AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Licking his lips, he leaned down and kissed the corner of my mouth. “I know you love talking to my mama but I had your attention first. I’m coming back for you, Sunnie Mae.” His lips were on my neck. Why did he want to slaughter me hopelessly in front of his mom?
Panties ruined.
“I can’t wait for the day when y’all stop pretending and get married so I can have more grandkids to love on.” I’m glad she waited until he left to speak her mind.
Lord knows I shared her same dream, but it would always remain that… a dream.
“I won’t keep you long because if I know that son of mine, he’s not going to stay away from you long.” She knew just what to say to make a girl blush. “I want you to make me a promise, Sunnie.” I tried not to get teary-eyed again but it was inevitable. Cancer had not only caused her day-to-day routine to change, but it had taken her long brown thick hair, dulled and paled her chestnut skin, and sunken her russet eyes. Still the beauty of yesterday, she was smiling and had a face of joy.
“Yes, ma’am,” I mumbled, heart slowly breaking for the man who worshiped the ground his mom walked on.
“Promise to love him in honesty and in truth. Love him when he can’t love himself. Love him when he pushes you away by pushing back. Love him, please. My time to transition from this earth to the forever memory of the hearts of my loved ones is upon me. Ezekiel is in denial. He doesn’t want to face reality and we both know he’s going to need someone to help him get through this. That person has always been you. Will you promise me that?”
Trying not to be a crying mess, I agreed with anxiousness. “I promise to be there for him. I’ll take care of him, Violet. Rest in knowing that your son will be cared for.” I hadn’t permitted my heart to love another and care for another in a long time. But for my Zeek. He could have it all.
“I also want you to promise me that you will continue to let your light shine, baby. God has created you for so much more than this ugly world can offer you. Just because you’re in this world doesn’t mean you have to be of this world. Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. Remember that. Live by that. Have faith in that. You are such a gift that I’m thankful God blessed me to have. I love you so much, Sunnie Mae Austin. I wasn’t expecting to see you tonight, but God is always answering my prayers. Give my love to my son.” She blew me kisses and hung up before I could say a word.
I did my best to clean my face and appear normal by the time he came back, but he knew. His head tilted and eyes narrowed. Assessing and studying, but he didn’t share what he found. Instead, he handed me a much needed lemon drop.
“Sunnie.” Clasping our hands together, he admired our connection, a growing smile spreading across his face.
“Yes, Ezekiel,” I cooed, finally making him blush.
Standing tall and broad like a true Black king, his chestnut-smoldering eyes held me captive. “I love you. You know that right?”
Why was this man set on sending me to the upper room before my time?
Be still my beating heart.
“Yes, I know you love me and you know that I love you too.”
Kissing the back of my hand, he inhaled and exhaled deeply. So much weight on his shoulders and I wanted to carry all of his burdens. “More than you’ll ever know.”
I couldn’t move. Paralyzed, stuck, trapped in my bed with a dark looming figure standing over me and another at the foot of my bed. It took me two blunts and three and a half cups of strawberry Fanta mixed with promethazine, and four apple jolly ranchers to feel numb enough to go to sleep. Thoughts clouded with drugs pumping through my system leaving it impossible for a nightmare to break my dirty sprite coma.
Drugs weren’t strong enough to stop my nightmares.
My nose flared, tears pooled in the corner of my closed eyes and my body convoluted feeling the lick of a tongue prickled with small spikes licking my hands. I tried to scream, my mouth was bound. Tried to release my arms and hands from the chains that had me bound, my body was pushed down.
These weren’t your average nightmares. Jolted out of your sleep, gasping for air, and able to lay back down and sleep peacefully for the remainder of the night dreams. These nightmares weakened me and terrified me. I’ve never been oblivious to the supernatural spiritual realms of this world. Damn sure never had second-guessing thoughts of whether demons were real or not. To experience them on this level, scared to go to sleep because the uncertainty of whether I would wake up and see another day felt slim to none.
Why was this happening to me?
“Fuck.” Bracing myself on my hands and knees, gasping for air, body covered in sweat and shaking. I went from feeling someone was strangling me to falling off my high-ass Alaskan bed.
Shit didn’t make sense.
Snatching my ringing phone off the nightstand, I sat back against my bed ready to reach under my pillow and grab my gun. But who would I shoot? There was no one here but me. I was losing my fucking mind.
“Hello.” Even my voice sounded different. Hoarse and strained. The fact that I felt like someone was strangling me in my nightmare and woke up hoarse with a soar throat. Nah, this wasn’t right. This wasn’t normal.
“Ezekiel, are you okay, honey?” Of course, it would be my mom to be the one to call and break me out of my nightmare.
Clearing my throat as best as I could, I checked the time and groaned. Blackout curtains always gave me a false sense of time. “Yes, ma’am. I slept with the fan on last night. I’ll see you at church.” I knew why she was calling. Only three people were programmed in my phone to bypass my DND settings, and one of the other two was my brother, who was probably on his way to church.
“Okay, baby. See you soon.” She hung up, and I slowly stood to my feet. Fully coherent and aware of my surroundings, I looked around my room foreignly trying to find the source of the snoring. Under my covers was a curled up body that I forgot about. The more I stared at the rise and fall of the covers, hearing the burly snores, my level of pissed off had me snatching the covers off Candice, wanting to push her ass off the bed. Ain’t no way she laid next to me and didn’t feel or hear me fighting for my life in my sleep.
“Candice.” Jumping up out of her sleep from the thunder of my voice, she looked like a crazed naked maniac with wild eyes and hair.
