The Curse of 1977 (Book 2)

Chapter 17

"Wake up, honey!" A large, black, female jail guard shouted as she unlocked and opened the cell door.

As though she were awakening from a yearlong coma, Lynnette's eyes slowly and painfully creaked open to see not only the guard, but also her own mother standing outside the cell.

Feeling like her body had been beaten from pillar to post, Lynnette dropped herself off the bed and onto the floor before crawling backwards to the wall.

"No...no," Lynnette held up her hands in self-defense.

With a determined stride, the guard stepped in and grabbed Lynnette by her skinny arms before picking her up from off the floor.

"No, I can't leave!" Lynnette begged, crying along the way.

"Yes you can." The guard carried her out of the cell and down a long hallway with Lynnette's mother following.

Once they reached a door, the guard opened it and went over behind a desk. Lynnette stood next to her mother shaking from fear. Every so often she would glance outside the glass door behind her and tremble even more.Her clothes, from her faded tennis shoes, all the way up to her tattered t-shirt were a brazen mess.

She looked and smelled as though she hadn't cleaned herself in days. The stench of old sweat clung to her skin and clothing like so much dirt.

"We picked your daughter up two nights ago around 38th Street." The guard explained. "She was attempting to rob a convenient store."

Lynnette's mother just looked over at her child as though she didn't even know who Lynnette was all of the sudden. Her expression was so listless.

"But, if you ask me, I truly believe that she wanted to get arrested, just so she could get tossed in here." The guard said. "The store's owner dropped all the charges. But no matter what, your daughter did not want to leave her cell."

Still, Lynnette's mother would not stop staring at her. She remained there beside her with her purse firmly in hand before approaching the desk and signing a few papers.

"Take care of yourself, honey." The guard compassionately sighed.

Taking Lynnette by the arm, her mother had to practically drag her out of the building and to the station wagon out in the parking lot.

Reluctantly, Lynnette got in on the passenger's side and watched as the station behind her grew smaller and smaller the further they drove away.

All Lynnette could do at that point was turn back around in her seat and clinch her body as tight as she could. She didn't even want to look at her mother who was uncannily silent as she tooled along while the car's air-conditioner blew into both of their faces.

As they passed along the city streets, all Lynnette's fretful eyes wanted to do was ogle at each and every person that walked down the sidewalk. It didn't matter how fast they seemed to fly by, she made sure to watch each soul as though her life depended upon it.

"You know, you and your sisters all think that your father and I are a couple of squares when it comes to knowing what's going on in this world."

Without warning, Lynnette's attention was abruptly diverted from the people on the streets to the person seated next to her. Her mother's words were so sudden and unexpected that she couldn't believe that they actually came out of the woman's mouth to begin with.

"Somehow, someway, with the way you've been behaving these past few months, I just knew where to find you." Her mother said without taking her eyes off the road.

Lynnette had nothing to say. She remained perfectly still. Even the air that was blowing inside the vehicle provided the young lady with no relief from the overbearing claustrophobia that she was condensed in.

"Your father works himself to death for us, that's exactly why I try to keep most of what happens away from him. And as much as we love your sisters, those three are just plain unruly and full of the devil. But you, young lady...I truly am surprised at you."

"Mama, I—

"Just hold on." Her mother forcefully said. "You don't have a job, do you?"

Lynnette just dropped her head and held herself even tighter than before. At that point she didn't even want to look at her mother anymore.

"You're not fooling anyone, young lady."

"What makes you say that?" Lynnette began weeping.

At first, she expected her mother to burst out in rage at her constant denial, but instead the woman kept on driving without once taking her eyes off the road in front of her.

"You've been this way ever since what happened with you and Isaac."

Instantly, Lynnette cried even harder to where her tears began blinding her sight. She couldn't contain herself at that juncture.

"Lynn, I understand that what he did to you and Isaiah was terrible, but you never allowed yourself to fully overcome that. You just went straight down the tube."

"You don't know what happened!" Lynnette shouted out.

"You never told us what really happened."

"Mama, I can't take this!" Lynnette yelled as she bumped her head against the headrest behind her.

"You don't even treat your own son the same. We may not be a church going family, but you better believe we're a family that loves our children nonetheless."

"I do love my child!" Lynnette defiantly fired back.

Lynnette's mother simply glanced at her before looking back at the road. "Do you realize that ever since you came home from the hospital back in February, I've never seen you one time even hold that boy, let alone acknowledge that he's even there?"

Lynnette sat and thought about Isaiah, but her thoughts were insipid and pointless. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't seem to evoke her only son's image into her head.

"You may think otherwise, but believe it or not, your dad and I admired Isaac. We knew that he came from a good, Christian family, and that he was trying to do better in life." Her mother stated. "But we also knew that whatever happened that night inside that house was not normal of that boy. Something ungodly happened to him, and it's somehow taken you to a place completely not of this world."

Lynnette couldn't decide just what was worse, listening to her mother rant on and on about Isaac and the events of that night, or listening to her mother actually speak like a person that was trying to reach her daughter's soul without raising her voice.

In all actuality, the woman had every right to scream at her, but her tone and speech were completely alien to her ears. There was someone else operating the station wagon that hot afternoon.The car came to a stop at a traffic light.

"Only you can put Isaac's soul to rest, Lynn." Her mother droned on while keeping an eye on the light above. "Whatever happened that night inside your house shook you worse than any beating he handed you. Something else visited that night, didn't it?"

Lynnette's head slowly turned and stared at her mother in the most stunningly frightening way. The shaking she was doing back at the police station was nothing compared to what she was doing at that moment.

Without allowing another second to go by, Lynnette opened the door and rushed out into the street where other vehicles were waiting for the light to change.

She ran down the sidewalk and as far away from her mother as possible.