Chapter 25
Chapter
Twenty-Five
T he sun shined brightly stinging Amina’s eyes. She raised her had to shield herself from the glare. Once her eyes adjusted to the brightness of the light she took in her surroundings to see she was in a beautiful garden.
Pink rose bushes lined a limestone path that led to a big white gazebo with a flower arch decorating the front of it.
A familiar tune rang out. Someone was humming something she hadn’t heard in a long time. A song she used to hear whenever her grandmother did her house cleaning.
Amina walked toward the gazebo and saw a woman with her back turned to her. She had long, iron gray microlocs that flowed down her back. She wore a caftan that resembled a monarch butterfly.
Amina’s eyes filled with tears. She knew that tune. She knew that hair. She knew that caftan.
“Grandma?” she whispered.
The woman turned around. Her beautiful dark brown face was still etched with laugh lines and the kindness in her dark eyes shined as brightly as ever.
Amina ran to her outstretched arms. “Grandma!” Her body slammed into her grandmother’s and she wrapped her arms tightly around her as she burst into tears.
Her grandmother squeezed her tight and rocked her back and forth. “It’s okay baby. I’m here.” She stroked the back of Amina’s head.
“I miss you so much. Why did you have to get sick and leave me?” Amina cried.
“Aww baby. That’s just the circle of life. Don’t you remember I taught you that we all eventually return to the Earth. My cycle had been completed yours was disrupted abruptly. That’s why you were given a second chance.”
Amina raised her head. “What do you mean, Grandma?”
“Let’s sit down.” Granny took her hands and led Amina to the bench carved inside the gazebo.
Her grandmother looked the same way she did before falling ill. Amina couldn’t stop staring. “Grandma, how are you here? Am I dead?”
Grandma chuckled and gently wiped the tears from Amina’s cheeks. “No, child. You’re in limbo right now. This is a place between life and death and where the dead and living can meet.”
Amina wrapped her arms around her grandmother’s waist. “I want to go wherever you go. I miss you so much.”
“Ah chile, you’re talking nonsense now. You don’t really mean that. You still have a lot of living to do. Besides, that cute Dr. of yours would miss you terribly, wouldn’t he?”
“Ethan!” Amina pulled away abruptly. How could she have forgotten him? He was probably going crazy with worry.
“See? You still have a lot to live for.”
“I do. I love him so much. I think I may have fallen in love with him from the time we first met but I was too muddled in my grief from the loss of you to realize it.”
“That’s understandable. He’s a good man and I know he’ll take good care of you. I’m so proud of you for the growth you’ve shown since your rebirth. Your father is proud of you too.”
“Really? You think so?”
“Oh, I know so. He wanted me to tell you hello and he can’t wait to meet you.”
Amina leaned her head on her grandmother’s shoulder not wanting to move. She missed her grandmother’s scent of fresh baked goods and a hint of the strong liniment she used to rub on her joints.
“Baby, I have something to tell you.”
“What?”
“Your mother passed a long time ago. It’s why she never came back for you. She never really abandoned you, baby.”
Amina froze. “What? But Aunt Sharon used to take joy in telling me that my mother abandoned me and never loved me.”
“Your Aunt Sharon is a miserable old bitch. Your mother was sick from her addiction. She got caught up in her own grief after your father passed away and went down a dark path. She left you with your aunt to get herself clean. She very much wanted to come back for you when she got her act together but fate decided it was her time. She was the victim of a hit and run. Her remains are buried in a plotter’s field owned by the county.”
Amina’s heart plummeted. She’d always told herself that it didn’t matter that her mother had left her because she could barely remember her. But deep down Amina resented her mother for giving up on her so easily. Knowing that wasn’t the case and her mother had suffered all alone filled her with a hollow sadness.
“Oh no! Did Aunt Sharon know?”
“I’m not one hundred percent certain but it wouldn’t have benefited her if your mom was alive because she’d lose those checks she received for taking you in.”
“I feel awful. I used to have such horrible thoughts about her.”
“It’s okay now, baby. She’s at peace. Tracy and Edmond are reunited now. And one day you’ll see them both.”
Her grandmother’s words were comforting. But then another thought occurred to her.
“Grandma? You used to talk about supernatural elements a lot. I always kind of thought you were just eccentric but somehow I came back to life five years in the past.”
“Yes, I knew you never took my beliefs to heart and that’s okay. I believed enough for the both of us. Everyone has a predestined path when they’re born, but sometimes when we diverge from said path, our lives are cut short. I’ve been watching you and I saw that you veered from your destiny the minute that Caldwell boy entered your life. You were never supposed to marry him so when your life ended abruptly, your guardian, me did a little wheeling and dealing and gave you a second chance.”
“Is that how Ethan came back as well?”
Grandma smiled and took Amina’s hand in hers. “You two are connected,” she answered the question indirectly.
“You said you had to make a deal? What does that mean?”
The older woman stroked Amina’s cheek.
Amina leaned into the warmth of her grandmother’s caress. “Please tell me, Grandma.”
“I’m not allowed back into paradise for a while. I’m stuck in limbo until your life cycle ends naturally and that won’t be for a very long time. And when it does, I’ll be here waiting for you and we’ll go to paradise together hand in hand. As for now, it’s time for you to go. Like I said, you still have a lot of living to do. But you have to want it.”
Tears once against sprang to her eyes. “But Grandma, I don’t want to leave you.” She held on to her grandmother.
Grandma kissed her on the forehead. “It’s time for you to get back Amina.
Amina’s eyes popped open and the pain, of her neck being squeezed with so much force was nearly enough to make her pass out again.
With her air supply cut off, her lungs burned as if they were on fire. Despite, scratching and clawing at his arms and hands Mark continued to choke her.
Remembering a move she’d once seen in an action movie, she spread her arms wide to give her momentum and then clapped her hands over Mark’s ears with as much force as she could muster.
“Dammit!” Mark screamed, releasing her. He grabbed his ears.
His temporary disorientation gave her the chance to roll away from him. She crawled to the door and even made it to her feet but once again as she reached the door, Mark gripped her shirt.
Amina wrenched herself out of his grasp knowing that she wouldn’t get out of this hotel room without a fight. She whirled around with her fist clenched and gave Mark a right hook to the jaw.
He stumbled backward.
Amina made her way to the door once again, but then she remembered all the times he’d put her down, terrorized her, and beat her into submission, Amina realized he was owed a lot more than just one punch.
Getting in the stance Ethan taught her, she checked his chin with a left followed by a right. Then she belted him in the stomach. Rage carried her as she began to rain blows to his head and chest.
She made sure to clock him in the ears a couple times, knowing with absolute certainty that she’d ruptured one of his ear drums judging from the blood oozing down the side of his face.
Mark tried fighting back, throwing wild punches in her direction, but he was off balance and wounded.
Amina released a primal scream as she sent a blow to his stomach making him bend over. With her adrenaline racing through her veins she reared her foot back and kicked her directly in the face.
The sickening crunch of bone followed by Mark’s howl of agony didn’t stop Amina when he fell to the ground. She delivered kick after kick to his body, not caring if she killed him.
That’s enough baby.
The words were her grandmother’s but there was no one else in the room except Mark who was passed out and Candace crying on the floor holding her knee.
Just then a pounding on the door sounded. Amina turned to answer it, but her head grew fuzzy.
Finally able to open the door, her heart was lifted in relief when she saw Ethan standing on the other side.
Amina smiled tiredly. “You came,” she whispered before everything went black.