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“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that,” Desi interrupted Chariece’s thoughts.

“Said what?”

“That you couldn’t break up…never mind. Just tell me why you ended up in a holding cell.”

“It was mostly for trespassing. Darius made it seem worse than what it was.”

“Trespassing? I thought you said it happened here.”

“Well it started here. It was my fault really. It always is…” Chariece’s voice trailed off.

She didn’t really want to go into details because she felt stupid, but she knew Desi wasn’t going to let up until she heard the whole story.

She’d asked Darius to come over the night before. She knew it was a bad idea, but she couldn’t help missing him. They’d been dealing with each other for ten years—she wasn’t going to get over him within a couple of months. Apparently, he felt the same way because he showed up. At least, that’s how she took it at the time.

Chariece prepared a nice dinner, and they talked over food and drinks. Eventually they made their way to her bedroom. It felt like old times…until he abruptly jumped up and got dressed to leave.

“You’re leaving right now?” Chariece asked.

“Yeah, what’s the problem?” Darius responded.

“I mean, we just had sex…”

“Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“Yeah, but…just stay. We can watch movies. Maybe go to breakfast in the morning…”

“Chariece, come on now. You know that’s not what this is.”

She should have stopped talking then and let him leave, but of course she didn’t. As he headed towards the front of the house to leave, she threw on a robe and followed right behind him. She screamed, cried, pushed him, and knocked things over.

“How many times you gonna get mad and destroy your own house?” Darius finally yelled.

Chariece stopped and looked around but didn’t respond.

“See you’re crazy. This is why we’re done. Don’t call me again.”

Chariece flinched when the door slammed shut. At the time, cleaning up then going to his place to apologize seemed like the right thing to do—so she did.

Darius didn’t live far. He’d only asked her to come by once, and that was to pick up something of hers that he accidentally packed when he moved out. She knew he would be irritated initially, but she really did want to apologize. She even brought him a plate of left-over food as a peace offering.

 “Before you say anything, I’m here to apologize,” Chariece said as soon as Darius opened the door.

“Now is not a good time.”

 “Well, just take this. Maybe we can talk later.”

 “Who is that?” A woman asked from inside the apartment.

Chariece forced the door open and saw the other woman walking towards the door. She was coming out of the kitchen with two glasses of wine in her hands. Chariece was filled with some much rage, she started to tremble. “I can’t believe you,” she said to Darius quietly.

“Darius? What’s going on?” the woman came closer. “You told me you were single.”

“I am single,” Darius responded.

“You just left my bed. It’s been what? An hour or two?” Chariece was still speaking softly, trying to keep her composure.

“Okay, I’m out,” the other woman said. “I don’t want to be involved in whatever this is you have going on.”

“I don’t have anything going on!” Darius yelled. “I’m not with her!”

Chariece slammed her fist into the door, “We were together for years! You just left my house and now you’re going to act like it was nothing!”

“I’m sorry,” the woman said to Chariece, as she eased past her and down the steps to the parking lot.

Chariece stepped inside and slammed the door shut behind her.

“You need to get out! Now!” Darius yelled.

 “You owe me an explanation.”

“I don’t owe you shit!”

The screaming match continued until the police showed up. They’d received several calls from concerned neighbors. Between Darius saying that Chariece forced her way in and refused to leave, and the scratches he had on him from earlier, they determined that Chariece was the aggressor and took her in.

By the time Chariece finished her story, Desi was visibly concerned. “I’m worried about you.”

“I’ll be fine. Trust me, getting arrested was a real eye-opener. I know I need to leave Darius alone for good.”

“Yeah, but…”

“I’m okay. All I need now is some sleep.”

“Alright, I can take a hint,” Desi said as she stood up to leave. “I’m coming back on Friday though. I don’t want you to be alone. Especially not this weekend.”

“Why this weekend?”

“Well, you know. Valentine’s Day.”

“Girl, don’t be silly. We never did anything for Valentine’s Day anyway. Darius had me convinced that it was just a money grab for Hallmark.”

“But still, I want to come by.”

 “If you insist,” Chariece gave in as they hugged goodbye.

The rest of the week passed without much excitement. Chariece did her best to get back into her normal routine and forget about Darius. She did give in and call him once, but of course he didn’t answer. She figured he had her blocked because she was blocked from all of his social media accounts. Maybe it was for the best.

Chariece called Desi to cancel her visit on Valentine’s Day. She didn’t feel like having company. She was convinced that all she needed was closure to move on. One last conversation. One reason why he never gave them a real chance. And that’s all she asked for when she showed up to his apartment that night.

Darius opened the door, but wouldn’t let her inside. “You know you shouldn’t be here.”

“I know. But I was hoping we could talk calmly.”

“We haven’t talked calmly in months.”

“May I come in?”

“No,” Darius said, and stepped outside. He closed the door behind him. Either someone was in there or he wanted to make it clear that she was not welcomed inside his apartment.

“Okay, I guess we can do this out here.”

“Chariece, what do you want me to say? We talked about this so many times. I told you I didn’t want a relationship and you were cool with that. Right?”

“I know, but I—”

“No! There’s no buts. You knew what it was. I’m tired of talking about this!” Darius was yelling now.

Chariece heard a door creak and turned to see a neighbor peeking out at them.

“See! I’m not doing this shit again. They gon’ be calling the cops in a minute.” Darius grabbed Chariece by her arm and tried to force her towards the steps. “You need to leave. Now!”

“Let go of me!”

“Just leave! Just go!”

More neighbors peeked out of their doorways as Chariece and Darius struggled by the steps. She held on to the banister and yanked her arm away from him. He stumbled backwards and tripped over the edge of the first step. Chariece reached for him, but it was too late. All she could do was watch and scream as Darius tumbled down the flight of concrete steps.

Neighbors gathered around and made frantic 911 calls. Chariece stood in shock, staring at the blood pooled around Darius’s head at the bottom of the steps. After a few moments she pulled out her phone and called Desi. “I need your help again.”

 “What’s wrong this time?”

 “Darius.”

“Chariece—”

“It’s bad, Desi. Meet me here or at the police station.” Chariece hung up phone and sat on the steps and cried until the policed arrived.

The End.

Written By: S.M. Grady

© 2020 S.M. Grady

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