BrookLyn's Journey (36 page)

There was a knock at the front door.
Gabby whispered, “I’ll be right back.”

BrookLyn
nodded.

“Hello
.
” Ebonee
answered the phone.

BrookLyn
hadn’t heard her voice in so long that
she
started to cry.
“It’s me,”
she
managed to say through
her
tears.

“BrookLyn?”

“Yes.”

“Why are you crying? Where are you? Are you okay?”
Her
brother and sisters
had
put miles in between
them,
but
she
knew they cared.

“I’m not great but I’m better. I’m staying with a friend.”

“What friend?”

“Just a friend.”

“I called the house a few days ago and mother said you were gone. She didn’t say where. She didn’t say for how long either.”

“That’s because she doesn’t know where I am.”

“What do you mean she doesn’t know? You just left?”

“I had to leave. You weren’t there. Jayde wasn’t there. Peyton wasn’t there.
I
was there. No one checked on me. No one came back to make sure I was okay. Y’all left and never looked back. I’m not mad at you
,
but that’s what happened. Nobody helped me
...
”
BrookLyn
sobbed
into the phone
.

Ebonee didn’t say anything.
Had she hung up?
BrookLyn
couldn’t stop from crying to ask if she was still there. Everything
she had
tried to forget was coming back to the forefront of
her
mind.
She struggled to
catch
her
breath.

“I’m sorry, BrookLyn,” she cried. “I was going to come back. I just can’t.”

“You didn’t have to come back. I just needed you guys to call. You didn’t.”

“I didn’t call because my life got really busy. I’m not making excuses but that’s what happened. When I finally made time to call it was too late. You were already gone,”
her sister
explained.

“I couldn’t take the beatings anymore
, Ebonee
. She was lying about me. I just had to leave.”

“I don’t know where you are
,
but I hope that you’re okay.”

“I’m as good as I can be with all of these changes.”

“How is school?”

“I haven’t been.”

“What?” she yelled.

“I’m going back. I just knew he’d come looking for me. You don’t get it
,
Ebonee. Since you guys left it’s been bad. He really hurt me. The last time he beat me I could barely walk.”

Ebonee didn’t say anything
but BrookLyn
could hear her crying.

“She told him that I was pregnant.”

“She did what?”

“She lied and told him that I was pregnant.”

“That woman is
—
”

“Yeah
,
she is all the bad names you can gather together and then some. I hate her more than him.”

“What exactly happened that made you leave?”

“She called him at work and told him that I yelled at her. That was the only honest thing she said. She didn’t tell him that I was half
a
sleep because she kept waking me up saying she heard someone else in my room. I was sleeping. I didn’t have anyone in my room
.
”
BrookLyn
felt bad lying to her sister, but it was only
a little
lie
.

“I know you won’t tell me where you are
,
but how are you living? Do you have money? Are you safe?”

“If I was in a cardboard box I’d be safer than I was there. I don’t really have money
,
but I don’t need any. I’m safe and taken care of for now.”

“When are you going back to school?”

“Soon.”
She
didn’t like keeping secrets from
her
sister
,
but was too afraid for
her
parents to find out where
she
was and who
she
was with.

They
talked for about an hour. Ebonee told
her
that things on her end were good. She brought
BrookLyn
up to speed with her life. She also told
her
that Peyton and Jayde were both doing well.
BrookLyn
told her as much as
she
could without talking about Gabby.
It
was hard but
she
wasn’t ready to share
that.

“You know
,
BrookLyn. I love you no matter what. I don’t know why you won’t tell me where you’re staying or who you’re staying with. I’m your sister. I won’t judge you. I may not always like your decisions
,
but I’ll always respect them. When you’re ready to tell me I’ll be ready to listen. Tell your friend that I said thank you.”

“For what?”

“Doing what I didn’t
,
and couldn’t
,
do
—
keep you safe.”

“I’ll tell her.”

“At least I know you’re with a woman. I don’t have to worry about some guy putting his hands on my baby sister.”

As
BrookLyn
was
about to say
good
bye
,
Gabby walked back into the room with a concerned look on her face.
She
went back to
the
conversation with
her
sister but watched
Gabby
out of the corner of
her
eye. She looked upset.

“Well
,
Ebonee, I have to go. I love you.”

“I love you too. Can I call Jayde and Peyton?”

BrookLyn
knew she’d say that and was glad
, because she
didn’t want to right now.
“I’d appreciate it if you did. It took enough out of me to talk to you. I’m exhausted.”

“Know I love you and please, take care of yourself. Oh, and go back to school.”

“I will
.
”

“Do you have a phone number where I can reach you?”

“Not right now
.
”
They
told each other how much
they
loved each other again
,
and hung up.

BrookLyn
put the phone back on the base and looked toward Gabby
,
who appeared to be distracted. Whoever knocked on the door had definitely caught her attention.
BrookLyn
wiped
her
eyes
.
“What’s wrong?”
she asked.

Gabby
didn’t answer
.
Her
face was unreadable. Was she angry? Sad? Had BrookLyn done something wrong?
She
was not looking forward to hearing th
e
story
—she
didn’t need this right now.

She
called
to
her again, “Gabby what’s going on? You’re scaring me?”

“I just got a letter.”

“Okay, who was the letter from?”

“Shante.”

BrookLyn’s
heart sank. Why couldn’t she just leave
them
alone?

“The letter was to inform me that she knew that you were staying here.”

“How?”

“I have no idea and she didn’t say. I can only assume word got around my circle
.”

“What else did the letter say?”

“The letter also said that she had informed your parents that you were living here with me. The exact words were
,
p
laying house with my woman
.
She said that she sent letters informing them of your whereabouts and our relationship.”

Oh no.
“What did I ever do to Shante?”

“You became my focus. She’s jealous and doesn’t care who she hurts.”

“Doesn’t she know that this could get me killed?”
BrookLyn’s
father didn’t care that
she
was eighteen. He would protect his image no matter how old
she
was
,
even if it meant hitting
her
again. Shante just created something
BrookLyn
couldn’t fix.

“I’m sure she doesn’t care.”

“What kind of person is she? How did you even get involved with someone like her?”

“We all make mistakes.”

“Well, that was a bad one.”

“You’re really going to lecture me about my past?”

“Your past is affecting my present
,
which better not mess up my future.”

“I’ll deal with it.”

“I hope so.” She had to because
BrookLyn
didn’t want any more drama.
She
couldn’t handle any more.
There was
so much going on right now that
she
couldn’t handle.
Why did Shante have to do this
?

“Well, I guess Shante just took this thing to another level.”

Gabby shook her head.
“The worst part is that she took pictures. And she sent them to your parents,” she paused as if afraid to go on.

“She took pictures of what, Gabby?”

“You and me lying in bed together and being intimate.”

BrookLyn collapsed to her
knees. This couldn’t be happening right now. Tears streamed down
her
face as
she
hugged
her
self in pain.
She hadn’t
come to terms with any of this. Shante was forcing
her
hand.
BrookLyn
wasn’t ready to classify
her
self as anything
,
and then
Shante
took pictures?
Her
parents wouldn’t show them to anyone
,
but the fact that they had them was too much. Who else would Shante share them with?

Gabby got down on the floor
with BrookLyn
and hugged
her
.

Shante
had
said that Gabby would regret leaving her.
I don’t know about Gabby
,
but I kn
ow
I
’m
mad that she left her. I wouldn’t be here if she hadn’t.

“You’re blaming me?” she asked
, reading BrookLyn’s thoughts
.

“No, I’m not. I’m angry with the situation.
But if
you keep stealing my thoughts
,
I will be angry with you. I deserve to have private thoughts. How would you like it if I did that to you?”

“I wouldn’t like it, but I don’t do it on purpose.”

“I know
,
but I’m asking you to try a little harder. Please, stop.”

“I’ll do my best. And I’ll deal with Shante.”

“How are you going to do that?”

“I’m not sure but I’ll figure it out. She knows she can’t hurt me unless she does something to you. I will deal with her so that she doesn’t do anything else.”

“Whatever you do please don’t go to jail.”

“I’ll do my best to keep the cops out of it.”

“If you go to jail you do know I will have no one else, right? I need you Gabby.”

“I know. I’ll be here to take care of you. I promise.
Are you mad that we’re together?”

“I’m just mad, Gabby. I’m just mad at the world right now.”

Shante sent
BrookLyn’s
head spinning. It would be just a matter of time before
she
heard from
her
parents
now and it
may not come in the form of a visit.
He
’d be furious enough that he’d need to have the last word.
He couldn’t force her home, she
was eighteen
,
but he could make it hard to stay away.