I was in a fucked up predicament and I knew it. I obediently pulled over and as the officer approached I thought back to the day Twan was killed and decided to record the stop but wasn't quick enough before he approached the vehicle. "Where u goin' so fast?" The big country white boy asked I was almost sure he was one of the officers that had come to the Orchard while I hid out in the shed. I looked at his badge and saw his name was Ragen Sheppard. I didn't want no damn problems and as he shone his flashlight inside of the car he saw I was dirty as fuck and had been crying, "Are u alright Ma'am?" He placed his hand on his gun to observe his surroundings before I could say "Yes, Im fine." I was so shook up and he could tell, he asked for my license and registration, I leaned toward the glove compartment and thought about Tobias' gun under my seat. I would definitely comply I didn't need a reason for him to search the car. I retrieved the insurance and registration but told him I didn't have my driver's license. He looked at me and then asked for my name, I gave it to him. I was sure I had a warrant, "Date of Birth?" He asked, I said 06/23/1985 before he asked if I was kin to Trenton Myers, his classmate. I said I was his wife. "He asked me to check on the place, the alarm went off, its out of season but it's been people trespassing out here." After he verified I didn't have a warrant I gave him the can I go now look. For some reason he was unsatisfied with my appearance. "Did ya leave anybody back there?"
I told him I hadn't but apparently Trent had mentioned something about I may be in danger if I was there. "Ya know, couples get into it all the time, if ya met somebody back there it's fine, I just wanna make sure noone is after ya."
I told him I hadn't had an altercation with anyone and I had fell trying to close the gate. As if he bought it he told me to slow down and drive safe. I pulled off but sat at the stop sign at least 5 minutes waiting for him to come down the dirt road, he never appeared. I left headed toward Metairie, thanking God for another last chance. As I neared the highway my phone rang, it was Trenton something had told me the officer had called him to verify my claim, but did he know the safe had been opened? That man had to have taken his time to make that vault, because that's what the fuck it was. I needed to get to the bottom of it, literally. I was so sore and my back ached so bad. I thought about everything I had recently been through and knew I had made some wrong decisions somewhere down the line. I decided right then I wanted to live right, Tobias had every intention to kill me. When Trent called back I answered without hesitation, I needed to talk him, I loved him so much and whatever was going on I would be by his side. I knew he had been temporarily dismissed from his duties, he mentioned facing Federal prison time. I remember watching him bathe me that night and seeing the worry on his face before he said yet again, "Ill do anything to protect u Hazel." I believed him.
He paused when I answered the phone, "Where the hell are u?! Get back home to my children RIGHT NOW! Why are u so undisciplined?!" I hated when he talked to me like a child! I was sore, my body ached. I had recently had extensive dialysis and knew I still needed it but was improving my kidneys were beginning to function. I had to be out of my mind for leaving but when Kerri said Daddy was missing I just had to go see what was going on as well as find Redd's letters in the box. "Hello Trent," I said with remorse and prepared for his lecture. "Baby just please go home, I can't protect u when u don't listen! Why did u even go to the Orchard? Who followed u?!"
Why did he feel like someone followed me? He was so secretive and never got straight to the point, "Nobody Trent! I mean we need to talk—Tobias is in the shed! He's froze! I need u to come—"
"He's froze?"
Yes nigga, froze! It's 18 degrees outside, and I don't know how long the nigga had been out there!
"He was standing by the gate, I don't know—-he put a gun to my head and made me open the shed! When we got inside he made me open the vault—-I mean safe!"
"Hazel, tell me u didn't open that safe, how did u open the safe!"
"He made me open it or he would kill me, he was not playing?!"
"Nobody can open that safe, nobody even knew the code! Ok, Hazel we need to talk, but let me think. Why is he still in the shed?"
"Trenton, he's DEAD!"
"Did u kill him too?!"
WHAT
"He FROZE Trenton!"
Did he not believe me? The visual of the shoe hanging on the skeleton's foot disturbed me, as I flew down the interstate I could see images of a skeleton in white shoes and dark clothes in front of the car. I was so scared for my own life it really hadn't donned on me what the fuck I had saw until I headed home, who the fuck was she? Did Trenton know she was down there?! None of it made sense, I became so afraid, what if he had thrown someone down there? I hadn't expected the door to lead to an open space, only God knew what was in there!
"Baby, calm down, I love u. Just go home, Ill catch a flight out first thing in the morning. Don't talk to anyone or tell anyone where you've been."
WHY NOT?
"Are u sure u unlocked it?"
Something told me he knew I had. That body had been in there for years, it had completely decomposed! I was sickened to think my husband had done that to someone and hadn't known whether to go back or not. I could get to my babies and leave with them before he made it back.
"I think I did, um, I don't know, I was scared!"
I waited for his response, why had he suddenly began to call when I arrived at the Orchard? Lord knows I loved that man and swore from that point on I would do right by him, but if he had done something as inhumane as—-
"Just go home Baby, I'll get Lawrence to go to the Orchard and check everything out."
"Ok, I miss u..."
"Go straight home Hazel. I love u, see u in the morning."
Shit, I was confused. This nigga was gonna kill me! I had no one I could run to, he had killed everybody! Mysterious muthafucka!
I said goodbye without mentioning the traffic stop.
By the time Trenton arrived the next morning no one was in the shed. I had known he had talked to the officer because he had apparently told him I had been on a wild rendezvous at the Orchard. Trenton hadn't bought it, he said I was too mischievous to drive that far to screw someone. He thought I was crazy and hadn't been in the safe. I was able to convince him about the shed by telling him about the bullets but until then he had thought I was nuts. Finally he said, "Tobias will be back, but he doesn't know where we are."
I guess life was supposed to just go on, I knew that nigga had froze or overdosed or something! I was nervous as fuck all day everyday and Trenton knew it. I cherished my family more and I soon began to cook, I was recovering and hadn't wanted to waste life. I had had so many last chances I had to embrace my children, I knew what it was like to lose a mother.
My baby finally came home, but was on an oxygen tank around the clock, I loved her so much but I knew—-
My husband spoke of more children but there were too many secrets, I was willing to get everything out in the open if he had done the same. How could he not know I looked inside! He had to know the code. I was afraid to mention what I saw and one day he began to binge drink, and became angry. He would cry and when he would get drunk he would say things like, "Granddad wanted her buried with Mama under the trees," or "He only put her there while he dug the grave."
When I realized that was his way of confessing I accepted it, but realized he hadn't killed anyone and threw them inside. I loved him and realized he had sustained a great deal of emotional injury, I wanted to mend him, we would heal each other.
When we went back to Keithville to sell the home I was glad to be moving away. I hadn't known what was going on with Trent's career but knew we wouldn't be living there anymore, we had started over. I wanted to know about my father so I asked him to take me to his neighborhood, someone had to know something and where was my mother? He refused and said let sleeping dogs lie. When they dragged Red River and found his body I couldn't cry, I was numb, but I was angered. It somehow fueled a rage in me, and I had known Trenton was responsible, "U don't need parents, all we need is each other," he said.
It puzzled me, had he in so many words told me he killed Daddy? He had been missing for a long time! I couldn't even attend the burial, I was so full of hatred but hadn't known who to hate. I demanded he take me to the grave, I had become defiant, he began to sexually punish me but I needed to visit him one more time! I could never heal if I didn't. It was fucked up my children would never have grandparents.
Also, I often wondered why he would only eat apples from a certain tree.