1 #2
Clover learned how to survive on her own at a young age.
She was wise beyond her years and often acted as her mother’s protector.
She was a feisty little thing just like her mother taught her to be.
Finally, Clover did come to live with them for a few months when Shantel decided to go to rehab.
They no longer had the apartment since Hank refused to pay for a bunch of addicts to live comfortably on his dime.
When Shantel moved again, it was the rehab center that helped her get a place to live.
It was low-income in a horrible area, and Clover hated it.
But she loved her mother too much not to be with her.
Things were going good for a while until they noticed some of Shantel’s old ways resurfacing.
She’d lost yet another job and was once again leaving Clover alone for days at a time.
The day before, Clover called and told Diva not to pick her up for school because she was walking with her two best friends and their mother, who were also her next-door neighbors.
She called Diva when she got to school to let her know that she made it and that was the last she’d heard from her.
Her friends confirmed that she’d made it home from school but they hadn’t heard from her either.
They called and knocked on the door for her that morning but got no answer.
They told Hank that they heard Clover’s phone ringing through the closed front door but she never picked up.
He didn’t tell his wife that though because Diva was known to be overly dramatic and panicked easily.
He would have continued his mission alone, but she would have been on her way if he didn’t answer the phone.
Clover was like the daughter they never had and they both loved her as if she was.
Hank felt like shit when he pulled up to their house and saw his wife’s tear-stained face.
Diva’s eyes were red and swollen like she’d been crying for hours.
Clover was really her baby and had been since Shantel got pregnant with her.
She’d always wanted a daughter but her best friend having one was just as good.
“Relax, baby. You know Clo can handle herself. She’s okay.” Hank grabbed his wife’s hand and kissed it. He was trying to reassure her as well as himself.
“Why didn’t she call one of us then, Hank? Why didn’t she call Iva or Irie?” Diva asked, referring to the two sisters who she was always with.
“I don’t know, baby. Shit, I’m trying to figure that out too. Damn man, I can’t call Tilly and give her no more bad news.”
Hank sighed stressfully. Clotill, or Tilly, was Corey’s mother and the woman who he wanted Clover to be named after.
Shantel refused and named her Clover instead.
She hated both names but she learned to adjust over time.
Tilly was devastated when her son was killed and she made sure to keep tabs on his wife and daughter.
Clover didn’t really know much about Georgia since she was born in New Orleans and hated going to visit.
She always complained about being bored, but Diva made her go see her grandmother as often as possible.
She made sure that she facetimed her every day too, so that the older woman wouldn’t worry.
Shantel’s grandmother had passed on, but Clover still had Shantel’s two sisters and her father’s side of the family who loved her.
“This ain’t like Clover at all. I can’t even track her location. She must have turned it off. Please be okay baby, please.”
Diva was a nervous wreck, as Hank sped to their destination.
It was getting dark and that only heightened their fears.
When they pulled up, they saw Ivanece and Irie with their mother, standing in front of Shantel’s door, knocking as if their lives depended on it.
Their mother, Cherelle, had the phone up to her ear looking concerned.
She was happy when she saw them because she knew that they were family.
“I was just calling the police until I saw y’all walk up. We can hear the phone ringing in the house, but Clo never picked up.” Cherelle looked just as nervous as they were.
“Jesus! Call them back Cherelle. Something ain’t right. Clover, it’s me, baby. Open the door if you can hear me. Everything is okay baby. Me and Hank are here.” Diva started banging on the door, right along with Clover’s friends.
“Watch out baby. Ain’t no telling how long they gon’ take to get here.”
Hank gently moved his wife and the girls aside and lifted his foot high in the air, giving the door a hard kick.
The frame shook a little but the door didn’t open.
After two more hard kicks, the door flew open and the thin wood frame around it crumbled.
The kitchen was the first room in the apartment.
The light was on, but nobody was sitting in there.
Hank took out his gun and led the way inside.
Cherelle stopped her daughters from following because she didn’t know what to expect.
Diva held the back of her husband’s shirt as they slowly made their way inside of the small two bedroom unit.
They crept down the short hall and peeked inside of Clover’s bedroom.
Her bed was neatly made and her backpack was on the floor like she dropped it and walked away.
They looked around but didn’t see her anywhere.
Before they could go any further, they heard Clover’s phone start to ring.
Hank followed the sound that led them right to who they were looking for.
Clover was sitting on the floor in her mother’s room in a daze.
Her knees were pulled up to her chest and her phone rested on the floor right next to her.
She wasn’t moving or talking, just staring at nothing as if she was in another world.
Shantel was sprawled out in her bed and appeared to be asleep.
Upon a closer glance, Hank and Diva realized that it was much more than that.
“Oh God, no! She’s dead, baby. Lord no, please God!” Diva rushed over to her best friend and paused when she got a better look. Shantel’s eyes were open wide and fixated. She had what appeared to be a white substance dried around her mouth with a needle still stuck in her arm.
“Clover, come on, baby. Get up and let’s get out of here.” Hank tried to pull her up, but she wouldn’t budge.
“She had white bubbles coming out of her mouth when I came home yesterday. I tried to wake her up, but she was too tired. I stayed home from school today waiting for her to wake up, but she’s still tired. Shhh, you’re gonna wake her up.” Clover was babbling on and on and not making much sense.
At ten years old, she knew that her mother was dead but she refused to accept losing her last living parent. She convinced herself that her mother was sleeping. She didn’t care how long it took; she wasn’t gonna leave her side until she woke up.
“No, baby, she’s gone. Come on, you’re gonna go home with us.” Diva tried to be strong for Clover through her own heartache and pain.
“No! Diva please! I can’t leave her. She’s gonna be looking for me when she wakes up!” Clover was screaming and crying when Hank picked her up and carried her out of the apartment. Diva’s heart was breaking into a million pieces as she watched her try to run back inside by her mother.
“Come on sweetheart, it’s gonna be okay.” Cherelle ushered Clover and Diva into her apartment, as the wailing of sirens could be heard in the distance.
Clover collapsed in Diva’s arms as they held each other and cried.
She was so grateful that Clover was okay but she was dreading having to bury yet another one of her best friends.
She couldn’t even begin to imagine how Clover was feeling.
At only ten years old, she was basically an orphan.
Diva hated having to call Tilly to inform her of Shantel’s death, especially since she knew that she would be on the first thing smoking to New Orleans to get Clover.
She didn’t want to think about her baby moving to Georgia and not being able to see her every day.
Clo was gonna need some serious help in the form of love, patience and therapy.
“Yeah, Tilly, she’s good. We got her,” Hank said as he walked over with the phone up to his ear. He had already done the hard part and made the call to Corey’s mother. He didn’t want her to have to hear it from nobody else and word traveled fast.
“I know she’s so heartbroken.” Diva sniffled as she hugged Clover tighter. She remembered when they had to call and break the bad news about Corey’s death and it seemed like déjá vu.
“Yeah, she is. She’s calling her family now to see who can get on the road tonight to bring her here.”
“Diva, please don’t make me go live in the country. I’ll do whatever you say, I promise. I don’t wanna go live with my grandma. Call her back, Hank. I don’t want to go there.” Clover’s entire body shook as she found yet another reason to cry.
“Don’t worry about nothing, baby. We’ll figure everything out.”
Hank really didn’t know what to say. Although Clover was a part of their family, she wasn’t a biological part.
Tilly was the closest relative that she had in the eyes of the law and the decision would be hers to make.
She had raised all of her kids, and Hank was praying that she would consider letting Clover stay in New Orleans with them.
They were basically all that she knew and there was no doubt that she would be well taken care of.
Shantel’s sisters had kids of their own now and they weren’t financially stable enough to take on raising another child.
He knew without a doubt that they wouldn’t put up a fight.
Corey’s siblings were in the same position so he wasn’t too worried about them either.
His boy used to send money back home to help them out.
It took a few hours but the coroner’s van eventually came to retrieve Shantel’s body. Diva made sure to keep Clover inside so she wouldn’t see anything else. Sadly, she had already seen enough.
“Here, baby, take my car and go home so she can relax. I got somebody coming through to board up the door.” Hank handed his wife the keys to his car.
“Wait, I need to get her some stuff to last for at least a few days.”
“She already got a lot of shit at our house and we’ll buy whatever else she needs until we can figure everything out.”