Inside, I put Sam’s clothes away in the drawers for her while she lay on the bed. Now that she was out of the hospital and safe again, I could refocus my attention on the growing anger inside of me. I wasn’t sure how the whole thing played out, but I had a vivid mental picture of what Antonio did to her and that made me want to hurt him so much that my hands ached with anticipation.
When I looked up, Sam was watching me and I thought I saw a faint smile on her face, but it faded quickly. If she knew my thoughts, she wouldn’t think I was so sweet. I realized just how much I loved this girl when I asked myself how far I’d go to avenge her. The answer didn’t surprise me; I’d do whatever it took. Ignoring the sadistic thoughts that were now swirling around inside my head, I smiled back at her.
Sam was desperate to shower, so Terrell and I decided to go to my adjoining room to let her and Maisha have some privacy. Sam watched me from the doorway of the bathroom as I got ready to walk out. It seemed like she wanted to say something, but decided against it at the last second. When she closed the bathroom door without a word, I couldn’t ignore the look in her eyes. She was broken in too many pieces for me to even know where to start trying to put her back together. Something had to be done about Antonio, and since the cops currently had no clue who was responsible, I’d gladly take matters into my own hands.
*****
I sat on the edge of one of the double beds in the room. Terrell sat on the other, looking like he hadn’t calmed down any since the night before either. His arms were tense and flexed like he was ready to attack. “We gotta go find this dude,” he demanded. I agreed wholeheartedly, but it wasn’t quite time to deal with Antonio yet. It needed to be dark out, and I couldn’t leave Sam while she was awake. I promised her.
“She give you a name or anything?” He asked.
I nodded. “Antonio.”
Terrell’s jaw tensed and he looked down at the ground.
“Let’s just focus on Sam for now, though” I replied, in an attempt to pacify him; besides I was already making plans of my own. The only thing I needed was Antonio’s address.
“But what if the police get to him first?” He protested.
“Not gonna happen. She didn’t get that far with the officer yet. No one knows who did it, but us.” However, I knew that the test they run at the hospital in situations like these would eventually make this theory null and void.
“When we rollin’ out?” He asked as soon as I finished speaking.
I lowered my head. “No, I don’t need help and I wanna handle this myself. I’m going alone.” This wasn’t Terrell’s fight; it was mine, and it’d been going on for more than a year now. Antonio and I were about to have it out one final time.
Terrell glared at me when I looked up again, but didn’t say a word. He’d have to understand that I wanted to do this on my own. Besides, depending on the way things went down, he might not want to deal with the repercussions. I’d already made my peace with what the aftermath of my actions could be.
*****
It didn’t take long to get Antonio’s address and apartment number off the internet. I gave Sam a couple hours to get settled, and then Terrell and I went back to her and Maisha’s room to check on them. I knocked on the door and Terrell stood beside me, silent. He hadn’t spoken one word since I told him that I didn’t want him to come with me that night. Even when Maisha answered the door, he still looked angry.
“What’s the matter, baby?” Maisha asked softly.
He rolled his eyes at me and replied, “Nothing.” She looked at me curiously as he walked past her without anything else to say. Sam was sitting at the table stirring her spoon around in a bowl of soup that it didn’t look like she had eaten at all.
“I tried to get her to eat something, but she said that she can’t,” Maisha whispered to me. Sam stared blankly at the wall in front of her. When I approached, she jumped like she didn’t even know that they had visitors.