JACQUELINE
I strolled across the pavement that led to Wu's. She had called in the morning that she needed help with her writing. But now, it was Jules on the phone.
I had reached the house but still loitered around the front porch. "So are you settling in good?" I asked, and after some hesitation, she replied. "Yes"
"I miss you" She added softly as a smile crept to the side of my lips. "God, i miss you too" I replied and then she asked. "Did you get the letter i wrote?"
"Did i—" I paused, remembering there was a letter that Aal gave me from Jules without remembering where exactly i had kept it. "Yeah, but i'm yet to read it" I just replied, giving a scoff. "I guess you could say i'm still settling in" I let out a soft laugh.
"And the meetings?" She asked.
"Virtual. Yet to start" I replied and once again there was a long pause. A pause
MARIA“So tell me?” My lips pressed together in a pout. I laid across a semi bed, you know the retractable ones that somehow got you to sit up and still stretch your legs. My eyes trailed it and went up the machine that my hand was connected to intravenously. Yet i turned away from the sight——and i faced him. Alejandro. He had spent the entire morning with me. The entire mornings of the past days and even though i hadn’t completely forgotten that last time we were out, i was willing to give it a shot. So i asked again, “So tell me?”“Tell me about her. The woman that swept you off your feet after i was gone” I said so casually that he burst into a chuckle before clearing his throat.“She’s—” He paused, arching his brows. “She’s nothing compared to you. Nothing like you” My eyes dazed and i chose not to react to that sentence. Perhaps it was my brain forming up sentences and scenarios as a side effect of the chemoth
WUPressing the enter button on my laptop, i finally looked to the screen. My palms brushed against my neck, relieving the aches as i cracked them.I finally turned, to see Jacqueline slumped on the couch and then suddenly some light hit my face. My pupils dilated as i looked away. I realized for more than twelve hours, my eyes had been fixated on the monitor, trying to conclude a chapter.The first chapter.And it was on reading the last word that the radiance of the sun hit my eyes as the drapes swung open. I had seen Jacqueline on the couch a second ago so i knew exactly who it was.“Wu” She called.“Jade” I responded, still shielding my eyes as i tried to balance on my feet. “I didn’t know when you came in” I said and she scoffed. “Not long ago, i didn’t want to disturb you. The club was not so busy but i stayed back to help Jones with a few things” She tied the curtains, not bo
AALIYAHFOUR MONTHS LATER.Everything had changed. With my parents by my left and Dele sitting close to me on the hospital bed. I could hear my slow groans as i was intubated.But alas, my eyes were open and i could see Leila walking slowly towards me with Wu beside her and the only question asides who wouldn't have thought——Was the inevitable one of whether or not i was willing to let go. But the choice was not up to me.If not, maybe i would have chosen to stay and then my eyes fell her. With whom i shared so much of a striking resemblance with. Who would've thought?That was the prevailing question, surprisingly.NOWMy ears trailed every other letter that followed. Every word and every requirement. My eyes, doubled by a squared glasses had known no rest for the past ten hours. And then for once—
AUTHOR's NOTE.MARIAWith Maria battling metastatic cancer and her son battling out his self identity, these are just two of the many people that appear to be further from where they thought they will end up.They don't know where they'll end up, but one could only hope it's back where the family belongs.Miami. But how will she come to terms to leaving her mother, perhaps for a long time this time and Alejandro, intentional this time. And does she still have a story, yet unfolded with Marc? Who knows-AALIYAHAaliyah is dumbstruck when someone from her past shows up on her front porch. But what scares her the most is how and Why her longlost sister is here, in Miami. How will her parents take it——and how far is she herself, from being one. In the coming chapters, she explores deeply into family and origin but like they say, don't go digging in deep places because
JACQUELINENOWI fell to the ground. I was pushed, with my hands tied and a clothe around my eyes to prevent me from seeing where exactly i was. As i reached the ground, it felt heated like there was some sort of fire and i could instantly hear the sound of a man——as if he was on a call.I struggled to stand immediately at the sense of being let go off and i realized my legs weren't tied. Perhaps that was the point, i could move but i couldn't see but somehow i couldn't walk. It's like seeing the world but not being able to touch it.Knowing you have something, but not being able to reach it. And it was more torture as i kept stumbling on little things until i couldn't stand anymore. I could not even use my hands as any sort of direction, they were tied. And as i laid on the ground, i had wandered what exactly happened.I had wandere
WUIn Miami, chances are you've witnessed a drug transaction, you have sold or bought drugs. We were known for that, when we weren't working——we were having fun. And that meant drugs, the late night parties, wine and strippers. It was no doubt that we knew how to have fun. Because we could spend the whole day working tiring jobs and that was our breathing space. Our space.And with the drugs. Came the luxury. Miami was luxurious and extravagant and ostentatious. Wu was about about to tap into both.TWO MONTHS AGOWUI made my way through the door, i had shown up barely hours ago after figuring out the key to my grandmother's safe. In my bag was alot of dollars on my first withdrawal, it felt like a treat——after a long day trying to prove it was mine. I was abit tipped off that they had an idea it was drug money, perhaps illegal money especially by one that seemed
AALIYAHMeanwhile, Aaliyah hadn't moved. She wanted to so badly meet up with Wu because of Jacqueline but then she was shocked by her sister——and her sudden appearance.Ayeesha had shown up after nineteen years or more, pulling her in for a lasting hug as she just dropped a weighty bag to the ground. Just one.Aaliyah was perplexed, not even hugging back, she was in utter shock as she made contact with Dele."Wha—" Her attempt to speak had failed. Words even had failed her. Aaliyah as she pulled her away, she had tears shimmer in her eyes before she looked away. "Sister" Ayeesha echoed, sniffling also she raised her hands to Aaliyah's cheeks.She backed off, surprised as Ayeesha slouched her shoulders and finally she could speak. She had opened her lips so wide as if she was about to deliver a powerful monologue but all that came out
AALIYAHFor almost all the girls, twenty years ago held some event, something grave and not often a good thing. For Wu, she lost her parents in the car crash twenty years ago, and for Maria, she struggled with abuse in the hands of her father and his friends——sexual. Jacqueline was alright, having no idea that in a few more years, she would be blamed for her parent's death and go to jail on her eighteenth birthday. How i wished she had known.How i wish we all could know when something was about to go wrong, asides a gut feeling. Perhaps something more elaborate and clear. Like Aal also around twenty years ago, what if she had known the night she had gone to bed would be the last she would see Ayeesha. That she would be gone by morning and would have her parents lie about it.All these events, all a score years away.TWENTY YEARS AGO