ᴛᴏxɪᴄ // D. Swing

Cԋαρƚҽɾ 51: Tιɱҽ & Pʅαƈҽ.

November 11, 1995

Ranae sat anxiously in the waiting room, more than nervous about seeing Donald again face to face. This was one of the hardest decisions she had to make. Who goes and visit their abuser after throwing him in jail? Ranae didn't really have the answers herself, but that didn't stop her from getting up driving to pay him a little visit.

It was long overdue, she thought.

The letter she received gave her the push to come and see him, otherwise she would've still been at home, completely oblivious to the fact that De still had love for her. Though the letter was long, she still felt that the two had multiple things to discuss. De for sure had other things he wanted to say to her in person.

Nobody knew where she was, not even Jarvis. If she told her family and friends she was going to see the man, they would've talked her out of it, and probably shamed her for even wanting to be in the same room with him again.

She felt more than guilty about not bringing this up to Jarvis, but if she told him the truth, he would flip out. Keeping secrets from each other was something they vowed to never do, but leave it to Ranae to do whatever she felt was right at the moment. Though it was bound to happen, she was still praying that none of this would turn into a huge blowup. The last thing she need, is to have a shit show with Jarvis and stress herself and the baby out.

Ranae glanced around the waiting room, taking notice of how it wasn't that many people in here. Just about three other people visiting inmates. Her hand rested on her stomach and she began to rub it, hoping that it will calm her nerves.

When the doors opened, her heart started to beat rapidly upon seeing Devante being escorted in the room. She grew nervous all over again, right when they made eye contact.

Devante grinned, showing off his white teeth once he noticed it was Ranae who came to pay him a visit today. Surprise would be an understatement. He thought she would have just thrown the letter away and said fuck him, but nope. She didn't mind spending a couple of minutes sitting across from him.

Slowly walking up to the table, they both couldn't keep their eyes off each other, as if they were reading each other's mind. Ranae noticed how he looked the same, the only thing new was his hairstyle. He seemed to be growing it out a little more but it fitted him, just like his usual curls. He seemed to have grown a bit taller too, or maybe that was just Ranae's mind playing tricks on her. Given that she hasn't seen him in a while.

"Hey." De was the first to say, taking a seat across from her.

"Hi." She said awkwardly, as if the two were strangers. It felt that way though for the past year or so, with all the drama going on between the two.

"I'm surprised you came to see me, I thought I'd never see the day." He chuckled deeply.

Ranae sighed with a half smile "Well I felt the need to, after everything you admitted in that letter."

"I take it you read the whole thing."

"I did and I appreciate you owning up to all of that, I was surprised you were finally speaking the truth instead of trying to twist things around, like you use to do." She put him on the spot on that last part.

"Nah, that mindset is dead and gone. I'm trying to make progress in here, and that means accepting and owning up to all the shit I did. I'm man enough to admit that now."

Ranae slowly nodded, sighing once again "It's sad that it took for you to be sentenced and locked away, to finally take accountability and admit to what you did. It didn't have to go this far, you could've just let me go."