The Long Road Back Ch. 10

It was a little over a month since that night when Hawk told me about his past. I was sitting on the couch watching TV. Mom had John for the weekend and Hawk was at work. Tomorrow was Hawk's birthday and I knew I wanted to do something special for him. I couldn't decide what to do.

I had already ordered the cake from the local Safeway, (a white cake with chocolate frosting and a raspberry middle, with the words Happy Birthday Hawk written on it in yellow frosting).

I knew that Amy and Jericho were driving up for the party. They would be here later tonight. Robert and Suzanne would be here along with their daughter Rose who they had named after me. a long with mom and Jeff.

I had talked to Suzanne about inviting their mother but she said that wasn't a good idea. Their mother hadn't talked to Hawk since the day their father died. All I knew about their mother was that she was living somewhere up in Oregon. Suzanne told me that was all she wanted to know. Her and her mother had lost touch after she had gone to college. She hadn't even met Robert and Suzanne liked it that way.

I still hadn't bought Hawk a birthday present. I knew I wanted it to be special. Then it hit me. I had seen the perfect thing at the mall yesterday. Grabbing my purse and keys, I left the house.

20 minutes later I arrived at the 3 star mall. Quickly I walked through the mall ignoring the other people as I looked for the shop.

Within five minutes I found it and the clock was still there. It was in the shape of a Hawk with the clock hands and screws making up the belly of the hawk. I knew it was perfect. I looked at the price tag. $150.00. "Well Hawk is worth it." I told myself as I walked into the shop.

10 minutes later I walked out of the store with the clock wrapped up and under my arm.

It was a cold day so I decided to stop off at Frankie's coffee shop for a latte before I headed for home. I was standing in line when I heard someone call my name. Turning around I saw someone I hadn't seen in over seven years and hoped to never see again.

"I thought that was you." Sheila said walking up to me. I looked her over; she hadn't changed much in the past seven years. She was still skinny as a rail, although looking at her I was pretty sure she was probably anorexic she was so skinny. Her once bright red hair was just a dull shade of red now and her eyes didn't sparkle anymore. As a matter of fact they looked dead.

I pasted a fake smile on my face. "Hey, how you doing? I heard you left town."

Sheila nodded. "Yea. Moved back east and got married, even had a couple of kids. I left my old man though when he decided I made a pretty good punching bag. So here I am. Back staying with my mom until I can get my life together."

I nodded. "That's good." I looked around nervously. "Um...are you still doing the drugs?"

Sheila quickly looked around before waving her arms around. "Shhhh...you wanna get me arrested or something. No...I don't do the drugs anymore." I sighed in relief. "I sell them now." She said in a low whisper.

I looked at her in shock. Grabbing her arm, I moved out of the line, pulling her over into a corner. "Are you crazy?" I asked releasing her as if she had the plague.

She just looked at me like I had lost my mind. "Hey I gotta put food on the table somehow and I make pretty good money doing what I do."

I just shook my head. "There are other ways of making money."

Sheila shook her head. "Not for me there isn't. The only two things I'm good at is what I'm doing and spreading my legs. I won't sell my body just to feed a couple of snot nose brats."

I just stared at her. I couldn't believe that anyone would talk about their children like that. "You could get a job like a normal person." I said defensively.

Sheila laughed at this, laughed so hard that people were turning to stare at us. "Shhhh...." I said smiling at the people until they turned away.

"Oh that's funny." She said wiping her eyes. "Me get a job....who in his right mind is gonna hire me?"

"Lots of places," I said defensively.

Once again she looked at me as if I had lost my mind. "Yea right. The girl, who dropped out of high school, has no skills, and the only thing she's good at is being a whore." Again people turned to stare at us.

Grabbing her arm, I pulled her out of the mall towards my car. "Would you keep your voice down?" I hissed as the January wind tore at my jacket.

We reached my car, before she tore herself out of my grip. "Sorry didn't mean to make a scene in there. Besides like I was saying about the best I could do is get a job at someplace like McDonalds or something like that and I make more money in one day doing what I do then I would get in a month at a place like that."

I looked at her with pity in my eyes. "What happened to you Sheila? You were one of the brightest kids in our class. Everybody expected you to make valedictorian."

She laughed again, this time sourly. "Yea well, shit happens." Suddenly she leaned close to me. "You wanna buy some? I got a dime bag on me. It'll cost ya $50.00; she pulled a small bag filled with white powder out of her purse. That's actually cheaper then I usually charge my clients.

I moved back away from her as if I had been burned. "No thanks. I gave up that stuff a long time ago.

She looked at me a minute, shrugged her shoulders and put the bag back into her bag. "Your loss." Then she scrutinized me for a minute. She looked over my designer jeans; my purple sweater that looked like it belonged in a magazine for Macy's and my Rolex watch that Hawk had gotten me for Christmas. "Boy don't you look snazzy. You have really come up in the world from the girl who showed up on my doorstep with tears in her eyes."

I didn't want to remember that day. My life was so much better now. I had a man who loved me, a son who thought the world of me and my family back. I didn't need Sheila or her drugs anymore. "Yea well I grew up." I sneered at her. "Maybe you should."

She looked at me affronted all of a sudden. I never saw her hand come up until it slapped me across the face. In retaliation I slapped her back. Then she grabbed my hair and we started wrestling around on the frozen ground.

She tried to scratch me; I tried to rip her eyes out. When she bit my hand I backhanded her. I don't know how much time past as we wrestled there on the icy ground in front of the mall. All I knew was that I wanted to pay her back for ruining my life all those years ago.

"I do what I have to do to survive." She screamed at me as she got on top of me and hit me with a right hook across the face.

"There are better ways to survive." I retaliated as I kicked her in the stomach. When she landed on the ground trying to catch her breath, I moved over her and started hitting whatever part of her I could reach. "You ruined my life." I said between each blow. "I should kill you for it."

Just then I felt a pair of strong arms pull me off of her. I kept swinging at her but the man holding me just held me tightly. He pinned my arms to my side. I struggled against him trying to get to her again.

When Sheila stood up she came after me again with her nails. Suddenly there was another man holding her back. "You are a bitch, Crystal Miller." She screamed trying to break the hold of the man holding her. "I should have let Jeremiah screw you that day you came over to my house. He wanted to but I said no cause you were my friend."

I struggled even harder against the hands holding me. I wanted to tear her throat out. "If I ever see you again Bitch, I will kill you." I screamed.

I didn't realize how soon those words would come back to haunt me.

When the police showed up the man holding me grudgingly let me go, although he kept a tight hold on my arm to keep me from going after Sheila again. Sheila had quit struggling against the man holding her and was crying.

"Okay what is going on here?" the first officer a short, round one said with an unlit cigar stuck in his mouth.

I didn't say anything so the man holding me said it for me. "My brother and I came out of the mall and found these two at each others throats. I think if we hadn't pulled them apart they would have killed each other. Especially this one." He shook my arm.

I forcefully pulled it out of his grasp. "I wasn't gonna kill her." I said glaring at him.

He just stared at me, his green eyes stern. "No offense lady but I just stood here and heard you tell her that if you ever saw her again you would kill her."

"Oh really?"

I looked at the cop. "I was angry. That's all."

"What's your name miss?" He asked pulling a pad and pen out of his pocket.

"Crystal Anderson," then I gave him my address.

He turned to Sheila, who told him her name, address, then admitted that yes she had started the fight and no she didn't want to press charges; she just wanted to go home to her kids. The officer asked a few more questions then finally said we could go but he didn't want any more trouble.

It wasn't until Hawk got home later and saw me that I realized I had a black eye, a fat lip and bruised knuckles. "What happened?" He asked after he got over the shock, he had come into the kitchen where I was cooking dinner.

I looked down at the floor. "I ...um...I got into a fight."

I heard Hawk walk towards me, and then felt his fingers lift my chin. "That much is obvious. Who looks worse, you or them?"

I actually smiled. "Actually I think she does."

I saw that Hawk was trying to look stern but his eyes shined with curiosity while a half smile curved up his lips. "Okay, what happened?"

"I went to the mall to get your birthday present." I said referring to the brightly wrapped package sitting on the kitchen table. I checked the package as soon as I got in the car and sighed in relief that it hadn't been broken during the fight. "And I...um...kind of ran into an old friend."

Hawk's eyes darkened. "What kind of old friend?"

I looked at him. "Not that kind of old friend." I saw him relax. "I ran into Sheila Rodriguez; The girl who I used to get my drugs from."

"Oh..." He said crossing his arms over his chest. "That kind of old friend."

"Yea well..." I moved over to the table, sitting down. "We started talking, she's selling drugs now. She offered me some."

Hawk was quickly at my side taking my hand in his. "You didn't?"

I smiled at him. "No I didn't." He visibly relaxed. "Anyway, we were talking and the next thing I know we were wrestling around on the icy ground. A couple of guys came out of the mall, saw us, broke us apart and called the cops."

Just then the doorbell rang. "Oh that's probably Amy and Jericho." I stood up, and quickly moved over to answer the door.

When I opened the door I stared, Amy looked like a small whale, she was so big. "Boy you look like your gonna pop any minute." I said in awe.

She just chuckled as she gave me a sideways hug. "Nice to see you to."

Jericho just smiled next to her.

I blushed suddenly realizing what I had said. "I'm sorry, come on in." I moved back to let them into the house.

Hawk walked over, hugging Amy carefully then shook Jericho's hand. "I'm glad you guys could make it, although..." he looked at Amy's stomach. "Maybe you should have waited until after the baby was born."

"Relax you guys..." She said waddling over to the couch so she could carefully sit down. "I've still got two weeks before this one makes an appearance."

I looked from Amy, to Jericho then over to Hawk, a huge smile on my face. God it was nice to be around friends.

We stayed up half the night talking and laughing over old times. Finally around 3am, Hawk told us it was time for bed. He helped me set up the pullout couch, then we said goodnight and went to our room.

We made love quietly so not to bother Amy and Jericho then fell asleep in each others arms.

***

At 5:00 the next day I thought life was perfect. The party was in full swing. Everybody was having a good time and Hawk was just finishing opening his presents. His eyes glowed with joy when he saw the clock I got him. "Thank you baby, I love it." He said kissing me softly.

I was taking some empty cake plates into the kitchen when the doorbell rang. Putting the plates on the table, I answered the door. There were two police officers standing there. "Can I help you?" I asked.

Suddenly one of the officers pushed his way into the house and grabbed me pulling my hands behind my back. "Hey what's going on?" Hawk cried jumping up. Everyone in the room turned to look at me.

"Crystal Anderson, you are under arrest." The officer holding me said as he clicked handcuffs onto my wrists.

"What's the charge?" Hawk demanded striding towards us determinedly.

The officer looked at him, "murder, of one Sheila Rodriguez."

The air in the room suddenly felt too strong to breathe. I couldn't get my breath. I just looked from one set of eyes to another. Each set I looked at was filled with shock. Without a word, I felt the officer pull on my arm and followed him out of the house.

To BE CONTINUED:

Sorry about the cliffhanger, but the next part was too long to put them together. I know, short chapter, I promise, the next one will be longer.