“Hello?” she says groggily.
“Ebony,” I croak.
“Who is this?” she asks, sounding alarmed.
I clear my throat. “It’s me.”
“Essence? What’s wrong? Are you alright?”
I try to answer her question, but I start crying again, and I can’t stop.
“Where are you? I’m coming to get you.”
CHAPTER 28
ESSENCE
The warmthof the mid-afternoon sun wakes me from a restless sleep. I sit up in bed covered in a cold sweat. The room I’m in doesn’t look familiar at first, and I start to panic before remembering I’m at my sister’s house.
Last night wasn’t a dream.
No, it was a fuckingnightmare. No corner of my mind was safe from the gruesome sight I’d witnessed.
The man I had been fantasizing about is a cold-blooded killer. All he could do was laugh as my boyfriend lay dead at his feet.
My stomach turns violently. I jump off the bed and run towards the bathroom, but I’m unable to make it in time before I’m falling to my knees and vomiting all over the floor.
“Essence?” Ebony calls from down the hall. I hear her rapid footsteps pounding on the hardwood floors before she’s at my side pulling me up.
“I’m sorry,” I say on a sob, wiping the tears streaming down my face.
Ebony gently sits me down on the edge of the bed and hands me a glass of water from the nightstand. “Don’t apologize, babe. You’ve been through enough.”
While my sister cleans my mess, I sip on the water and take deep breaths to calm the nausea roiling in my stomach. I have to call Dante to check on Lunchbox and to let him know what happened. He’s probably worried about me right now, and I feel horrible that I can’t get into contact with him.
Maybe I could call the fire station? But I don’t know even know which one he works at.
I set the glass down on the table and sigh.
This is all so fucked. I’d silently begged and pleaded with myself for years to leave Evan, but now that he’s gone, all I feel is this emptiness inside of me. To be honest, I don’t even know if it’s so much that he’s dead than it ishowhe died. It never once crossed my mind that the masked man was capable of doing something so violent and depraved.
Ebony comes to sit beside me on the bed. My body molds to hers as she wraps her arms around me and pulls me close. I bury my face in her thick curls as a fresh wave of tears overtakes me.
I’m not sure how long we sit like that, but the sound of Matthew’s little footsteps slapping against the hardwood floors brings me back to the present.
“Aunt Essy!” he squeals, running into the room and jumping into my lap with the cutest little laugh. “You’re here!”
“Hey, buddy.”
Matthew bounces up and down in my lap in excitement, but I still hold him as tight as possible.
Ebony runs her hands through his thick afro. “Be gentle with Auntie, baby. She’s not feeling well.”
He pulls away and looks up at me with those big brown eyes I love so much. “Are you sick?”
I give him a small smile. “My tummy doesn’t feel very good.”
He jumps off my lap. “I’ll get you some medicine,” he calls behind him as he runs out the door.
