Page 97 of Dare You to See Me
Please reconsider.
Malik
I never received a response from her. Instead, the counselor told me later that day that Dahlia’s mother changed her mind about moving her classes. I would have loved to hear those words straight from Soleil, but I’d settle for seeing a small piece of my girl reflected in Dahlia’s eyes everyday.
Soleil stops walking Dahlia to class every morning and the teachers on car rider line duty are the ones who monitor all the kids as they leave. The most I get are glimpses of her life when Dahlia talks about her.
“Me and Mommy went to the zoo.”
“Me and Mommy had a movie night.”
“Mommy was sad yesterday so Auntie Kyle came over to help her stop crying.”
That one gutted me because I knew what she was crying about. It’s torture not seeing or hearing her voice every day. And each day,my heart cracks open wider.
I get a notification on my phone that there is someone at the door. I open it up quickly and see a man standing there, flowers in hand.
Soleil peeks out before opening the door with a smile. The man tells her something before handing her one incredibly large bouquet of dahlias in varying shades of red and pink and walks away. She stares at them with wide, curious eyes and then she sees him walking back with a second bouquet.
Two dozen baby roses in light pink are wrapped in kraft paper and tied off with a bright pink ribbon. It’s very similar in packaging to Soleil’s with the exception that hers is three times the size.
She thanks the man, and juggles the two arrangements as she closes the door. I don’t know what’s going on now that she’s closed the door because I only have access to her outside cameras, but I hope she loves the note.
My Sunny Girl-
You’re my moon, my sun and without you, night is never ending. The skies are no longer bright or happy, and rising each day is misery. All I’m asking is for you just to listen to what I have to say. After that, if you want nothing with me, I’ll leave you alone. I’ll never recover and will forever be yours, but I will let you go.
I love you, Soleil. Always and forever.
Happy Valentine’s Day.
Malik, your King
The note in Dahlia’s pink roses is simple but lets her know that I love her very much and while her mom is the moon and sun, she is the stars above.
I wait for her to text or call or email to let me know she got the flowers, but it never comes. Just another day without hearing the sound of her voice.
My phone rings and rings, pulling me from sleep and into my living nightmare that I reside in daily. My birthday has snuck on me and while I should be celebrating that I actually get a day this year –the pitfalls of being a leap day baby–it’s just one more day that reminds me I’m alone. Soleil still won’t talk to me, and I’m starting to lose hope that she ever will.
Danté said I’m being a little bitch and I need to just get over Soleil, and find a new chick to climb on. But he doesn’t understand.Only Henny knows what it feels like for your heart to be walking around on the outside of your body. And his advice to me…don’t give up.
And I haven’t. Lord knows I’ve wanted to because I just can’t take the pain any longer, but my heart won’t let me.
The phone keeps ringing and I slap my hand on my nightstand, searching for it. I grab it, look at the screen with bleary eyes and slide to answer.
“Hello.” My voice is thick and dry.
“Get the fuck out of bed. It’s five o’clock in the evening and we’ve been calling you for hours.” Hendrix’s sharp tone snaps me awake.
“What? No happy birthday Mal? No, we're so glad you were born?”
“Happy birthday. Now get out of bed and be ready in one hour. Day and I are coming to get you.”
“Wait. Why are you c–” the line goes quiet before I can even finish my sentence. “Coming to get me?”
I toss the phone on my mattress and stare up at the ceiling, debating on whether or not I should get up and do as Hendrix said, or just crawl into a black hole so no one can find me. Henny will come over, let himself in, have a drink and then leave because he’s not going to beg me to get up.
But if Dagen is with him, that’s a horse of a different color.
