Psalms 42 || Tori Kelly

Shadows

Monday Morning
8:16 AM

Tori woke up in a sports bra and shorts next to her husband. She looked up to see him reading his bible and Sampson crawling all over his arm and side with a bottle in his mouth. "Good morning," Tori whispered as she sat up. André smiled to his wife as Sampson completely turned to his mother and walked to her side of the bed.

"Mam! Baba!" He said showing off his bottle. Tori pulled the baby into their lap and kissed his chubby, soft cheeks.

"Daddy got you a baba?" She rhetorically asked as she rolled out of the bed. André watched Tori set Sampson on her hip and start her morning routine in the bathroom. "I see daddy didn't get you a new diaper," Tori purposely said in loud voice.

"Nope," he chuckled. "Left that one for mommy. It's just pee," he justified. Tori rolled her eyes as a knock on their door sounded. "Come in," André called. Tori quickly slipped her baby to the floor and threw on a t-shirt to cover her growing stomach and slightly exposed chest, in case it was her son.

"Where's mommy?" She heard her youngest daughter call. Tori peaked her head out of the bathroom to capture the teen's attention, before starting to brush her teeth. "Have you seen Irie? She's not in her room, and her phone is off. She texted me last night that she wanted to talk today, but isn't around," Abiah complained. The parents shared a look as André grabbed his phone.

"What do you mean her phone is off?" André worried, pulling out his phone and trying in case, for some reason, Abiah had the wrong number for her sister.

A few moments of silence went by before Tori came out of the bathroom in a hoodie and jeans, with her usual makeup and hair routine. "Damnit," André whispered getting his child voicemail.

"Like I said, her phone is off. And it's never off, and she never came home," Abiah sassed. Tori could see the tension growing between her husband and daughter and immediately stepped between them.

"Hey, fighting isn't going to get her back," Tori declared. "Uhh, Biah, did you try Reggie or Kya? You know she's always with one of them," Tori asked, setting Sammy on the bed as she sipped from her water bottle to take her vitamins and meds. André was shocked to see Tori so calm about the entire situation.

"Yeah. Kya hasn't seen her since the other night and Reggie isn't answering. I think they're together," Abiah answered. "The last thing on Reggie's Snapchat was he and Irie in her car. But she was driving and I couldn't see where they were going," Abiah continued. Concern starting welling in her spirit every second that her sister was away.

—

Irie slowly sat up in the back of her Audi to see Reggie lying next to her under a blanket. A moment of panic washed over the twenty-year-old as she looked under the blanket. A flood of relief washed over her to see both of them fully clothed. "Thank you, Jesus," she whispered. "Reggie, get up. We have to get back to LA. My parents are going to kill me!" Irie rushed. The twenty-one-year-old waved off his woman as she climbed into the front seat. In a new state of urgency, Irie pulled out her phone to see it was completely dead. "No, no, no, no, no!" She stressed.

"Babe, calm down. What's wrong?" Reggie mumbled. Irie tossed her phone in her lap as she started her car.

"My phone is dead. And..." she trailed off, trying to start a battery that had seen its last day, "so is my car. How are we supposed to get home?" She groaned, slapping her custom wrapped steering wheel.

"It's okay. I'll just use my phone," Reggie said, before reaching into his girlfriend's glove compartment to see his phone was also completely dead. With a convicted glance, Reggie met Irie's eyes to see judgment.