiding something.”
“No I’m not Gram, honest.”
“Move out the way now. And where is Emeri?”
Grudgingly moving out of the bathroom doorway Namiyah began explaining immediately.
“I didn’t do it. I found her that way.”
Cynthia gave her a funny look, “Found what, what way?” she asked as she walked into the bathroom and stopped short. Turning back to face Namiyah she screamed, “What did you do?”
“I did— ”
“Why would you do this to her?” Cynthia screamed before grabbing Namiyah by the shoulders so hard that the machete fell out of her hands to the floor. Eyes opening even wider,
“What are you doing with that?” Cynthia asked her with tears streaming down her face, “This family has been through enough, how could you do this?”
“Gram,” Namiyah kept trying to explain as her own tears fell, “I didn’t do it believe me.”
“What ya’ll doing up here? Gram I found my ball, you ready to go?”
“Kalani,” Cynthia said sharply, “Go back downstairs and call 911 for Gram. Tell them to come quickly and you and the rest of the kids go play in the basement ok. Tell them I said so.
“911.” Kalani repeated confused.
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“Yes baby, go call now ok. Be Gram’s helper, I need you today.”
“Ok.” he bounded down the stairs to do as he was told.
Namiyah tried again to plead her case, “Gram listen, I found her that way.”
“If that were true why do you have blood on you?”
Looking down, Namiyah saw blood on her shirt. She must have brushed up on something when she was cleaning her shoe.
Glancing back at Gram sheepishly, “I know this looks bad, but I had nothing to do with it, I swear.”
Cynthia stared Namiyah dead in her eyes, “Then what is your Grandfather’s machete doing up here.”
Good question, Namiyah thought. “I was looking at it.”
“Looking at it in the same room the Aunt you hate is dead in? I find that hard to believe.”
�
��Gram!” Kalani yelled up the stairs, “They are on the way.”
“Thanks baby. Can you bring me the phone? I need to call your mother.” Cynthia closed the bathroom door behind her so he couldn’t see inside.
Racing up the stairs he shook his head, “No you don’t, she and Daddy just pulled up outside.”
“Good.” Grabbing Namiyah’s arm Cynthia practically dragged her down the steps, if Namiyah hadn’t been paying attention she would have fallen.
“You sit on that couch right there and don’t you move.” Cynthia said as she pushed Namiyah onto the couch.
Naima was all smiles when she and Kaden walked into her mother’s house to pick up their five kids. It still amazed her how she had gone from two children to five children within a matter of weeks and the sad circumstances that had brought them all to her. She had always wanted a house full of children, just not the way she had gotten them but she loved them all just the same.
Her mother met her at the door with a tear streaked face and red eyes. Naima’s smile instantly vanished; she knew immediately that something was very wrong. Cynthia Vaughn wouldn’t be caught dead looking like this, so whatever was going on was major.
“Ma, what’s wrong?” Not hearing the kids usual noisy chatter, she became worried, “Are the kids ok? Where is everyone?”
Her mom was still standing at the door not saying a word.
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“I’ll go look around.” Kaden said as he walked past Naima and her mother. He could tell by looking at Ms. Cynthia that something was up.
Naima watched Kaden walk off then focused her attention back on her mother.
“Mommy, tell me what’s wrong. This isn’t like you.”
“Chile,” Cynthia brought her gaze up to meet Naima’s, “Namiyah done gone and killed Emeri. I walked in on her finishing the job.”
Naima felt her whole body go numb. There was no way Namiyah would do something like that, no way at all. Backing away from her mother, her own maternal instincts kicked in. Naima was outraged.
