Chapter 33


    11:37 p.m.


    Lyte sat in the backseat of the cab, huddled in the corner like a horrified child. She wanted the cab


    driver to take his sweet time getting back to her parents'' house. She prayed that every traffic light they


    came across would hold for the longest time. All the woman could see in her mind was the


    disappointed looks on her parents'' faces; not once did she even entertain a single thought of Isaiah.


    She couldn''t even speak the boy''s name inside her own head.


    With every stop the cab made Lyte''s heart dropped to the floor. She didn''t even have the courage


    to nce out the window at the nighttime scenery just to see where she was. All that mattered to her


    was time and how much of that time she could possibly waste inside the span of one evening.


    "Here we are." The cab driver announced as he stopped and put the vehicle in park.


    Lyte finally looked up and out the window to see her house which waspletely ckened. She


    knew that someone was inside and that those people were usually in bed by ten p.m.


    She reached into her pocket and pulled out a five dor bill which she promptly handed to the driver.


    "This is only a down payment." She said. "I need to go inside and do something. Could you please wait


    out here for me? I won''t be that long."


    The young, white man took the bill and replied, "No problem; I''m at the end of my shift anyways."


    Then, with as much skittish mettle as she could assemble Lyte rolled out of the cab and began for


    the front porch.


    "All I need is a hundred and nine dors." She murmured to herself. "I promise I''ll be back before the


    year''s end. I''ll give the money back to you when I return. I just need to go and do something for a


    while."


    The slower she walked the more she recited her ill-fated speech. Before long, however, she found


    herself face to face with the front door.


    Just as Lyte was about to pull out her house key, her eyes caught sight of the door which looked


    somewhat odd. She noticed that the door itself appeared as if it wasn''t closed all the way. Immediately,


    what she had to say to her parents didn''t seem to matter all too much.


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    Lyte lightly shoved the door open and said out loud, "Mama! Daddy!"


    From outside on the porch all Lyte could see were a few shapes and outlines of furniture. She


    clutched her aching stomach at that stage, wondering just what on earth was happening.


    "Lynn." A frail voice called out.


    Lyte nearly went into cardiac arrest at that instant. She recognized her mother''s voice, but the way


    it sounded wasn''t normal. Lyte rushed her way inside.


    "Mama, where are you?" her voice stuttered.


    "We''re over here." Wilma replied. "Your father''s shlight is lying next to the stairs."


    Lyte searched in the dark for the shlight until she eventually stumbled upon it. She then clicked


    the thing on and pointed it in the direction her mother''s voice wasing from. The light shined on


    both her mother and father who were seated on the floor in front of the couch. Her mother was cradling


    her dad in her arms.


    Lyte slowly crept upon her parents. She first focused upon her father who had a deepceration


    across the right side of his face. She could see his hands shaking, while in his eyes was a vacant stare


    that was off in another world. She saw his lips move while soft, incoherent words came out of his


    mouth.


    "They hurt your dad really bad." Wilma uttered while stroking the man''s hair.


    Lyte then tuned the shlight to her mother''s face. Her look was worn, yet somewhat at ease.


    Lyte knew that something had taken ce, but by her mother''sckluster appearance one would


    believe that she was either settled or at least in a state ofplete shock.


    Getting closer with only her shlight, Lyte, with trembling hands and legs asked, "Mama, what


    happened?"


    At first, Wilma only shook her head from left to right. Bing more disturbed by the second, Lyte


    went over and attempted to cut on themp that sat on the end table next to the window.


    "They cut off the power, child. The phones don''t work either."


    Coming back over to her parents, Lyte questioned, "Who cut off the power?"


    "Those people," Wilma continued to shake her head in dismay.


    Kneeling, Lyte persisted, "Mama, what happened here? What happened to you and dad?"


    Wilma''s nd eyes atst connected with Lyte''s. The women stared at each other for a few


    moments before Wilma opened her mouth.


    "They came here and took your child."


    "What?" Lyte lost her breath. "What are you talking about?"


    Wilma only dropped her head to look upon her husband. "Those people came in here. They hurt your


    dad, and then they took your baby."


    By then Lyte was starting to get a headache, not only from the weariness of the days that were


    wearing her nerves thin, but by her mother''s cryptic ramblings.


    "Mama, I don''t understand who you are talking about!" Lyte raised her voice.


    Wilma then looked Lyte in the eye again before saying, "The woman you and your sisters attacked


    in the park. The man she was with, and that devil, too."


    Lyte''s eyes nearly fell right out of their sockets at that moment from sheer fright. She fell


    backwards onto the floor, dropping the shlight.


    "They came in here, and they all took him away."


    Lyte then jumped up from off the floor before reaching and grabbing her mother''s shoulders. She


    violently shook the woman back and forth while screaming, "Mama, what is wrong with you? What is


    going on?"


    "It''s like a disease that branches out to everything...and everyone." Wilma only mumbled in a distant


    tone before refocusing her attention back to Julius who was still muttering sweet nothings.


    "Where did we go wrong?" The man ever so gently purred.


    Lyte gradually got to her quaking feet. What was ironic was that thanks to where she had dropped


    the shlight she was able to watch her parents as she backed out of the house. Neither of them


    looked like the people she grew up knowing all her life. They too, had been gued.


    Lyte stumbled out of the house and down the porch steps, nearly tripping and falling along the way.


    She was hyperventting all the way back to the waiting cab.


    "I thought you forgot all about me." The cab driver snickered.


    Lyte sat in the backseat wheezing in and out. She couldn''t stop herself from shaking and


    slobbering.


    "Are you okay back there?" The driver looked back.


    "Can...can you drive me to the...police station?" She stammered uncontrobly.


    "Uh...sure," he oddly replied before turning around and pulling away.


    Her mother didn''t have to specify who had invaded the house. There was no more exnation or


    storytelling to be deliberated upon. From out of nowhere, and after so many months, Lyte had a


    son all over again, and she couldn''t stop shaking while remembering him reaching out for her back


    inside the bathroom way back in February.


    She couldn''t recall anything her mother said to her back at the house but that her child had been taken.


    It grieved Lyte''s already queasy stomach to know that deep within her, she actually hoped that


    whoever they were, would take Isaiah and themselves far, far away from her.