Church Girl Gone Wild (4 page)

When I came to, Ava's screams from my memory were still ringing in my ears as she squirmed on the bathroom floor. The way her blood looked soaking through her towel as it turned my hands bright red was fading away. All hell was breaking loose around me. I didn't want to wrap my head around Deacon being the devil without a face from way back then but he was and he was more so the devil now. Everything slowly came together in my brain as the bright spots faded from in front of my eyes.

I tried to focus on the bristly-black stubble on the chin of the paramedic leaning over me. My eyes nearly crossed.

“Welcome back Sleeping Beauty.” His voice was warm and friendly.

I pushed myself up into a sitting position in the floor. Lord knows when it had been mopped last. Dirt sifted through dark cracks in the splintered floorboards down onto mice and whatever else I could hear scurrying beneath me. Black grit and grime clung to the palms of my hands and I wiped them on legs of my jeans. My stomach made gurgling and bubbling noises as I grimaced up past grease and dark brown stains that I didn't even want to try and identify on the mahogany legs of Ava's table.

“Hi Eva, my name is Quinn. I'm a volunteer paramedic. How are you feeling?” He asked.

Police officers, paramedics, and men in suits marched from room to room.
How am I feeling? I just ate a man-sandwich, learned the devil is my daddy, and he framed the guy I called dad so Papa Psion could inherit a church. I feel sick.

I croaked out a weak okay over the sound of Deacon's agitated voice carrying from the living room. He was giving his version of what'd happened all over the sound of Ava laughing like she was completely out of her damn mind.

Over channels of static on one of the Officer's scanners someone yelled, “get the Chief back here. I've never seen anything like this! We've got three bodies so far!”

Heavy footsteps thumped towards me. A forensics agent grabbed me by my elbow all but shoving me outside. I stumbled down the three steps planting myself beside the rickety porch with everyone else. Mosquito's whined in my ear and the cicadas were buzzing so loud it felt like they were screaming in terror. Every time the screen door slammed against the wooden frame of the house my heart jerked against my chest. My eyes would search the dark interior and I'd stop breathing, waiting to see if a headless corpse was coming to get me for eating his body. The chatter from the police's scanners in their cars mingled with the beeps and blips from the radios on their shoulders. More cars crunched up the gravel driveway swirling clouds of dust.

My mind was quickly becoming a painful black hole, collapsing into feeding on and possibly destroying itself. Leslie held onto me like a human life preserver. Snot trailed down her nose and around her thumb lodged into her mouth. She hiccupped and cried, soaking my leg through my jeans. My own tears mingled with the human-ham-vomit aftertaste in my mouth were making me feel sick all over again. The police wouldn't even let us get a glass of water for fear we'd contaminate anything from the kitchen to the smokehouse. Ava was led past us to a waiting car. Her expression was blank, like she wasn't even with us anymore. As soon as the officer started reading her rights she turned to Deacon with her eyes blazing.

“Hey, Ozias! You feed us the blood and body of Christ so that we can be more holy.
Right?!
Well, I gave my baby-girls the sinners. So they can be more like the fake-ass, lying, mothafuckas that walk this Earth. Eva, Leslie? Ya'll hear me? ” She screamed at us spraying flecks of spit into the air.

The officer tried to lead her towards the car but she jerked away from him. “DJ, and Psi won't no damn saints. Y'all betta run and ruin these niggas! No nigga will eva' run a daughter of mine.
Ever
,” Ava wailed throwing herself down to the red dirt like her legs wouldn't carry her anymore. They had to get someone to grab her by each arm so she could be dragged into the back of the waiting van. I didn't even ask which institution they were taking her to.

 

The sky was rolling itself into the same dark gray as the sidewalk stretched out in front of us. It looked like the sky on the day of Ava's reckoning. That's what I called it in my head, because none of us were allowed to speak about it since it happened. They identified the bodies as Warren Desjardin the man I'd always call daddy and Papa Psion's ass. But the third body was a mystery still. We were all under investigation for a while basically because Ava kept insisting that she'd done it all for us. Eventually they gave her life in an institution. I didn't even bother going to her sentencing or asking the name of the asylum she was put in. She'd done enough damage to my life in the name of help. I ignored the tight feeling in my throat. I was over Ava.

The only person who'd still come out winning was Deacon. He'd managed to convert most of Papa Psion's followers and he even had the nerve to start planning Leslie's choosing ceremony. Everything had changed but at the end of the day everything was still exactly the same. It was still just Leslie and I, no one else, and it was up to me to protect her.

I squelched all the feelings of wrong tugging at the back of my mind focusing instead on getting us as far away from Virginia and Deacon as I could. I was also storming away from a full-tuition scholarship at Norfolk State. Registration was on Tuesday and it sucked to think about missing my freshman year. It cut me to the core not to be able to tell Storie where I was going, but if she got questioned and cracked, that would be it. No part of me wanted anything to do with Deacon especially since my scholarship was probably just a favor someone owed him. As soon as we got where we were going I'd start applying for some community colleges or something.

I marched past all the shops, pubs, and bars that I'd never get to sneak into. I had a taxi pick us up just outside of our neighborhood in Portsmouth. Just in case Deacon went all private-eye on the outgoing calls, I didn't want him figuring out where we were headed. The cab driver kept giving suspicious looks through the mirror the entire time. I'm surprised he didn't snatch my backpack to see if I'd stolen all the silverware and jewelry. I'd never been happier to finally tip and be rid of somebody.

“Are you sure the two of you are supposed to be out here alone?” He asked as we climbed out.

I nodded. “Yeah, my aunt has a brownstone not too far from here. And I go to Norfolk State, this is home for us.” I lied.

Satisfied, he pulled off.

For once I was happy with the cool weather even though it was August. It made it easier to walk however many blocks we had to go. I kept busy by admiring all the old historic buildings, that'd been restored into new storefronts. Even the 7-11 seemed kind of fancy with its old Victorian style storefront with lanterns and pointed archways. We wound up on Boush street. Across the street, park benches and bright pink Dogwood trees lined the familiar brackish brown-green edge of the Elizabeth River. A feeling sank into the pit of my stomach that pulled at the backs of my eyelids where tears hide.

Leslie was doing the damn march of a thousand deaths beside me, dragging her feet like she had cinderblocks tied around her ankles.

She rubbed the back of her hand across her eyes. “Eva, where we goin'? I don't feel good and all this walkin' . . .
what
are we walkin' for? You couldn't get Momma Rose to just drive us to wherever it is? Urrggh.”

I swear this little girl had one more time to moan, groan, or growl at me.
I chewed even harder on the strings of my hoodie to keep the wind from whipping it off. Bad habit, but I didn't have any gum and Leslie was about to get on every last one of my frazzled nerves. We were excused from church because she was sick, not play sick but for real sick. It honestly just sounded like she was coming down with a cold. I'd promised to stay home and take care of her. Since Momma Rose hated missing the chance to show off one of her new outfits she was more than appreciative. There wouldn't be many opportunities for me to be alone with Leslie before Deacon started brainwashing her into choosing ceremony.

I gave her hand a soft squeeze. “We're goin' to the Amtrak station and taking a train to Atlanta. You can sleep all the way there, I promise.”

After months of what I'd call “borrowing” from the church's collection I finally felt like I had enough to get us away. Three thousand should get our tickets and get us into an apartment until I could start working.
I hope.
At least this way the money could go towards something useful. It was usually put towards Deacon's mortgage or Sue and Momma Rose's massage or shopping expenses anyway.

“Dang, Eva slow down. What's in Atlanta? Are Deacon and Momma Rose meetin' us there? Eva?”

My backpack cut into my shoulder but I couldn't slow down to adjust it or to accommodate Leslie. All her questions and whining were annoying me. We only had another couple of hours before Deacon and Momma Rose got home from church and discovered us gone and even less time than that before the sky opened up.

It'd have been nice if I had a car. We were kept under too tight of a leash for that kind of freedom. Deacon had stood in the doorway of my bedroom for a good thirty-two seconds with his lip twisted up in sour disapproval when he found out we'd miss service. He finally gave in, ordering me to check on Momma Rose's navy beans and ham simmering in the crock-pot. Then he rolled out taking my damn cell phone with him. Times like this made me wish I'd learned how to hot-wire a car.

I didn't want to catch another cab or take a bus to the station. The less people we dealt with on our way out of town the better off we'd be. I'd planned on walking but it was already creeping past ten-fifteen and we needed to be there by eleven-thirty.

“Eva? What in the world are you doing out here in this weather?”

I physically deflated at the sight of Derian. He stepped out of the Towne Bank's revolving doors directly in front of us. My grip tightened protectively on Leslie's hand. The last time I eavesdropped on one of Deacon's meetings it was this grown-ass pervert that started asking about a choosing for Leslie.

I squinted past him like I hadn't heard a word he'd just said. The wind whipped his tie in all directions like a cloth viper. His old ass stayed in the middle of women's business, clucking and starting more mess than a man should. Anything I said could and would be misconstrued to make me sound like I was up to worst than no good, so the less I said the better.

I put on my best fake-friendly voice. “Can't talk, running errands for Sue . . .”

For the first time in history the mean calculating look left his eyes. He focused on something behind me. The smile fell from his face. He turned into a live-action marionette with a bad ventriloquist. His mouth was moving, but someone put him on mute. My fingers went cold and numb. I was too scared to turn around. Scared that Deacon, was standing there holding up that bloody crime-scene'esque Choosing rabbit.

People trickled out of the buildings and stopped their cars in the street. They rushed by us, their faces were masks of confused panic. Nature's weather-man turned the wind up from weave-destroyer to full blown wind-tunnel. It was as if someone lifted a train out of the station and dropped it right behind me. Leslie and I both jumped from the sudden clap of thunder, she started pulling hard on my hand.

“Please just take me back home now Eva,” Leslie begged.

She sounded terrified over the sound of blood rushing to my ears. Out just past the boardwalk and the docks where the ocean went on for miles, a funnel stretched down from clouds into the water. This wasn't anything like those videos from storm chasers. The videos didn't make me feel conflicted for staring in awe while terror was seizing my insides, pulling at my feet to move.

“I've never seen a water spout,” Derian whispered in awe.

The word water spout didn't even sound like something that would look like God's finger reaching down to stir up a body of water. It looked more like a water-tornado. Shame on Deacon, he just had to take my frickin' phone. Everyone rushed out to snap pictures of what I overheard one lady behind me say was an anomaly on the east coast. The Navy ships docked next to the Nauticus museum groaned against their chains. They dipped and rocked from the wind stirred up by the funnel of gray clouds and water churning out in the middle of the river.

Lightening crackling across the sky followed by monster-raindrops was my sign to get us back on course. Leslie was already sick, the last thing I needed was for her to come down with pneumonia or something crazy and it be my fault. We left Derian standing slack-jawed along with everyone else. The rain started coming down sideways in blinding sheets overflowing the gutters. It never took much to make Downtown Norfolk flood. I flexed my toes against the squishy wetness of my socks inside my sneakers. Deacon's ears should have been ringing from all the names I called him in my head. And that's when the screaming started. Without even thinking or looking to see what had happened, I scooped Leslie up into my arms.
Big mistake.

With her head over my shoulder she could see everything. She shrieked, cried, and screamed ear splitting gibberish in my ear. I sprinted, chanting like a marathon runner on the last steps of a 5K run. We were just a few feet away from a squat brick building. People were tripping over each other someone was even driving on the sidewalk trying to bypass all the other cars. The wind picked up until it felt impossible to run against it with Leslie's weight. Huge nervous bubbles swelled up in my stomach turning me into a human lava lamp. I glanced back for one second, and felt the glass around my lava lamp go to pieces.

The water spout had decided to grow itself some legs, turning into a nightmarish blackish-gray churning tornado. I tripped up onto the sidewalk in front of a small brick diner. My hands slipped off the handles as I tried to yank the doors open. A small lady with short reddish-brown hair stood on the other side of the glass staring back at me.

“Open the door,” I shouted over the wind when I realized it was locked.

She stared at me with Leslie in my arms. Her Bambi-wide eyes were apologetic and full of fear as she raised her trembling fingers to cover her lips. I could see people crouched behind counters and table tops behind her.

Fire blitzed through my veins hot enough to dry the rain off my skin. I sucked in a quick breath and moved on to find a safe place away from glass and bricks. My chest felt like my rib cage had shrunk five times over. Leslie had her arms and legs wrapped around me so tight she was starting to cut off my air.

I stopped underneath an awning. The entrance of the building was nowhere in sight and I needed to get somewhere fast so I could take a knee before I passed out. My eyes flew to a part of the sidewalk where four crumbling cement steps led down to a flat brick wall. It looked like it might have led down to an old doorway that was walled up with bricks. Pushing my drenched hair back from my face I coaxed Leslie down tucking my backpack beside us.

I kneeled pulling her tight into my chest. The sky swirled black behind her, hail the size of waffle balls bounced to the ground and the wind was finally so loud it hurt my ears. Squeezing my eyes shut, I focused on using my body to shield hers.

“Get out! You bitches get the fuck out!”

My eyes snapped open at the sound of the high pitched yell.

Derian, of all people was running right at us.

The brick building across the street crumbled like a graham cracker before he threw himself at us. His elbow connected with my eye.

Pain seared across the bridge of my nose shooting down the back of my neck.

He snatched up my backpack throwing it out into the wind and I felt something far worse than my aching face.

“I said get the fuck out!” He screamed, not even sounding like himself.

The space wasn't big enough for all three of us. This time he grabbed for Leslie. Before he could get his hands around her he was snatched up onto the sidewalk.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? She's got a little girl with her. Take this storm and this ass whoopin' like a man nigga. You don't fuck with women and children.
Now
, put your hands on me, c'mon.” The man who yoked Derian's ass up pounded away at him like an angry grizzly bear. He accented each word with a punch or a knee to his face or his stomach. By the time he was done the tornado was gone.

I climbed up the steps, speechless at how different the street looked. The rain slowed to a drizzle and the wind was barely blowing. The building with the little diner was nothing but a pile of crumbled bricks. Hot miserable tears filled my eyes. They didn't deserve my tears but I still felt sorry for them even as I scanned the street for my backpack. All of my money was in there and without it that storm might as well have done us in. I pressed my fingers to the bridge of my nose and stood there shaking my head at my situation. Derian's legs might as well have been made of rubber. He was trying to stand but kept toppling back down to the concrete.

Our rescuer brushed off his jeans and smoothed the wrinkles out of his soaked olive-green polo shirt. He wasn't even out of breath as he made his way over to us. “I think this makes the second time I've saved you. So you owe me a date.”

My face hurt so bad I couldn't even frown at the man. “All I owe you is a thank you. And you've got me confused with–”

“No, I know you. You're mom is Hannah Lecter–”

I snatched up Leslie's hand and started walking. The lava lamp was back except this time I could feel myself turning bright red. How long would I have to be connected to Ava this or Ava that?