The Journey

Chapter fifteen: Goodnight Mrs. Dianna

August

It's been a couple days since she woke. But she ain't the same. She'ont talk none. She say thank you and those types of things. Kisses me goodnight and plays with Jackson. But when I go to lay my head beside her at night she holds me tight like I would leave her. I'm a lil worried.

It's my lunch time and I'm sitting on the bench in the bathroom with Julie while she's in the tub and she looks scared. She holdin her legs with her chin on her knees.

"Julie what's wrong with you?".

Julie

The sight of the water fillin the room in my dream kept coming to my mind. It won't let me be.

August

I got up and sat on the edge of the tub.

"In my sleep I had this dream. That I killed you all. I did it. Even you". I didn't understand but it was just a dream. "There was water all in this bathroom and it filled the whole room". I grabbed her chin and kissed her lips.
"It was just a dream Jul. I'm here. I'm not dead. My heart is still beatin jus' like yours". I stood up and looked at the clock on the wall. I got an hour and some change before I have to go back to work.

"I'm gonna go take a nap. You finish in here and come join me in bed". I stood up and opened the door, and back inside our room.

Julie

I finished washin before I stepped out the tub and made sure to drain it.

Once I was dry, I stepped in front of the mirror and looked at myself naked. I had lost some pounds and it looks good on me if I do say so myself.

I can't let that dream shake me.

It was just all in my mind. August is still here with me. Jackson is okay. I don't need to worry.

I grabbed my towel from the floor and put it back around me before I stepped in front of the window.

The sun nearly blinded me. It looked like the light in my dream and I could see the flowers on the other side of the fence. It looked like one of those fancy paintins Mrs. Holland makes on town by the market on Hamilton avenue. Mr. Danbury and I went there lots of times on Saturday mornings and eat sandwiches as we road through town. I miss him very much.

He made me feel like I mattered in this world of hate. I still have the handkerchief with our names on it. We made it together on the porch when he taught me how to sew when I was 5. That was my father and no one can tell me any differently.

That was a beautiful man, inside and out. When it was just me and him on cart rides out of town it was the best. He joked with me. Made me laugh. He treated me as he did Jackson. He held me when I cried. Kissed my forehead when I would succeed a task right. Played hide and go seek with me unafraid of what Dianna would say. He truly loved me. A love I never felt before, until I met August.

The instant I laid eyes on him I knew he'd be with me forever. All the branding on his body and the whip marks on his back couldn't stop me from seeing the beauty in him. Although Autumn and January are my best good friends, August stayed by my side.

I owe him my life.

I stepped away from the window and lead myself out the bathroom to our room. He was sleep on his side breathing lightly. I grabbed a pair of underwear and slipped them on under my towel. Ruby says it's indecent for a man to see a woman naked until they're married.

I dropped my towel and opened a drawer in my dresser for a night gown. I pulled it out and slipped it on.

"You should just sleep naked. I can see right through that thing anyway". I shook my head, pickin the towel up once more before foldin it and placin it on my trunk.