Monopoly **** Chapter Sixty-Nine

My injuries were not important and I had tested Trenton's love. I fought hard to keep a sound mind but I had every right to be stone crazy, also I knew my husband would kill me before he let me die. I'd dug deep into his character without using good judgement and profiled him from every aspect, surely his good outweighed his bad. I couldn't close my eyes without seeing her and the sleep deprivation made it worse. I wasn't even into the paranormal, nor was I afraid, what I would see would be lifelike and I eventually wondered who deserved loyalty the most her or him. There had been an old Monopoly game, the pieces were scattered. In a nostalgia consumed fit I'd opened the board and put the thimble on Go. Kerri and I had received one for Christmas, we'd abused it. The preserved light I had was almost gone and for some reason I felt it was worth being used on the board, I knew I could not see anything without it but I rolled the dirty dice and moved around the board and as if the discolored money was real I negotiated the investments and considered the ifs ands and buts. Then I considered what the word Monopoly meant, and how Daddy had given Kerri and I the facts of life in a box, we'd just been too young to understand. Everything, in life was a risk, and every decision was an investment. I'd been too fascinated by the play money to realize I could have it for real one day. I rolled the dice again, as I had many times.

Without fear I would talk to the corpse, I'd seen them dead before and sometimes before long u wonder if they are more peaceful that way. I had everything but lacked happiness, and like most women I was at fault for my own demise. Love often came with stipulations and I didn't even know how to love myself before I searched for someone else to love me, and any love would do. I asked God what was my purpose. It was like He had blinded me so I could hear in the vault, and I hadn't contributed the epiphany to the dead girl's presence. Why had Trenton really been seeing a therapist?

After the initial fear finally subsided I prepared to die, how long would I possibly breathe? I'd fallen asleep expecting to never wake again. When I had I'd removed the phone from my waist to prevent my sweat from damaging it, immediately turned on the flashlight and shined it toward the body. There was no damage to her skull or broken bones before she had been moved, she had become disjointed. I had taken a pictures and enlarged them, there was flesh barely covering her bone and she had died with her mouth open. How had she been killed, dragged and still managed to have her mouth open?

He had come inside with a ladder and I was more afraid to see him than be inside. I was sore from the fall and had an open wrist. My phone had died a couple days before and when I made it outside of the shed the sunlight blinded me. Kim's car was gone.

I'd stripped of all clothing, and had been bitten by bugs and ants, but I had survived, only would it later haunt me.

"I was hysterical looking for u!"

I hadn't known how to address his lies, so I stayed silent.

Every life investment was a risk, my marriage was a liability.

"U just don't know how to go to far Haze, I just don't know anymore."

Was that a threat? I wanted to stab him repeatedly.

"Ok, listen, I didn't move her because I haven't closed that chapter of my life, I loved Trena and Im, I'm just not ready."

I wanted to be normal, that's all, but I loved him. I had been restricted to home, as if I was a child I had lost privileges and I abided by Trenton's rules, suddenly he wanted to make love daily.

I wanted to know about Makil, and because I had cracked the phone when I fell he'd refused to pay another deductible and had taken it. I became the child he wanted me to be. I was yet very sick and mentally traumatized, I was a ticking bomb and my fuse was becoming shorter and shorter. I went to the den computer one evening while he was gone to the gym and searched for Makil on Facebook, there were several, none were who I was looking for. I decided to go to the detailed call log again, retrieve the number and enter it in the search bar, it belonged to a Terrica Sullivan, but while dissecting her page I saw the Valentine's Day post where someone had tried to tag her and Makil Griffin in a post wishing the lovebirds a Happy Valentine's Day but he had no page and his name wasn't highlighted. I opened the Google search bar to find result after result of arrest records and court dockets as well as mugshots. I was appalled, that nigga was a fucking criminal! Drug charges, burglary, kidnap, attempted murder, arson, u fucking name it he had done all in the state of Louisiana. I concluded I needed to talk to him immediately and wrote down his number. Kim hadn't said too much to me and I had tried to explain to her I was coming right back but she didn't give a fuck and I knew Trenton hadn't told her the truth. I was so oddly sick but I needed to see Troy. When Kim went to the bathroom I slid her phone from the jacket pocket of the scrubs she had worn. Oh, I loved Monopoly.

I dialed his number, he had answered on the second ring, I paused to listen for someone in the background.

"U miss me?" He asked. "Just say it."

I hadn't even known who he thought I was calling from a 504 number but I walked inside of the large closet and closed the door before leaning against the back wall to prevent being heard.

"Hello," he said after I hadn't responded.

"Who are u?" I asked.

"Whoever u want me to be."

"U are in danger," I said. "Your car is bugged."

"U are tripping, why haven't u called?"

"I did Makil!"

There was a moment of silence and then he said, "but u straight huh?"

"How do u know my husband?!" I asked demanding the truth by my tone, he just said, "I know people."

"Well did he tell u to fuck me?!!"

I was so pissed at the moment and the nigga on the other end thought I was a joke,

"Does he know?" He asked. It made sense, that's how he'd known about the club, and the yogurt but had he been investigating him? If so then why were they friends? I knew Troy couldn't have known who Trent was and if I told him he would kill my husband! Someone else had to know, they'd mentioned what I'd said in his car in court. I honestly didn't know Trenton and was becoming afraid for my children and I.

As they ran through the home I ended the call saying I would text him later from an app.

I soon found out Trenton would play both sides, and so would Troy.

I prepared for Ryella's birthday party and she wanted to have it at the Orchard, she no longer wanted it at the skating rink, I was totally against it. I was becoming angrier by the day. Emily had to be hospitalized and something told me she would never come out so I stayed with her as much as possible and decided to let Trenton host her party, she had preferred Uncle Daddy any damn ways. TJ2 had been fitted for special shoes and I was getting angry because he wouldn't talk. "He will eventually speak," they'd said. "When? At five?" I'd sarcastically asked, I had plenty money for my baby and I would spend every penny to get him right if I had to. They had already documented I wasn't the easiest person to get along with and I was close to letting their asses have it, he wasn't improving and I was tired of the well he's retarded, duh bitch look. I prayed for no more babies but God apparently wanted me to be an apple tree. I couldn't put my finger on how Trent felt about it, he'd wanted more before the shed incident but now he was unpredictable, he'd even mentioned an abortion, I had only laughed it off. "U are not healthy," he insisted and apologized for my condition. I knew my kidneys could fail again any day and I was on a strict diet, I prayed my health improved because I was definitely having that child. After the Nephrologist said I had improved and my kidneys were functioning I decided to not return, I would use that time to breathe away from Trenton so I still pretended to go but would go to the Library. I soon started to miss Keithville and Googled Karma Creighton, she had an address in Carrollton Texas. I then decided to Google Tobias, only to find a missing person's report filed by Pam. Something came over me, I knew then I was playing with fire.

My heart was not at that home, but I loved Trenton and somehow wanted the marriage to work. I had been through so much and had all the children, I would never find anyone else to marry me and hadn't wanted to move backwards. Trenton was still the caring man I married but I knew his secrets, they all had secrets. He had told me so much without telling me and I was fucked up, I was at my breaking point. The day he asked me to sit down on the bed to talk I was afraid, I hadn't wanted to know anything else about him, I had him all wrong.

"I don't want to argue, I just want u to trust me. My past has nothing to do with our future, u complete me and I can't get better without u. Forgive me if I'm too overprotective."

I wanted to know what happened to Trena I was tired of guessing, if he hadn't wanted to talk about that girl in that hot box then I didn't have too much to say. "Let's get a way for a few days."

Keithville?

"I need to stay close to Emily," I said. He had a look of despair and suffered from some type of post traumatic stress disorder I had known. I knew I couldn't help him, we were alike. Traumatized. He'd seemed so simple, I had been so wrong. He tried to convince me we needed to be away for a while for the marriage and with all his hidden agendas it may have been vital to leave the home. I wanted to know about Brown and what business Twan and he conducted the night we met.

My feelings were in a recession, I was so confused and I planned my escape everyday but wanted to stay for stability I needed more money.

What if he wasn't a killer and I had been all wrong? He was loving and had my best interest at heart it seemed, and loved the children but I was constantly playing a game Monopoly. I had begun to apply it to my everyday life.

I started searching for ways to make investments, I was accustomed to finer things for my children and I and knew if I left Trenton we would be poor soon. If he had known about the money he hadn't mentioned it.

His frat brother had visited and I had a feeling he had talked to Christy, and after he said he hadn't I wondered if the address in Carrollton was old. I needed proof she wasn't dead, who had the head belonged to, he had scratches!?

They had mentioned her in court and basically we had some unfinished business, so did Carmella and I.

At times I felt so played, I would cry and wish the woman who brought me into this world would suffer and die! There had been an awful curse invoked on her to produce an offspring who hadn't been normal in any shape form or fashion, I could even carry babies full term! They would call my babies Irish twins because Ryella and the twins were born 8 months apart, had that not been praiseworthy? Twan hadn't wanted to wait.

Maybe Trenton and I were meant for each other I also considered, who was to say I was any better than he was.

I soon gained my privileges back, but he observed my behavior as if he'd known I would leave, he had even expected me to go to the police. I found more information online and hadn't cared if he saw the search history. I felt indebted to Trena in the worst way. I reached out to Pam again but she didn't answer, and she didn't return my call so I called back. She answered nervously and said, "Let Antwan rest, and leave it alone. I don't want to be involved with nothing Trenton done in the past, if u haven't learned him u will, I just pray God take care of my Grandbabies."

"Was his last name ever Carter?"I asked.

"Yes," she said, "He had Nathaniel's last name, but had it changed to Myers, his mother's maiden name."

I wondered why, that was uncommon. I told Pam I was sorry and I hadn't meant to disturb her peace. "He called and I just can't risk—-, well I just wanna grieve my son in peace."

I ended the call to turn around and see Trent. He didn't even acknowledge I had been on the phone but mentioned how he had instantly known I was pregnant with Emily from his own symptoms.

When I miscarried a couple days later after intense sexual punishment I desired to find Troy, I wanted his child.