Getting to Nirvana {editing}

Chapter 29

"The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart." - Buddha

Chapter 29

Daniel

"So you really didn't know she was a prostitute? " Nirvana ask incredulously as she snuggles her head against my chest.

Even though my jail cell bed is too small for the both of us I made sure she managed to fit because I need her next to me. Being this close to her feels so natural that I can't believe it took this long to get like this.

"Honest to God."

"But you still didn't have to take that blunt from her. If you can't even resist weed from a complete stranger that proves that you're a weed addict."

"Am not!" I argue indignantly even though I can't remember the last time I didn't smoke a blunt at least once a day.

"You are, and you need to quit smoking. I can't have you dying from lung cancer in a couple of years."

A smirk settles on my face. "You need me in your life that much huh?"

"You're real cocky you know that Daniel?"

I shrug my shoulders playfully. "I've been told that once or twice before."

A comfortable silence settles between us after that. I instinctively wrap my arms tighter around her as I rest my chin against her hair.

I think she's fallen asleep already until she calls my name softly.

"Daniel?"

"Yeah?"

"Tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"Tell me about your past."

My heart stills at her words. My past? It's so screwed up she'll probably never want to see me again. She'll probably tell me I'm evil and sick. That I'm demented and cruel. That I belong in this jail cell behind these steel iron bars.

The thought of her saying that to me stabs me deeper than any knife could.

"What do you mean?" I ask tensely.

"I mean how did you end up in that little bar in Houston that night I walked in?"

I stiffen. She notices this and envelopes her smaller hand into my own.

"You can tell me Daniel. I won't judge."

"Pinky promise?" I whisper trying to be funny although I feel as vulnerable as a little kid.

She links her pinky through mine and squeezes it tightly, before planting a soft kiss on my hand. "I promise."

I close my eyes as the memories come rolling back to me.

But of course they were never really that far from my mind.

***

"Hey there goes Daniel, the son of that black whore!"

The words of the bullies that torment him everyday follow him down the asphalt sidewalk as he walks home from school. Being awkward and scrawny, with a large curly afro, and goofy looking features like his ears and a nose that didn't quite fit him yet, he was constantly being teased and berated by the other kids.

It didn't help that he had a biracial mother who didn't quite fit into the mold of all the fully white women in their small and small minded mississippi town.

"Hey I'm talking to you cracker nigger." Another one of the bullies taunts him when he continues walking trying to ignore their taunts.