Hood Ornaments

He walked around to the back of the house and jimmied the back door. He knew Stacey and Dennis weren’t home because they had said something about going down the shore for the night to celebrate the announcement of his new brother or sister.

But he didn’t have time to think about that now.

He had to take care of Tori. He carefully carried her through the house and up the steps. He felt horrible for leaving her in the hallway while he ran the bathwater. One good thing about older homes were the old -fashioned tubs. Malik’s tub happened to be a huge claw foot tub. He put some body wash in the tub and let it bubble up. He then picked Tori up and brought her into the bathroom to lay her on the palette of bath towels that were spread across the floor. It was at that point he heard her moan and he knelt down next to her.

“Tor? You awake hon?”

He heard her whisper, “Barely.”

“Do you want a bath?”

She nodded.

“Okay Love, I am not trying to hurt you, but I have to get you undressed okay?”

The next whisper was barely audible.

“I know you would never hurt me; it’s okay.”

She then began coughing again and attempted to spit out more blood. Malik grabbed a towel and wiped her mouth.

“Listen Love, don’t try to talk anymore. They really did a number on your throat. Tap me once for yes, twice for no okay?”

Tori tapped his forearm.

“Good girl. I am going to undress you now is that okay?”

She tapped him again.

“Okay, I may have to rip your dress is that okay?”

Another tap.

Tori took a deep breath and pulled Malik by his shirt. He leaned into her closer so she didn’t have to strain her voice as much.

“Give…me…the…ring”. She said while attempting to grab at the chain that was no longer there.

When she realized there was nothing around her neck but pain, Tori let out an awful scream then passed out.

Malik undressed her, bathed her, carried her though the house again and down into the basement. He then laid her across his futon still wrapped in the largest bath towel that the household had.

It was then that he called Dell and told him to bring over some XXL t-shirts, old gym shorts, socks and cocoa butter.

Dell slid across the kitchen and went down the basement steps. When he got to the bottom and saw Tori wrapped in a towel all bruised up he took a deep breath and hung his head.

“She say anything?”

Malik shook his head.

“She asked about a ring right before she passed out. Did you give her a ring?”

Dell shook his head, “Maybe Tony…”

In the faintest whisper Tori said, “They took my father’s ring.” Dell rushed over to her side, opened the cocoa butter and began to lotion her feet.

“Who Tori? Who did this to you?”

Malik interrupted.

“They did a number on her throat; she can barely talk.”

Tori tapped Malik’s forearm twice then swallowed hard.

“No, I can tell him now.”

“Are you sure?” Malik asked.

She tapped him once.

Dell looked confused, so Malik explained what the number of taps meant as Dell began to lotion her shins.

A little less strained Tori said, “It was Platypus, Pop-Pop and Will.”

Dell yelled and stood up.

“I am going to kill those motherfuckers!”

Tori started smacking at his leg in double time. Malik was vehemently shaking his head and went to the dresser to grab his piece. Tori was still smacking at Dell’s leg. Almost panting he shifted his position on the bed so he could hold and lotion her. Tori leaned back into his chest and held her hand out for Malik. With a raised brow, he carefully handed Tori the gun. She took it, looked in the chamber and cocked it like she had been handling guns all her life.

As if that wasn’t shocking enough, what Tori was able to say without whispering was worse.

“No Dell, you ain’t gonna kill nobody; I am.

What happened in the next few hours was somewhat of a blur for everyone.

After Tori handed the gun back to Malik, there was a confused conversation about when and how Tony was going to be told.

The fact she was able to comprehend, conspire and contribute to the conversation stunned Dell. He appeared to be more emotional about the situation than Tori herself. She seemed cold and not just emotionally.

She literally was cold to the touch.

“Maybe we don’t have to tell him at all,” Dell said as he continued to rub cocoa butter on her chilled limbs. Malik dropped his head before taking apart the gun for cleaning on the other side of the room.

“Of course we have to tell him, Rondell. He is my boyfriend. He has a right to know,” Tori said bluntly.

“Besides, I am going to need all the help I can disposing of these fuckers’ bodies.”

Malik was not a bit affected by Tori’s declaration as if hearing her plotting her revenge was common place. It was Dell who was shocked. He went upstairs and brought her down a large mug of tea. Tori took one look at Dell, read his mind and chuckled to herself.

She took a long sip of her tea and forced herself to swallow. “Look, they ripped my Father’s ring off my neck. It was the only thing that I had of him. That and a faded picture of him and my mother. It is one thing to take my body. It is another to take my heart.”

Rondell then swallowed as if he were drinking tea.

Malik had finished cleaning the gun and put it back in the drawer.

“But to be honest, my issue really isn’t Tony. He will do what I tell him to. Shit, he will do what y’all tell him too. My concern is with Trudy. This is going to kill her.”

Those were the words needed to get Dell to stop thinking with his emotions and start using his head. He tilted Tori’s chin upward and noticed that even in that small amount of time, the cocoa butter was starting to soften her cuts and scrapes. He was worried about the gravel embedded under her eye. It looked as though it was pushing itself out of her face. He winced as he thought about how that was going to leave a horrible scar. Then he felt like an asshole for even thinking about something so superficial. The emotional scars were going to be a heavier cross to carry.

“Stop looking at me like that Rondell. I am going to be okay.” Tori snipped as she turned her head away from him.

“I know you are Tor, but I have to leave for about a half hour. Are you going to be okay while I am gone? Do you need anything?”

“Bring Tony back with you. Tell him so I don’t have to.”

Dell kissed the top of Tori’s head and gave Malik an upward nod of acknowledgment before running up the basement steps and down to the waterfront. He took out his cell phone, pressed a button, and sighed heavily for he knew the hell of this day was just gonna get exceedingly hotter.

The phone rang several times before it went to voicemail. Dell hung up, because truthfully, he had no idea how to begin explaining what happened. It wasn’t his fault, but somehow he felt responsible,

He knew Sticks was going to tell him he was responsible. All kinds of thoughts were going through Dell’s mind as the condominium building loomed over him. The sporadic nature of the occupants’ lighting from the windows resembled fangs. Taunting to tear him into a thousand pieces at a moments’ notice.

Sort of what he expected Sticks to do.

He decided to text Tony telling him not to ask any questions but to come to the benches at the Waterfront.

“Aiight, one. “

All Dell could do was exhale heavily.

“Yeah one,” he thought to himself.

One more person he would have to explain himself to.

One more person who wouldn’t understand.

One more person who knew.

One more piece of the puzzle.

One more part of the plan.

The phone in his hand buzzed and vibrated.

“Yo,” Dell answered.

“Yo?” was Sticks’ reply, “You ain’t a gangsta no mo college boy. Answer the phone with hello or get real proper on my ass and say salutations or some shit. But don’t answer yo. Especially if you bother to look at the caller-id and know it’s me.”

“Unc, I need to talk to you.”

Sticks expression changed as he recognized the seriousness in his nephews’ tone. He sat up in bed, smacked Jasmine’s ass and ushered her out of the bedroom with the wave of his hand.

“Is there a problem?” Sticks asked frowning.

“Yes, it’s bad.” Dell said wincing.

“Where are you?”

“Out front.”

“Don’t say anything else, I am on my way down.”

Sticks exited the building and walked with purpose down the cement path leading to the benches. Dell was sitting on the back of one of the benches. Sticks did the same. He balanced his elbows on his knees and rubbed his chin with his index fingers before glancing at his nephew.

Dell looked like he hadn’t slept in days. The bags under his eyes were more like luggage.

Sticks ran every possibility through his mind at least twice.

He couldn’t have gone to jail because Luke would have been blowing up his phone for bail money. He didn’t have a scratch on him or any blood on his clothes, so he couldn’t have gotten into a fight. He didn’t own a gun, so…

Sticks was starting to annoy himself with the guessing game he was playing in his head. He blinked one long, hard, blink and looked at Dell who was staring at him looking entirely petrified. Normally evoking that kind of fear in a person would make Sticks’ chest swell up with pride.

Maybe he was getting soft because all he could manage to do right now was feel bad for the kid.

“You know I left a fine ass nekkid woman upstairs, so this shit better be important,” Sticks said as nonchalantly as he could.

With that Dell let out a long sigh and told him moment by moment what had happened. His voice was breaking up in parts as if he were going to cry. Sticks didn’t speak nor did his expression change. Not until Dell got up and stood in front of his uncle and began to apologize with sobs caught in his throat.

Sticks then jumped up and embraced his nephew.

Hard.

Then Dell began to sob.

Hard.

Sticks held the boy and cupped the back of his head in his hand until he had stopped sobbing.

Dell inhaled deeply and took a step back as Sticks sat down on the bench, “Tori should go home but we can’t send her to Trudy…”

Sticks cut him off, “I will take care of Trudy and the motherfuckers who did this to Tori.” He then stood up and looked his nephew in the eye.

“No one blames you. You did nothing wrong. You did everything by the book and I am proud of you. Okay?”

Dell nodded and motioned his head toward the cement path as his phone rang. Tony was coming up the path with a confused frown. His eyes were darting back and forth between Dell and Sticks as Dell answered his phone.

“What’s going on Leek?”

“Dell, she’s gone.”

All of the air left Dell’s lungs and his knees gave out from under him. Sticks and Tony grabbed him in the nick of time before tumbled like a house of cards. They sat him on the bench.

“The fuck you sayin, Leek?” Dell’s voice cracked when he spoke.

“No, no Dell no. My bad, I mean she left.”

“Left?!!” Dell asked in shock.

“And she took my piece.”

Dell’s face was soaked in horror and sweat. His eyes began to dart back and forth between Tony and his uncle.