“Why is she not opening the door?”
“Babe, calm down. She’s probably just busy.”
“Her apartment is the size of a shoebox. It doesn’t take ten minutes to get from one end to the other. Something is wrong.”
I pushed my ear up to Anna’s door, listening for any noise. I heard the faint hum of the television, but nothing else.
“Maybe she didn’t hear you,” he said.
“Bullshit. She’s not there. Even though she knew we were coming.”
I was fuming. It was finally time to pick Josie up and she wasn’t there. I prayed nothing had happened to her. I would have thought Anna would be happy to get rid of her, practically waiting on her doorstep to hand her over.
I knocked again, this time using my feet, taking my frustration out on the door. “Damn you, Anna,” I yelled but finally stepped back.
There was a crash in the apartment and then a child started crying. A child that sounded a lot like Josie. I looked at Rhett, who didn’t waste any time and tried the door handle. It was locked, no surprise there, but the lock looked flimsy enough. Rhett must have thought so too because he took a step back before throwing his weight against the door. There was a crack, and after he repeated the action a second time, the door splintered and opened.
The smell coming out of the apartment made me gag. It was bad. As in something-had-died-in-there bad. Rhett went inside first. “Wait until I know it’s safe,” he said. Naturally, I ignored his directive and walked right in on his heels. He shot me an annoyed look over his shoulder. “At least stay behind me. I’m serious, Emmi.”
I relented because there was a time when I could get away with being stubborn and this wasn’t it. “Fine.”
The living room was a mess, half eaten food containers and empty bottles littering the table and floor. Sitting amongst the mess was Josie, crying her little eyes out. She was still wearing the same thing she was in when I dropped her off and her hair was one big dreadlock. I wanted to cry. I wanted to hurt someone. But most of all I just wanted to hold her.
I rushed forward, but Rhett stopped me. “Wait. We need to take photos for evidence.”
He got his phone out and took entirely too long to take a damn picture. Josie was holding out her arms, wanting to be picked up, chanting, “Mimi, Mimi, Mimi,” in between wailing.
I heard the click of the camera and stormed forward, unwilling to wait any longer. I picked her up, and my arm was instantly wet from her diaper. She smelled like three day old garbage. But I didn’t care and hugged her to me as tightly as I could without hurting her. She put her arms around my neck and squeezed back, burying her head in my hair.
After we stood there for a few minutes where I was trying not to cry and Josie was clinging on to me, we managed to calm down. Rhett was close, looking as pissed as I’d ever seen him.
“Let’s go,” he ground out. I shared his sentiment of not wanting to spend another second in Anna’s pigsty.
I followed him out the door, making a silent promise to never let Anna get her hands on Josie again. If I had to move to Mexico, so be it. I heard they had nice beaches. I could learn Spanish. It would be fine. Absolutely fine. I’d take Oma and Freddie with me. They would love it. Everyone would love it. We’d all be one big happy family living in Mexico.
“What’s that face you’re making? I don’t know that face yet,” Rhett said when we got back to the car. I had a few spare diapers in my bag and was changing Josie on his backseat where I had spread my jacket out for her to lie on, because leather seats and all. I slathered as much cream as I could on her, the angry red of her skin still shining through.
Rhett was on the phone, making a call to the police that should have happened years ago.
I couldn’t do much about Josie’s clothes, but I didn’t put her pants back on. I picked her up and Rhett moved the jacket onto her car seat. Once she was buckled in, I draped the ends of the jacket over her legs to make sure she didn’t get cold. She didn’t say a word the whole time, just watched us. She looked exhausted. And she didn’t want to let go of my hand, screaming every time I tried to get out from the backseat.
One of the neighbors was leaning over the side, watching us. “It’s about time someone picked up that child. She’s been screaming for two days.”
I wanted to go up there and ask why in the world they wouldn’t have gone over or called the police, but since I was stuck with Josie, and Rhett was already on the edge, I didn’t say anything.
We waited for the squad car to arrive and once the officers took my statement and had a look at Josie, they left to investigate the apartment and we finally drove home.
I ended up sitting in the middle seat, holding Josie’s hand, while Rhett played chauffeur. I tried to talk to her on the way back, but she wouldn’t answer, just stared at me, clutching my hand.
When we finally made it to the house, Freddie came bouncing out the door, followed by a much slower Oma. I unbuckled Josie and got her out on my side, not bothering to walk around to the other side of the car. She clung to me, her hands gripping my shirt as hard as she could.
I felt sick to my stomach, thinking about what Anna had done to her. Freddie stopped mid-stride, mouth gaping open when she saw us approach.
“Josie?” she asked in a hushed whisper, her eyes wide. “Is she okay?”
I shook my head and walked toward the house. “Let’s talk inside, okay? She’s not wearing pants. I don’t want her to get cold.”
Oma was waiting for us on the porch, looking as shocked as Freddie. She covered her mouth with her hands, shaking her head, muttering, “That’s it. I have a full nose. This ends now.” She stomped inside after us, fussing over Josie, who hadn’t acknowledged anyone yet.
