Chapter 3 #2
“This!” She yelled when we got into the cluttered room. Much like the rest of the apartment, there was shit all over the place. How did they sleep in here? There was only one bed and that was crowded with clothes, shoes, and trash too.
“Look, look!” LaLa yelled, pulling my attention away from the mess.
I turned and looked at the wall she was frantically pointing at.
She’d scribbled all over it in an array of colors.
Although it was crazy to have drawn on the walls, what she did was oddly really beautiful.
I couldn’t tell if she’d used really good markers or some sort of paint, the colors were so vivid.
With dipped brows, I walked closer to the wall, examining it.
It was as if she was a little artist, expressing herself the best way she knew how to.
The colors were meticulously thrown against the wall in patterns.
Reminded me of abstract art you saw in a museum, it was so pretty.
When Marv saw this apartment he was going to flip, though.
“That’s really pretty, LaLa. Your momma said it was alright?”
“Mama didn't see it yet. I did it last night,” she said, smile bright, proud of the mess she’d made.
A beautiful mess, yes but a mess that Sabrina would have to pay for indeed.
Honestly, though, the walls were the least of her concerns.
The apartment was destroyed. I couldn’t see Marv being able to rent this out, ever again if Sabrina and them ever did move.
“She’s going to… love it,” I hesitated to say, turning my attention back to the hallway, eager to talk to Sabrina so I could get the hell out of there.
My phone buzzed and I fished it from my pocket. I cursed when I saw it was Rocc, letting me know he was pulling up. I told him I would be down in a bit and stuffed the phone back into my bag.
“You want to see what else I made? My closet—”
“I’m sorry La. I have to go to work. I need to talk to your momma first though.”
“She been in the bathroom for a lonnnng time,” she mumbled as I walked out of the room.
Standing at the bathroom door, I knocked and looked down at my squishy shoes with a deep breath. I was disgusted.
“Sabrina, it’s me… Rei-Rei. You got water leaking down into my apartment. It’s water all in this hallway too, girl. What is going on?”
Silence.
I knocked again. “Sabrina!” I called out.
More silence. Because something didn’t sit right in my spirit, I twisted the doorknob. It was locked. She didn’t say anything about me trying to come in and that raised a major red flag.
“How long you say your momma been in this bathroom?”
LaLa shrugged her shoulder. “Last night.”
“Last night?” I mumbled back, banging on the door. “Sabrina!”
I started to panic. Something was wrong.
Something was terribly wrong. She’d been in the bathroom all night?
How? She had kids! And Man-Man said she was taking a bath…
It didn’t make sense. How in the hell had she been in the bathroom all night?
Sean didn’t do anything? Hood said he’d just saw him leave a minute ago.
Oh my God.
I banged again, yelling her name, getting the attention of her kids. They stopped playing. Joined me in the hallway and banged on the door too, calling out to her.
“Mommy! Momma! Open the door, mommy!”
I looked down at them and said, “Move out the way, okay? I’m going to try to—” I pushed on the door with my shoulder. “—to knock it down.”
Man-Man flinched. I pushed on the door again with my shoulder.
My phone buzzed again. I knew it was Rocc.
Didn’t need to check it to see. I ignored it.
Gave the door another push. Nothing. It wouldn’t bulge.
Sabrina was inside, alright. But she wasn’t okay.
Ain’t no way she was okay. What the fuck had happened last night?
“Is mommy okay?” Asked another one of the little girls. Diara. She was quiet mostly. So quiet that the high-pitched sound of her voice caught me off guard.
With dipped brows, I looked down at her angelic face. The fear and worry written on it, gutted me.
I swiped a piece of hair from my face. “Um. I—I think so.”
My phone went off again. This time, instead of ignoring it, I answered. As expected, it was Rocc.
“I’m down—
“I need you to come up here. Fifth floor. Apartment 512.”
“For wh—
With that, I hung up, hoping he’d bring his big ass up here.
I paced. Those Crocs squishing with every step I took.
Looking towards the door, I wondered if anybody was in the hall.
Doubted. The fifth floor was littered with little kids.
Mainly bad ass kids like Sabrina’s. The niggas usually stayed downstairs.
On the main level, in the courtyard. They were rarely ever scattered around in the halls. Not unless they were moving in passing.
I had to wait.
“Sereia,” mumbled LaLa. “My momma ain’t alright, is she?”
I looked down at her. She twiddled with a piece of her matted hair, brows dipped just like her siblings.
The playing had come to a stop. The four of them just stood in the hallway, looking to me for answers while I paced, speechless.
Knowing the truth, but too afraid to speak it aloud.
The truth… it would break their little hearts.
Sabrina was dead.
Had to be.
What else could she have been? It was too still too—
Before I could complete my thought, there was a knock on the door.
I stopped pacing, switched my pivot and headed to answer it.
My socks were a mess. Felt disgusting. My skin crawled, thinking I could have literally been stepping in feces.
I didn’t know what was on the other side of the bathroom door.
Didn’t know what could have been mixed in that water.
I didn’t bother checking the peephole—I knew who it was. I snatched the door open and looked up at Rocc with dipped brows.
“I need you to help me with something.”
He looked past me into the apartment, probably thinking what I thought when I stood in the door not too long ago.
That the place was a fucking mess. Looking over my shoulder, my eyes fell on the kids.
They were right behind me. Diara clutching a dingy teddy bear.
LaLa steady twirling that matted piece of hair.
Man-Man fondling with the front of his drenched diaper. The other one, crawling.
“You need me to help you with what? Fuck goin on?”
I grabbed his arm and pulled him inside. He stepped over a few pieces of trash after me, following me to the hallway.
“Go in the bedroom for me, y’all,” I said to the kids. They were lingering. Watching. And I knew that once Rocc got the door open, it would be a wrap. Whatever condition Sabrina was in would be exposed and I didn’t want the kids to see.
LaLa hesitated.
Man-Man wobbled off, that damn diaper wearing him down.
Diara followed behind him. Tears rolling down her chubby cheeks.
The other one crawled away, her knees and hands covered in that mystery water.
“La—”
“Okay,” LaLa said, finally walking off.
Once they were inside of the bedroom, I sighed with my hands on my hips, thinking about how their lives were about to be forever changed. Rocc’s eyes were on the carpet. Centered on his wet Nike boots, probably wondering what the hell I’d dragged him into.
I swallowed and glanced from the bathroom door, back at him. “Bust the door down.”
“What—
“Just bust the damn door down, Rocc. My God. Don’t be big for nothing.”
He snorted. I rolled my eyes.
Rocc was big as hell. Almost the same size as Exodus. Just a little taller. He wasn’t nearly as intimidating as Exodus though. His eyes were softer, like he hadn’t done or seen as much.
Rocc hesitated a bit. Looked from the door, back at me, and at the door again before he looked towards the kid's room.
“What’s behind this door, Sereia?”
“Their mother,” I blatantly told them, my bottom lip beginning to tremble.
He nodded, turned and with one swift movement, gave the door a hard push, busting it open.
Instead of letting me inside, he put his arm up, stopping me.
The shower curtain was drawn. The floor, covered with water, puddling off in the corner, near the right side of the tub, explaining the dripping down into mine.
The toilet was flooded—feces floated around the bowl— but the water on the floor seemed to be coming from the tub instead.
Rocc stepped into the bathroom and swiped at the curtain.
I didn’t see him. I was busy pacing back and forth in front of the door.
I heard him open it. You know… the hooks to the curtain, beating against the metal rod.
It wasn’t until he muttered ‘damn’ under his breath that I stopped pacing, turned and took in what had caught his attention.
I covered my mouth with my hands, tears building behind my eyes.
Damn ‘Brina. The tub was full. A steady stream of water ran from the faucet.
Quiet. But prominent, forcing the tub to overflow.
The water, stained by blood that seemed to have gushed from her neck.
There was a long slit on the side of it.
I stepped into the bathroom. Hands resting on my hips, head tilted to the side, eyes locked on her beautiful face.
Sabrina didn’t deserve this. Her children…
they didn’t deserve it either. Last night, when it got quiet, my spirit was unsettled.
It was sudden. Too sudden. The noise didn’t have that slow decline like it usually did.
There was arguing. Movement. And then, suddenly, nothing.
I thought it was alarming, but I turned over and went to sleep anyway, happy that they had finally stopped whatever they were doing.
Never in a million years would I have guessed this though.
* * *
Rocc glanced over at me.