Page 3 of Delirium 2

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My alarm went off and I felt around the bed for my phone. Grabbing it, I silenced it and went back to staring at the high ceiling. I tossed and turned all night. I was extremely uneasy. The bed was nice. Very comfortable. Fluffy, with pillows that reminded me of the pillows I would see in those fancy movies. Big, probably filled with feathers instead of whatever the ones back home were filled with. Cheap ass cotton. The mattress was pillow-topped. With a big, down comforter that would have swallowed me had I slept underneath it. It smelled nice here too. Like the expensive laundry detergent I kept my nose in at the store when I was little. And it was quiet. So quiet, it was almost too quiet. I didn’t hear shouting, gunshots, or loud music.

I could actually hear the birds chirping, instead of yelling and bumping coming from Sabrina’s apartment. I should have been happy to wake up here, experiencing this… but I wasn’t. Like I said, I was uneasy. I was used to sleeping in chaos. Arguing, loud music, and gunshots rocked me to sleep, and was my alarm in the morning. Jumping into such a massive change, so quick was a little shocking to my nervous system.

I turned over on my side and gazed out of the window through the sheer curtains hanging over the big windows. The room I was in was modestly decorated, with a dresser, a nightstand, a queen-sized bed, with bare tan walls. I could tell it was literally used as a guest bedroom. But I wondered if it’d even been touched. When I walked in, I brushed my hand over the oak dresser and swiped up a thin layer of dust. If the room was mine, for real, I would put dream catchers on the wall, and faux plants on the ceiling and in the corner. I would hang string lighting above the tufted headboard, too. Somewhere, I’d put an ancestral altar. I looked away from the window and put my eyes on the little nook area not too far from the closet and smiled a bit. It’d go right there.

Sighing, I looked away and pushed up on my elbow, on my side, propping my head up, steady looking around the big room. It was the size of my living room and kitchen put together. Big as hell. So big that a loveseat and a little coffee table could fit in here too.

It was nice to fantasize about. Growing up, I wanted a big house and a nice sized room. Hell, I still wanted that. But wanting that now… trying to get it… without Meech didn’t sit right with me. On top of that, look at how last night went. Would I even be comfortable in a place outside of The Woods? I always called Vellz and Meech stagnant because of their fixation on staying… but shit… was I in the same boat and hadn’t realized it?

I laid there a bit longer, thinking before I decided I really needed to get up and get the day going. I grabbed my toiletry bag, left the bedroom and took a short walk down the hall where the guest bathroom sat. After using it, brushing my teeth, and washing my face, I went down to wake First Lady up. Surprisingly, she was up. Sitting on the side of the bed. Hands in her lap, eyes on her window. I followed her eyes and landed on a red cardinal sitting on the balcony’s banister.

“You like birds?” I asked. “My momma used to love sparrows. She used to say, God’s eyes were on the sparrow.” I laughed. “Whatever that means. I think it might’ve come from an old song, or something.”

Silence.

Just a smile and silence.

I didn’t take it personally. Actually, I appreciated the silence. I didn’t want to talk. Not in conversation anyway. Didn’t want her to ask me a ton of questions about who I was, where I’d come from, or why I’d referred to my momma in the past tense. This was easier. I didn’t have to tell anyone my sad ass life story.

“We’re going to get up and get you dressed, okay?” I said, shuffling over to the walk-in closet. Stepping in, my jaw dropped. Just a little. It was filled to capacity with dresses and suits that were covered with plastic. On the top of the closet sat a plethora of boxes that had to house her church hats. I wanted to go through them. Them church ladies be having some outlandish, crazy, fire ass hats so I just knew First Lady’s had to be cold. Glancing over my shoulder at her, I thought about what to put her in today. Yesterday, she had on a simple pair of stretch pants, and a red t-shirt. No life, no personality. Just… clothes.

She needed more.

She needed to dress the way she used to dress before Isaiah’s death. So, I fingered through those plastic covered clothes until I found a royal blue dress that I felt would be fitting for today’s weather. We were touching seventy-eight degrees. I pulled it down and searched for a pair of shoes. No heels. She needed something she could comfortably walk in. I found a pair of gold ballerina flats and pulled them out. Looking back up at the top of the closet, I eyed those boxes and pulled a few down, searching through them until I found a blue hat that would pair well with the dress.

After getting her clothes and things situated, we went to the bathroom where I tried the face towel trick Exodus mentioned. My stomach dropped and my chest tightened when she didn’t take it from me. I took in a deep breath and remembered the three racks I would make at the end of this week and got to washing ass.

Once she was clothed, I had her sit in her vanity seat, in the bathroom so I could do her long, salt and peppered hair. I just put it in two French braids to the back. What I really wanted to do was throw some curls in it, but I decided to save that for tonight. I was going to use my wand curlers to curl it and then scavenge the room for hair rollers I just knew she had to have so her curls would be nice and juicy the next day.

We spent a good thirty, forty minutes getting dressed. We headed straight for the kitchen where I was going to make breakfast.

When we made it to the kitchen, I paused and my brows dipped at the sight of Solomon sitting at the island.

He looked up from his phone and chucked his chin with a smile. “Good morning, Sereia. ‘Morning ma.” His brows furrowed as he stood up and gave her a once over. “Don’t you look beautiful.” He looked to me. “Got her together, huh? Haven’t seen her in a dress in…” His gaze drifted. “...Years.”

I shrugged my shoulder. “You look good, you feel good.”

Which was a fucking lie.

But I rolled with it because it was nice to say.

“You right about that.” He paused and nodded towards the microwave. “Picked some food up on the way in. We have to go grocery shopping so it’s not much in the ‘fridge.”

I nodded. “Okay, that’s cool.”

He walked over to the microwave, opened it, and pulled a couple of trays out, sitting them on the island. First Lady walked off, heading for her favorite spot on the couch, but I stopped her by grabbing her elbow. Pivoting, I led her to the kitchen island instead. Her attention stayed fixed on the couch, but she sat on the barstool anyway.

When Solomon sat a tray in front of me and opened it, tears instantly filled my eyes.

“I just got here so it should still be hot.”

Cheese eggs, bacon, and hash browns with cheese.

I talked about breakfast with Exodus yesterday. When he asked what I would have rather eaten, after I told him I had a sausage and pancake corn dog, I mumbled off the order I always gave Meech.

I didn’t think he was listening for real.