"Text Message" | Chapter 7

On the car ride home, Tracy told Eva all that had happened. Eva was so pissed that Tracy didn't want her doing something drastic. Tracy made sure to leave the part about her and Jake having sex. She didn't want Eva to misjudge her and scold her for doing something like that.

"Alright. If you say so." Eva said walking into her house.

"Can I have something to drink?" Tracy asked.

"Yea you know where everything is. I'm going to have a shower, no scratch that maybe a bath instead." Eva said going up the steps

"Okay."

All Tracy could do was nurse the juice she had and continuously thought of how odd and strange Jake's behavior was and how he knew so much about everything. What did all this have to do with her, him and everything else?

After she took a nice hot shower, she put on her night clothes. As she was combing her hair all she could do was wonder if she and Jake would able to be a better couple after all of this was over. Would there be many other things that would try to tear them apart? As she headed to Eva's room and climbed in her bed. She noticed from Eva's heavy breathing she was sleep. Tracy kissed Eva gently on the lips and cuddle close to her. As she was drifting off to sleep, she also wondered if she could love Eva the same way she loved Jake. If things didn't work out with Jake or something tore them apart out of their control. Would she be wrong for wanting to be with Eva? Or was she getting attached at the wrong time? She let her thoughts get jumbled and carry her off to dreamland.

"Good morning!" Eva said as she was working at the stove making breakfast.

"Morning!" Tracy said as she stretched.

"Do you want pancakes or waffles?"

"Ohh, how about both?" Tracy said as she munched on a piece of bacon.

"Both?! Well I guess it's not that bad."

"Well I am going to help you know." Tracy giggled.

"Well I know one thing. I love this good mood you're in."

"Yeah, it does feel good to be back in a good mood. I guess I'm contented for the moment."

"That's a good thing." Eva said grabbing the pancake and waffle mixes out of the cabinet.

The women heard a noise come from the front door. They looked and tried to figure out what it could've been. Eva decided to go back to her cooking, while the curiosity of the noise got the best of Tracy.

"Good Morning, Good Morning Divas!" Linda came strutting into the kitchen.

"I thought that was you with your heavy-foot-self." Eva giggled.

"My man love my feet and that's all that matters." Linda gave Tracy a hug and a kiss.

"Good Morning Linda! How are you this morning?" Tracy smiled.

"I'm doing just fine. You're in an exceptionally good mood today."

"That's what I said. Are you eating here too?" Eva placed a plate in front of Linda.

"Well if you insist, I guess I can't turn your good cooking down." Linda gave a big smile.

"Yeah, yeah."

"So what had you all happy and looking like a glow worm?" Linda tickled Tracy's side.

"She got to see her boyfriend yesterday or should I say last night. They stayed together for quite a while." Eva winked.

"Oohh I see!" Said Linda.

"It wasn't nothing like that you two." Tracy chuckled.

"Mm-hmm, that's what they all say." Eva said.

"Eva you are the worst!" Tracy giggled.

"See!? That big ol' goofy silly grin says it all." Eva poked at Tracy's prominent dimples.

Tracy laughed, "No it doesn't"

"I'm sorry but I'll have to agree with Eva on this one." Linda chuckled.

"Ugh! Nothing like that happened." Tracy blushed at the thought of what she and Jake had done last night.

"Yeah, I said the same thing. That's how I ended up with Baby number four."

"Number four? You only have three." Eva was puzzled.

"Oh my god! Linda you’re pregnant?!" Tracy's mouth was wide open.

"Yes I am as a matter of fact." Linda gave a big grin.

"I knew you'd gain some weight but I wasn't sure. Congratulations Mama," Eva smiled, "So how far along are you?"

"Twelve weeks." Linda patted her stomach happily.

"Oohh well I'm planning the baby shower." Eva said confidently

"Do you know what you want?" Tracy asked. It was basically her first time having a full interaction with a pregnant person and one who already had kids.

"Another boy would be nice. I've already got two girls and one boy. So make it even and I'll be happy. If not, I'll still be happy. Just as long as the baby is happy and healthy, that's all I worry about."

"Did you tell work that you were expecting?" Eva asked as she made pancakes.

"Yes I did. They said all was fine. I felt there was no need to question and it was the right thing to do. But we both know how they feel about getting some time off to have a baby."

"Oh yeah!" Eva said nodding her head rapidly.

"I remember my job before the police department, told them I was pregnant with junior. They said it was fine. Took my maternity leave when I should've, I go back to work and they not only had they replaced me but forgot to tell me. Yea right!"

"That's horrible!" Said Tracy and began to wonder would the same thing happen to her if she ever had a baby.

"Yeah it was. So I learned to go back right after the other two were born so I wouldn't get replaced and fired all in one fell swoop."

"Wow." Tracy was amazed and disturbed at the thought of such a thing. How can people be so cruel?

"Well a least you got to keep your husband without any problems or issues. You two make it work. Y'all make others want to give it another try." Eva smiled.

"Oh really," Linda smirked, "So who are you hooking up with?"

"No one, I'm not interested. I meant other people—unlike me for example."

"Uh-huh, you say that now Genevieve!"

"Whatever Linda."

"Alright ladies, I'm going to go get ready for work." Tracy took her finished plate to the sink.

"Alright honey, we've got time so no need to rush ok?" Eva turned off the burner on the stove.

"Okey Dokey!"

As the women got ready for work, Tracy was straightening up and notices the duffle bag Jake had given her last night. There was a piece of paper sticking up out of the front unzipped pocket. She took it out and decided to read it. Before she could finish the first line, her phone began to vibrate. She immediately got that sour taste and knots in her stomach. She picked up the phone wondering if she would find another horror. The 53097 message said something strange this time:

"A lover’s quarrel is the most depressing. That's just the beginning of the unhappiness you'll feel in your heart."

'What does this mean?' She thought to herself. Then decided to read the paper that turned out to be written by Jake and said:

Trace, I know who's been sending you the weird text messages. Because they think we fought tonight you should get one pertaining to that. Tracy, someone's been watching you.

"Is that it?" Tracy looked at the items in her hands and wondered why anybody would be watching her.

"Tracy! C'mon it’s time to go or we'll be late!" Eva shouted from down stairs.

Tracy shoved the paper back in its pocket and put the duffle bag under the bed. She rushed downstairs and soon the three women were off to work.

As Tracy was leaving her analytical meeting, she felt like she was running on empty. Even though she had a good rest and breakfast, maybe it could've been that long meeting. Dazed thinking about why she felt tired. She suddenly felt someone grab her and snatch her into a supply closet. Scared to death not sure what to actually do she wanted to start cry. Maybe I could yell for help, she thought. But that proved futile with her mouth being covered. Then for a split second she panicked. Is this Leon? She then started crying at the thought of being fondled by that pervert again.

"Hey, hey! Shhh!" The man whispered.

Oh my god it is him, she cried that much harder.

The person spun her around and had her look at them. He shook her a bit but she just couldn't bring herself to look at him.

"Tracy what's wrong with you?"

Tracy's eyes popped open and there stood Jake. All she could do was let out a big sigh of relief; thankful it wasn't Leon and hugged Jake.

"Hey, now what's going on?" Jake looked at her sternly.

Tracy sighed, "I thought you were Leon."

"Jenkins?"

"Yea..."

"What made you think that? What you and him got a thing going or something?"

"NO! No, nothing like that. He was my boss when I started as an intern here. But that’s not the reason."

"Then what exactly is the reason?"

Knowing she had said too much already. Tracy decided to come clean.

"Leon sexually assaulted me my second day working here. He touched me all over. And said if I obliged I would get a cut," She looked up at Jake, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. Eva thought it was best because she thought you would be upset and come down here. I wasn't keeping it from you. She also said if I mentioned it, I would probably be gotten rid of."

"Well I can't argue with Eva too much there. But I am pissed. Did he touch all over your body?"

Tracy nodded and should him where she had been touched.

"BASTARD!"

"Shhh!"

Jake huffed around the small room and sat down on a chair that was clearly old with ripped upholstery.

"Jake?" Tracy could see the frustration on his face.

Jake pulled Tracy close and buried his face in her stomach. He hugged her tight.

"Tracy, I'm not mad at you okay? Just mad at the situation," he stood up and hugged her, "I love you."

"I love you too. Jake, I read your note about the text messages."

"Yeah about that—"

"Wait look," luckily Tracy let her phone tag along, "See here it is."

Jake took her phone and read the message.

"It's just like you said."

"I know who's doing it. But I can’t tell you here. Lord only knows what they've got tapped. How about this Saturday? You come on over and we’ll have lunch or take out or something. I'll block their tap to tell you ok."

"Alright. Around noon?"

"Make it one o'clock."

"Alright."

"We should go, we definitely can't be seen together either."

"Oh alright. I'll go first." Tracy reached for the door and was pulled back.

Jake kissed her passionately and told her how much he loved and cared for her in her ear. For a moment Tracy didn't want to leave that supply closet. She wanted to stay there with Jake, like this—blocking the outside world out. It was bittersweet. It made her realize how much she truly missed him.

"Hey girlie! What would you like for lunch? We can't seem to decide." Eva said as she plopped herself into Tracy's chair.

"Hey you two! Hmm I don't know. Any ideas?" Tracy said.

"Not a one, Sweet Revenge is nice but I'm not in the mood today. And I definitely don't do cafeteria food." Linda said.

"Anybody in the mood for something particular?" Eva said towards the ceiling.

"Ooh! How about a hot dog?! Like Grey's Papaya?!" Tracy beamed.

"Hmm that doesn't sound half bad," Eva popped her up, "Linda you interested?"

"Yup, just as long as there's a place for me to sit and relax for a little bit" Linda stretched her arms to the air.

"Alright let’s go!" Tracy actually felt happy. She didn't know if it was because of Jake or because things were starting to make a little bit more sense.

As the women ate and conversed. Tracy told Eva and Linda what Jake had said about the text messages. How she was meeting him on Saturday. The women were happy to get a little more information on such a plaguing issue.

The rest of the week went good and Tracy was glad about that. After the end of the work day on Friday she headed to the elevator all smiles. Right before she could press a floor number. Jake hurried on. He pressed all the buttons.

"Jake what did you do that for?"

"I wanted to at least spend a little bit of time with you, even if it’s so little of it." He pulled Tracy close and hugged her.

"Well that's very sweet of you." She smiled.

"We're still on for tomorrow, right?"

"Yep!"

"Good," Jake pulled Tracy in for kiss, "Tracy, I love you."

"I love you too Jake."

"See you tomorrow, one o'clock." Jake kissed her cheek.

"One o'clock indeed." Tracy smiled.

Jake picked a random floor to get off on. Before he could dash down the hall, Tracy called out to him and beckoned him to come back.

"What?" Jake stared into Tracy's eyes.

Tracy hugged him tight, "I love you very much." Then kissed Jake on the lips.

He smiled, she did the same. As the elevator doors began to close they waved goodbye to one another.

Tracy went home to pick up a few things before going back to Eva's place. While she was there she saw an old picture of her and Jake and decided to take it with her. As she spent her Friday evening with Eva and Linda, all she could think about was seeing Jake tomorrow and finally knowing who's been sending her the texts.

"Excited about seeing the boyfriend tomorrow?" Linda asked.

"Yeah I am, but I'm excited to know who's been sending me those texts, too!" Tracy said as she took a bite of pizza.

"Yeah it'll be nice to put an end to this mess." Eva said mouth full of food.

"You haven't change." Linda eyed Eva with disgust.

"What I do?" Eva wiped her mouth.

"You still eat like a little piglet and you still talk with your mouth full of food, porky"

"Oh shut up Linda!" Eva stuffed her mouth with more food.

Tracy and Linda laughed at Eva. Tracy was happy she had these two wonderful women in her life. They made things less lonely and gave her the courage she needed to fight this battle.

The next morning Tracy got up early. Bathed and got ready. She decided to have a muffin with some juice. Since she was having lunch with Jake she didn't want to spoil her appetite.

"Good morning!" Eva came in wearing sweats and a long shirt.

"Good morning." Tracy said as she wiped the counter clean.

"What did you have?" Eva went to the pantry and grabbed a box of cereal.

"A muffin and some juice."

"Oh that's good. Nice and light for your lunch date huh?" Eva smiled.

"Yeah.” Tracy smiled back.

"Well if you want I can drop you off and come back for you, okay."

"Oh no I don't want to rush you or anything."

"No, no," Eva waved her hand, "Really honey I don't mind. Besides it’s safer anyway."

"Alright." Tracy decided not to disagree. Eva was hard to argue with.

When Tracy arrived at the old apartment, she was happy she didn't have to be buzzed in. As she was able to catch the door after a couple walked out. She went up to the apartment and went to knock on the door, when she noticed it was already ajar. She decided to knock anyway to make sure and not be caught off guard.

"Jake? It's Tracy!" She called out entering the apartment.

Tracy called his name a few more times and when he didn't answer she began to wonder if their plans were canceled and she wasn't aware or something else came up. Then decided she better have a look around the apartment. As she walked around she began to notice that things weren't quite right. Objects had been moved or knocked over. A few things were even broken. Did he have a fight in here?

She looked in the bathroom which was still intact. Then checked out the other bedrooms; both were ram-shacked and one looked more terrible than the other. Then Tracy decided to look in their old bedroom. The room was perfect and usually as it would be left. She did notice that there was clothes laid out and wondered if Jake left already or forgot to put them away.

She decided to run up stairs to the loft they used mostly as a recreational room. It too was destroyed. She felt a twinge in her heart. Someone was here. As she ran back down the steps and walked over to the stand that held the telephone. Tracy noticed that the hardwood floor was discolored like someone split something and never got it up. As she traced it down the small hall to the kitchen she saw an odd color liquid. Thinking at first maybe Jake fell or knocked something over. She braced herself and walked over the trail and went in to the kitchen. Only to find out there was nothing wrong. No thrown or moved furniture, cabinets were fine and so was everything else. When she checked the floor she noticed that there was a pool of the liquid and it seemed to be coming from the refrigerator. Wondering if the appliance gave out and the liquids inside soured, exploded or spilled she decided to check it. She grabbed the handle and opened up the refrigerator—

Tracy screamed at the horror she had found. Jake's body was dismembered at every limb and shoved into the refrigerator. She gasped and clasped her hands over her face. Then realized her hand was covered in blood and she stared at the handle. The wretched smell and seeing such a horrid sight made her gag and run to the bathroom.

"Oh my god! Oh my god!" Tracy began crying after she threw up.

Tracy got herself off the cold tile floor and wiped her hand on her shirt. She ran to the telephone. She had to decipher who she wanted to call first. She then decided that Eva would be best.

As the phone took long rings, Tracy heard a noise come from the kitchen. She couldn't bring herself to investigate it and gagged again at the thought of it.

"Hello?"

"EVA!!"

"Oh my god Tracy what's wrong?"

"Eva! You really need to come here something bad has happened and I'm scared and-and-and" Tracy began crying.

"Tracy!? What's going on? What happened? TRACY?!"

"It's Jake!" Tracy dropped the phone at just the thought and mention of his name. A flood of memories came rush to her and all she could think of when she last saw him yesterday. She could barely hear the muffled sounds coming from the telephone as she slouched down next to the back of the sofa. This is has got to be nightmare!

Eva arrived with Linda in tote and rushed to the apartment. When they got up to the place and noticed the door was cracked.

"Tracy? It's Eva and Linda honey. You in here? You okay?" Eva slowly opened the door and saw Tracy slouched over by the sofa, "OH MY GOD TRACY?!" Eva rushed over.

Eva looked at the blood that stained Tracy's shirt. When she grabbed Tracy and got her attention. The constant tears that ran down her face were disturbing and heart wrenching.

"Seems like everything clear in the back besides the rooms that are messed up," Linda crouched down next to Eva, "Tracy, baby what happened?"

Tracy looked at the two women and could bring herself to say what she saw. All that could escape from her mouth was "refrigerator."

"Refrigerator?" Eva and Linda said at the same time.

The two women decided to go check out the kitchen. When they reached the hallway, Eva turned the corner and screamed.

"What?!" Linda questioned.

"Head..." Eva began to cry.

"Head?" Linda pushed passed Eva and stared in horror.

There sat comfortably on the linoleum floor was Jake's severed head, still bleeding. The eyes were gouged out. The mouth was sewn together with thick black string. It was reminiscent of the picture of the beheaded woman Tracy got in a text message.

Linda walked over to the fridge and saw the rest of Jake's dismembered body.

"Oh my god! They even disemboweled him." Linda covered her nose.

When Linda took her hand off of the handle and noticed the blood, she knew then that's where Tracy got the streaked blood from her shirt.

"C'mon we need to call the police now!" Linda grabbed Eva who stood there frozen, mouth gaped.

Linda called the police. When the police finally arrived, Eva stood outside of the apartment, smoking a cigarette. Her hands and whole body shook uncontrollably. The police entered the apartment and saw Tracy slumped over and still crying.

"What exactly happened here?" The one officer said.

Linda stood up and introduced herself to the policemen. She took them to the kitchen and showed them Jake's dismembered body. The police called for back-up and the coroner.

The one police officer went to bedroom where the women had gathered while they investigated the apartment.

"I'm sorry and I hate to say this. But I'm going to have to have all three of you come downtown with me. This looks suspicious and I'm not blaming you totally because whoever did so has done this before. Either that or we’re dealing with a professional. We just need to take the necessary precautions." He said.

"No, uh—we understand. We'll go." Linda said.

⇦Chapter 6 

Chapter 8⇨