As Tina walked to the door she was filled with dread but she knew she had to find her friend. She rang the door bell and waited a few seconds. Deep inside she was really praying Mary would swing the door open and holler “heyyy girl”. However she didn’t open the door, in fact the house seemed remotely quiet.
Tina rang the doorbell again, becoming nervous and scared. She rang it again and again but still no answer. She called out to Mary but still no answer. She now had all these mixed feelings along with determination to find her friend and make sure she was ok.
Mary now lived alone, her only daughter died at a young age, which is when Mary’s depression began. They didn’t talk about it much, they both had depression issues they avoided. Mary has been dealing with depression since her daughter passed and had started attending support groups.
Tina started running to the side of the house and calling out her friend’s name “Mary”, “Mary”. She kept calling her name as she made it to the back of the house. The house was locked down tight, all the blinds that she could see were closed. Tina was now in full panic mode.
Tina called Mary’s mom and immediately hung up. She thought what do I say so that I don’t alarm her until I know for sure what’s going on. “Jesus fix it” Tina said as she dialed Mary’s mother’s number again.
“Hi Ms Justice” she said, how are you. “Oh hi Tina, I’m fine dear, how are you”? “I’m doing fine, I’m sorry to bother you so early but I was wanting to surprise Mary and join you two for breakfast this morning but I cannot remember your address”. “Would you please text it to me”?
“Do what dear”? her mother said. “Wait now would do you mean surprise Mary dear” “Well isn’t she having breakfast with you this morning or did I get my dates mixed up again”? Tina said. “Oh no dear, Mary is not here, we are not having breakfast this morning that I know of”. “Oh Ms Justice, I’m so sorry, let me call her, I got my dates mixed up again”.
Tina was trying really hard not to start crying at this point with Mary’s mother on the phone. “Oh that’s ok dear, tell Mary to call me later on maybe we can have brunch tomorrow, the 3 of us”. “Yes maam, I will” Tina said, “I love you and I will talk to you later”. “I love you to and talk to you later” her mother said.
Tina knew she had to get into Mary’s house because if she was out of town or had something special going on that would cause her to be unavailable she would have at least told her mother. Tina started going around the house trying windows and peeping in where she could. She didn’t care about the neighbors watching or the alarm going off, at least then maybe the police would show up and she could get them to go into the house.
Tina stopped back on the front porch, “ok Tina, get it together”. What is the emergency plan to get into Mary’s house if something ever goes wrong? she kept asking herself. “Oh My God”! She exclaimed, I can’t believe I have been so dysfunctional, she immediately went to the garage door and lifted the door to the keypad by the garage.
She and Mary had learned from one of the support groups to come up with an emergency back up plan. They took some of the information from the groups and some tips and came up with emergency plans for one another and their households. Mary’s was the code to the garage and once inside their was a hidden key where Tina could get into the house. She has the alarm stored in her cell phone so she could disarm it once she got in. During her panicking she had forgotten about all of this and the emergency back up plan.
Tina closed her eyes and took a deep breathe, ok what is the code, what is the code, what is the code she kept asking herself. She opened her eyes and typed in 1923 and breathed a slight sigh of relief. Mary’s favorite scripture, the 19th book in the bible and the 23 chapter. It’s Psalm 23. The garage door rumbled as it started going up and Tina didn’t wait until it stopped, she ducked and went on in. She swallowed hard when she saw Mary’s car in the garage.
Tina rushed to the garage door button on the wall and pressed it to close the door. There to the to right of the button high on the wall was a painting, she grabbed a stool that Mary kept folded tucked away in a little cubby hole. She used it to stand on in front of the painting so she could reach the top where Mary taped the emergency key. “Thank you Lord” she shouted as she felt the key and pulled the tape up so she could free it. Tina Swallowed hard again as she climbed the steps to the door leading into the house. She put the key in the deadbolt and it twisted unlocking it, then she slid the key into the door knob and the door twisted open.
The alarm was beeping so Tina went to the keypad inside the door and keyed in the same code to turn off the alarm. The house had a dark atmosphere even though it was bright and early in the morning. “Mary are you here” she whispered. “Mary” she called out again. She seemed to calm down a little now that she was in the house but she still knew something was wrong.
Tina went through the kitchen and found a wine glass and a bottle of Mary’s favorite wine empty on the island. She looked through to the family room but she didn’t see anything strange. She didn’t hear a television, nor music so she decided to go up stairs, wasting no more time. Once again, she took a deep breathe and said a quick prayer. “Lord I need you right now to be the protector for Mary, please let her be ok Father, Lord please give me the strength to do your will”. She opened her eyes, released a breathe and went straight up stairs to Mary’s bedroom.
Tina didn’t stop when she reached Mary’s bedroom even though the door was closed. She reached for the door knob and as she stepped into the room, she called out Mary’s name, her heart sank and she started to sob uncontrollably at the same time. She ran to her friend’s bed where her body was lying lifeless and fell to her knees. “Mary” “Mary” she kept screaming, “Mary”, “Lord please”.
“No, No, No, Lord Please”. “It can’t be”. “No, you can’t, I won’t let you”. “Mary”, she screamed with tears rolling down her cheeks. Tina grabbed her cell phone and dialed 911. The operator answered but she was screaming and crying uncontrollably and the operator could not understand her. Tina finally heard the operator saying “maam, maam”, “please I need you to calm down so I can understand how to help you”. Tina was still crying but she managed to calm down enough to say “my friend” “please, she is not breathing”.
The operator didn’t waste any more time, she could’t get much more from Tina, she was too hysterical. “Help is on the way maam”, the operator told Tina. Tina put the phone down and started shaking Mary, she looked up at the night stand beside Mary’s bed and saw the opened pill bottles. “You are not leaving me she said” and she started shaking Mary again. She thought if I can just get her into the shower, I can wake her up. Tina knew in her heart that Mary was still alive. She couldn’t give up so she started dragging Mary to the bathroom. Tina stumbled and fell because Mary was like dead weight but she got back up and started all over again.
Mary started moaning, “Oh my God” she shouted and felt renewed strength. “You will not die on me”, Tina said, “God please”, “Mary you can’t do this to me you hear me, I won’t let you”. “I need you, your family needs you”. She kept talking to Mary as she kept dragging her to the bathroom. She managed to get Mary into the shower and turn the water on. She and Mary both slid to the shower floor as she held her face up towards the water. “Come on Mary” she said “come on”.
Mary started to groan and try to turn her head from the water but Tina would turn her head right back to face the water. Mary started trying to move her hands and Tina got excited as it seemed she was coming around. “No, Mary mumbled, just leave me alone, let me die” she said. “I can’t, I won’t” Tina said. Mary I won’t lose you, if you go then I go. Mary started to cry and moaned “Tina”, “yes Mary I am right here” Tina said.
“IF YOU GO”! “I GO”!
…….to be continued
A BRAND NEW KIND OF ME