a story

Psst.
Wanna hear a story?
Not the whole story, of course. Would that i could.
It's a tale of love, robbery, betrayal, and a murder threat.
And i'm in it.
Seriously, if i disappear, tell the cops to check my sentbox, and go pick up Cornelius Aurelius. Perhaps i shouldn't even write this story...perhaps in doing so, i'm just drawing that energy closer to myself. But then again, the threat may be a sham...and even if it's real, not many murderers declare their intentions through e-mail.
This tale begins at my last address, on St. Marks Ave. in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. I moved there a little over a year ago, and lived there for nine months. I was happy there. I was creatively productive, there was a little kitten who loved me more than anyone in the world, and i liked the people around me. I rented a room in the apartment of Shelly, her daughter Melissa (12), and son Tarlik (3). I played monster with the kids. Melissa shared her poetry with me, and i gave her books to read. I felt as protective of her as i've ever felt of anyone. Tarlik couldn't get enough of me. I got along great with the granddad Willie, who came around occasionally. I liked Shelly too, though that was a bit harder. She had a temper, and the first time i told her that someone had eaten my food, she loudly called me a liar. Still, i knew being a single mother wasn't easy, especially for someone in a new land (she had brought her children here from Guyana the year before). I was a great tenant...i cleaned up after myself, picked up Tarlik from school when no one else could, and loaned Shelly extra money one month. She and i never became close, but i occasionally read her one of my articles i thought she might like.
Midway through my stay, a strange thing happened. One night, i was in the living room with the kids, and Shelly, in the bedroom, asked me if i wanted a child. I didn't think she was joking, but since nothing romantic had ever happened between us, i laughed off her comment. I had always been a bit attracted to her (i saw her naked twice, front and back, and each occasion raised my heartrate), but knew that there were at least thirty-one points of incompatibility between us. Her little question stayed in my mind though, and i thought of inviting her to my room more often, to talk or rub her feet.
That exploration never happened, because not long after, a suitor named Cory began coming around. He didn't seem very loving, particularly with Tarlik, but i greeted him with goodwill. He soon moved in. During that year, Shelly worried that Melissa had started having sex. A little part of me wondered whether the partner was Cory, because i caught a strange energy from their end of the house one night while Shelly was out.
Toward the end of my time there, bad things started happening. My debit card was stolen, and the purchases pointed to Melissa. Accidentally or intentionally, my computer was destroyed, but covered up in a way that only someone computer-savvy could manage (Melissa supposedly wasn't, but Cory was). At one point, it popped into my head that Melissa, being twelve, might try to impress Cory by telling him that Shelly had offered me a baby. At the end, it was clear that he had an agenda against me...on the day i moved out, Shelly had a moment of warmth with me, and told me that Cory didn't want me having their new number (she gave it anyway). She also told me she was having second thoughts about him. As i left, she still owed me my deposit, but i didn't press her for it. I knew her finances were tight, and i thought i'd wait until she got her new tenant in.
For the next three months, she didn't respond to any of my phone messages or e-mails. In the meantime, i discovered that while i had lived there, i had been the victim of credit card identity theft. Four fraudulent cards had been started in my name, with balances of thousands of dollars. I had always known i wasn't getting all my mail there, something Shelly said happened to her too. I realized i couldn't be sure whether the identity thief was in my building, or my apartment.
I finally returned to the building in person last month. In addition to wanting my deposit, i felt a responsibility to warn the rest of the building about the mail theft, and warn whomever might have moved into my room, about the bad things that had happened. I visited a few times, but Shelly was never there. Once, i waited on the stoop for a couple hours, thinking i might catch her coming home. I left a letter in all the other apartments, telling them what was going on, and asking them to have the new tenant call me, if there was one. I spoke to the kids once, who said there was a new tenant (it was wonderful to hug Tarlik again). On two other occasions, Cory was there. He said Shelly wasn't home, and that there was no new tenant. He pushed Tarlik back, and was curt with me.
I didn't want to let it go. I came back and left a note above the outside entrance, saying "Shelly, i forgive and love you". Shelly was christian, so i thought a christian appeal was in order.
Soon after, i received a short e-mail from Shelly, calling me darling and saying that she always loved me. She said she wasn't in New York, but that she would call when she got back.
I couldn't even be sure it was her. It could have been written by Cory...or Melissa trying to cover up things she had done...or even Cory and Shelly making up a story together. I sent a note asking her to call.
Soon after, i got a note from Cory (or someone pretending to be him). He told me that Shelly was in Guyana getting her papers in order, that he had never liked me and didn't know what was going on between Shelly and i, but that he would kill me if i ever came around again. It occurred to me that he was possibly setting me up as the "cause" of all the things in his life that were going wrong.
So that's the story of the first personal murder threat of my life.
Perhaps.
At this point, i've done all i can reasonably do to try to protect the new tenant. Two of the other residents of the building are on my side.
I always believed i'd get my deposit back, though my jaded ex-girlfriend thought otherwise...deep down i said to myself, "i can't have been so good to these people, to be treated this way".
Psst.
That's all i got to say.

(POSTSCRIPT: A month later, Shelly called, after six months of silence [except for one e-mailed avowal of love]. She yelled at me for telling the neighbors my story, threatened to sue me [which is to say the least curious, considering that she owes me money], blamed me for catastrophic heating bills [even though i only ran the heat a few hours each week], and threatened to kill me. It occurred to me later that it may have all been for the benefit of Cory, to demonstrate that i'm no threat to their dysfunctional relationship. But probably not...)