Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Rochelle
“Momma,” I yell, as I take the steps to our front porch two at a time. “Momma!”
I grab the door and swing it open, expecting to find her sitting in her chair, but I am met with an empty room. Stunned, my eyes float through the trailer, searching her out.
Where is she? Did she leave?
“Momma,” I yell again.
Hunter stalks past me and begins to look about the room in disbelief. “Where could she be?” he asks.
Walking into the small space, I spin around in a circle. My heart sinks imagining the worst. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen her leave the house.”
At least, I don’t think I have ever seen her leave.
Mostly because I was too busy working, going to school, and worrying about stuff someone my age should never have to think about.
My eyes find his, and his sad expression fills with pity.
It serves to make me furious. I take off down the small hallway and force myself into her room.
It is dark. The shades are tightly drawn. I can barely make out a thing. Hunter’s presence warms my back, and he places a hand on my shoulder for reassurance.
“I…” I stutter. “I don’t understand.”
My eyes begin to adjust to the darkness and everything becomes very clear. The lies. The running. The secrets.
Momma’s lifeless frame lays in the center of her bed. Hunter’s hand tightens on my side and my breathing quickens. My body begins to shake. My eyes grow wide. Adrenaline kicks in and I run to her side.
“No,” I scream, picking up her lifeless hand and laying my ear against her chest.
I hear nothing. I feel nothing.
Looking up, Hunter comes toward me. His eyes are a mixture of shock and disbelief. He fumbles for his phone, then quickly raises it to his ear.
But I don’t hear a word he says. I am too consumed with the fact that my mother, the woman who gave me life, raised me, and made me into the woman I am today, the best she knew how even with all the demons she fought, is laying lifeless in my arms.
“Momma!” I yell. “Hunter, she’s not breathing! Oh my God! Momma! Stay with me, Momma! Don’t leave me! Please…” I look up at Hunter with pleading eyes. Horror fills his gaze as he talks to the person on the other end of the line.
“She can’t die, Hunter! She can’t die, she’s all I have! She’s all I’ve ever had!”
My sobs consume me. My mother’s lifeless body grows colder as I wait for her to breathe, for someone to help, for the worst nightmare of my life to be over. But deep inside I know, the nightmare has just begun. She’s dead.