HEAUX TENDENCIES (3)

It is one thing to make bad decisions, it is another to live with them.

The memory of Tatanisha checking our homework and serving us dinner in the evening would forever remain ingrained in my memory. Her coarse voice told us to take showers, and her contagious laughter as we watched old comedy shows together before bed. We saw her as a second mom. She took care of us as her own. I replayed the events that happened right before my eyes while I slept. It was all I could think.

According to dad, she was in a coma. She suffered from severe head trauma. By the time we woke up in the morning to get ready for school, mom was gone.

She left a neatly folded note on my backpack.

Amira,

I am so sorry you had to witness what had happened last night between Tata and me. I was hurt and betrayed. You would not understand because you are too young, but you are growing fast. In life, do not trust anyone. No one is your friend. It took me several years to find out that the same person I could give the world to was the same person who could kill me. She was sleeping with your father.

Someone at my job had told me what happened, but I didn’t believe it, so I came home without notice and caught them doing adult things.