Stone Heart

Imani

Chapter Two: Imani

Imani looked at me with disgust after he left. I tried not to look directly a her, I knew she was going to yell at me later, so I wanted to get it over with. I walked to her room. I slowly made my way up the stairs, there was a slight creak with each step. I looked back at Imani only to still see that look of disgust and annoyance in her gaze. Why me I thought.

This walk seemed to take forever. It felt like an hour had gone by since we left Imani's living room. We finally made it up the last step. I opened the door to her room, made my way to her bed and lied on my back. I heard the door close and I prepared myself for the worst.

I felt like a child awaiting a beating from a parent. I had accepted my fate and was waiting for the first blow.

"Carlissa, why did you do that?" She spoke quietly as she locked the door. Why wasn't she yelling and screaming like she usually would? I was prepared for an ear full and got nothing but whispers.

"Do what," I screamed trying to get her to yell back at me. I knew this was a yelling moment for her, why wouldn't she take advantage of this. She screamed when it wasn't necessary, so why wouldn't she yell now.

"Carlissa , shut the fuck up. Be quiet," she said demandingly but still in a whisper. What was her problem?

"Why?" I asked in a whisper to play along with her foolishnes.

There was an uneasy silence, then I heard something outside the door. It sounded like there was something right outside the door.

Imani lifted her index finger to her lips indicating she wanted me to be quiet. She turned on her T.V. and motioned for me to come to the window. I walked over to her still trying to be as silent as possible. When I made my way to her she knelt down, so I did the same.

"He is at the door," she whispered in my ear, "when he gets drunk like this he don't know how to act. If we are quiet he will go away."

"Who," I asked, puzzled by the whispers and timidness in her voice.

This is the first time I have ever seen Imani scared. She is strong physically, mentally and emotionally, but right now she looks like a deer in headlights. Her eyes are full of worry and she is very jumpy, flinching at any noise in the room, even the unexpected sounds of the T.V. Imani is the personification of fear at this moment. What is wrong with her?

"Who else," she whispers frightened and annoyed, "Santino. He'll leave in a minute, but we can't be loud any more, not until my mama gets home."

There was something wrong with my best friend that I didn't know about. She has been keeping something from me, something that she needs to get out. I had to get down to the bottom of this.

"Why you actin like a punk Imani? Why the fuck you whispering and actin like a scary ass bitch?" I continued to whisper, but I had to keep my tone blunt. "What did that nigga do to you?"

Our friendship centered on the fact that we were both outspoken, so we didn't have problems holding our tongues for anyone, even each other.

This is why our friendship was so strong and flourished in times of adversity. We could talk to each other any way we wanted and be real with each other and neither of us would get mad. If we couldn't be honest with each other, then this wasn't a friendship, it was just lies between to close people.

Imani's eyes looked glassy, then I saw it. Tears had filled her eyes. Her eyes were like a dam ready to burst from too much rainwater, then it happened. A single tear fell from her left eye and ran down her cheek to the corner of her lips. The streak of a water glistened on her ebony skin.

"Santino raped me... He got drunk one day... and came to my room and layed down with me. He kept calling me Santiera and... rubbing on my chest and thighs... I yelled at him to stop... then I tried to run. He grabbed me by my shorts and threw me on the floor."

With every sentence more and more tears rolled down her cheeks. Her voice cracked with the agony she felt from the words escaping her lips. Snot ran down her nose onto her lips. Then I felt my eyes beginning to water. The tears began to rain from my eyes.

"His hands slipped my shorts off... I yelled for my mama but she never came, and I yelled for him to stop but he never did. I kicked him when his cold hands touched my quivering body... He fell back, so I ran to the door... He tripped me and I blacked out. I woke up while he was inside me... I cried and begged him to stop... he just told me  'Shut the fuck up, I'm almost done'."

"Imani," I said gently and remorsefully, "why didn't you tell anybody? Why didn't you... why did he... "

My thoughts were everywhere, I couldn't communicate what I was feeling. My thoughts and emotions collided with one another. The thought of a grown ass man having sex with a 15 year old girl was sickening. What kind of sick disturbed monster would do this to someone. My friend... my best friend is distraught while he his doing God knows what.

"This is fucking bullshit," I said under my breath as I reached for Imani.

She was shaking in my arms and sniffling as I embraced her. How could he. That fucking bastard kissed my damn hand. I wish I could separate it from the rest of my body. I clenched the hand he kissed, my left hand, and punched the floor.

"You a bitch Santino," I yelled at the top of my lungs. "Santino you a pussy ass, punk ass  bitch nigga. You a bitch Santino. You a fucking bitch."

I never let Imani go. She tried to make me be quiet but I was so angry. I looked out the window. The sun had gone down. The sunset looked beautiful. The colors layered upon one another to create a gorgeous piece. Yellow, red and orange. The red was deep. A scarlet color, like

blood. My anger didn't fade, it grew stronger and deeper, like the scarlet red of the sunset.

"You bitch," I heard from a voice outside Imani's room, "you bitch."

It was Santino yelling from the other side of the door. Imani flinched at the sound of his voice, but I wasn't as uneasy. That inhuman monster put no fear in my heart.

The door knob began to shake, twist and rattle as Santino's yelling got louder. His voice, once peaceful and almost beautiful, was now the worst sound on earth to my ears. It sounded demonic and satanic, but again I was imperturbable. He could not frighten me.

The door finally opened with Santino on the other side.