Nia woke up with a groan. Her head was pounding and she was disorientated. She realized she on was on the ground in the middle of the woods and her hands were duct taped behind her. Then her last memories came rushing back. Her mother was the Booty Slayer. It wasn't some horrible dream.
"It took you long enough to wake the fuck up," Donna said putting a shovel down. She was digging a hole. Evidently to put Nia in. Donna wasn't a young woman, so she was perspiring heavily.
Nia got up on her knees. "Mom, you don't have to do this. We can get you help!"
"Little girl, the only thing I need help with is digging your grave, but obviously you can't be trusted to help do that, so sit your ass down," Donna growled.
"Why? Before you bury me alive, I just want to know why?" Nia asked sadly.
Donna turned to face her. "Why? I'll tell you a story just like I used to. Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Donna. She didn't know who her father was. Her mother couldn't tell her because apparently she was too loose to narrow it down. All the other little boys and girls would tease Donna. They might not have a daddy living with them, but they knew a name. Skip a head to high school when Donna's hoe mama got caught fucking the white principal in his office by his wife. Big scandal! Even Donna's church friends snickered about Donna's mama being a white man's whore. Two weeks later, Donna's mother fell down the stairs of the apartment building snapping her neck. Just clumsy!"
"You killed grandma?" Nia yelled interrupting Donna's third person recounting of events. Nia had obviously never met the woman and only knew what little Donna had told her, but it was shocking to hear someone confess to killing her own mother in a roundabout way. Nia suspected her mother was using third person to distance herself from the events. Like it was some other person doing it.
"I don't interrupt me, little girl. Then Donna met Milton Johnson. He was a little older than her, so he seemed mature and like he could take care of Donna. Then came marriage, nursing school for Donna and two beautiful girls. But Milton couldn't seem to keep it in his pants and everyone whispered about it. Donna couldn't go to the grocery store without a cashier giving her a pitying look, but Donna took it. She told herself this is what men do. They cheat and she had to endure it so her daughters wouldn't have to be mocked in school. But then Milton said he was leaving Donna for some tramp in Springfield. A white girl named Autumn who was only 20 fucking years old. He said he'd do his best with child support, but since he was planning to start a new family with Autumn and her tight cooter, not to expect much. It is one thing to get cheated on. It is another to be left. A woman who is cheated on at least has a husband. A divorced woman might as well stick her head in the oven. So Milton had to have a fatal heart attack and Donna made sure his Homegoing was lovely and that her two daughters felt loved in a way Donna had never felt herself."
Tears fell down Nia's cheek. She knew her father had cheated, but she didn't know he had been planning on abandoning the family. Her mother was definitely the more active parent. Her father was always distant like he was going through the motions. It was devastating to hear this and know her mother killed her father.
"Life went on. LaToya become a P.I. and met some pompous white lawyer. He seemed to look down on Donna, but since he treated her daughter like she farted rainbows, she put up with it. Even when they got married in a courthouse like some homosexual couple with no money, Donna only made a minor fuss. Then her favorite daughter Nia got engaged to a weatherman named Earl. Sure, he was light-skinned, but he didn't look at Donna like she was annoying and stupid. He treated her with respect and even was willing to get married in her church. Everything was going great for Donna. Then some little Wendy's burgers looking bitch had her face in his booty and humiliated Donna in front of her family and friends. The whispers and pitying looks were too much for her to take."
Nia knew her mother cared a lot about what other people thought of her and Nia and LaToya, but this was nuts. And probably where Nia got her people pleasing tendencies. If she survived, she was making an appointment with a therapist.
"Donna had a spare key made on sly after her daughter moved in with Earl. She had done so with her other daughter and ended up seeing a big white penis and getting yelled at for it. She didn't go to Earl's townhouse to hurt him. The opposite. She wanted to see if he could try to convince Nia to take him back. She heard from a co-worker who was eating at the sports bar with the horrible name that her daughter was dining with a handsome white man. Donna put up with one daughter marrying a white man. Two daughters marrying white men would reflect poorly on Donna. Like she had raised them to reject black men and her community," Donna said in a choked voice.
Nia braced herself for the next part of the story that she was coming. What she had already heard was enough to keep her in therapy for the rest of her life.
"When Donna used the key to she had made to get in, she didn't expect to hear Earl having sex upstairs. She certainly didn't expect to hear him calling the woman mommy. Donna was shocked. Her daughter had almost married into this family. If anyone found out, it would be bigger than any other scandal she had faced in her life. Incest! She had worked so hard to have a good reputation and she wasn't going to let some perverts make her a joke. Donna hid in the kitchen, but then Carol and Earl started arguing about his drug use and him fucking other women. Carol said he should be mommy's little boy and not a Booty Slayer. Carol left and Earl went into the kitchen to get some water, but he didn't see me hiding behind the island in the kitchen. I saw the rolling pin I got you for Christmas last year and picked it up and whacked him over the head. While he was moaning on the floor, I got my gloves out of my purse and picked up a kitchen knife and got to making my problem go away."
"Why write Booty Slayer in blood on the backsplash above the oven? Why play 'Goodbye Earl' on a loop?" Nia asked trying not to throw up.
"I wanted to make it look like some crazy white guy had done it. I've watched some true crime. No one would suspect a middle aged black woman had done that. Unfortunately, you and your sister had to barge in there after I left and make yourself a prime suspect," Donna seethed.
"Yeah, I was pretty dumb of me to go get my shit and not magically know a dead body was in there. My bad." Donna didn't notice, but Nia had spent the last few minutes using her nails to work on getting out of the duct tape. She bet it was a cheap brand. "What about Patty? How did you even know about her?"
"I put a GPS tracker under LaToya's truck. When I saw her hightailing it out of there, I decided to have a chat with the woman and when she mentioned telling your sister about a sordid accident, she had to die. I couldn't let her repeat that story to the police after I killed Earl to keep people from finding out. I did feel bad about it though. The sponge cake she made was delicious."
"You killed her and ate her cake?!" Killing someone was horrible enough, but taking the victim's food just added an extra layer of insane cruelty.
"You know I don't believe in wasting food, Nia. She wasn't going to eat it, so I did. I think it was respectful of me to honor her baking like that. Now enough talking. I have to dig this hole a little more and then you're going in."
