I Rize (15 page)

Mickey interrupted his thought pattern. “I absolutely hate everything associated with the ‘L’ word. You know not what love entails.”

“Mickey, I came here to make peace with my heart. I want us to be friends.”

Mickey stood, with his foot touching the edge of quick man’s sand, beginning to cry. “I used to always hear you encouraging Gracie. You need to follow your own damn advice. Love is complicated. Just face it, don’t run from it.”

Junior stood, grabbing Mickey by his shoulders. “Mickey, love isn’t complicated. Love is an emotion. We strip it of its simplicity.”

Mickey turned around to face him, allowing the corners of his mouth to shift up. “When did you become Mr. Philosophical?”

Junior wiped remnants of tears from Mickey's face while slightly laughing. “I’ve had plenty of time to rethink my entire life.”

The moment of silence sharpened the air between them when Junior’s shift in tone changed the direction of the conversation. “Mickey, I have been walking around like a chicken with my head cut off for the past two weeks at the thought of your knock at her door.”

“It’s probably going to take all night to explain.”

“My ears have been wide open for weeks.”

Mickey’s foot inched closer into the circling hole of sand forming. Junior also placed part of his legs in the hole. It reminded him of how they would sit in the area for hours making risky dares as to who could reach in the deepest without being sucked in.

“Junior, you ever heard of Russian roulette?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Adny and I played it. It is a game of chance, with your life dangling in the palms of your hands.”

W
hile Mickey and Junior finished talking at the beach, Gracie’s mother stopped by the house. Darla answered the door. “My momma hasn’t been feeling good lately since everyone was fighting.”

When Darla led her to the kitchen table, Michelle stared at the cracked alarm clock, as if it were her only responsibility in the world.

“I received your voice mail a few days ago, Michelle. I’ve been too busy helping Gracie prepare for her audition to respond.”

Michelle couldn’t focus. “It’s been quiet since they've been gone, real quiet.” Constantly, staring at the alarm clock, her fingers tapped against each crack in the screen.

Gracie’s mother hid the alarm clock under the table. “I didn’t come here to dwell on the past. She kicked the alarm clock farther away when Michelle tried reaching for it. “But to say thank you for raising such an amazing daughter who gave my own daughter hope.”

Gracie's mother left quickly when Michelle made her lack of interest on the topic apparent. When the front door closed, Michelle laid on the living room couch, cradling the alarm clock like a newborn. The constant mumbling of, “eight-thirty, eight-thirty,” forced Darla to turn the volume up on the television to drown her mother out.

G
RACIE’S AUDITION for Juilliard was getting closer day by day. Stress replaced her free time to practice. After visiting Adny, she knew it was time. She decided to practice at the place where the inspiration first came upon her—Thalian Hall.

The music ignited her soul with passion. Dance was her life. She leaped into the air as if it was her last breath. The lyrics spoke to her. The rhythm of the beat moved her. She flew across the stage, empowered with confidence. When the song ended, she sat, facing the piano, to catch her breath.

In the midst of the silence, she heard clapping. She shuddered in fear when Madison’s voice was heard from afar. “Bravo. Bravo. Look at Chubbs dancing her little fat heart away.”

Gracie still faced the piano as Madison’s words continued to give her heartache. “Fat hogs aren’t allowed at Juilliard. Maybe they will pity you for charity.”

It was difficult to fight back the tears against Madison’s dirty pleasure. As she turned around to face Madison, she kept thinking about what Junior told her—the choice to give in our or give out is in your hands. She turned the music back on to perform her routine again. This time she mouthed the words for Madison to see.

Before the song finished, Madison left, slamming the double doors. No demeaning retorts followed. Gracie bowed, reveling in the performance of a lifetime.

J
ACE’S PARENTS finished loading everything into the car. As he finished packing his luggage inside the house, Mosi came up behind him, holding something behind his back.

“You have good dreams more?”

“Yes, I did actually. Thanks. You’re a good kid.”

“You will talk to girl at home?”

“I will, only if she still isn’t mad at me. I want her in my life.”

Mosi placed one finger up to Jace’s mouth. “Shh, no more, I say.”

Jace chuckled to himself, while leaving the room to wash his face. When he was out of view, Mosi buried the dream catcher under Jace’s clothes in the suitcase.

Jace stood at the edge of the porch, taking glimpses of the surroundings for the last time.

M
ADISON’S HOUSE was very tense on the day of Adny’s gathering. Madison and her dad sat in silence in the kitchen not knowing how to confront each other. Madison spoke first, “Dad, I’m telling everything tonight.”

Principal Cooper slammed his fists down on the kitchen counter, startling Madison. She could see his hands turn red, as the blood began to rush from the impact. “Tonight you will not say anything about what goes on here. Do you hear me, young lady?”

Her voice cracked. “What if I do?”

Principal Cooper went in to punch his daughter. She ducked, falling under the counter, causing his hand to hit the wall behind her. The pain spread from his hand, into his entire arm. His loud outcry echoed through the kitchen as she ran upstairs to the bathroom, slamming the door. He banged on the door. After a while, he gave up.

She looked at herself in the mirror and could see the broken veins in her face along with her drowsy eyes. She yearned for the high feeling. The need was too inescapable to resist.

While smoking, she reached in her pocket and pulled out both of her cell phones. She looked down and read a text she wrote concerning Adny weeks prior.
You should just kill yourself because I don’t like sluts. I want Madison, not you.

She threw it at the mirror, shattering it in large pieces. Becoming elated when the high feeling settled in her body, she slid the phone into the corner of the bathroom.

A hard knock vibrated against the door.

“Go away, Dad!”

“This is Detective Miller. Your father let me in the house.”

Words were exchanged through a crack in the door.

“I told you I wasn’t coming back to anymore therapy sessions.”

“I need to ask you a few more questions for my records.”

Madison opened the door completely. She stood against the sink, with the blunt still affixed between her two skinny fingers. Detective Miller pushed it out of her hand and into the trashcan. She leaned down against the sink to grab her blunt out of the trashcan. She continued to fight the tears from forming, when he took it from her again.

“What are you crying about, Madison? I have not seen you cry before.”

“These aren’t tears. I don’t cry.”

“Are you crying because you are starting to feel the guilt about everything you have done to Adny?”

Madison tried to ignore him, lifting her hands up to get the blunt from his fingers.

It was hidden in his jacket pocket. “Today is the day you stop using marijuana to escape from your problems.”

She picked up the cracked phone from the floor for Detective Miller to read.

“I think you feel guilt, but you refuse to be honest with yourself, so I will see you Monday morning.”

“You said I only had to go to three. This … whatever you call this … was against my will.”

“You opened the door for me; I didn’t force you, Madison.” Detective Miller placed his hand on the doorknob. “You are far from ready. Don’t forget about Monday.”

When Detective Miller left the bathroom, Madison laid down on the floor, unable to contain the flow of tears.

Jace’s plane arrived back in Wilmington, causing him to leap for joy when his phone was in service again. The first person he called was Junior. They met up in front of the school.

Jace stood in front of Junior from a distance, not knowing how he would respond. “I would have apologized sooner, but I was a coward.”

“Man, it’s over now. We don’t have to like each other, but I’m willing to tolerate you for Adny’s sake.”

Jace’s comfort level increased as he sat beside Junior on the steps. He thought about Adny, and an eerie feeling grew inside of him. “Junior, I had weird, dark, creepy dreams, and I just know within my heart God is telling me something is wrong with her. Please tell me.”

As Junior talked, Jace fell into a trance and all he heard was, “She tried to commit suicide.” His face showed no emotion while staring up at the birds. His body too shocked for movements, Junior pulled out Adny’s phone from his pocket and showed him the text Adny received the morning of her suicide attempt.

You should kill yourself already. No one wants you. No one cares about you.

Jace looked puzzled. “How could I text her when I was too nervous to ever ask for her number?”

A similar look of confusion was expressed by Junior. “Who was she texting, Jace?”

A smile spread across Jace’s face as he began to think about Adny’s beauty. “I would never say such cruel words to the most beautiful girl ever.”

Junior rolled his eyes and playfully gagged when Jace began to talk about Adny. “If hear one more thing about either of you lovebirds, I think I might just rip my head off and feed it to the hungry birds above us.”

For the first time since they met, they laughed.

While everyone prepared for the gathering, Adny’s grandmother held her hand at the hospital for the last time. “The people at school are gonna try to make that storm as bad as they can. But child, as I said before, you let them take your power, and you ain’t gonna be able to walk through any storm they throw at you. Sometimes you wake up from the storm, and sometimes it kills you. Child, this storm is gonna make you fly to greatness.”

She folded her hands in her lap for prayer. The creaking noise from the opening door disrupted her moment with God.

Darla and her mother walked in. They leaned down beside Adny’s bed, while Darla looked back at her grandmother. “Me and Momma want to pray with you.” She motioned for them to join her in prayer until six o’clock.

Miss Nora sat in her kitchen attempting to eat dinner. Her hand shook uncontrollably, struggling to hold the fork in a fixed position. Her frail arms shook between bites. She slowly got up, grabbed her keys, and went to the car.

Two cop cars approached the neighborhood, flashing bright lights past her car. Cops hadn’t been near the neighborhood in two years. As she turned the key in the ignition, she could feel her body slowly give up on her. The strength to live declined with each passing day. The key was turned halfway in the ignition. Her niece, Piper, walked up to the car, banging on the window.

No answer.

She took her tiny fingers to pry the door handle until it opened. “Hey, Auntie Nora, we gonna be late to Adny’s thing at school.”

No answer.

Piper thought she was asleep. She pushed and nudged her aunt harder and harder. Each second, the intensity of her sharp yells increased. “Auntie Nora, wake up!”

No answer.

She tried again and shrieked at the coldness from her aunt’s skin. “Auntie, why are you cold? I got shorts on.”

No answer.

She ran back to her mother. Her mother walked up, saw Miss Nora’s head leaning against the steering wheel, and immediately called 9-1-1. As she was on the phone with the operator, Piper pulled at her pant leg asking one question after another.

“Mommy, is she asleep? Why is Auntie Nora so cold?”

Piper’s mother ignored her pleas. The paramedics arrived and pulled Nora from the car. Her body laid limp, arms lifeless, allowing the light steady wind to control its movements. As Nora was being pulled into the ambulance, Piper’s mother gently closed her sister’s eyes, noting her final resting place.

One of the paramedics handed Piper’s mom Miss Nora’s driver’s license with a red dot on it, indicating her unwritten agreement to be an organ donor.

Terri and her boyfriend were drinking together at this place down the street from Miss Nora’s house. She lived in his apartment since the last altercation occurred. They heard a knock at the door and scrambled to hide the marijuana and vodka on the dining room table. It was a knock her boyfriend knew too well from his recent release from jail. The local police stormed in and demanded her boyfriend to get down with his hands behind his back. As they handcuffed him, they read him his Miranda Rights and led him to the police car.

The officers ignored Terri’s pleas to free him. Not knowing what else to do, she grabbed her purse and left. She noticed the commotion from the ambulance down the street and decided to call a taxi.

M
ICHELLE AND Darla were running late so they had left her cell phone and house phone dead. Strangers and acquaintances were in attendance on the football field. All of the chairs were full and many people were forced to stand. Principal Cooper gathered everyone’s attention at the microphone. “Unfortunately, Miss Nora could not join us tonight. We have asked a few students who knew Adny to share their memories.”

Junior was supposed to be the first person to speak on Adny’s behalf. He was nowhere to be found. Shandi was next in line. She placed her sweaty palms on the podium and began to speak as her paper shook from nervousness. For the first time she didn’t have Terri to hide behind.