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  WITHIN

  By

  Rachel Rae

  ZitrO Publications

  PO Box 25594

  Fayetteville, NC 28314

  919 904 8414

  This is a work of fiction. Any character references or likenesses to persons living or dead are completely coincidental. Actual people and places have been added to give the story a sense of reality.

  Copyright© 2016 ZitrO Publications/

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above. No part of this book may be reproduced into any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written consent from both the author and publisher, ZitrO Publications, except brief quotes used in reviews, interviews, or magazines.

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  Cover Design by Nikki Ortiz/ZitrO Graphics

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  *****************************

  Chapter One

  COURTNEY

  I sat in a huge brown leather chair across from my first patient of the day, my niece Krystle, a 19-year-old young woman who was once very attractive. However, with all the hard times and medication she has recently been taking, it made her seem po’ looking and beat down. Her once curvy body that had any male look twice now looked saggy and unmanaged. Per her mother and her father’s, who is my oldest brother, request; they asked me to evaluate her for her court hearing that would be coming up in about nine months. They wanted to try to persuade the judge that she had some type of illness and that was the reason she killed her fiancé Bishop, so like a good aunt, I agreed and here we are. I listened to her talk the same speech she’s been saying for a week now and honestly, I was tired of hearing it.

  “They say the first step is admitting and I admit what I did was wrong…But what you have to understand is it had to be done. See Bishop…Bishop thought, he was a player or a pimp in real life, when in all actuality he was a FLABB.”

  “And what’s a FLABB?” I asked, doing air quotes.

  “Freeloading…Ass…Baby…Bitch,” she said directly. “He was the most disrespectful man I’d ever known and on top of him hittin’ on me, do you know he had the nerve to cheat on me too? That would drive any woman to kill, I’m telling you, Auntie.”

  “So that’s what drove you to kill the man you said you were in love with for two years? Why didn’t you just leave?” I asked, crossing my left leg over my right.

  “But it wasn’t just me though; the other girls he cheated on me with had their hands in it too! But I’m the only one being charged. Don't you see there’s something wrong with that? It’s a set up!”

  “It’s not a setup, Krystle,” I said calmly.

  “Oh yeah, it’s not, huh? Then why am I the only one being blamed?” She questioned me, pounding her fist into her hand and then sitting back on the sofa.

  “They can’t find any of the girls nowhere, not the address you gave or the names. I’m just saying—” I began, but she quickly cut me off.

  “Oh, so y’all trying to say I made this shit up, Auntie? Is that what it is? I am not crazy! They came to me tellin me what Bishop was doing! I didn’t go lookin’ for them. Okay…okay…honestly, I did tell him to meet me at the Motel 6 on 610, but I didn’t think they would do that to him. I thought we were just going to confront him, you know be like ahh-haa we caught you; then he would choose me and we go back home.”

  “But it didn’t turn out that way, Krys, Bishop died because of what you did.”

  “I didn’t do it Auntie Courtney; it was those girls he cheated on me with!”

  I watched as my niece begin to cry uncontrollably, then abruptly she stopped to wipe her nose on her sleeve, only to start talking again with no signs of the previous tears.

  “I’m gon’ tell you okay? They both came at two separate times at first, we never all met up at once until two weeks ago, when I called Bishop and told him to meet me at the Motel 6. Akira is about my height, five nine, with big, pretty, dark brown eyes. I could look in her eyes and see exactly why Bishop would fall for a girl like that, she was gorgeous, and the ringleader, might I say. She was the one that came up with the plan to get him to meet me.”

  “And what about the other girl?” I asked my niece, watching her sit completely still in the chair, while closing her eyes a time or two trying to remember, it seemed.

  “FiFi,” she laughed. “FiFi would act up; she was the one to calm down all the situations when Akira and I clashed. She would either make some kind of weird joke or do something so different that it would cause us to laugh and focus on what we originally planned on doing at first.”

  “Wait Krystle, I thought you said y'all didn’t all come together until the Motel 6.”

  “That’s right, but we stayed on the phone constantly, sometimes almost all night until Bishop would come home to me, after he left one of the their houses.”

  “Explain please.”

  “Come on, Aunt Courtney. Say for instance he would tell me he was about to leave and go to work or some lie like that, right? I would act cool, run to the window, watch him back up the car and leave out the parking lot. I’ll run to my cell phone and call Akira first; then she would call FiFi. We’ll be on the phone until there would be a knock on one or the other’s door. He was just a dog,” she said, shaking her head.

  I heard a faint tap come from the huge, wall-length mirror, behind the sofa my niece was sitting on. She let out a small chuckle at what seemed like a memory, before the light tap came again, “Krys, would you like something to drink? I know your mouth has to be dry,” I said, forcing a smile.

  “Yeah, that would be good.”

  “I have Sprite, Coke, coffee, water, and tea, which one do you want?”

  “Surprise me; you know, Bishop used to surprise me. I miss our happier days; I miss him. I wish I could go back and stop what we had done to him, you know? Rewind… But that’s not how life’s set up, I suppose.” Krystle sighed, looking down at her hands on her lap.

  “Nope, we can’t go back even if we tried; I’ll go get your drink.” I grunted, standing up, patting her on her knee, and then headed out the door.

  I walked about a foot to the next door labeled “Maintenance”, took a single key out my jean jacket pocket, unlocked the door and walked in. “That key is not for you to use when you want to use it, Tony, damn!” I said, snatching it from his hand. “How long have you been in here listening to what we’ve been talking about anyways? You know this conversation is supposed to be confidential, even if you are the parent.”

  “So? I'm her father and I've been here long enough to know that if my child gets up on the stand in November talking like that, they are going to throw the damn book at her! Why don’t you ask some more questions about where them thot girls stay Courtney? Do you want her to go to jail?”

  “First of all, lower your voice, Tony; it’s a two-way mirror not soundproof. Second, have I ever came to your job while you’re building houses and shit, telling you to use the hammer instead of the damn screwdriver? Hell no, I don’t, so don’t come over here telling me what I should and should not be doing when it comes down to my job; I’ve been doing this for many years now. I got this handled, big bro, please just go ahead and go away for now.”

  He began to walk out, but not before asking a question, which I knew he was going to do. “Aye sis, you think my baby has a chance of getting off with an insanity plea? I mean she was doing real good before her mother and I made her terminate that pregnancy. Maybe w
e made a bad decision, but she was only nineteen and I wanted her to be… We didn't want her to be like us, nineteen and trying to raise a baby, you know?”

  I walked up to my big brother who seemed so broken right now. I’ve had a bunch of parents in the past, wondering if they could have done something different with their kids, and questioning themselves. I just told him the same thing I told other parents before, “Tony, if that's true, then the one thing we all have is free will, we can guide and direct our children the way we would like them to go, and sometimes it just doesn't work out like that. Don't blame yourself, we got this, okay?”

  He gave me a quick hug before glancing back through the two-way mirror at Krystle, then leaving out. I grabbed a Sprite out of the mini fridge, took in a deep breath, and then made my way back to my office where my niece was sitting.

  “Here’s a soda, who are you texting?” I asked, handing her the drink.

  “FiFi.”

  “Well, where is she? Is she planning on turning herself in?”

  “Auntie please, she hasn't even responded yet. I asked her to please call me, because I'm looking real crazy to everyone and I don’t like this feeling, Can we just go? I really don't want to talk anymore today.”

  “We don’t have much time; you know that, don’t you? Your hearing is soon; I know I'm requiring a lot from you at this time and I know it’s hard, but I need you to help me, just as much as you need me to help you. Can you do that for me?”

  “I’ll try, can we go now?”

  I nodded my head yes while holding out my hand, waiting on her to grab it as she always had, from the time she was just a little girl. She looked up from her phone and smiled, grabbed my hand, then stood up.

  “That’s my big girl.” I smiled, pulling her towards my right side, putting my arm around her shoulder.

  We started to walk out when her phone rang and she stopped dead in her tracks.

  “Hello?” she spoke.

  I heard someone speaking loudly on the other end, I couldn't get the whole conversation but the little I did get, made me snatch the phone from her hand.

  “Stop textin’ my fuckin phone with that bullshit! Text me again and you gon’ have some problems!” I heard the girl say as I put the phone to my ear.

  “Excuse me, who is this?”

  “Bitch, you know who this is, the same number you been textin’ with that bullshit! Stop textin’ my phone!”

  The next thing I heard was the dial tone.

  I looked at my niece, then handed her back her cell, “Which one was that?”

  “Akira,” she said, lowering her head as she started to walk again.

  “Call her coward ass back; you aren't about to take the fault for her or anyone else. Like you said earlier, you are guilty of calling him and telling him to meet you, but you didn’t kill him, right?”

  She just nodded her head yes, remaining quiet the whole way to the car and the ride home. I don't know what it was about these particular girls that makes her come so outside of her character, but I know I was going to find out soon, even if it takes me picking her up every day until she told me the whole story.

  Chapter Two

  KRYSTLE

  After my aunt dropped me off, I went straight upstairs to my room. I didn't wanna talk to anybody, I just wanted to lay down. When I reached my room, I thought I may have had enough energy to take off my clothes and shoes, but I didn’t, I just lay across my bed and thought about Akira and FiFi. How could they let me take the fall for all this? I thought we had a bond, a forever friendship. The next couple of days, I did nothing except sit by my phone and wait for one of them to call and say something to me. Apologize… Turn themselves in, but no calls came until my phone rang today.

  “Hello?”

  Silence

  “Hello” I said, putting my cell phone on speaker.

  “Krys? It’s me, FiFi.”

  “So now you call? What was all that shit about the other day? I know you were on the phone when Akira called me, why would you let her do me like that?”

  “Look Krystle, you know she meant no harm. Akira wants us all to meet up in the next couple of days, at that park in the Medical Center, over by the water fountain. Can you come?”

  “I don't want to wait for a couple of days to get my answer, FiFi! I need answers today. Why don't y’all just turn yourselves in? I been calling y'all, needin’ some help and y'all just turn your back on me? Fuck you, FiFi, and fuck Akira! Give me the got damn answers to my questions, both of y’all owe me that much!” I yelled in the phone.

  “You’re right we do. Hold on.”

  It sounded like she covered up the phone to talk; then there was silence for a second. After what seemed like all of five minutes, she came back to the phone.

  “Krystle, are you still there?”

  “Of course I am, I know that was her in the background. Are y’all gon meet me or not?”

  “Yes, that’s the least we can do to tell you where we stand.”

  “I’ll see y’all in about an hour at the waterfall.”

  “Okay, oh and Krystle, don’t tell anyone you’re meeting us, okay?” FiFi whispered.

  “Whatever FiFi,” I said, before hanging up as my dad came walking in. He just stood inside the door, leaning against the frame, as I put my phone down on my white nightstand, and then walked to my closet to pick something out.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, taking a couple of steps towards me.

  “I’m fine, Dad, what is it?” I said, not making any type of eye contact.

  “I thought I heard voices coming from in here.”

  “Of course you did, Dad, I was on the phone and had the call on speaker.” I walked past him, placing some clothes on my full-size bed, and walking back to my closet.

  “Are you about to go someplace?” My dad asked, sitting down on the left corner of the bed.

  I glanced over at him and rolled my eyes, still fumbling through my clothes in the closet.

  “Krystle, come and sit by me for just a second.”

  I did as he asked, and then sighed before asking him what was it he wanted to talk about.

  “I know this whole situation has to be horrible for you, and I can't seem to think that I am the reason you are acting out the way you are. Everything I did…terminating your pregnancy, the making you move back home from college, was all because I was trying to protect you. Your mom and I just didn't want to see you like how we were, do you understand that?”

  “Well, I guess that’s one thing y'all don’t have to worry about no more, huh? I’m worse off,” I said, sucking my teeth.

  “Sweetie, we are proud of everything you’ve accomplished, and still are going to accomplish.”

  “You don’t have to lie about that, Dad. I know you and Momma are not proud that your only child went to college, got pregnant, had an abortion, and is now a suspect in her fiancé’s death. I see how you looked at me when you bailed me out after taking out another mortgage on the house; something y'all could not afford. I see the way Momma is distant from me, disappointment shows in both of your faces. I’m sorry I let you guys down and I plan on making it up to you guys, I promise.”

  “What do you need us to do to help you, Krys? As your parents, what do you need us to do?” he asked, putting his hand across my shoulders.

  “To let me handle it, Dad. I have to get dressed please, I got it.” I kissed his cheek, stood up, grabbed the clothes and proceeded to walk out my room door while he still sat, looking around at the little things in my room. I followed his eyes as they stopped at the medicine bottle sitting on my vanity.

  He stood up walked up to them and picked the bottle up, “Have you been taking these?”

  “Yes, every day like it says on the instruction label.”

  “This bottle is still full and this prescription was given to you over a month ago; you can’t fall behind on these Krystle and you know it. Do you want to get sick again?”

  “It’s not that serious! I
am nineteen years old; I left this house and I have been out on my own for a year, I know my body better than anyone else does. Don’t talk to me like I'm that same little girl I used to be. I’m grown now. Something you and your wife will one day have to understand!” I yelled, storming off to the bathroom, slamming the door.

  *****************************

  Because of the conversation with my dad, I was running late. I sat on the bench next to the waterfall, waiting on Akira and FiFi to show up. I found myself gazing off at the different people that walked past me seeming to live without a care in the world. Meanwhile, I’m feeling stuck and lost some place where no one could reach me.

  “Krystle…” I heard someone say, knocking me out my thoughts.

  “Yeah?” I said, taking my hand placing it slightly above my eyebrows to shield the sun. Through the brightness, I could see two figures moving towards me, I knew by their walk and body form that it was FiFi and Akira. I turned around to my original seating and waited for them to approach me. Akira sat down first, and then FiFi, we were all quiet at first, but not for long, I was getting ready to break this ice and get some answers.

  “You know at first we were all at odds, we didn’t like each other because of Bishop. But in some way or another, we became tight and unpredictable, for y’all to leave me hanging on some shit y’all did was just fucked up!” I began.

  “We didn’t leave you hanging, Krystle, we’ve been right there with you every step of the way,” FiFi said, leaning in.

  I looked around, pretending as if I was looking for something, and then responded, “Bitch where? Because when things went down, you hoes caught ghost! I didn’t even know y’all were going to kill him!”

  “Shut the fuck up, Krystle, you knew; you had this planned. We just executed it for you and now, you wanna play the blame game. Let’s be honest here, I let him go, shit, I wasn't even in love with him like that and neither was FiFi, but we were there when you needed us the most and we did what you couldn’t do! Cut the shit!” Akira yelled.