Page 5 of Kobalt

After I unlocked the kitchen door, I pushed it open and locked it behind me. The relief I felt was short lived as the air in my lungs evaporated, my heart locked in place, and knots coiled in my belly. Dishes were smashed on the floor, the glass cabinet doors were broken, food was poured out, condiments were smeared over my walls, and everything in my pantry was destroyed.

I shook uncontrollably before I moved forward with jerky movements to check out the rest of my house. Every glass figurine in my living room was destroyed, the couches ripped open, and at the front door was a dead rat.

I immediately went to the front window and looked for the Charger; it was gone. As I climbed the stairs to my bedroom, I dialed my brother, Everett’s, phone number. Like downstairs, my bedroom had been destroyed.

The urgent need to run and hide was prevalent in me as chills remained all over my body. What if someone came back?

“EJ?”

“Hey, baby girl? What’s up?”

Upon hearing my little brother’s comforting voice, I broke. “EJ, someone broke in my house and destroyed it.”

“What?”

“They broke in my house and destroyed everything. I saw a man outside of my house. He pulled a trigger at me⁠—”

“Someone shot at you? Hold tight—I’m on my way.”

“No, EJ. No one shot at me. He put his fingers through his window and mimicked pulling a trigger at me,” I explained as I headed back downstairs to the basement level to check for any damages. It was the same thing—total destruction.

“Get your ass in your car and stay there until I get there.”

“I’m scared.”

“I know you are, big sis, but I’m on the way. Stay on the phone with me, okay?”

“Okay. I need to call Niagara, though.”

“Put her on three-way. I’m not getting off this bitch until I see your face.”

“Okay.”

I called Niagara while he was on the phone and told her everything. Within fifteen minutes, they were pulling up to my house, one behind the other. I jumped out of my car and rushed into my brother’s arms. He held me tight and rocked with me while Niagara rubbed my back.

“Did you call Dad before you called me?” EJ asked.

“No. He and Mama Bear are out of town, remember?”

We called our stepmother Mama Bear. She had been in our lives since I was eight and EJ was five.

“I know, but you know the old man will have a fit if you don’t tell him what’s going on with you.”

“I will, but not until I have answers—until I feel safe.”

“But that could be a minute, boo. You need to tell Daddy Everett,” Niagara pleaded, calling him by the name she had used for him since we met at nine years old.

“I know and I will. Let me just get some answers so I can tell him something firmly. He’s out of the country, and I know he will feel helpless and call his trip to an end. They deserve this,” I disputed.

“Let me go check the house out. Call the cops so that we can report this shit for insurance purposes, Sis. You two get in Niagara’s car and stay in there until I get back. Call me, blow the horn, what the fuck ever you need to do to get my attention if you need it. If y’all gotta pull out, you can, which is why I want y’all in her car because she’s at the end of the driveway.”

My dad had always taught us to back into a space in case we ever had to leave in a hurry, and he’d taught Niagara and Kobalt to do the same when he taught them how to drive.

After I called the police and waited for their arrival, Niagara turned to me with concern in her eyes. “Bookie, did you see the man? Could you describe him?”

“Just his eyes. Nothing else. I couldn’t tell if he was dark or light because of the shadows.”

We talked for a few more minutes before EJ stormed out of the house.