Tia Sparrow

Monday, the 2nd of May.

07:00am

 

The sound was too loud, she could hear it but was too lazy to reach out for it. "It will stop on its own", she thought, but she knew that it would not. She groaned in frustration, her groaning was muffled by the position in which she slept in, her face plastered on the bed and the pillow on her head. Her body was wrapped tightly in the soft bed sheets and she absent mindedly tried to count how many times she must have turned in bed. It must have been cold last night, she sighed.

The ringing continued loudly and it felt like the alarm clock was jumping on the bed side table, causing it to vibrate and shake. She lifted her head lazily and turned her sleepy eye to the annoying piece of thing, smiled lightly and whispered a "thank you" before wrestling a hand away from the sheets and slamming that on the clock. It went silent immediately.

07:01am.

She slapped her face back down on the beds and took a deep breath in and exhaled sharply, right! It was another day. Surely she could manage a few more minutes of sleep just to energize herself and... just a few... more minutes...

The alarm clock sprang back to life with a ringing and the sudden sound jerked her up forcefully and she spun once, falling out of the bed and landing back first hard on the wooden floor.

"I'm up! I'm up!" She yelled, kicking the sheets away from her and getting to her feet, she must have hit the snooze button by accident. She leaned in closer to the alarm clock and this time, she pressed the dismiss button and the clock quietened to its normal tick - tock - tick.

Without bothering to grab a robe, she strolled out of her room in only her panties and singlet, going for her daughter's room which was next to hers. Opening the door wide, she spoke.

"Rise and shine baby." But the room was empty and arranged, the bed had already been made. She cranked her head deeper into the room before walking in, she stopped at the bathroom door and knocked, her daughter had always been keen on bathroom privacy.

"Baby?" No response. "Zara?" Still no response. She opened the door, the bathroom was empty. She closed the door and stepped out of the room and that was when she smell of waffles reached her nostrils. She smiled and walked towards the kitchen.

"Morning mum." She greeted her mum who was bent over by the sink, the woman turned and smiled at her daughter briefly then frowned.

"Tia?"

She sighed and tilted her head back. "Mum, it is just three of us in the house."

"Uh huh." Her mum turned back to the sink. "And that gives you the freedom to walk nude around the house, Zara is here too."

Tia smirked, shaking her head at her mother and looked at Zara who had her face in the waffles. She had always loved grandma's cooking.

"Hey baby." She said and walked closer to her daughter, stroking her head softly. "You got up earlier than mummy."

Zara swallowed and smiled up at her mother. "Grandma's waffles woke me up." She beamed.

"Really now?" Tia asked wide eyed, stealing a glance at her mother who smiled at she did the dishes.

"Then she made me bathe and make the bed before I could have them." She took another big bite, stuffing her mouth.

Tia laughed out loud and stood up. "I guess that was a good enough strategy."

"Good enough to make you go get ready for work?" Her mother spoke. "You will also have to take Zara to school."

"Yes mother." Tia sighed and started making her way away from the kitchen. Yes she had to go get ready for work.

Being in the New York police department was much of a big deal for her mum and she could not be any prouder than to have a senior detective for a daughter.

Tia Sparrow was an experienced senior detective in the special investigation crimes unit, having signed up when she was only twenty four, she had built up her progress and achievements over the course of eight years, the shield and medals which lined the walls of the hall gave testament to that. She had started off as a patrol officer and now she was a detective, a senior detective at that and in the special investigation crimes unit.

She remembered her first case, it was the murder case of a middle aged man who had been found dead in his apartment, placed neatly and tucked into the  bed like he was still sleeping. It had taken her only three weeks to gather fingerprints and DNA samples, evidences and suspects, sieving them out to find the actual culprit and wrapping everything up neatly and quickly. She had gotten a special medal for that and the whole office had cheered her. She had loved the feeling and had gone on to earn even more achievements. 

Now she wore her shield proudly, her office was proud, her mother was proud, her daughter too. Probably the only person who had not been all excited for her had been her husband. Her ex husband.

Tia had met and gotten married to Eric in one year and that same year, she had gotten pregnant, it had been a dream come true. She was twenty two at that time and she had Zara when she was twenty three, she was their little bundle of joy. Eric had said that he did not want another child, that Zara was enough for him and Tia had felt the same way too. She loved her husband and she loved her daughter with all her heart.

The following year, when she had joined the police force, Eric had not been the most supportive of husbands when she had told him on what she wanted to do and although he had wanted her to be a full house wife, he had not stopped her either. Tia never did like the idea of being idle at home and waiting on her husband, she wanted to work and she did. For four years, Eric had not had a problem with her job but with each promotion she got, she got more time added to her working hours.

Maybe it was her fault that her marriage crumbled, maybe it was her fault that she could not be home early but she never did spend one night outside of her home but Eric did.

It had started with just one night, then two, then three and then sometimes, he would be gone for days. When he would come back, here would not have a decent explanation as to where he had been. Tia began to suspect something, she was a police officer after all and she had come to trust her instincts. She had wished and hoped they were not true but they had turned out to be true, he had another woman outside whom he had been seeing, turns out they had been seeing each other for a year. Now, five years into their marriage, they divorced, with Tia having full custody of Zara.

It had broken her no doubt and she had taken time off work because she could not work and concentrate without breaking down at some point. It was not easy but she tried to quickly get over him. That took her two years and she was partially grateful that he had moved out and into another town, never for once had he come to see Zara since their divorce.

Tia stood in front of her bathroom mirror and smiled at herself. She was a beautiful, brown skin thirty two year old, strong woman and she was proud of how far  she had come and where she was right now. She inhaled and exhaled with a proud smile, pointing to her image in the mirror, she said.

"Time to get ready."

 

•  •  •  •  •  •

 

"Mummy come on!" Zara urged as she pulled her mummy from the porch, down the walk way and onto the street. She was very excited to get to school. Tia smiled.

"Why are you so excited and eager to get to school today?"

"I just want to." Zara replied. "Come on! We have to get to the bus stop so we do not miss the bus!" She pulled her mother who laughed at her daughter's eagerness.

Their house on Howard street was similar in structure and painting to most of the other houses, what differed it from the rest were the bright red and white roses her mother had planted in the front garden. Their neighborhood was a friendly one because most of the neighbors interacted well with each other and somebody knew somebody else here.

"Hi Zara!" The neighbor's kid yelled out to Zara who waved back excitedly and yelled back her response, still pulling Tia.

"Calm down Zara, the bus stop is not far from here. I am sure we will get there on time." Tia assured her daughter, and they did get to the bus stop on time. 

They boarded it and Zara dragged her mother to her favorite seat on the bus, all the way to the back. Tia held on to her daughter's hand and looked out the window as more people boarded and when it was full, the doors shut with a 'puff' and the bus jerked forward slowly.

Tia had been born, raised and did most of her schooling in Bronx, New York, only moving to Manhattan after she had gotten married and after the marriage hard ended, she had chosen to stay back in Manhattan because her work was also here so she had called her mother to come live with them and the woman for once did not utter a word in protest but came down almost immediately. 

Tribeca, Manhattan was the best place to live in in New York so far according to Tia, the neighborhood was friendly and things here were kind of easy too, plus it was a safe place, much safer than Staten island but for one thing or the other, her work had recently been about serious crimes. And not the hit and run, drink and drive, armed robbery, stolen vehicle kind of crimes, I mean after all, she was a senior detective in the special victims crime unit, so her recent cases had to do with murder and killings.

Tia's pocket vibrated as soon as they both came down from the bus and she reached in to pull out her phone as she walked on with her daughter, her school was already in view but Tia wanted to walk her to the school gate. She glanced at her phone screen before sliding on the receiver button and brought the phone to her ear.

"Hi Aiden." She greeted cheerfully.

"Tia, where are you?" He asked in a whisper.

"School. Why?"

"Well, something hot just hit your desk in the office." He sounded a bit excited but still whispered.

Zara pulled on her mother's hand and came to a stop. She looked up and smiled. "I will get going now. Bye mum!" She waved and skipped away. Tia waved and turned back, walking away and walking fast.

"Tell me..." She said to Aiden on the phone.

"No, you will have to come here for this. It is much too hot to talk about over the phone." He spoke casually now and not in a whisper, Tia could imagine him turning in his seat with his head tilted back and his legs crossed, a big grin on his face. Not many cases excited Aiden so Tia was very eager to know this one.

"I will be there in minutes."

"See ya!" He said and ended the call.

Tia flagged down a cab and got in. "NYPD, Ericsson place." She said.

The driver glanced at her through the mirror briefly with a raised eye brow before stepping on the accelerator. "Yes ma'am."