A Sad Soul Can Kill You (18 page)

Tia stood up when she heard Serenity screaming. “Serenity!” she cried out as she ran out the front door. She ran down the walkway to meet her child who fell full speed into her arms. Tia was crying as she put her arms around her. “Are you okay?”

Serenity trembled as she tried to catch her breath between sobs. She shook her head rapidly.

“Ma'am,” one of the female police officers interrupted, “we need to get some information from your daughter. Let's go inside.”

Tia held on to Serenity and guided her into the house.

Serenity looked around the living room, suddenly remembering how she'd found her father on the floor. “How's Daddy?” she asked sadly.

“He'll be fine,” Tia said. She grabbed Serenity's shoulders and looked at her. Her hair was tossed about and the red tips of her bangs were pointed in various directions. “But are you all right?”

Serenity shrugged.

“What did he do to you?” Tia's grip around Serenity's shoulders tightened. “Tell me!”

“Nothing!” Serenity shouted. “He didn't do nothing!”

“Okay, young lady,” the police officer said gently, “just tell me what happened.”

“I don't know,” Serenity whined. “I came home and found my dad on the floor. My mom told me to go to Cookie's house but nobody was home. So, I went to his house . . .”

“Mr. Woodard?” the police officer asked.

Serenity nodded. “He told me to come in and he would take me to the hospital, but it was dark in there,” she stopped to catch her breath, “and then he pulled me in.”

“And then what happened?”

“He made me go downstairs to the basement,” she said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “And he tied me to a chair.”

“Lord have mercy,” Tia whispered.

“And then what happened?” the police officer probed gently.

“He started talking about crazy stuff, then he turned off the light and went upstairs.”

“What kind of crazy stuff was he talking about?”

Serenity cut her eyes at her mother. “I don't know,” she said rubbing her forehead. “I can't remember.”

“Serenity, it's important that you try to remember as much as you can,” the officer said staring hard at her.

“I . . . some stuff . . . he was talking about a woman, and . . . I can't remember,” she said and started crying again.

“Okay, Serenity. We're almost done. Just a couple more questions.” The police officer flipped a sheet of paper over on her notepad.

“Now where were you coming home from when you found your dad on the floor?”

Serenity looked at Cookie. “Nowhere.”

“Nowhere?”

“Yeah,” she sniffled.

“Serenity, stop lying,” Tia said harshly. “We already know you planned to meet some boy you met on the computer. Now where were you coming from?”

Serenity glanced over at Cookie who stood helplessly in one corner of the room. “I told you, nowhere,” she whined. “I didn't meet him. He didn't show up.”

“But you did go to meet him, right?” the officer asked.

Serenity nodded.

“Then you went somewhere. Just because he didn't show up doesn't change the fact that you still went somewhere, right?”

“I guess.”

Tia sighed and began rubbing the side of her forehead. She was thankful her daughter was all right because she knew the outcome could have been much worse. Homer was 100 percent wrong for what he had done, but there was still the issue of Serenity putting herself in danger by going off to meet someone she didn't know.

The police officers began to wrap up their investigation. “We'll be in touch shortly,” one of them said. “We're going to need an official statement from her.”

Tia nodded her head. “That's fine.”

The other officer gave her a card. “In the meantime, call if you have any questions or if your daughter comes up with any more information . . .”

“I will,” she said.

“We're going to go too,” Shari said.

Tia gave Shari a hug. She looked at Tony. “Thanks,” she said.

“Try to get some rest,” Tony told her as he escorted Cookie out after she said good-bye to Serenity.

Tia watched from her door as the three of them walked back toward their house. She closed the door and turned around when she heard Serenity going upstairs. “Wait,” she said. “Come back down here. I need to talk to you.”

Serenity went into the living room and sat down.

“So what's going on with you going to meet some boy you met online?”

Serenity lowered her head and began picking at one of her fingernails.

“Answer me!”

“I don't know,” she said.

“What do you mean, you don't know?” Tia began pacing back and forth. “Do you know how dangerous it is to go and meet a boy you met online? Do you even know if he
is
a boy, and not some man waiting to do God knows what to you?” She stopped and stood directly over Serenity. “How do you know he wasn't someone like that monster,” she pointed in the direction of Homer's house, “that you just escaped from?”

Serenity kept her head down. She didn't tell her mother that the boy online
was
Homer. Instead, she continued nibbling away the last bit of nail on her baby finger.

“Serenity!” Tia shouted. “I'm talking to you. What's wrong with you?”

Serenity's shoulders began to shake violently. “You tell me,” she said in between sobs. “You always act like I get on your nerves!”

A look of astonishment covered Tia's face. “Serenity, that's not true. What are you—?”

“It
is
true,” she blurted out crying heavily. “I saw how you looked at me when I fell. You acted like you didn't even care!”

Tia sat down on the coffee table in front of her. She softened her tone. “Serenity, I do care. Why do you think I'm so mad now?”

She sniffled. “I don't know.”

“Listen. You can't be meeting boys you talk to online. You can't do things like that. It's just too dangerous. Bottom line.”

“He said we were going to the mall,” Serenity said softly. “And he was gonna buy me something pretty. But he lied.”

Tia leaned in close to Serenity. “What do you mean he lied? I thought you said you didn't meet him.”

Serenity kept her head down. “I didn't.”

Tia sighed. “Look at me,” she said. Her voice grew stern again. “I don't care what he said he was going to do. You can't trust people you meet online.”

“And
you
shouldn't trust people you meet next door,” Serenity said staring hard at her.

“What did you say?”

“That's why he did what he did, you know.”

Tia felt her conscience stir. “What are you talking about?”

“He said you wouldn't talk to him.”

Tia was speechless for a few seconds. She struggled with whether to tell her daughter that her connection to Homer had extended beyond him just being her neighbor. She shook her head violently.
What good would that do?
She decided to tell her only what she needed to know.

“He's right,” Tia said. “I'm not talking to him.”

Serenity continued staring at her. “Then how did he get your phone number?”

“I met him in the grocery store one day.” Tia looked down at her hands. “We talked briefly, and then we exchanged phone numbers.”

“Why?” Serenity's tone was accusing.

Tia looked up. She began shaking her head again. “I don't know why I did that, Serenity. But it was wrong. And that's why I'm not talking to him.” Suddenly, Tia became defensive. “I'm talking to
you,
” she said. “And I want it understood that you are not to go meeting anyone you don't know.” She hesitated. “And there'll be no more knocking on someone's door just because they're your neighbor. You can't trust your neighbors either,” she said with a finality to her voice.

“You should know,” Serenity said angrily.

“Look,” Tia said, “I know what you—”

“No, you don't!” Serenity blurted out. “You don't know anything! You're never around. And when you are you're always mad.”

Tia's back became rigid. The memory of her mother never having been there for her, and the years she spent living with her angry grandmother came flooding back to her. The last thing she wanted was for history to repeat itself. She had worked too hard to reconcile with her mother and grandmother, and she did not want to see what had happened to her happen to Serenity.

Tia looked into Serenity's eyes and saw herself when she was just a few years older than her daughter, running from man to man trying to find love. “You don't need some boy to buy you something pretty,” she said lifting her daughter's chin. “Don't you know you got enough pretty for yourself?”

She reached over to give Serenity a hug, but she was stopped midway when Serenity raised her arm to wipe her face with the sleeve of her hoodie.

Tia stood up. “You better get ready for bed,” she said wearily. “It's been a long day.”

Serenity followed behind her mother as she turned off the living-room light and trudged slowly up the stairs. “You really think I'm pretty?” she asked solemnly.

Tia stopped and turned around. She thought about her own mother and grandmother again, and she couldn't recall a single time that either of them had ever told her she was pretty. “Yes,” she said looking directly into Serenity's eyes, “I do.”

The two of them continued upstairs as the wind outside began to die down.

A few hours later, the shrill sound of Tia's cell phone jolted her awake. It was one of the female police officers who had been at the house earlier.

“Mrs. Sparks,” the officer said, “I'm sorry to wake you, but I wanted to let you know that your neighbor, Mr. Woodard, ran away from the police officers earlier—”

Tia quickly sat up in bed. “What do you mean, ran away?” She fumbled for the light switch on the lamp next to her bed.

“After your daughter managed to escape from the basement, a struggle ensued and Mr. Woodard took the officer's gun and ran out of the house.”

“Oh my God,” Tia said, now fully awake.

“—But as I was going to say,” the officer added quickly, “he was apprehended and we have him in custody.”

Tia let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you,” she said. “Thank you for letting me know.”

“You're welcome. We'll be in touch.”

After tossing and turning for the remainder of the night, Tia got out of the bed. She tiptoed down the hall to Serenity's bedroom and peeked through the halfway open door. Serenity lay on her side with her legs curled up. Her breathing was soft and even.

The sun was midway in the sky and caused a stream of light to enter the room through the slits in the window blind. Tiny specs of dust floated effortlessly in the air, and then settled on Serenity's Hello Kitty hat lying on the floor beneath the window.

Tia stood there watching her sleep. The peaceful name she'd given her daughter at birth had not transferred over into her life as she'd hoped it would. Something was not serene with her daughter.
But how could it be when she had a father hooked on painkillers and a mother . . .?
Tia leaned her head against the doorway.

At one point everything had been peaceful and calm with Serenity. But that had been a long time ago, when she'd been a child and her whole world had revolved around Tia and Lorenzo . . . when they'd both been decent parents. Now, Serenity was a teenager trying to deal with all the things that came with being a teenager. And just when she needed them most, neither of them had paid much attention to her. They were both guilty of being distracted by their own issues.

Tia inhaled deeply. What kind of mother was she being to Serenity? Had she been so consumed with her own problems that she'd put her daughter at the bottom of her list of priorities? She closed the door softly and went downstairs.

While she was in the kitchen making a cup of coffee, she heard the front door open. She walked out of the kitchen and was surprised to see Lorenzo coming in. He still wore the green hospital identification band around his wrist and a small Band-Aid covered the top of his hand where the IV needle had been.

“Why didn't you call me?” she said. “I would have come and picked you up.”

“I didn't know you were staying home,” he said in his usual dull voice.

Tia glared at him. He was still the same. Not even a near overdose had changed that cold demeanor he insisted on holding to. “We had a little bit of a scare yesterday with Serenity,” she said as she stirred her coffee.

“What do you mean a scare? What happened?”

“Well, not only did she go off to meet some boy she met online, but one of the neighbors pulled her into his house and locked her in his basement.”

“What?” Lorenzo's emotional state was awakened. “What neighbor?”

Tia looked down into her cup of coffee. “The man next door to Shari and her husband,” she said.

Lorenzo waved his hands in the air. “Is she all right?”

“She's all right physically. She said he didn't do anything to her except tie her to a chair. And thank God he didn't tie it tight enough, so she was able to get out of it.”

Tia took a sip of coffee from the cup she was holding.

The frown on Lorenzo's forehead deepened. “Are you going to tell me what happened?”

“I just did,” Tia said.

He balanced himself against the kitchen counter with one hand. “Tell me the circumstances, Tia.”

Tia took in a deep breath before she began. “When Serenity came home yesterday and found you on the floor,” she paused to let her words sink in, “she called me at work. I called 9-1-1, and then I told Serenity to go to Shari's house. She said nobody was there so she went next door to the neighbors, and that's how he ended up pulling her into his house.”

“Continue,” Lorenzo said.

Tia saw the fury in his eyes. That was the one emotion he had no problem displaying.

“I called the police,” she said, “and while they were over there talking to him, Serenity managed to untie herself and crawl out the basement window.”

Lorenzo stormed to the hall closet. “Where's my bat?”

“He's not there,” she told him.

“They arrested him?”

“Yes. One of the police officers called to tell me he tried to run away after Serenity escaped, but they caught him.”

The awkward silence between them returned.

“I'm sure she's still a little shook up,” Tia said as she carried her cup of coffee upstairs to her room. “You might want to check on her . . .” she hesitated, “if you have time.”

“If I have time?” he said walking toward the stairs. “What is
that
supposed to mean?”

“Just what I said.” She stopped and turned midway around. “What part of that don't you understand?”

“Oh, I understand,” he said standing at the foot of the stairs. “But what are you trying to say?”

“I'm not
trying
to say anything.” She turned her full body around to face him. “I thought I said it. Make time for your daughter. Maybe if you paid more attention to her, she might not be on the computer looking for boys to meet!”

Serenity flung her bedroom door open. “I wasn't looking for boys!” she cried out, and then slammed her door shut.

Lorenzo ignored her outburst. “
You're
one to talk,” he said pointing his finger toward her. “How much time do you spend with her? Yeah, you take her to visit your mother and grandmother once a month, but what else do you do with her? All you do is go to work and church.”

“There was a time when you went to church too,” Tia replied. She turned and continued upstairs. “Maybe it's time you remembered that.”

Lorenzo remained standing at the bottom of the stairs as he watched Tia storm away. He heard the bedroom door slam shut, and his mind began to pull him toward his old familiar escape route. He turned toward the front door.

Thirty minutes and two pills later, and he would not have to deal with what was going on in this house. Then he remembered the shame he'd felt lying in the hospital bed being told that his daughter had found him sprawled out in a drug-induced unconsciousness. He shook his head.
Why hadn't God just let me die?

He put one hand on the stair banister while he kept staring at the door. He thought about the pamphlet and the referral for treatment he'd accepted at the hospital before he'd been discharged. He walked back to the hallway and picked up the pamphlet.

It was a faith-based treatment center that offered a one-year recovery and deliverance program for men and women. Several testimonies were printed on the cover from those who, through the power of Jesus Christ, had been set free from their addiction.

Lorenzo knew something needed to change—he knew
he
needed to change. That's why he had accepted the information, and an appointment had already been scheduled for him.

“Lord, give me strength,” he whispered as he turned around and slowly headed upstairs to Serenity's bedroom. He knocked softly on her door, and then opened it slowly. She was lying on her bed with her earplugs in her ears. “Hey,” he said.

She looked at him and did not speak.

He wiped his moist hands on the side of his blue jeans, then signaled with his fingers for her to remove the earplugs.

She reluctantly took one of them out of her ear.

“I want to talk to you,” he said.

“I already told you,” she said defiantly, “I wasn't looking for boys.”

“That's not what I want to talk to you about,” Lorenzo said as he sat down on the edge of her bed. “At least not now. Right now, I want to know how you're feeling about everything.”

Serenity hunched her shoulders, and then let them relax.

Lorenzo stared at the pink Hello Kitty poster on her wall. The mouthless feline stared back at him. “What does that mean, Serenity?”

“Nothing,” she said.

He continued to sit on the edge of the bed.

It's your fault,
Serenity thought as she put the earplug back in her ear.

A few seconds passed before he spoke. “Listen,” he said, “I'm sorry about what happened, and I'm glad you're okay.” Then he stood up and walked out of her bedroom.

She rolled her eyes
. It's still your fault,
she thought. Then she turned on her iPod.