A yellow taxi zips by, and I cross so quickly I touch its back bumper with my leg.
Rows of colorful blooms line the store’s exterior. I snatch tulips from a bucket as my feet don’t miss a beat. These gold petals look pretty good to me.
Of the jaded owner behind the counter I quickly ask, “Baby formula?” She waves like she’s trying to swat me out of her line of vision, directing me to the farthest aisle.
I pass rows of floor-to-ceiling shelves packed with everything you could possibly need at a last-minute notice. Confused, I find she directed me to the refrigeration aisle, but no baby products are anywhere to be found.
I race to the end, past yogurt, cheese, cold cuts, and turn right.
Thank God.
Snatching a bag of diapers with the right age range on them, and the priciest formula in three seconds flat, I head up to pay.
Adrenaline is a magical drug.
This feeling fuels my family back home, but it just isn’t how I want to live. Life should be easy going, filled with joy, love, and earned memories you’ll never want to forget. That’s what I’m looking for and I see it shining back from Stacy’s eyes whenever I look into them and whenever I dream about them when she’s gone.
I followed her home even though she had begged me not to. After she went in, I watched him return. As soon as he disappeared inside I called Daniel, told him my plan even as it was seething to fruition in my protective mind.
I give him credit for being on board without hesitation. I lucked out when I got him as a roommate. He said, “We’ve got room!” and aired out the apartment out of respect to the beautifully innocent little lungs that were about to join us full-time. And he did a pretty damn good job with no notice.
Slow fingers scan my items into an old cash register that should have been thrown out twenty years ago. One of the ways these people get to be rich is that they’re so cheap. But who wants to live like that? If you’re going to sit behind that thing and look at it every single day for hours, maybe invest in something from this era, and clean it? Why the brown gunk crusted under taped messages telling us which credit cards won’t be accepted?
Disdainful eyelashes flick to my face as she informs me the amount due. My credit card gets me out of here before she can even finish, “Have a good—”
“You too.”
Strangers of all nationalities come at me from both directions, all with expressionless faces. Because of my mental state, there’s something eerie about them. Every set of eyes I glance to won’t look back at me. A crowd of hypnotized people.
I’m searching for him before I burst into my apartment building and sprint up the stairs. Sliding my key in the lock it hits me: from here on out behind this door will be me, my girl, and her child.
And Daniel.
“Tonk, you’re back!” he says as they both rush over to me while I lock us in.
Stacy stares at the golden tulips I offer and her eyes liquify as she hugs her daughter close.
I inform them, “Now that we’re all inside we have to call the police.”
Daniel pulls out his phone while I take Celia from her mother’s arms so that Stacy can prepare the formula.
It all moves so fast.
Blocking his number, Dan gives them Stacy’s address and says that he suspects a woman and her baby are in danger. He heard screaming, things broken behind locked doors. They need to hurry. He thinks he heard the woman scream just now.
Stacy’s breaths are short as she works fast while I hold Celia. I guide them to the most comfortable armchair we own which sits facing the dark screen with gunshots normally exploding from the speakers. Daniel had better find a new video game to play.
“You okay?” I ask her as I kneel down beside them. Celia’s tired lips latch onto the bottle. “I got the one that came with this in the package. Is it the right brand? Is there enough nutrition? I can go back.”
Her beautiful walnut-brown eyes settle on me. “Tonk, please stay. Please stay for a long time.”
I rise up a little in order to kiss her properly. Not with tongue or anything. Just with the desperation of needing her to know how much I want for our future.
“Stacy, I will fight for you. In court or with my fists. I will protect you and Celia. When I look into your eyes I know I want them staring back at me forever. Why second guess something that feels this good?”
A knock at the door swings all three of our heads toward it while Celia’s lashes close from sheer exhaustion. Her mouth is determined to eat while she sleeps.
“That was quick,” I frown as Daniel goes to let in the police.
He shrugs, “That’s New York for you.”
“Make sure you ask who it is.”
He doesn’t hear me and opens the door out of relief to get this behind us. The monster explodes through it, sweaty, with his pants blood-stained, dark red crusted on his face.
He punches Daniel so hard he falls back and hits his head against the wall, collapsing onto the floor.
Stacy gasps, “Victor!” jumping in her chair as she clutches Celia close.
I lunge for Victor with my thumbs leading the way. I grab onto his leg and dig them both into the wound. His pain and fury bellows through the apartment, making Celia wail, and Stacy cry.
He grabs my head and pounds me to the ground, chambering his leg to kick me in the gut, and he hits his mark.
I grunt and fight for air.
Reaching around his knees I struggle to buckle them so he falls. He’s punching my head. I
