Sabella & Malcolm Ch. 03

She had just stepped inside the house when she and Malcolm heard the Sheriff's car rushing back up Malcolm's driveway.

Malcolm quickly closed the front door and turned to face the Sheriff.

"Did you forget something?" he asked the Sheriff as he exited his car.

"No," Sheriff Jenkins replied deciding to be honest with Malcolm. "I was hoping to get a look at your mystery houseguest."

"Why are you so interested in my houseguest?" Malcolm asked.

"Why are you hiding her?" Jenkins replied.

"Goodbye Sheriff," Malcolm said his tone letting the Sheriff know he wanted him off his property.

"I would like to meet your houseguest," Jenkins said.

"Goodbye, Sheriff," Malcolm said again his tone a little harder to stress his desire that Sheriff Jenkins to get off his property.

"I'll be back," Jenkins said slipping his car into reverse so that he could leave as Malcolm requested.

"Not unless you have a legal right to do so," Malcolm said.

"You know me," Jenkins said smiling as he slowly backed his car down the driveway, "I'll think of something."

While Malcolm was out front dealing with Sheriff Jenkins, Sabella rushed upstairs to the guest bedroom where she left her things.

She heard Frank say that there was a funny noise coming out of her room, and she knew it could only be her cell phone.

She placed it in the charger last night out of her desire to keep things normal, so she did what she did every night before going to bed and that was to place her phone in the charger so it would be ready for her to use the next day.

She rushed into the guest bedroom, closed the door then made her way over to her cell phone and removed it from the charger base.

She sat down on the bed and said a silent prayer to God that her cell phone was indeed working. She looked down at the screen and cried as she read the words "1 missed called" on the screen.

Sabella's breath started rushing out in short pants as her body began to shake she was so overjoyed at what she was seeing. Her phone was still working.

Sabella pulled the information up and saw that the call was from her brother Mark.

With a shaking hand, she pressed the number two button on her phone and sent up another prayer that her call to her brother would go through.

She held her breath as the phone rung one, two, three times before it was answered.

"Hello."

Sabella threw her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming she was so happy to hear her brother's voice and that her phone still worked.

"Mark?"

"Sabella?"

"Yes, it's me," Sabella said tears running down her face.

"Where are you?" Mark asked. "I'm on my way to Tyler because the movers called me and said you weren't there to take possession of your things, and they're threatening to leave everything on the lawn."

"Click."

Sabella hung up. She didn't know how to answer her brother's question. The truth wouldn't make sense to him because it didn't make sense to her, and she was living it.

Sabella's cell phone rung at the same moment that Malcolm knocked on the guest bedroom door and walked into the room.

"Hello," Sabella said answering the phone without thinking.

"What's wrong?" Mark asked his voice filled with concern at the shaky sound of his sister's voice. "Are you alright?"

"No," Sabella said trying not to cry, "I'm not alright."

"Talk to me," Mark said. "Tell me what's going on."

Sabella tried to form the words that would tell her brother what was happening to her, but she couldn't, the words wouldn't leave her mouth.

"I can't explain anything right now," Sabella said hoping her brother would understand and not pressure her. "I'll explain everything when you get to Tyler. I promise."

"Regina and the baby are with me," Mark said.

"Gina and the baby didn't have to come," Sabella said feeling guilty.

"You know Gina wasn't going to let me come to Tyler by myself," Mark said. "She wants to see for herself that you're alright."

"How far away are you from my house?" Sabella asked.

"We should be there in the next thirty minutes," Mark replied.

"I won't be at home when you get there," Sabella said, ""I've got some things to take care of, but you know where I keep the key."

"Alright," Mark said. "I'm expecting an explanation when I see you."

"I'll be ready to give you one," Sabella said.

Sabella pressed the button ending the call and tossed the cell phone onto the bed.

"What is this?" Malcolm asked walking over and picking up the cell phone Sabella tossed on the bed.

"It's a telephone," Sabella said.

"It can't be a telephone," Malcolm said looking at it. "It doesn't have any wires."

"It's a mobile phone," Sabella said. "It doesn't require wires, it operates using a signal from the air. What I don't understand is why and how it's still working. It shouldn't be working because there isn't a tower for it to receive a signal."

"Who were you talking to?" Malcolm asked still staring at the cell phone.

"My brother Mark," Sabella replied. "He and his family are driving to Tyler to make sure, I'm okay. They're on their way to my home, here to see me."

"Are you going to tell them what's happened?"

"I don't know."

"Why don't you know? Are you afraid they won't believe you?"

"Would you believe such a story if someone told it to you?"

"No," Malcolm said answering honestly, "I wouldn't."

"I've got to come up with a way of convincing my brother that I'm telling him the truth before I talk to him again," Sabella said getting up off of the bed and pacing the room, "and I've got only thirty minutes to do it."

"Calm down," Malcolm said putting his hands on her shoulder to stop her pacing. "Just tell your brother the truth. I'm sure he'll believe you."

"I hope you're right," Sabella said. "I really hope you're right."