market.
“Really good, Nina. Really good. And we got our asking price. What more could you ask for?” asked her real estate lawyer with papers in hand for her to sign so he could close the deal.
She inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, looking at her house one last time, hoping she was doing the right thing. It felt like the right thing. The burden on her already felt lighter. She ascended the porch and had already taken out her keys when she noticed that the door was open a crack. Her heart skipped a beat thinking that there was a burglar or an intruder inside.
Maybe it was Dwight. But he had left his key the night they broke up.
Maybe she had left the door ajar. She had become absentminded lately. Just the other day she left a cup of mocha on her car roof only to have the hot liquid spill all over her windshield when she backed out of Dunkin’ Donuts.
Nina gingerly pushed the door wider and yelled, “Hello?”
She got no response.
Nina peered into her house, afraid to go in, not knowing what could be waiting for her. When she reached for the knob to close the door and call the police, she saw a rose petal on the foyer floor.
It was blood-red and unmistakable, just inches from her Nike sneaker. It was too fresh to have been there long, and she couldn’t remember the last time she had flowers in her house. She opened the door a little wider. Her heartbeat accelerated when she saw another rose petal and another and another.
Nina was frightened. She felt in her heart that Dwight hadn’t left the trail of rose petals. Only one man would leave such a subtle and alluring message. Only one man, and that’s what petrified her and excited her all at the same time. The trail of rose petals became one long rainbow, the rainbow Susan said to believe in, the one with the pot of gold at the end. Nina’s first step confirmed her belief and each shaky step after urged her to run in the other direction.
She reached the steps.
She reached the landing where the steps turned and climbed to the second floor.
Nina reached the second floor and the rose petals continued to her bedroom door.
She saw the sun shining on her pillow through the slightly open door. Her knees trembled, her stomach fluttered, and her lips quivered in anticipation.
She wanted to call out his name but couldn’t will her voice to work. The sunlight took on a surreal aura inside her room. She approached the door and stared at the knob.
But she didn’t run, she couldn’t run. The mystery of what awaited her magnetized her. She pushed the door open slowly and what she found stopped her breath.
“Hello, Rahman,” Angel said as he stepped into the classroom.
Angel sat on the floor with her legs folded under her and was reading a book to the nine little girls circled around her. Her gun rested on the floor between her legs.
The teacher remained in Angel’s line of vision but was not part of Angel’s little circle. The girls looked around and saw Rahman.
“
Rahman looked into their smiling faces and could see that they didn’t have any idea of what was happening. He had half expected to find them tied up and gagged. Thanks to Allah they weren’t. But the situation couldn’t have been much worse. They were sitting next to a loaded cannon. Rahman glanced at the teacher. As he expected, Angel had scared her half to death. The teacher was visibly shaken.
“What are you doin’, Angel?” Rahman asked.
“Just tellin’ ’em a story.” Angel smiled at the girls sitting around her so happily.
“Miss Angel, tell us about the dragons and the prince again,” one little girl chimed.
Angel gripped the chain. “Not now, little ones. I need to talk to
“
“Can… can I take the children now, please?” the teacher asked.
“Of course you can go now, but don’t get stupid. Don’t get anyone else hurt,” Angel replied, nodding to Rahman.
“Come on, girls. Let’s go,” the teacher said, and quickly hurried them out of the room.
Angel took out her gun and cocked the hammer.
“Didn’t I tell you you couldn’t win, Roc? I told you that. Remember?”
Rahman kept his eyes on her without speaking. Angel rose from the chair and crossed the room toward him.
“You a true gangsta, Roc. Or should I say, a true Muslim? You’re like a Tupac song, playin’ no games, right?” Angel smiled. “But that was your weakness, the one I knew I could use against you at will.”
“I’m here. I fear nothing except Allah, not even death. So, if you gonna shoot… shoot. I ain’t got all day,” Rahman calmly said. He was completely at peace with the death he was about to meet.
Angel raised the gun and held it sideways to execute a head shot. Rahman braced himself.
“Tell… me… why,” she growled.
“Why what?” Rahman replied, the smell of death burning his nostrils.
“Why? We made a vow, Roc. All of us. We vowed never to turn on each other!” Angel shouted, trembling with rage.
Rahman then saw Angel do something he had never seen her do before. She cried. Fat tears ran down her face. Rahman closed his eyes.
“We were family, Roc… family! And you threw it all away!”
He took a deep breath. He was ready for it to end. “If you gonna shoot,” he opened his eyes and locked his gaze with hers, “shoot.” He didn’t give a damn about her, their past, or anything she was saying. It was too late. Nothing could save him or her from what she was about to do.
She steadied her arm and said, “I still love you, Roc.”
“I love you, too.”
It was his reply but it didn’t come from Rahman. The familiar voice rang in her ears. She just couldn’t believe she was hearing it.
Nina pushed the door open, and her heart fell and leaped at the same time. Fell because he wasn’t there. She had expected to open the door and see the only man who made her body smile all over.
She expected to see Dutch.
She had imagined running into his arms, sticking her tongue down his throat, feeling his warmth all over, both inside and out.
But he wasn’t there.
What made her heart do double-time, however, was what lay on the bed.
Nina had followed the rose-petal trail to her bed. Spelled across her white comforter was a question.
Even the question mark was formed in petals, but the dot below was a one-way ticket to France. Nina covered
