That night in her parent’s backyard inside her Barbie tent I told her that we could make this stop, I could make this all go away. She told me no and said that she would try to deal with it on her own or at least until she could talk to her mother, but I didn’t know what she meant because her mother had died after she gave birth to her.

My father new people in high places and they would make him stop what he was doing to her. Every night, like clockwork, she said he would make her do it. He said she felt and smelled just like her mother did and that what they were doing was natural, everybody does it.

You see Yvonne and I had been friends every since she and her father moved to Hattiesburg, Mississippi twelve years ago. But we didn’t immediately become friends; Yvonne kind of grew on me. As I got to know he more and more and learned more about the situation her father had put her in I wanted to help. She needed me. Yvonne and her father didn’t have very much so I was always willing to share my allowance with her and give her some of my older toys when I got new ones. We had sleepover every weekend and my mother always took us shopping and to the hair parlor with her. But her father always tried to keep us apart saying that I was nothin’ but a troublesome spoiled brat and I didn’t mean her any good.

But I knew that wasn’t true and I also knew that God had something great planned for me and Yvonne. That’s why I had to do something, I couldn’t let Yvonne stay in that situation, I just couldn’t.

So, one night while her father was sleeping we snuck into his bedroom and while Yvonne tied him to the bed I got the knife ready. We had to make sure he wouldn’t come after us if our plan didn’t go right. Then, I stabbed him right in his chest again and again until his body was lifeless. I told Yvonne to get on her pajamas and get into her bed while I set the house on fire. After the fire was set I ran back to my house and called 9-1-1. By the time the firefighters arrived Yvonne was rescued from the house and her father’s body was burned badly enough that the police wouldn’t be able to tell he was murdered. But she had to promise me that we would take this to the grave come hell or high water.

     “Yvonne, no matter what the police ask you, you have to say that you don’t know how the fire started, okay?”

“But, I’m scared. What if dey find out he was murdered?”

“I promise they won’t. But you got to promise me that we’re in this together, no matter what?”

“I dunno know, Tina…”

“Yvonne, snap out of it. We could go to jail!”

“Okay, okay, pinky swear, Tina.”

“Pinky swear.”

Our plan worked and the police nor anyone else but me and Yvonne knew what really happened that night. After her father’s funeral Yvonne lived with me and my parents. For the next couple of weeks Yvonne and me prepared for the senior prom and graduation. It all came and went so fast.

“So, I guess you’ve decided to keep it, huh?”

“Well, I guess I am. Muh baby don’t deserve to be punished, Tina.”

“Yvonne, you know I love you but I just don’t think this is the right decision.”

“As much as I hated my father fo what he done to me, I can’t kill my baby.”

“Well, at least you don’t have to deal with him anymore, you’re free now.”

“I guess I am, I love you Tina, and I won’t eva forget watcha don fo’ me.”

“I love you too, Yvonne.”

That was the last time I saw Yvonne, at our high school graduation. I hoped that our “pinky swear” would be enough to keep our secret safe. After graduating from high school I needed a change so I moved from Hattiesburg, Mississippi to Atlanta, Georgia to attend college at Spelman. Four years later I graduated and became an elementary school teacher. While teaching at Burgess-Peterson Elementary  as a 5^th grade teacher I met my husband, Jason Wright. We’ve been married for seven years and we have three daughters, Abigail, Maci, and Whitley.

From time to time, I worried about Yvonne and the baby. But I worried even more about our secret. What if she told someone? I know I hadn’t told anyone, not even Jason. My life was moving full steam ahead until one day there was a knock at my front door. She just stood there with her two children and I could tell she was pregnant but I couldn’t tell how far along she was. She didn’t look like the Yvonne that I’d left in Hattiesburg, Mississippi after graduation.

“Oh my goodness! Come in, come in.”

“Mommy, who’s that lady?” Maci was always asking too many questions.

“This is Ms. Yvonne, an old friend of mine. Honey, take Ms. Yvonne’s girls with you and you guys go play in the backyard.”

“Okay, Mommy. Nice to meet you Ms. Yvonne.”

“Nice to meet ya to, dear.” She sounded tired.

We spent most of the day catching up on old times and talking about Yvonne’s current situation. I hadn’t heard from her in over three years and it was such a surprise to see her on my doorstep, out of the blue. She told me that she’d had nightmares about what we’d done every single night after it happened and she felt really guilty about what had happened. Almost to the point that she wished it never happened. Her third husband had kicked her and her three children out of their home after he found out she was pregnant with her lover’s child. So, after all these years here she was. I had more than enough space for her, her two daughters and the baby boy she was expecting.

“Thank ya so much Tina. Ya always done so much fo me.”

“Don’t mention it. I’m here for you. Jason is looking for a secretary at his office and on Monday you can bring the girls by the school and get them enrolled.”

***

Yvonne, the girls, and her new baby boy had settled in nicely. Her job at Harrison’s firm was going well and she was had even enrolled in school herself. She was pursuing an accounting degree and Jason promised her a promotion once she was done with school.

But, I’d been observing some things that didn’t sit quite well with me. Yvonne was flaunting around my house in next to nothing when Jason was around, bringing strange men into my house at all times of the night, and Jason told me she’d made several passes at him.

“Yvonne, you know I’ll do anything for you and I have no problem with you and your children staying here, but, there are some things we need to talk about.”

“I ain’t got nothin’ to talk bout, Tina.” I was in shock when those words rolled off of Yvonne’s tongue.

“Excuse me?”

“Ya heard me clear, we ain’t got no words to change. Ya killed muh fatha! Ya always had da betta life, a mama an a daddy, ya have a nice house, and ya successful. Ya name it, ya got it. Ya got what I want and I am goin to take it.”

“I did not kill your father. I helped you out of a bad situation, Yvonne. You needed me. Remember the pinky swear?”

“Bullshit! Ya killed my father on ya own, and den ya burnt my house to da ground wit me in it.”

I had no idea where all of this was coming from but she was talking crazy.

“If ya don’t step aside and let me get what I want I’m  goin’ to the police and ya gone spend da rest of ya life in jail.”

“You BITCH! I want you out of my house, NOW! Get the fuck out and don’t ever come back.”

“I’m not leaving until I get what I want!”

“Oh, you’re going to leave, willingly or forcefully.”

I was turning around to walk out of the kitchen when I saw Yvonne rushing toward me. She grabbed me by the hair and pulled me to the ground. On the kitchen floor we tussled and punched and scratched each other until I freed myself and went for the phone. She must have hit me over the head with the vase that was on the kitchen counter because when I came to I was tied to my bed with one of the kids jump ropes and I could hear my daughters calling out to me from the walk-in closet.

“Shut the fuck up ya spoiled brats!”

“Don’t hurt my children Yvonne!”

“I ain’t plannin’ to. I’m just waitin’ fo muh husband to come home so he can be at ya funeral. Then we can get our kids and leave.”

“You’re crazy, Jason will never let you get away with this.”

“Shut up!”

“Yvonne, please, why are you doing this?”

“Tina, you took sumtin from me, now I gotta take sumtin from ya.”

At that moment Jason walked into the bedroom.

“What the hell is going on?”

“She’s trying to kill me!” I screamed. Jason’s face was covered with confusion. “She’s locked the children in the closet!”

“Yvonne, what is this about?”

“Ya ex-wife killed my fatha.”

“WHAT!”

“When we was kids…It don’t matta no mo I came to take ya away with me, to be muh husband and a fatha to muh kids.”

“You what?”

“Jason, I can love ya lik she can’t.”

“I’m calling the police. You’re crazy.”

While Jason and Yvonne went back and forth I managed to free myself from the jump rope that was holding me to the headboard. Immediately, I went for Yvonne, but she was quick, she fired the gun and it hit me in the thigh. It hurt but I was determined to fight for my family. I managed to wrestle the gun out of Yvonne’s hand and get her on the ground but she was stronger than me, always had been. For a moment she had the upper hand and I could see the determination in her eyes. She wanted what I had and she was determined to get it. But I wasn’t going to give up what I had worked for so long. The gun was on the floor next to my foot and I freed myself long enough to grab it and get to my feet. Yvonne wasn’t going to stop until I was dead and she had my family, my life. I took a shot at her, I missed.

“Ya missed bitch!” Yvonne was foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog.

I took another shot, that one hit her in the shoulder. She was still coming at me.

“I guess ya gone kill me just lik ya killed muh fatha!”

“Tina, honey, you don’t have to kill her. Think about this.”

“She has to die.”

The third shot hit her in the stomach. She was down.

“Do it. Kill me Tina. Ya weak heifer, ya ain’t got da guts!”

I stood over Yvonne and pulled the trigger, BANG!

“Tina!” Jason ran toward me. He was too late.

The fourth and final shot, she was dead. I had to, for me, for my family.

Once we got our story together, Jason called the police. I told him everything, from Hattiesburg, Mississippi up to that very moment. He was shocked. There wasn’t much of an investigation into Yvonne’s murder, my Dad knew people in high place. As for Yvonne’s children, we adopted them and raised them as our own.

“Tina, honey, you have to promise me something.”

“What is that?”

“We’ll take this to the grave, right?”

“Pinky swear.”