Hood Ornaments

Dell was cursing Tori under his breath.

Where the fuck did she go?

What’s taking her so long?

This is some bullshit.

Because of the storm, the whole city had lost power.

He was literally walking around in the dark trying to find her. He would stare hard at each passer-by hoping he would get a glimpse of her. It was still humid as hell outside so steam rose from the streets and sidewalks. Dell even tried using the screen of his phone as a makeshift flashlight, but that didn’t work. Then it dawned on him to call her.

The phone rang.

And rang.

And rang.

Then went to voicemail.

He hung up and called again. He heard a computerized version of Rene and Angela’s My First Love playing.

So he hung up.

And called her again.

He heard the song again.

He repeated this several times and began following the song.

He was a little annoyed that Tori lost her cell phone, but he was kinda glad he was going to find it.

And he smiled a little bit when he realized that was his ringtone.

Until he rounded the corner by the donut shop and tripped over her half naked body.

“Take me to Malik’s house.”

That was the only thing Tori said once Dell got her to wake up. He sat on the wet concrete behind the building and pulled her onto his lap. Blood was running down her legs and face, and she was trembling as if she were freezing. It was still dark out so no one could see them. Dell tilted her head towards him and that’s when he saw the handprints on her throat.

“Tori, what happened baby?” He said as he tried to dab at the bloody scrapes on her face with his t-shirt. He kissed her eyebrows and stared deep into her dark eyes.

“Let me call the police Tori.” He said softly into her ear. To his complete and utter shock, Tori forced herself up onto her knees and pushed Dell into the wall with her forearm.

“No police! I asked you to take me to Malik’s.”

Dell started to choke up with tears because judging by the blood, he knew what happened. He let out a whine and attempted to pull her closer to him. But Tori batted at him. All Dell could do was grab her wrists and hold her still. Then a raspy gargle emanated from deep within Tori’s chest and blood started coming out of her mouth.

“Call…Malik…now,” she gasped as she spat a large mouthful of blood onto the pavement. Dell pulled her close to him as he managed to get his cell phone out of his shorts’ pocket. He pressed a button and called Malik. All he was able to get out was that something happened to Tori behind the donut shop and to get there right away.

Malik showed up in less than three minutes.

“What the fuck Dell?” He said as loudly as he could without drawing attention.

Dell began sobbing, “I dunno man. She won’t say anything. She just kept asking for you.”

“Me?” Malik asked slightly confused.

With that Tori pushed herself off of Dell and used her hands to climb up the wall and flipped herself around so her back was against it. It was then that a car drove past with its high beams on. Tori had gravel and glass embedded under her left eye, her throat was so bruised it almost looked black, and the blood was still trickling down her thighs.

“Christ,” Malik said.

Tori grinned a devious grin that startled the shit out of both Dell and Malik.

“Christ ain’t gonna be able to help these fuckers once I get through with them.

“Them?” Dell’s voice cracked.

Tori took a deep breath and grabbed Malik’s forearm to keep her steady, “Rondell Martin. I love you, but take your bitch ass home now.” She spat out more blood as her knees gave way. At that point Malik picked her up and draped her over his shoulder then turned around so Tori could face Dell.

“Do not call the police, Tony or Trudy. I’ll be at Malik’s tonight.” With that she passed out on Malik’s back. The sounds that were coming from Dell were almost child-like. Malik was able to shift Tori to one side so he could put his hand on Dell’s shoulder.

“Just do what she says. I got her; she’ll be fine”.

They took off in separate directions.