Streets are Listening...God is Watching

Chapter 24 Stinging Nettle Okay. Let me swallow this. First, Darius beats Kellin and she dies from the assault. Then Miecah dies but we aren’t sure whether she committed suicide or was murdered. Then Darius is found dead. He was murdered by knife. Who would have done this to Miecah and Darius? I sat on my porch thinking for over an hour after we got home. Raj put the kids to bed and then called out that he was going to take a shower and wait for me. He must be sleeping by now because he hadn’t called for me to come up in a while. I still lived in my homestead so I have many memories of us girls chilling on the porch. I chuckled at the thought of Kellin being so drunk that we had to carry her in the house one night as we played Truth, Dare, Double Dare, Promise or Repeat. The dumb girl kept choosing Dare. The Dare was to drink a shot and she was suckered into drinking almost half the bottle of Bermuda Black Rum. She was DRUNK! Kellin was always a little naïve so she made bad choices all the time, especially when it came to men. That was also the night that Lani confessed that she had a crush on Dana, a girl who we hung with back then. We thought she was just going through a phase but she was adamant about telling Dana. I don’t think she told Dana because shortly after our porch incident, Dana’s family moved to England because they got one of those special passports to live over there. We haven’t heard from Dana since. My phone startled me out of my thoughts. It was Baby and she was crying hysterically. I told her that I would come over but she insisted that she would be fine and just needed some rest. The dark cloud that is resting over us needs to leave us alone. This test is going on too long. After I hung up with Baby, I dropped to my knees and prayed for strength. I needed strength for so many things right now. God was the only one who could see me through. I pulled myself up and walked into the house and to the bed that I shared with my fiancé. As he felt my body next to him, he pulled me close and snuggled me until I fell asleep. We both jumped when the house phone rang and as I looked over I saw that it was only 7:00 a.m. Who the hell is calling us this early in the morning? \“Hello?” “Where’s Raj?” “Hello?” I said again. “Put Raj on the damn phone!” Oh no, she didn’t! I know Jodi is not calling my house demanding anything. I couldn’t be bothered to argue with her so early in the morning. I patted Raj on his shoulder and handed him the phone. For a few minutes he was arguing with her and I sat up in the bed with my arms crossed, ready to make right off if she didn’t leave my man alone. Then he calmed down. I overheard him telling her that he will call her back for further information. When he passed me the phone, I sat there staring at him until he told me what was going on. “Jodi is going to sign away her rights temporarily so that I can have sole custody of Rajni. Her mother is checking her into a drug rehab centre in Harlem. All she really wants is to see him when she is clean and develop a relationship when she’s better.” “Really? Wow!” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. She was giving that child an opportunity to live as a child and not stress over his mother’s issues. I admired her for that. It’s really hard for a mother to give up her rights to her baby but sometimes you have to put yourself aside in order to give your child the best upbringing possible. “Yeah. I have to find out the process over here and then we will talk about it later.” Raj gripped me and rolled us all over the bed. I giggled when he kissed me over and over on my neck. “Baby, I am so excited! Now, we can finally make our family complete.” “Yes, we can, baby. I promise to work on the wedding arrangements today when I get in the office. I need something to take my mind off of Miecah and Kellin anyway.” “I agree,” Raj said. The phone rang again. This time I looked at the caller ID first and it was only four digits which was odd. Usually phone numbers had at least seven digits. “Hello?” I said into the phone. “C, let me speak to Raj, please.” Rami, Raj’s brother was on the phone. He sounded like he was upset so I didn’t waste any time handing Raj the phone. I couldn’t hear what Rami was saying but Raj kept asking him questions about where he was and how did he get into this mess. Finally, Raj hung up and jumped out of bed. “Where are you going, baby?” I asked, climbing out of bed too. “I have to go to Somerset Police Station. They have Rami.” He didn’t even look at me but I was sure he was really pissed off, maybe even a little scared. “What happened, Raj?” He shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ll call you in a few minutes.” Raj grabbed his jacket and rushed out the door. I laid back down and then jumped back up. I dialled Lani’s number but she didn’t answer so I called Mrs. Jones, Raj’s mom. She didn’t answer either. I was growing really concerned now. I thought about calling Baby but she was so upset last night that if she finally got some sleep, I didn’t want to wake her. After a few minutes of staring at the walls, I woke up the boys and got them ready for school. Then I got myself together for work and rushed out the door. Raj called me around lunchtime to update me. He said that Rami was busted for drugs and had been sitting at the police station all night. I asked where Lani was through all of this because I hadn’t seen her at the funeral and she wasn’t answering her phone. Raj told me that Lani had been checked in the hospital for complications so she missed the funeral. I felt a little relieved that she had a reason for not attending Miecah’s funeral but I didn’t let it show. In closing, Raj said that he bailed Rami out and that Lani and the babies were fine. He told me that he loved me and would see me this evening. I pulled my hair out of the bun and let it hang around my shoulders. I had a pounding headache from worrying and the Tylenol wasn’t working fast enough. Life is so crazy at times. It seems as if we are walking in a beautiful pasture of white lilies but there are also patches of treacherous stinging nettle waiting patiently to cause us pain. Each of us reach the nettles in our own time and each of us get past them at our own pace, but it is possible to reach the beautiful white lilies again. Just keep pressing forward and we must believe that we can overcome anything that comes our way!