Anthony's Story by MELODY DUPREE (first ebook reader .txt) 📕

I left his house he told me to take a vacation but I have no clothes over here so I can’t really stay, now can I,” I asked with a faint smile and she shook her head in agreement.

“My dad’s old room has plenty of clothes in the closet that might fit you if you want me to show you which room was his,” she whispered and I silently nodded ‘yes’.

I took her hand and pulled her to her feet and spun her around in a slow circle as she let loose a stream of giggles. I pulled her in close and our lips touched but I noticed that her eyes never left Anthony who was heading up the stairs because Junior was calling him. I heard the bedroom door click shut and then Anthony let loose a scream of pain that had me and Mel running up the stairs in a rush. Mel grabbed the key that was above the door jamb and unlocked the door with me pushing on it with enough force to get it open even though Junior was leaning against it trying to keep it shut. Junior got it closed again and this time there was the sound of a dead bolt sliding into the locked position and then the unmistakable sounds of Anthony’s whimpers and Junior’s footsteps which clearly told me he was walking away from the door. I looked at Mel and she looked at me before I got what she was trying to tell me with her eyes. We took the necessary steps and together we crashed into the door taking it off of its hinges just as Anthony let out another scream of pain. I lunged towards Junior and grabbed him around his waist and taking him to the floor at the same time. The only problem was we landed right on top of Anthony who tried to scramble away even as I noticed that there was a sickening cut on the side of his face.

“Damn Anquan’s not going to like it when I tell him how his son got that cut,” I thought and rolled onto my back taking Junior with me so Anthony could get away from Junior.

Mel pulled Anthony into a standing position and he immediately started to cry just like Junior was because one: Junior knew he was in trouble and two: Anthony believed that he was in trouble with Mel and then again I wouldn’t know. I looked at Mel to see her drag Anthony out of the room and I distinctly heard another door slam shut down the hallway before I let go of Junior. He curled into a ball on his side and let the tears just fall as I got to my feet. I examined the damage done to the door and noticed that the screws had been loosened enough for us to easily take the door off of its hinges the way we did when we crashed into the door. I walked back over to Junior and bent down wrapping my hand around his upper arm and yanked him up into a standing position. My only surprise was that he didn’t fight back not even when I slammed him into the bed and took off my belt and whipped his behind.

“You never attack anyone. I taught you better than that,” I roared as I hit him across his face with the belt to prove my point as it cut the side of his face from his temple to the edge of his jaw.

He slid to the ground at my feet and wrapped his arms around his chest completely ignoring the new bleeding cut. He looked straight ahead not even blinking and I bent down so I was eye level with him. When I made eye contact with him he stared past me like I wasn’t in his face. That had the most terrifying effect on me that I couldn’t help but call for his mother. She was the one to tell me his mind had shut down and to just leave him be for the meantime. I checked him for cuts (besides the one he had gotten from the belt) and bruises and then checked the room for any weapons that could hurt him and finding none I picked him up and gently placed him on the bed and then cleaned the cut to which I received several faint whimpers before I stopped cleaning the wound. After that I left and went to have a nice "talk" with Mel while she supervised Anthony in the living room.

Anthony's point of view

   I was scared. I couldn’t tell if she was angry with me or if she thought I had gotten what I deserved now that I had this cut going down the side of my face. I was sitting on the wide sofa with a wet towel pressed against the side of my face that was bleeding and my master sitting across from me just staring at me. I leant my head back against the back of the sofa and closed my eyes and tried to remember a time when my life wasn’t so complicated and it came to me: my first year of high school which was the day I tried out for the football team.

  *flashback*

“Damn it I’m always running late,” I thought, as I ran to get to the field before tryouts for the football team started.

   I got to the field and dropped my bag down by the bleachers and walked over to where my childhood friends were sitting and I dropped to the ground just as the actual members of the team were arriving on the field. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked up at Jamie Pierce to see him grinning like a Cheshire cat and then he pointed at the guys in uniform and I saw why. Both of his older brothers where on the team and he was dying to join so he could hang out with them every day. Linebackers Junior Lewis and Jasper Moss were forces to be reckoned with on and off the field. No one and I mean no one dared to mess with them unless you didn’t know what they could do and trust me it would haunt you later. I stared at the team not blinking for a few seconds and then I closed my eyes and released a breath I didn’t know I was holding. Then came the coach behind the team. The rumor surrounding the coach and football team of Baltimore High School was that the first woman to play football who happened to be stationed in Baltimore on the Ravens came from this school and had paved the way for women of future generations to play football like she had. The coach turned to face us and with a sigh his one paragraph speech began.

“Now I know six of you boys through your fathers’ incessant talking about you during high school reunions while your mother is a little more reserved about her kids and her life. Anthony I know because I personally invited him to try out even though his father actually advised against it. Which I found quite funny actually. Probably scared his kid will beat his rushing and one interception record he left behind when he went on to college because no wide receiver has yet to beat it unless you count the only girl I ever coached who went on to be the Baltimore Ravens Quarterback. Do your best I do not expect any of you to be done under the time limit that I will set but I do expect your scores in each test area to be extremely high because of who your parents are. Now good luck and I will be back in three hours.”

 Three weeks later I was on the team although my dad wasn’t happy about it. Things had never seemed simpler than they did then.

 *end flashback*

I felt a hand on my leg and I opened my eyes to see Junior’s dad kneeling in front of me one hand on the sofa the other hand on my upper leg just below my thigh. I took the towel from my face and let him clean the wound so it didn’t get infected. Then he did something that really shocked me. He pulled me into a hug and told me that he would take care of telling my dad what had happened so there wouldn’t be a war between him and Mel. I nodded my thanks and looked at Mel quietly asking if I could go to bed and she nodded yes and pointed at the couch which I immediately laid down upon before she said the floor.

 “Ray is this blanket Junior’s or is it from one of the rooms upstairs,” I heard her ask before I could ask for a blanket.

 “It’s Junior’s because his has his name on it and it’s not on his bed back home,” Ray answered and took the blanket upstairs before draping a fresh one over me that was just like the one Junior owned.

I breathed in the scent of my dad just before I fell asleep and I could have sworn that I heard Ray whisper in my master's ear 'let's go have some fun' just as I drifted off.

*dream*

I was walking through a dark cellar. The floor beneath my feet made of nothing but dirt and dust. With the lantern in my hands I noticed that the ground was sprinkled with blood. I followed the trail to a blank stretch of wall and I could tell that the blood trail stopped behind the wall which had to be able to move in order for that to happen. I pushed against the wall and it creaked open as if it was sentencing me to be executed by hanging. I lifted the lantern high and saw a rectangular box covered in a white cloth. Walking up to it I saw that it was made from fine polished oak. The plaque on the top said: 'Here lies Melinda Johnson, the loving wife of James Johnson and mother of Melissa and Joseph Johnson ages 5 and 15.' I lifted the lid much to my curiosity and found a perfectly preserved mummy that was more than likely in her early forties when she died, her white dress covered in her blood; buried before she had stopped breathing. And then I woke up.

*end dream*

I was drenched in sweat that much I could tell by the sticky feeling all over my body. I got up out of bed and went and took a shower before quietly putting on the clothes that had been laid out. After I had gotten dressed I went downstairs and shook my master awake which anyone else doing that would have gotten themselves hurt. She sat up and looked at me with a worried expression on her face as if she could tell or even knew what I had dreamed of. I reluctantly asked the question that had been nagging at the back of my head since I had woken up.

"Mistress how many white people disappeared in that house you own and I mean the original owners," I asked and she turned