AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Di’Anna.
Anna. Hank’s guilt had eaten him alive. He carried Anna’s name over, keeping her alive in his head. Shaking my head, I realized just how far under a rock I’d been. I never knew he’d had a daughter or that he’d named her after my late wife.
Knowing that it was impossible to leave her alone, I combed my brain for options. I backtracked and went into Hank’s bedroom, removed his phone from the nightstand and hovered it over his face. I prayed the camera recognized his face with more than twenty bullets in his head, but I was out of blessings. Removing my gloves wasn’t an option, but I tapped the screen, anyway, hoping it would unlock. He was a simple nigga. He’d kept the same phone password since his first iPhone.
The gloves didn’t allow any of the digits I punched to go through. I laid his phone back on the nightstand and began searching for Isis’s instead. I located it and had no issues opening hers with facial recognition. I accessed her call log, tapping the first contact on her call log. Her mother’s voice appeared on the line as I re-entered the nursery. Without saying a word, I laid the phone in the crib next to Di’Anna, hoping her cries were enough to get her grandmother to their home so she wouldn’t be alone for very long.
I pushed my way out of the door, around the house, and down the alley I’d come from. When I got to the car I’d swapped Anna’s truck for, I searched for a bag of any kind. The car was spotless. There was nothing inside that would assist me.
I started the engine, driving as far as my stomach would allow before hopping out on side of the road and spilling my guts onto the curb. Hunched with my hands on my knees, I released everything in me. Reality had hit and it had hit hard. Not only had my friend killed my wife, but I’d taken his wife’s life and left their daughter motherless.
Hank’s death, I could live with, but forcing another child to grow up like Aussie had and endure what she’d been enduring since that fatal night, I couldn’t wrap my head around. In the game, an eye for an eye was the way to resolve any issues that arose. I wasn’t feeling too good about the resolution this time, but what was done was done. Just like Anna, she was a casualty of war.
EIGHTEEN
2.5 months later…
Lines formed in the carpet from the vacuum as I ran it back and forth across the floor. The level of satisfaction it gave me was unreal. From top to bottom, I’d cleaned my apartment and this was the final step. I saved the best for last each time.
Being in my own apartment reminded me of life before my accident and before my world was flipped upside down. From the moment I’d awaken until two and a half months ago, it felt like I’d stuck my heart and head in a blender, praying something good came of the foolish decision. The calm I experienced over the last two and a half months was appreciated. The silence had, again, become my safe space.
“Alright,” I breathed, shutting off the vacuum and then unplugging it.
As if on cue, my phone sounded. With the vacuum cord in my hand, I moved toward the bed. I held my breath as I leaned over to see who was trying to reach me. Not many people had my number, but there was one person in particular I didn’t want to talk to. I was pleased to see my mother’s name on the screen.
“Hey.”
“Aeir. Glad you picked up. I tried you earlier, but I got your voicemail.”
“Not sure why. Maybe I was on the phone with Jae or Dad.”
“Could’ve been. He told me he’d talked to you this morning.”
“I didn’t think I’d be able to get him off the line.”
“He just misses you. That’s all. Since we left and came back home, he can’t stop talking about how we should buy property out that way before the baby is born so we can split our time between Channing and Berkeley.”
“I know. He told me he’d already began the search.”
“He has. I told him we should talk to you first so we’re not stepping on your toes or imposing on your life. You’re not a baby anymore.”
“It’s fine, Mom. I promise. As long as you guys aren’t overbearing, it’s fine. I’ll need all the help I can get when the time comes.”
My mother and father had visited over a month ago, helping me move into my apartment and fill it with furniture for me and the baby. We didn’t know the gender at the time, so we stuck to neutrals and whites in the nursery. It wasn’t even close to being completed, but there was progress.
“Alright. Then, I’ll start my search, too. I’m sure I’ll luck up on something before he does.”
“More than likely.”
“How are you and how is the baby?”
“I had an appointment Tuesday. Everything is fine. He’s growing and looks healthy.”
“He?” she squealed.
“It’s a boy?”
“Yes. It’s a boy,” I confirmed.
