A House Betrayed

Columbus, Ohio

Spring 2017

The day was extremely hot and humid one for this time of year. However, that didn't stop the tens of thousands of people who gathered outside of the historic Ohio Stadium. They came from nearby and afar not for a football game mind you, but to witness love ones graduate from the famed Ohio State University. One of those graduating sat hidden amongst the thousands of other graduates. A stunning brunette whose exceptionally bright and highly intelligent young woman. Her physique looked as if a sculptor carved out of marble, but if was from the countless hours she spent at the gym when she wasn’t studying. Charlotte-Jacques Reis her given name, but those who knew her called her Charlie. She glanced up at the podium where Dr. M. K. Samuels stood. She was the first Black-American woman to be named president of the university.

Charlie scanned around the stadium trying to locate Bowen Peck, her boyfriend, but gave up trying. Seeing nothing, but a sea of scarlet and grey clad crowd. She then squinted towards the humid sky wondering if her parents were watching I miss you guys so much. I wish you could be here to witness all that I have accomplished in so little time, Charlie thought to herself. She then turned her attention back to Dr. Samuels who was reading her speech which at times seemed more like an excerpt from a book. She's a distinguished looking woman with short white hair with a pair of thick rimmed glasses attached to a gold chain sat on the brim of her nose. Dr. Samuels came to Ohio State from a small liberal arts college down south. As she spoke Charlie dozed off back to that horrible day that forever changed her life.

An event that she spent the first two years trying to forget with the help of a psychologist, but somehow today that all went by the waste side. The memories were as if it happened yesterday. She was in her room at the Governor's mansion trying to decide which dress to wear to her high school graduation when a knock on her door startled her. “Charlie are you ready?” the woman said in a soft, yet firm tone of voice that penetrated the thick oak door that separated the two of them.

“No mom! You and dad will have to leave without me,” Charlie yelled back over the music that emanated from her iPhone.

“All right dear. Don’t be late you are after all the valedictorian of your class,” Marie-Antoinette Reis said. Which had Charlie laughing out loud for she has never been on time for anything in her short existence and doubted if she would change that today. She made her way over to her window where she saw the security detail that formed out front. Her parents’ prized 1933 Hispano Suiza H6B completely restored to its original state with a few add-ons the Ohio Highway Patrol wanted. Then she saw them exiting the grand manor Marie-Antoinette, her mother leads the way. A tall, beautiful woman with long blonde hair that flowed behind her as she ambled towards the limo. By looking at her you couldn’t tell that she was half-black for she had all the features of a white woman. Dr. Elliot J. Reis, her father followed suit an equally tall, dark and handsome looking man with a square clef chin and a rugged cowboy look about him.

Every woman not related to him wanted to fuck him, but he dare not cross that line. As they went to get into the waiting limousine Marie-Antoinette stopped when she sensed someone was surveying her. She turned to see Charlie standing in her window she blew a kiss towards her then disappeared into the darkness of the limousine. There was another knock on the door this time it was Sofia LeFerve, their maid who has been with them for as long as Charlie has been alive. “Madame Charlotte-Jacques,” she barked her French accent bellowed throughout the second floor. She refused to call her Charlie for she had said that was a boys’ name not fit for her. “May I be of some assistance? Puis-je vous etre utile?” she added as Charlie opened her door grabbed Sofia by the arm and pulled her in slamming it shut behind her.

“Please will you help me decide which dress to wear, Sophia? Pouvez-vous m’aider a decider quelle robe porter, Sophia?” she said pointing to them laying on her bed. One, a Tadashi Shoji the other a Marchesa. Charlie watched as she made her way over to the bed. Charlie watched as Sophia studied them closely before picking the Shoji one a light indigo dress. She ran past her snatching it up off the bed on her way into her bathroom. Charlie returned shortly after stood before her mirror admiring her patrician features. She ran her hands along her curves the tight-fitting dress hugged. Now that’s what I am talking about right there, she said to herself.

“Madam Charlotte-Jacques the boys are going to be drooling at the mouth when they see you in that there dress. That’s if your mother doesn’t kill you first, Madame Charlotte-Jacques les garcons vont baver a la bouche quand ils vous voient dans cette robe la. C’est si ta mere ne te tue pas en premier,” Sophia said.

Charlie laughed as she put on her Louis Vuitton’s she noticed the time “oh shit! Sorry Sophia…Oh merde! Desole Sophia…,” she says as she run past her down the backstairs through the kitchen outside where her brand-new BMW sat idled. It purred to life when Charlie turned the key in its ignition before she peeled out leaving nothing but a cloud of dust in the air and burnt rubber on the pavement. She prayed to God asking if he could clear a path for her in return, she promised to do her best to be on time in the future. Of course, she ran into traffic after weaving in and out of it along Broad Street.

The silence between them was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Marie-Antoinette sat glancing at paperwork she brought with her while Elliot read the newspaper. She decided to break the silence “do you think its time we told Charlie the truth?”

He lowered the newspaper glared out at the city that went by in a blur resting his weary chin on the palm of his hand. “You don’t know how long I agonized over the day when we would have to tell her the truth. I wondered if she would forgive us or despise us. I guess it is something we will have to live with either way. So, the answer to your question is yes! I think we should tell,” he said then returned to reading the paper.

“Fine I think we should tell her this evening during dinner,” she added before the silence made its return.

She sat high above the convention center on a nearby building waiting for her target to arrive. A cigarette hung from her lips and a pair of Prada sunglasses protected her eyes from the harsh sun rays. She had come to town to do a job, one she hopes would be her last, but she knew it would be hard to walk away from the money she makes. A black briefcase sat by her leg on the ground it contained a Chinese-made SK Snipers’ rifle a high-powered silencer and telescope that she managed to sneak into the country piece by piece. Bai Hartley was born in Hong Kong, her father a Black-American who worked in the city, while her mother a Chinese national born in inland China.

She had been barred from mainland China for protesting the country’s human rights issues. They were gunned down while trying to cross the border between Shenzhen and Hong Kong. She was six or seven at the time when it happened Bai held her mother in her arms when a man walked up and pumped two more rounds into her then snatched her from her. The man hauled her off to an orphanage on the outskirts of Beijing where she would stay until she graduated from high school. Bai then struck a deal with the Chinese government to get her education paid for in return she would have to join the Army. After earning her PhD from the University of New Mexico Bai return to China to fulfill her part of the deal she made.

If was there she learn to defend herself using hand-to-hand combat skills. A prodigy of sorts able to mimic her opponent’s skills to defeat them. She also managed to become an expert marksman one the country would use to their advantage until she left. When she returned to Hong Kong Bai found it increasingly hard to find work. No one wanted to hire a half-bred. So, she fell back on the one skill she had in her pocket. She answered an ad placed by one of the local gangs that wanted a government official taken out. They had grown tired of his greedy ways. When she learned who the target was it sent chills up and down her spine. General Won Han Li would sneak into her barracks at night to have his way with her. Bai vowed to get even with one day. Her anger broiled over to rage when she learned he was the one who murdered her parents.

She waited in a downpour outside a restaurant he frequented on a regular basis. Bai pierced through the telescope pulled the trigger once briefly watched as the bullet cut a path through the rain. It broke through the glass barricade striking its intended target in the head. It damm near snapped his neck on impact. Bai quickly cleaned up after herself leaving nothing but the bullet’s casing which she wiped clean. When she met with the leader of the gang, he refused to pay her to full amount so, she took him and anyone else who has seen her. Soon Bai would embark on a career that would take her around the world doing hits. When the target came into sight Bai pieced together the rifle pierced through it pulled the trigger twice. As she broke down the rifle the bullets raced to their target. She checked out of the hotel just the police stormed it.

Charlie arrived in time to march with her classmates into the auditorium unaware of what had happened. Dr. Lillian Hawkins the headmistress at St. Agnes ushered her up to the podium where she stood frozen unable to read a word of her speech. She recalled a technique one of her teacher told them when you find yourself standing before an audience unable to speak. Just picture your audience in their birthday suits, that she did. It scared her right back to the present. “First, I like to thank Dr. H, the staff and faculty, our friends and most important our parents. Without you we wouldn’t be here today,” she said pausing for a round of applause. “Thank you! When we first entered St. Agnes, we were asked one question. What do we hope to gain from our time here? For the most part our answers where the same.

To achieve a level in life equal to or greater than that of our parents! Today we inch everso close to that goal so go out and enjoy today. For tomorrow begins anew. Some of us will go out and join the workforce and start earning out way in society. Some will travel the world on our parents’ dime of course, some will join the military to protect the very freedoms we enjoy today. While the rest of us will go off to some college or university somewhere come fall,” Charlie said as Dr. Hawkins interrupted her. She ordered Charlie to go with her assistant. She followed Ms. Janet Jacke, a British national who came to the US years ago a tall slender woman with light brown hair and green eyes. Charlie tried to abstract information from her, but Ms. Jacke refused to surrender any. She left Charlie alone in a windowless office with its walls painted a tacky yellow color.

There were posters on the walls, posters of cities she hopes to visit like London, Moscow, Paris, Berlin, Casablanca, Istanbul, Rome, Beijing, Tokyo and Sydney to name a few. She sat there wondering why she was there and not with her classmates. Did Dr. H find out I cheated on my last exam? Charlie thought as she knocked on the door. It opens slightly stuck her head in first before entering. She stood out of respect for her a middle-aged woman who had gray ends with big brown eyes that could pierce one’s soul. Dr. Hawkins came to St. Agnes from Georgia Academy in Atlanta. A graduate of Kentucky State University she started teaching in Washington, DC years ago. Charlie studied her closely hoping to figure out why she was there to no veal. “Charlie, I have some bad news and I don’t know how to say it,” she said as her mind started racing.

She knows… how will I tell my parents that I got kicked out of school on my graduation day. Oh, and by the way Ohio State booted me too. “There is no way to say this. Your parents are dead!” Dr. Hawkins said watching as Charlie jumped off her seat screaming at the top of her lungs.

“No that can’t be… I just saw them a few minutes ago,” she said. She knew Dr. Hawkins wouldn’t joke about something like that as she sat down that explains why their seats were emptied. Trooper Jonathan Moreno knocked on the door before entering he was carrying a bulletproof Kevlar vest which he ordered her to put on. She did as she was told hugged Dr. Hawkins goodbye and followed him through a maze of corridors to a rear exit. Where she saw several well-armed troopers standing guard. Charlie got into one of the squad cars that quickly sped off narrowly missed hitting a taxicab. She could see a woman inside who went out of her way to conceal her identity under a huge betmar hat.