Black Girl Magic

Epilogue

I wasn't sure how much time had passed. I felt I had been in and out of consciousness for a long time, hearing voices, and feeling brushes against my skin, but I could never stay up for longer than a few seconds.

When I finally felt like I could drag myself from that long dark tunnel, my limbs felt as if they weighed a ton, my mouth was beyond dry, and I felt agony all over as I blinked against the bright lights. As I gathered my bearings, I tried to turn my head, but even that was too much, and I couldn't speak with the uncomfortable tube lodged in my throat. I worked on moving my fingers one by one until I could move my hand and slide it over slowly before I felt warm skin.

Whomever I had touched jumped a mile as they woke up. Seconds passed, and I saw my mother leaning over me with tears in her eyes as she said, "Kaveri! Baby, can you hear me?" I couldn't move, but I blinked slowly in response. She yelled, "Praise the ancestors. I'm going to find the doctor, baby. Hold on."

Several minutes passed before my mom returned with my grandmother and the doctor in tow. The woman introduced herself as Doctor Fairchild as she looked me over and checked my vitals. She said, "Kaveri, I'm going to get that tube out. You will experience some discomfort and probably be in a lot of pain. We will give you some more pain meds and then see where we go from there, ok?" I blinked again in response, and she smiled kindly at me before leaving to find a nurse.

My mom and grandmother posted themselves on either side of the bed. I noticed grandma was walking, aided by a walker. Seeing her like that suddenly threw me back to the fight with Naamah, and I began panicking, wondering how everyone else was and if we had lost anyone. Especially Armand.

Seeing my elevated heart rate and that it was directed from seeing her Grandmother, Asha, as quickly as she could, came over and grabbed my hand and said, "I'm ok, baby, just getting old. Everyone is dealing with their own things, but they are ok as well baby; we are all ok."

Her words soothed me, and I felt tears running down my eyes. My mother, on my other side, began rubbing my hair and saying, "Shh baby, it's ok, we will be ok. You will be ok. I thought I lost you for a minute, but I should have known you were a fighter. I'll tell you everything but let's take care of you first." I tried to nod my head, but it was way too much, so I just closed my eyes and tried to relax.

Thankfully the nurse came in soon after and took the tube out of my mouth before giving me a thorough checkup, in which she kicked everyone out. After my checkup, she gave me pain meds through my IV and then helped me sip some water slowly through a straw before letting my mother and grandmother back in.

As soon as the nurse was out of the way, they flanked my bed again and grabbed my hands. My mom gently kissed my hand and began explaining what had happened after I passed out from my injuries.

Mom said I had been out of it for a little over a week. I had suffered from severe exhaustion and muscle damage; for a moment, my mom mentioned that my heart had stopped. I would be ok, but I had a lot of work to do to reverse the damage I did by overusing my powers. I would be doing physical therapy and on some medication for a while. Not known to the doctor, grandma planned on her and the other elders to help with herbs and spells.

As soon as the fighting had stopped, they called the police and ambulances to collect the injured, which was pretty much everyone. Those who had gone down before the final bought with Kalfu had been treated for various injuries and were all on the mend. Mom mentioned they had all come to check on me when they could get up and move. The elders were all in various states, like Grandmother. The fighting had exhausted them and shown them their age. Whether walkers or wheelchairs, however, they were pushing through.