Ms. Masochist

XXV

Gloria's Story

I felt a hand gently shake my shoulder and my eyes quickly fluttered open. Niko's aunt stood before me with a floral dress on and her salt and pepper hair pinned up into a french roll. She smiled softly at me and handed me a cup. 

"It's an old home remedy, it'll help with your jaw, and any other ache you may have," 

I slowly drunk out of the cup, trusting the old woman and it tasted really good. She watched me the whole time as I slowly drunk it. It wasn't much to drink so it didn't take me long at all. I handed her back the cup and she smiled at me again. 

"You and your baby follow me, Imma show y'all to the bathroom to clean ya' selves up," 

I nodded my head and I wrapped Renee up in my arms. I followed the woman out of the barn and into the house. She took me to a bathroom that was right off of the living room. It was a nice sized bathroom with a tub, shower, and a double sink vanity. 

"Take ya time baby, breakfast will be ready for ya when ya get out," 

I smiled at her, as a way to say thank you. I couldn't believe that anyone could be so nice. I wanted to be weary of her but something in me, deep in me told me that I could trust her. I looked at Renee who was still asleep in my arms. I gently woke her up and she looked at me with sad eyes. She hated being woken up from her sleep. 

"Come on baby," I said to her. 

I filled up the tub with warm water and sat her in there. She knew how to bathe herself good so I didn't have to worry about her. While she was in the tub I quickly jumped in the shower. I took a brisk shower and got out to see Renee still bathing. I wrapped a towel around my wet naked body and helped Renee finish the rest of her bath. Even though she could bath herself good I still liked to help her just to make sure. 

Once she was finished I dried her off. Then I realized that we had no clean clothes. I kissed my teeth until I saw a small armoir in the corner of the bathroom. It had different sized clothes in there. I grabbed a simple white tee and shorts for myself. For Renee I chose a cute little casual dress for Renee. I quickly got us dressed and walked out of the bathroom. 

Just as the woman had promised breakfast was ready for us on the table. Niko was sitting there, eating his eggs and bacon happily. We sat down in two chairs across from him. 

"I hope yall like eggs and bacon," the woman said. 

"We do," Renee said and I smiled. 

"Well that's good," 

We all ate in silence until Niko handed me a pen and paper. I looked up at him, I was very confused. 

"I have some questions for you, you can write down the answers," 

I nodded my head and waited for him to ask whatever he had to ask me. 

"Who did this to you?" I heard him ask. 

I picked up the pen but my hands shook violently. I couldn't put pen to the pad to even write an answer. My nerves were shot and tears began to flow down from my face. I had been holding in my feelings for so long and now they were just coming out. 

"Cool out on the questions Niko," I heard his aunt say. 

"Aunt Cicely, I just want to know what happened to her," 

I breathed in and out slowly until I calmed down and I wrote the answer on the paper. 

"So your boyfriend did this to you, what is your name and your baby girl's name?" he asked. 

I wrote that down on the paper too and showed it to him. His aunt looked too. 

"Well Gloria and Renee, you can stay as long as you need to get on your feet," Cicely said. 

I smiled on the inside, happy that I didn't have to worry about looking for a place for us so fast. 

"She stayed with us for about a year, and we all grew so close. Gloria and I began having an intimate relationship and then she started getting sick. One day she just up and left me. My aunt told me that she believed Gloria was pregnant and then I realized why she left. She told me her last boyfriend almost beat her to death when she told him she was pregnant so she was scared. I wish she would've stayed, I would have never harmed her," Niko said to Beyonce. 

"Why didn't you go after her?" Beyonce asked him. 

He shook his head. 

"I did but it was like she had fell off the face of the earth. I did find her one day though," 

"What are you doing out here Gloria?" I asked her. 

"What ya' think I'm doin'?" she aske sarcastically. 

She had on nothing but a thin, see through tank top and mini skirt with high heels on. You could look at her and tell she had been selling herself. 

"Why'd you leave me? We could've been good together! You'd rather be out here whoring yourself!" I yelled at her. 

She just looked at me, her eyes were dead. She wasn't the same Gloria anymore, only a shell of the woman that I once knew. 

"I don't know," was all she said before she walked away. 

"I found out about Shawn in the newspaper a few weeks later when they said that Gloria had gone missing. I went looking for him too but he had already been taken away and no one knew where he was," he said to us. 

"So you have no clue why Gloria actually left?" 

He swallowed the lump that had been sitting in his throat for so long. 

"All I knew is that she had mental health issues, her whole family does. Her ex was even worst. I wouldn't be surprised if Renee turned out to be a lunatic. Gloria just went wherever the wind took her. After that traumatic relationship she had with Renee's father she was scared to love again." 

Beyonce simply nodded her head, kind of understanding what he was saying. 

"So, did she kill herself?" Beyonce asked, something she had been wondering for so long. 

"I honestly believe that she did. Gloria wouldn't just leave her kids and not come back. She had turned into a messed up person but she loved her kids so much. You could tell that," 

"Well thank you for taking the time out of your day to tell us all of us this sir," I said to him. 

"Hold up! I want to meet Shawn, I'm more than sure I'm his father. I want to get to know him. I know it might seem too late but I have so much to tell him," Niko said. 

Beyonce didn't know what to say. She wanted to just tell him yes but she never knew how Shawn would react to things. He could either be really happy or pissed off. She didn't want Shawn to take his anger or emotions out on her again. She couldn't deal with it if he did it again. She looked at Taraji, wondering if Taraji knew what she should do. Taraji looked back at her and nodded her head, signaling that she should let the man meet Shawn. 

"You can meet him, I'm not sure how he will react so be prepared for anything," Beyonce said to him. 

"I pray that this doesn't go wrong," she whispered lowly to herself.