Mom kept asking me if I was all right and I just kept answering yes. It was starting to get annoying. No! I’m not ok. My whole life’s been turned upside down and I don’t know which way to face! At least I didn’t lose both parents and Tammer was being very nice asking me time and time again what he could do to help me. I needed to apologize to him but I decided it’d be better to wait until we returned to Florida.
We flew back the same way we came – first class. The flight attendants practically slobbered all over Mom and Tammer. The beautiful people always got treated well. I stayed in my area and kept my headphones on. Everyone got the hint.
It was well past midnight, by the time we got back to the mansion. Mom asked me if I wanted to stay in the main part of the house. I told her no - that I needed some alone time. She said she understood, so I stayed in my room. For a week. I hardly ate and I didn’t get up from my bed. Everyone kept checking on me and trying to feed me.
When I slept, I didn’t dream. When I ate, I didn’t taste. I barely remembered showering. My routine turned into sleep, wake up, pee, sleep, wake up, eat, pee, sleep, wake up, stare at the wall across my bed, sleep.
Then I got a visitor. I was just waking up, when I felt the bed move. I sat up in fright, but it was only Naira sitting at the end of my bed. She looked like she’d grown, but that would’ve been impossible.
“Hi,” I croaked, falling back into the pillows. “What are you doing here?”
“Mama says you’re sick,” she said.
I peered through one eye. I wasn’t going to get used to her being so grown up for such a tiny body. “Yeah,”
She twisted one finger. “You’re not sick. You’re sad.”
“Ah,” I said.
“I make you better.”
“Oh yeah?” I chuckled. Her innocence was cute. “How are you going to do that?”
Crawling forward on the bed, she knelt next to me and reached for my face. She placed her tiny hands on my temples.
“Close eyes,” she instructed and I obeyed, humoring her.
I felt nothing but I kept my eyes closed. I could hear her breathing lightly. Then, I felt a warmth come from her hands. It started in my temples and seemed to slowly melt up over the top of my head, down my neck, over my shoulders, and continued until it ended at my feet. Then she removed her hands.
“Open,” she commanded.
When I opened my eyes, she was smiling at me.
“What did you do?” I asked, almost too stunned to speak.
“You fine now,” she said, sliding off the bed and scampering out the door.
I rolled my eyes and turned on my side, facing the wall. It would be nice to still see the world as children did. That was impossible for me now. I felt as if something had changed inside me and things would never be as simple as they once were.
After a while, I felt bored. I had to do something, so I got out of bed and had a long shower. The water felt so good - warm and comfortable. I wanted to stay in its loving embrace, so I turned off the shower and ran a bath. The bath had the same waterfall-like faucet as the sink, but it had four of them – one on each side. In no time at all, the bath was full.
I walked down the steps into the water. This was the coolest bath ever. It made me feel like swimming. I swam to the area where I could lie down. Sliding into it, I was pleasantly surprised. The whole tub area seemed to be made out of a gel substance that conformed to my body when I lay in it. It was sheer heaven! If I could breathe underwater, I’d definitely sleep this way. My body was light and supported. I wondered if this was the way babies felt in their mothers’ tummies before they’re born.
Stretching out, I closed my eyes and rolled my head gently around my shoulders. This was the life. I felt relaxed and content at that moment. Nothing could have dragged me from my bath. Sighing, I let my entire body relax.
Dreaming. Finally. It’d been a while. I was lying on a beach, the upper half of me on the white sand, the lower half in the blue waves. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the glowing sun was generous in her warmth. I was wearing a brown bikini top that went really well with my skin tone. My hair was long and it spread out all about me in cascading waves.
Looking down the beach, I saw someone walking toward me. As he got closer, I realized it was Thayde. He wore blue shorts. His beautifully tanned body set off his dark blue eyes. When he reached me, he smiled and stopped.
“Hello baby,” he said and knelt next to me.
“Where’ve you been?” I asked, feeling my heart racing in my throat.
“I’ve been with Leigh,” he said and ran a finger down my arm. “She’s so happy we brought her.”