The Me I That Forgot.

BLESSINGS

[ CELIA ]

I stood in the dark hallway seeing a bright white light at the far left. Squinting my eyes I started walking towards it, wondering what was at the end of the hallway. I paused. What if I get lost? I'll never be able to get home. I turned to look at the spot that I stood just minutes before. It felt like I had weights on my feet as my body trudged on ahead, pushing the fear aside.

Suddenly a familiar face greeted me in the hallway. Tears came to my eyes as I looked at her. She was dressed in a white gown with her long silky black hair flowing around her beautiful face. Her skin had a golden glow to it. She looked refreshed. It was an oxymoron from the last time I saw her. Now life flowed through her body as if she was drinking from the fountain of youth.

"Mama!", she smiled.

"Is ... is that you baby? Is it really you?! Get behind me satan!! I will not be taken for a fool!", I yelled, looking her up and down, thinking that the devil was trying to deceive me.

Her melodious laughter rang through the hallway. It was the same laugh that I longed to hear since she had died and the same laugh that I scolded her about since she was a child. I remember telling her that it was a vulgar laugh. She'd brush me off and cackle a little louder just to annoy me.

"It's me mama", she admitted. She twirled around, doing a full 360 , then faced me once again. "It's me Charmaine!"

"Charmai-", I got choked up, tucking my bottom lip between teeth and tongue, fanning my face with my hands as the tears began to fall.

My baby girl was actually standing in front of me. She is an angel. I'd fallen in love with her ever since the day of her birth. At that moment, I thought about everything that I'd wanted to say to her since the day that I buried her. I wanted to fill her in on how Charleigh is. I wanted to apologize for not seeing the signs of abuse that she had been facing in her marriage. I wanted to ask her if she'd seen her father. I wanted to tell her how much I love her. No words came out of my mouth. My mind went blank.

I threw my hands around her neck, bawling my eyes out with my head resting on her shoulder.

"I wanna say thank you mama! Thank you for raising my girl for me and loving her. You have done a wonderful job!", Charmaine whispered, caressing my face.

She used her index finger to lift my head and wiped my face clean. Charmaine held onto my shoulders, looking me dead in the eyes.

"Do you remember what happened to you?", Charmaine asked.

"I only remember inviting Charleigh's friend inside my home and then.... then everything... everything went black...", I trailed off , trying to remember what else happened. "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Queen! She was at the house with me!".

"Calm down mama", Charleigh said waving her hand across my face. I could see Queen sitting at home watching cartoons. She looked safe, sound and contented. "She's fine".

"Yeah", I nodded. "She is".

"Mama the woman you invited into your house attacked you. That was a few days ago. My daughter and brothers are worried about you", Charlaine informed me. "Charleigh is going to do something that will change her life forever and doom her soul".

"A few days?! What is Charleigh going to do?", I asked, feeling a panic attack slowly sneaking up on me.

Charmaine remained quiet as she waved her hand. I saw Charleigh, R. J. , and Quad in a room with the same woman who attacked me. The woman was tied up in a chair in front of them. Charleigh held a gun up at the woman.