Page 3 of Rewind

Was it around the time he wiped out their joint accounts to pay off gambling debts he’d racked up? Or was it when he lost his job for missing too many days to go to the horse tracks? Maybe it was when he began to show deference to her cousin Candace whom they’d taken into their home…no her home, as a favor?

Candace.

That was another betrayal for her to swallow on top of everything else. Ever since they were children, Candace went out of her way to make her feel unworthy of love, unattractive and a loser. Amina’s mistake was thinking her cousin had changed and wanted to repair their relationship when Candace had come to her begging for help and an occasional place to stay when things were unstable in her life.

But in the end it was all just a ruse. Candace was a user and a horrible person just like the rest of her family. Flashes of her life played like a movie in the back of Amina’s mind.

From a young age, all she knew was neglect and abuse. Her father had been in the military and died overseas shortly after she was born. Unable to handle raising her child alone, Amina’s mother ushered a series of ‘uncles’ into her life. Some were okay, some were creepy and others were downright scary and violent.

The last one ended up killing her mother leaving Amina in the hands of the foster system. When she was eight, she was claimed by her mother’s older sister. Amina thought she’d be apart of a real family that consisted of her aunt, uncle and three cousins.

Instead of being cherished like a valued member of the family, she was treated little better than a slave. She did most of the cooking and cleaning, all while her aunt made Amina express her gratitude for them taking her in. She had been a modern-day Cinderella, only clothed in hand-me-downs, and made to eat alone in the kitchen away from the rest of the family. She didn’t even have her own bedroom. She had to sleep on the living room floor in with a tattered comforter and one of her cousin’s discarded, drool-stained pillows.

That all changed when she was 13 and her paternal grandmother found her and fought for custody. Those years with her grandmother were the happiest Amina had ever experience. Grandma had been eccentric and heavily into the occult but she was loving and for the first time in her life, Amina felt safe and happy.

When her grandmother was taken away from her by illness, Mark entered the picture to fill the void.

Little did Amina know, welcoming Mark into her life would ultimately be her downfall.

There was one face that flashed in her mind that took her by surprise. Her former boss. He had always been kind to her and she wished she had the courage to be as friendly toward him as the rest of her coworkers. He seemed like a nice person and had very kind eyes.

No!

She couldn’t give up just yet. She could hear grandmother’s voice that screamed, “fight!”

Using a move she’d seen in an action movie Amina brought her hands up slapped them against Mark’s ear’s with all her might.

“You fucking bitch!” Mark screamed, clutching his ears.

She managed to push him away and wobbled to her feet. This time when she made it to the door, she was successful in getting outside. She blindly raced to the street, and didn’t notice the oncoming car until she found herself flying.

Her body hit the concrete with a crunch but there was no pain, only a euphoric sensation as she grandmother stood over her and held out her hand.

A smile briefly crossed her lips as she closed her eyes and walked into death’s embrace.

Chapter

Two

Amina snuggled deeper inside the covers, ignoring the music which grew progressively louder from the alarm on her phone. She was surprised Mark hadn’t told her to turn it off yet.

Her eyes popped open and she shot to a sitting position in a panic. She frantically reached for her phone to shut it off before he got angry. Amina couldn’t hit the snooze button fast enough. Releasing a deep sigh of relief she glanced over her shoulder to make sure Mark was still asleep but his side of the bed was empty. In fact, it didn’t appear to be slept in.

There were times when he’d stay out at all hours of the night and not return for days at a time but something seemed different she couldn’t quite figure it out.

Amina rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and stretched when suddenly all the events of the night before came crashing down on her. The robbery, Mark not answering her calls and then coming home to find him in bed with her cousin.

The worst part wasn’t even the beating where she was certain he’d broken her nose and knocked out some teeth, but the fact that he’d had such little regard for her as his wife and a person that he didn’t care that she knew about his affair.

And then there was Candace’s shrill laugher. It was the same laugher Amina would hear growing up whenever she’d get in trouble with her Aunt for the smallest infraction that none of her cousins would be faulted for.

Amina cautiously touched her face, afraid of the damage she’d suffered. There didn’t seem to be any swelling, or pain for that matter. Her nose felt completely intact as well. Running her tongue along her front teeth, she was relieved to feel they were all there.

Had last night been some kind of freakish nightmare?

One she was certain had ended in her death?

She took a quick look around her room and saw bright colors and paintings adorning the walls. What was going on? When Mark had moved in with her, he insisted she redecorate the house to suit both their tastes in the name of fairness, although when it was all said and done, he’d gotten his way in every decision of the renovations.

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