Essence
I couldn't move. I watched in shocked disgust as Zacariah stood there laughing and clapping her hands like she was standing on the stage in a comedy club telling the funniest joke. But this wasn't a joke, and no one else was laughing. She was playing with people's lives. If she was right, this meant that Derrick and Kea were siblings that had slept with each other.
Neither of them moved. No one moved. You could have heard a pin drop at that moment with no one reacting to what Zacariah had said. Everyone was stunned. The only thing heard was Zacariah's evil laughter. I walked up to her, grabbing her by the shoulders, saying, “You need to stop. What's wrong with you?”
“Nothing is wrong with me. You should be asking the two of them what's wrong with them. I mean, they didn't know they were brother and sister? How nasty is that?”
“We need to leave,” I said, gathering my things, but Zacariah refused.
“No one has anything to say?” Zacariah asked, still beaming.
“This is not funny,” I said.
“Yes, it is. Derrick and Kea have been committing incest. How sick and twisted is that?”
“You shouldn't have done this,” I warned.
“I told them I would get them back. They thought I was a joke, and now look at them. Who's laughing now? They deserve what they get. Little Ms. High and Mighty over here,” she said looking at Kea who stood with no tears, no expression, just shock plastered on her face.
“And you,” Zacariah said, sneering at Derrick. “I was your woman. I loved you, and you cheated on me with her. This serves you right. I bet you wish you would have kept your dick in your pants now. You wouldn't have had to worry about something as sick as this happening. Karma, baby, karma.”
“Shut up, Zacariah,” I said putting my hand over her mouth. She snatched my hand from her face. I tried to pull her by the arm to leave, but she kept resisting.
“This can't be true,” Derrick said sadly looking at the picture of himself, and then at Kea. “I don't believe it, Zacariah,” he said, shaking his head in denial.
“I don't believe you either,” Kea finally spoke.
“Okay, then, ask your parents. Derrick, you don't have to wait. Look at what's written on the back of the picture,” Zacariah instructed.
Derrick hesitated. He hit the frame against the table beside him, shattering it. His hand was cut by the broken glass, but he seemed unfazed by the blood trickling from it. He pulled the picture out, looking at himself before flipping it over.
“Read it out loud for the world to hear,” Zacariah encouraged him.
For some reason, Derrick did. It was as if he were a zombie. He murmured the words,
Â
Â
“This is a picture of your son. Isn't he handsome? I'm so proud of him, and I know he's not a part of your life, but I wanted you to have this so you could see how well I did raising him despite you not being here. He's a grown man now. This will be the last picture I send you. Take care and I hope one day you will be man enough to contact your son. Sincerely, Shirley.”
Â
Â
Derrick's hands started to tremble. He dropped the picture. He turned and walked into the house without saying a word to anyone.
“You aren't happy until you have made everybody's life a living hell,” Kea said in a quiet rage. “Are you happy now?”
“As a matter of fact, I am,” Zacariah said flippantly with her hands on her hips.
“You didn't have to do this to him. Derrick has always been there for you.”
“The bastard shouldn't have cheated on me.”
“You cheated first,” Kea said accusingly. “Blame yourself for losing your man. Maybe if you would have kept your legs closed, you would still have him, you trifling whore.”
“And you were more than eager to step in where I left off. Oh, how quickly did your legs open up for
your own damn brother.
I maybe considered a whore, but I wasn't trifling enough to sleep with a family member.”
Kea bolted toward Zacariah. Before Zacariah had a chance to react, Kea was on her, punching her in the face. Zacariah hit the ground, and Kea pounced on her, sitting across her chest, punching her repeatedly in the face. Zacariah tried to fight back, but Kea's rage wouldn't allow her to even get a hit in. Kea grabbed Zacariah by the hair and began pounding her head into the ground over and over again. Zacariah screamed, but no one would do anything. Everybody stood around and watched the assault take place. I wanted to help, but a part of me wouldn't budge. I guess a part of me thought Kea's rage would turn to me since I was one of the women Jaquon had slept with. And maybe a part of me thought Zacariah deserved this. It was a long time coming. She always thought she was invincible, and now she was being taught a lesson.
When Zacariah looked like she was losing consciousness, Jaquon jumped in and grabbed Kea off her. Kea was screaming and reaching to get back at Zacariah who was not moving.
I ran over to her and called out, “Zacariah,” but she didn't say anything. I palmed her cheeks and gently tapped her right cheek, but she still didn't respond.
“Somebody call an ambulance,” I yelled. “Call 911 now!”
Zacariah
When I woke up I was lying in a hospital bed. My head felt like I had been hit with a baseball bat or something. I touched my head thinking I could push the pain back but felt only bandages. I felt my face, and it was swollen. I looked around for a mirror and didn't see one. Looking over at the sink where the nurses washed their hands, I saw a large mirror. Slowly, I got up feeling sore and battered. Placing my feet on the cold tile, I walked over to the sink, clicked the light on which blinked twice before coming on completely. The brightness caused me to cover my eyes until they adjusted to it. When things came into focus, I didn't recognize the person staring back at me.
White bandages were wrapped around my head like a cocoon. Both eyes were black, and my lip was split. The left side of my cheek was swollen, and scratches were everywhere. I started to cry, quickly clicked the light off, and climbed back into bed.
I wanted to close my eyes and pretend like this hadn't happened to me. I was hoping this was only a nightmare, but when I opened my eyes, I realized I was still in the same place.
I turned to the large window covered with vertical blinds which happened to be open and looked out at the murky sky sprinkled with a few stars. The dark night replicated my spirit.
Tears continued to run down my temples, hitting the pillow. The television was playing TV Land's best when the door to my room opened. A nurse walked in, and it happened to be the same nurse I had a confrontation with weeks back when I came to pick up Essence.
“You've finally woke up. How are you feeling?” she asked. She was wearing a top printed with SpongeBob SquarePants and solid blue bottoms.
“I feel ... I feel ...” I stopped. I couldn't answer her. How ironic to have the same woman I was so rude to be the same person who was here to take care of me.
“You'll be fine. It's okay to cry. You've suffered a minor concussion and have a few bruises here and there. Other than that, you'll be fine,” she said, giving me a smile that actually comforted me.
“How long have I been here?” I asked.
“Not long. A few hours maybe. Your friend Essence was here with you for a little while, but she had to leave. She told me to tell you she would be back to see you tomorrow.”
I smiled happy I still had one friend in my life.
“You have yourself a great friend,” the nurse told me.
“I know,” I agreed. “Look, Nurse, I'm sorry aboutâ”
“There's no need to apologize. It's okay.”
“I guess you're thinking I got what I deserved,” I said, touching the bandages wrapped around my head.
“I never wish harm upon no one. I do believe in a higher power, though. Sometimes things have to happen in order for us realize certain things,” she said putting the blood pressure wrap around my arm.
“Call it a wake-up call,” she said smiling. She hit a button on the machine, and in seconds it had my reading.
“Your blood pressure is perfect. But like I was saying,” she said as she took off the contraption, “we cannot go through this world thinking we can treat anybody any type of way. Eventually, all the ugly things we do to other people catch up with us. Open your mouth,” she told me, putting the thermometer under my tongue, waiting for another reading. The machine beeped. “Your temperature is a little high, but not enough to worry,” she said patting my arm.
“Why are you so nice to me?” I asked.
She smiled and said, “Now don't get me wrong. I don't know why you ended up here, and I'm not saying you did something to have this happen to you. I'm going on my experience with you, and you were not a nice individual from what I saw. Still, I couldn't allow you to bring me down. I'm too blessed to get upset over nonsense like that, sugar,” she said confidently. “I could never hate you or anyone else.”
“How do you do this? You seem so positive.”
“It's called faith. Honey, I prayed for you when you left this facility that day. I knew there had to be something in your past that made you the way you are. I prayed that God would see you through this. I knew, and still know, He's wrapping His loving arms around you.”
“But look what happened. I'm in a hospital,” I said through more tears.
“God didn't do this, baby. Please don't ever think that. He may allow situations to happen in order for us to realize we need Him, but punish usânever. He wants us to realize He should come first before all things. This situation might not have been the work of the devil, either. We always want to blame one force or another for things that happen, but sometimes we cause a lot of these traumatic events to happen to ourselves.”
I nodded listening intently. This was probably the first time ever I took the time to pay attention to what someone was telling me. She picked my hand up with her left hand and patted it.
“It's going to be okay. It's never too late to change. It's never too late to pray either. I can see you are not a bad person. There's some good under that hard exterior, but it's up to you to want to bring that forth. No one can do that for you,” the nurse said sincerely.
“I don't know if I can change.”
“Then try praying. Ask God to order your steps. Talk to Him like you're talking to me now. He'll hear you. The more you do it, the easier it gets.”
“Talk to Him just like I'm talking to you?” I questioned.
“Yes, and watch how things change for you. But I have to say this. When you do get to the point in your life when you want to make this change, don't think that bad things will never happen to you again because that's when more things seem to fall out of the sky. Now
that's
the devil trying to stop you from accepting God into your life. Don't let him steal your joy. Claim your joy, baby. Claim your happiness. Claim your life back.”
“I understand,” I said tearfully.
“If you ever want to talk, you know where to find me,” she said letting my hand go, giving me the most heavenly smile. “I'll continue to pray for you.”
The nurse went to leave the room. But she stopped and turned to look at me and said, “When you pick up the Bible next time, turn to Psalms, chapter thirty-seven, verse eight.”
Her eyes went from looking at me to looking at the nightstand in the room. She looked back at me, smiled, and left.
I pulled the top drawer open to find a Bible inside. I picked it up and held it for a minute, then finally opened it looking for the scripture she suggested.
Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.
Essence
This evening had been way too much for me. I needed to relax and try to forget about all the drama that happened. I tried to tell Zacariah, but she wouldn't listen to me. She opened up that big mouth and outed as many people as she could, which landed her behind in the hospital. I sat with her for a while until I decided to do what I do best. Mingle.
Needing to feel wanted again, I set out to get back into the game. Sitting alone, I sipped on my drink and listened to the smooth sounds of the music relaxing me. A tall and sexy gentleman approached me.
“Is this seat taken?” he asked.
“No, it's not,” I smiled, scanning over him quickly. This man was fine. Dressed in blue denim jeans and a chocolate suede jacket over a black tunic, he was dressed to impress. A ring accented his pinky finger, and his watch blinded me. The old me would be trying to get this man for his money, but I decided if anything went down tonight, I was going to do this because I wanted to and for free.
Tall and Sexy looked at me like I was the only woman around, even though we were surrounded by the sounds of people talking.
“My name is Tony, and you are ...?” Tall and Sexy said, speaking with a voice seductive enough to do phone sex.
“Jasmine,” I said, holding out my hand to shake his.
“Are you enjoying yourself this evening?”
“I'm doing much better now,” I said smiling and that's when I saw him. Jaquon was peering at me, and seeing him caused me to stammer for a minute.
“Are you okay?”
I tried to play it off, saying, “I'm okay. Just thought I saw someone I knew.”
I had. Jaquon was sitting at the bar drinking. He put down the glass and stood to come my way. Part of me wanted him to come over and take me into his arms, but the other part wanted him to deal with his home life first before he ever tried to talk to me again.
Jaquon took a few steps in my direction. I continued to talk with the gentleman, focusing my attention on him, all the while trying to figure out what Jaquon was going to do next. Jaquon paused. He didn't move any closer to me. He glared at me, and then he nodded, turning away from me and leaving the bar. I guess that meant we were done for good.
My night wasn't ruined because I still had Tony. It wasn't long before we were in a hotel room ripping each other's clothes off. This man didn't play around. He tossed me to the bed and proceeded to please me. I thought I was going to lose it when he introduced his tongue to my wetness before his muscle broke up the engagement and wanted to join the party. He was doing things to me that made me want to climb the walls. He was so good I was ready to swing from the vines in a jungle in Africa screaming like Tarzan. Just when I thought no one could do me like Jaquon, another man had stepped up to the plate and proven me wrong.
I dug my nails into his chest, causing him to sigh, but it never stopped him from lifting his hips off the bed to meet my inner sweetness. Each pound jolted me closer to an orgasmic state.
I moved back and forth using my inner walls to suck him inward, pulling when I came up off him, which probably felt like my hand was stroking him. I threw it to him, back and forth, knowing it didn't matter how hard this man tried to last and make himself look like “The Man,” he couldn't handle me. He was reaching unfathomable depths and began to lose it just like I thought he would. I watched as his body tightened with each thrust, and I got excited knowing our moment was coming. The stronger he became, the more I grinded my hips into him. One thrust ... two, and then several before both of us let out an orgasmic scream together.
Tall and Sexy wanted me to stay all night so we could do it again, but I decided to make my way home. He seemed disappointed but didn't push the issue. Taking a quick shower and throwing my clothes on, I was out the door leaving him knocked out.
I looked at my cell to see if anyone had called me, and no one had. I was disappointed to see Jaquon hadn't called. I also wondered if Zacariah had awakened yet and considered going back over to the hospital to sit with her for a bit.
Getting closer to my car, I reached into my purse searching for my keys. I knew better, especially being a woman by herself at night, that I should have had my keys in my hand when I walked out of the hotel, but I wasn't thinking. I had too many other things on my mind. I did search the area like I always did to make sure no one was looking at me or following me, and no one was. So I proceeded with caution.
Reaching my car I still hadn't found my keys and wondered if I left them in the room. Not finding them, I turned around to find someone standing directly behind me. Before I could say anything, a hand with some type of cloth covered my mouth. The person turned me around quickly to get a better grip while holding the cloth over my nose and mouth. I twisted my ankle trying to free myself. My purse dropped to the ground. I was scared out of my mind and tried to fight hard, but seconds later, my strength began to diminish. Everything around me blurred, and then went black.