Imanni

Chapter 9: A Lonely Man

"Daddy!" 

"Hey Mamas," I smile as Gee sprints towards me, a bowl in her hand as usual. I lift her up and surely enough she was getting heavier. 

"Hey Breane, thanks for watching her." Breane waves it off, smiling at us.

"Imanni, where do you guys li-"

"Thanks for watching her," I repeat, turning on my heel and I hear her sigh.

"How long are you going to do this to her Imanni? She needs to be normal." I ignore her, clenching my jaw as I walk back to the place we had to call home.

"How was your day gee?"

"Am I not normal?" She asks curiously, as I set her down in front of the door.

"You dont need to be normal Gee, I'm not normal either."

"You're not?" She ask curiously and I shake my head.

"When you're different, you're special. Being normal is blah," a stick out my tongue while twisting my face and her eyes pop open, a wide grin taking over.

"Blah," she repeats loudly while giggling her tongue stuck out.

"That's right, and you dont wanna be 'blah' don't you." She shakes her head, while popping open the lid but I wasnt hungry.

"Eat," she demands.

"A little later Gee, are you tired?"

"I am a little,"

"Go lay down." She settles on the mattress, a book in her hand and I sigh loudly, just staring at her.

I wish she could stay small forever, so oblivious to the horrors of this world.

I was in a dilemma as to whether I would bring Gee over to Mr. Coaxsten's house, or whether I would send her over to Breane's.

Mr. Coaxsten seemed like a very nice man, with a great backstory to up himself, but that was all I knew. I didnt know if his fascination with kids was something of innocence and loneliness. . . Or dare I not say what I'm thinking.

Point is, you just dont leave your kids around anyone, I'll learn from people's mistakes for sure. Gelan will be going with Breane tomorrow, until I really figure out what's going on with Mr. Coaxsten.

One more glance in her direction and I realize she's fast asleep. Tomorrow I'd have to head to the dollar store and buy some pens and paper so I could start to budget. I really have to fix this place up, quickly.

My next move was to find some way to get water available, even if we had to bathe outside.

I also needed to get Gelan into an actual school but everything would fall in line. I just needed to pray and hustle.

Everything I do is for my little girl, she'll never end up where I did, never.

#

"Get up Geegee, we have a early morning."

Seldom giving me troubles to wake up, Gelan sighs loudly but lifts herself off the bed.

"Take a minute, and I'll get your breakfast ready, and then you know the drill."

She nods, and scratching her hair and I wince at the sight of it. She takes a minute to pray, and I smile.

"Damn mamas, when last did we wash your hair?"

"I don't know, last year?"

"Girl," I almost screech and she chuckles, obviously find that funny.

I quickly wrap her hair in a band, reminding myself to ask Breane to wash it for me.

After giving her breakfast, we make our quick stop at the dollar shower before I get her dressed and soon she's off with Breane.

Quickly showering myself, I pull on the same clothes from yesterday and pull the broken door shut before heading over to that white ass neighbourhood.

#

"Oh, Imanni, you're here early!"

"Early bird gets the worm."

Mr. Coaxsten cracks a toothless smile before ushering me into his house. I hadn't noticed just how big this house was, until I saw a twirling stairway, and a chandelier visible from every entrance of a room. The halls seemed endless as we padded over to where I dont really know, and the furniture reeked off expensive material.

We end up in the kitchen and I immediately get depressed at the luxurious components of it. Stainless steel and marble painted over my eyes as he opens up the fridge.

"Would you like anything to drink?" He asks and I shake my head.

"I'm fine right now, thanks."

"Your daughter . . . Where is she?"

"Well she's being homeschooled right now, so she couldnt make it."

"Oh right, I've been so out of touch from the world for so long, I forgot that kiddies have to go to school."

He shooks his head at himself. Today, Mr. Coaxsten had a green and red button up shirt, matched with mustard coloured trousers. He had loafers on, and a little hat covering his tiny amount of hair.

As bad as he looked, his outfit effortlessly costed more than mine.

Who really was this man?

"Alright, you can head on back and start off your day Imanni, the kitchen is yours so feel free if you need to make lunch, or a refreshment. I throw out most of this stuff when they expire anyway."

"Thank you sir," he gives a kind nod, before sauntering back outside, perhaps to sit on his porch like he always did. As he shut the door behind him, I was met with the defeaning silence that was inside this house and came to a conclusion.

Mr. Coaxsten was indeed a lonely man.