Twilight Rays

30. Taken care of

"Do you want someone else to come in or you rather be alone?" ask the doctor to Twilla.
"They can come in."
Me and my brother followed Twilla into the room.
"You can take a seat."
I waved at Twilla to take the seat, but she grabbed my hand and motioned me to sit down, taking place on my thighs. Mo took the other chair.
"So, we were aware of you particular family situation lately, and that's why we have been trying to contact you for the last months, actually since this year has started."
I exchanged a look with my brother, but neither of us said anything.
"We would like to keep you here for a while, Miss Na- Miss Twilla, so we can be able to figure out what you have been going through and if your body has suffered from this past months events."
"I- I don't think I can." She muttered, tensing up.
"I understand your concerns Miss..."
"Please just call me Twilla." She snapped, exasperated.
"Twilla... We promise you it won't take long, you'll probably be gone by tomorrow."
"So you guys will keep her to do what exactly?" I asked.
"Like a usual check-up, to see if she is thinner than she should, basically. We'll ask her a few questions too to see if we have to give her medication or if we will recommend her to a psychiatrist."
Twilla still looked unsure of that, so the doctor gave us until tomorrow, but assured us she didn't have much of a choice. "It's for her own good, he told me afterwards. Whatever is making her depressed - or whoever must be identified quickly or else... I'm afraid prescriptions won't do a lot for her."

"You don't have much of a choice, sweetie."
We were on our way to Destinée's house, right after we had dropped Mo home. I had insisted for Twilla to stay there, but honestly I just needed to talk to DeeDee. I was hoping she truly didn't know anything.
"Raja, I can't stay there. I can't let them know about Jo and Clara abusing me. I can see it now, but I'm still trying to keep it a secret. I couldn't stand getting pitied by the doctors even more than now."
"They're here to help you, not judge. And they won't do anything but to call the police."
"Well, I don't want that."
"It's not about what you want, for once. It's about what you need, T. Trust me on that one."
"I don't think I am ready to testify against them yet."
"That's why you need help. You can't do this on your own. And it's okay. You're hurt, nobody is expecting you to do such things. But you gotta give it a try. We're here for you."
I reached for her hand and our fingers crossed halfway. She sniffed.
"Thank you, sunshine."
"I love you, T."
"I love you Ray."
And we remained silent until we got to DeeDee's house.

Fortunately, I got to calm down by the time we got to DeeDee's, because she broke down in tears in a matter of minutes telling her what Twilla put herself into.
"I'm such an horrible friend, I'm so sorry T!" She kept saying, clutching on her friend's arm.
"I'll be okay, don't beat yourself up for this." Twilla responded, hugging her.
At this point, I left them alone in Destinée's room and went downstairs to greet Mr. Anglade.
"Raja! Long time no see, huh?" The man said when he saw me from the living room's couch.
We shook hands and he invited me to sit down.
"The girls are okay, up there?" He wondered.
"Yeah, well, I think they just have a lot to venture. Hum, I was thinking maybe Twilla could stay here, if that's okay with you of course..."
"Don't bother say more, I'd be honored to keep an eye on your girlfriend. And I'm glad you rather her sleeping somewhere else than your place."
"We don't have an extra room anyway."
I knew he also meant I wasn't planning on sleeping with her, since we were both Christians. But I didn't feel the need to bring that up.
"How's that friend of yours is doing?"
"Jauschua?"
"Yes, there it is!"
"He's doing great."
"Hum... Do you know if... if he has a thing with my daughter?"
Honestly, I kind of saw that coming. Joey and DeeDee became friends real quick.
"He hasn't told me if he does. But they're seeing each other as friends right now."
"Good to know. I'll keep an eye on him."
I chuckled.
"DeeDee is blessed to have a father like you."
And then I thought about Twilla not having anyone keeping an eye on her in a good, lovely way and I felt bad for her.
"She has you to watch over her when she is feeling down. She'll turn out just fine, don't worry about it." Mr. Anglade read my thoughts.
"Thanks for everything, sir."
"Oh, thank you for bringing us back our Tweetie."
"You call her like that too?"
"Yes, Raja, actually she made me stop when she got in high school."
"Yeah, she hates it but I keep using it nonetheless." I bragged.
He laughed, holding his belly with both hands.
"Anyways, can you tell her I'll call her later? I gotta get going."
"I won't forget. So I'll see you around?"
"Yeah. I'll see you at church."

___________

The doctors were scared Twilla was struggling with bipolarity, but thank God, the results weren't conclusive. They long hesitated before letting her prescription free, only referring her to a psychologist for a undetermined time. And again, he was Christian.

We were now in June, and life was running smooth. I had started university earlier by taking two summers classes, and Twilla got her job back at the bookstore. Mo was throwing "gatherings" almost daily, since he was done with school till September. I suspect him to do that in order to get Katy's attention, but that's between you and me.

As for Jo and Clara... well, let's just say they're getting taken care of by the cops.

To celebrate my first done term, Twilla and I decided to drive to Montreal to visit my parents. They had been gone for a month at Paris, the city where they first met. My dad told me on the phone they were thinking of renewing their wedding vows, and I wanted to convince him to do it at Ottawa. And give them a little surprise.

When we arrived to the P.-E. Trudeau international airport to pick up my parents, we were slightly ahead of my parents flight's landing, so we stopped at a cafe meanwhile.
"Hi, how can I help you?" The cashier says with a accent.
She was a black woman of about 30 years old, and I can quickly guess she must be Haitian.
"We speak French." I assured her, ordering in that language.
"Et pour vous Madame?" She turned to Twilla, who hadn't pronounced a single word ever since we got there.

She didn't even bother mutter something, she just seemed mortified.
"You can get her a chocolate bread with coffee, 2 cream 4 sugars... no, make it 5." I told her instead of Tweetie.
"What's wrong? You forgot something?" I asked Twilla once we were waiting for our orders.
"I had forgotten her name." She mumbled
"What, what do you mean?"
"Tanisha...Tanisha Toussaint. She is my..."
My eyes widened. OMG.
"Your mom looks that young?" I whispered after an akward silence.