Smothered by Beth Stafford (good summer reads .TXT) 📕

smile to my face. I couldn't bear to think of a life without him in it.
A beeping horn blared in the distance, snatching me away from my reverie. My head snapped up, my eyes blinded by the glare of on-coming headlights. The tooting grew louder and louder as the car approached, and I gripped my fingernails into Reggie's back, suddenly terrified.
The car pulled up alongside us, and Gaven jumped out of the back. Before I had a chance to speak, he was wrestling me away from Reggie, as three more men — including Howard — emerged from the vehicle and started to bind Reggie's hands behind his back.
I screamed for Reggie, struggling against Gaven's grip, but it was useless. Howard and his accomplices had Reggie subdued in a matter of seconds, his mouth gagged, his arms and legs bound. All I could do was howl as the car screeched away from the curb, carrying Reggie with it.
"Gaven, what's going on?"
"He needed to be dealt with. We can't let him poison you."
I kicked Gaven hard in the shin, and his hold on me slackened enough for me to wriggle free.
"The only difference between me and Reggie is the colour of our skin." I said, my voice shaking with rage and fear. "He's more of a man—a decent man—than you'll ever be!"
"He's a black, Jean. Don't degrade yourself any further by talking about him like this."
I slapped Gaven hard across the face. "He's the love of my life. I love him... I love him so much."
I sank to my knees, no longer able to maintain the façade that I was strong enough to deal with this. "Please, tell me where they're taking him."
My voice was hoarse with tears, and I buried my face in my hands.
Gaven seemed to falter, and he knelt down beside me. "They're just taking him out of town. Away from you. Life will be back to normal before you know it."
"I don't want life to be back to normal," I said, unable to summon the strength to physically display how I was feeling. "Life without Reggie isn't worth living. He saved me."
"You keep saying that, and I don't understand why. What could he have possibly saved you from."
I raised my face to meet his gaze, and saw genuine concern there. "He saved me from Howard."
"Howard? What do you mean?"
"Howard tried to... He tried to... Force himself on me. Reggie stopped him. Reggie saved me."
Gaven went silent, his mouth gaping open as though shell-shocked."Howard did what?"
"At the dance. I didn't tell you because I was so ashamed... No-one ever seemed to care when I tried to tell them the truth about Howard."
Gaven gathered me in his arms, and I didn't resist. "I care, Jean. I've always cared. Why didn't you tell me? You can always tell me."
I just shook my head. I couldn't speak any longer. All I could think about was Reggie, tied up like an animal in the back of Howard's car. All I could think about was what they were going to do to him...
"I'm so sorry... I didn't know. If I did... Come on, we need to go."
"Where?"
"We need to get Father's car, and we need to find Howard."
A wave of hope bubbled up within me, and I flung my arms around Gaven's neck.

§§§

Gaven and I spent the better part of the early morning trawling the streets for any sign of Howard and his mob. Howard hadn't told Gaven where they were taking Reggie, only that they were going to, "deal with him."
Those words had made my blood run cold. By the time the sky was blushing with the first traces of dawn, I knew our efforts were futile. All we could do was wait for Howard to show himself.
When we returned home, I refused to sleep. I nestled myself in the window box, scanning the road outside for Howard's car, or maybe even for Reggie. But no sign came. By nightfall, I was so drained physically and emotionally that I fell asleep in the window box, never wanting to leave my post.
It wasn't until Monday morning that I heard the news. A body had been found, strung up in a barn, so battered that it was near impossible to get a positive identification. I can't tell you much of what happened after that moment, because everything from that point on tends to fade into obscurity. Perhaps that's the mind's way of numbing the full force of grief. Reggie's mother reported him missing, and she was only able to confirm the body was his by the small, tear-shaped birthmark on his collarbone. But by then I already knew the body in the barn had been Reggie; I had known since the moment that car drove away that I'd never see Reggie alive again. I just didn't want to believe it.
Despite the dual testimony that Gaven and I gave at Reggie's murder trial, the judge deemed that there wasn't enough evidence to convict Howard or his accomplices. To me, that was the final injustice. A beautiful life, snuffed out because of hatred and ignorance, and then never rectified.
Howard went on to become a doctor, and he did marry a girl from our town, but that's as far about his life as I know. I moved away from New Orleans as soon as I could, trying to bury my past in a place where I could never see it, or feel it.
I got a job as a secretary (not exactly the life my Father had envisioned for me), married a clerk and had two children to him. But Reggie is always there, in the back of my mind, a constant reminder to what my life could have been like, and the way in which he saved me from it.

Imprint

Publication Date: 09-24-2011

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
Please Note: I do not intend to be offensive with this piece; I tried to write in a way consistent with a 1950s state-of-mind. I apologise sincerely if anyone finds this to be inappropriate. — Beth