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She tried to grab her purse from the table but I snatched it and dumped everything out.
“What are you doing?”
“Having backbone! This is mine, isn’t it?” I snapped, as I marched towards her closet and took back my shoes, bags, and shirts. “And this and this. All of this is fucking mine!”
I threw it onto the ground and glared at her. “You know why I keep coming back, you heartless bitch?! Why I don’t kick you and your parents out or cut you all off? Because we’re family, we’re blood. That should mean something! We can’t choose our family and we shouldn’t just abandon them either no matter how disgusting they are!”
“Have fun with all your stuff.” She flicked me off as she slammed the door and left. Sitting on the ground, I took a deep breath when I heard the screeching sound of tires.
Standing back up, I glanced outside only to see her pull out of our driveway with my car! Jesus! She was still drunk!
“Imani!” I yelled, as I rushed down the stairs, and out the door.
“Imani!” I screamed again when I heard the car screech and a sickening crash as it hit something.
With no shoes on, I took off running down the hill towards the front gate. And as I reached the bottom, I saw that she had driven my car right into Mr. Pierre’s guard booth. He lay there in the middle of road, surrounded by splintered bits of wood and bloody shards of glass.
“Oh my God.” She stumbled out of the car.
“What did you do?!” I screamed at her as I rushed to Mr. Pierre and searched for a pulse.
“Is…is he dead?” She backed away.
“Call 9-1-1!”
She shook her head.
“Cora…I…I can’t.”
I stared at her wide-eyed as she ran.
“Imani!” I screamed after her.
“Urrhhh…” Mr. Pierre grumbled.
“Mr. Pierre, it’s me. Coraline. Coraline Wilson, help’s on its way, just hold on. Okay?” I patted his chest not sure what to do before getting up. I rushed back to my car and pressed the OnStar button.
“This is OnStar, what’s your emergency?”
“There’s been an accident. I’m at the gate of Raven Hill Heights. I need help!”
“Cor—Cora,” Mr. Pierre coughed calling me.
“Please hurry!” I yelled as I rushed back to him and took his hand. “I’m here. Mr. Pierre can you see me? I’m right here.”
“My wife…”
“I will call her the moment we get to the hospital, okay? Don’t talk right now, I’ll talk. I’m good at talking, Mr. Pierre, so just focus on my voice.…”
“Jo…hn…” He coughed up more blood and I wiped it off with my sleeve. I tried not to cry as I nodded.
“Okay, John. What do you want to know? I went Cancun, recently. It’s just as beautiful as the magazines. You and your wife should go. Women are suckers for sandy white beaches and crystal clear waters. In fact, you have to go, on me.”
“Really?” He coughed again, and this time blood came out of his nose. I wiped it away again.
“Yes, really. How long do you want to stay? I think two weeks would do it. One week isn’t enough, believe me.”
“Okay.” He tried to nod as he squeezed my hand tighter.
“Okay then. It’s set. I always keep my promises, John, so you’ve got to make it for me. You and your wife have to go.”
He didn’t say anything more as an ambulance, along with two police cruisers, drove up.
“Help, please!” I screamed to them. I knew that that was why they were here, but I felt the need to say it again.
“Ma’am, we need you to move aside,” the paramedic said, and I moved back slightly without letting go of his hand. “Are you coming with him?”
I nodded and rose as they stabilized him and lifted him up. I noticed the police officers talking to the crowd that had gathered, unbeknownst to me. As I looked around, I noticed Imani standing far off in the distance.
“Ma’am, we need to go.”
“Coming.” I followed along with them.
“Oh God!” an older woman with short white hair cried as she fell to the ground. The doctor told her what the paramedics couldn’t—that on our way here, Mr. Pierre had died. Just like that, he was gone.
My cousin and I had gotten into a fight and she drove off, making it not even a mile before killing someone. That was my reality now as I sat in my blood-stained SpongeBob pajamas, unable to leave.
“Ms. Wilson?”
I turned to the officer who’d called my name.
“Yes…yes, that’s me.”
He looked at me from my bare feet to my hair that was still wrapped in a scarf. “Do you live at Raven Hill?”
“Yes.”
“And the Infinity is yours?”
“Yes.” I really wanted silence. My head felt like it was going to split open.
“Ma’am, we’re going to need you to come down to the station. For more question…”
“Was it you?!”
I jumped at the voice that yelled at me. The old woman, still sobbing, marched up to me as she held on to her husband’s personal items.
“Did you kill my John?”
“No!” I said quickly. “Mrs. Pierre—I didn’t do this.”
She slapped me. “How could you do this to us? He was going to retire! He had a week left!”
“Mom, let’s go.” Her daughter pulled her away as the officer stepped in between us. I held onto the side of my face, unable to speak. The world was spinning too fast for me.
“Ms. Wilson, you need to come with us…”
“Is she under arrest?”
I turned to find Declan walking up to us. It was six a.m. and he was dressed in jeans and a simple dark blue button down shirt. This was just too much…it had to be a nightmare. Stumbling backwards, I fell onto the chair.
“Mr. Callahan—”
“Is she under arrest, Officer?” he repeated as he stood beside me.
“No, sir, not yet, we just have some questions—”
“Then get away from us. An explanation for this will surely pop up, and when it does, it will come from our lawyer. For now, I think it would be best if you headed back to the station. Your Captain should be calling you shortly.” Sure enough his partner came up and motioned for the officer to follow him.
“Have a good day, Mr. Callahan.” They nodded to him and when they turned the corner, he sat down.
Neither of us said anything and it bothered me just as much talking would have.
“How did you know I was here?” I whispered.
“One of my men was on his way to drop something off for you. He saw you get into the back of the ambulance and called me. Please tell me that none of that blood belongs to you. Have you seen a doctor?” He reached out to touch me, but then stopped. His hand curled into a fist before he gripped his own knee.
“It’s not mine. It was Mr. Pierre’s. He died today.” I felt like someone else should know that. “He was good man. I didn’t know him too well, but he was there at Raven Hill when we first moved in. He remembers everyone’s name and always came out of his booth to say good morning or good night to people. He was a good man and he died today.”
