Page 89 of The Prodigy

She giggled.

“Anyway, it’s not horrible. Jakari makes it all bearable.”

“Yeah, I bet. He still fine?”

“Girl, finer.”

“I hate you. Actually, I don’t. Introduce me to one of his brothers.”

“I most certainly will not.”

That would be a disaster. Nay was definitely out. I didn’t want my sister dealing with baby mama drama. Eris was cute and he seemed nice, but I didn’t have a good feel for him yet. What I’d seen so far gave me spoiled vibes, and I wanted my sister to be the spoiled one in the relationship.

While Dionne was getting dressed for work, I went into my room to grab a few things. Highest on the list were my documents, because I planned to change my name sometime this week. I grabbed my birth certificate and social security card. I also grabbed my last few bank statements, utility bills, and credit card statements. Without thinking about it, I pulled my two photo albums out of my bottom drawer as well, and made my way back into the living room.

“Hey D, let me ask you something.”

She was putting her lunch in a Tupperware container. “I’m listening.”

“Do you ever think about her?”

Her hands froze, the wooden spoon suspended in air. “I think about her every day.”

“Me, too.”

She set the spoon on the counter and peered at me. “Where did that come from?”

“I don’t know. Actually, I do. Jakari has somebody looking into it.”

“For what? If the police didn’t find anything, how would anybody else?”

“He has people in high places,” I said proudly. “He has more power than you would think.”

“Interesting.”

“If he finds something, would you wanna know?”

Dionne stepped out of her heels, abruptly losing a few inches in height. “I don’t know,” she said. “I made my peace with the way things are. Finding out something, no matter which way, would disrupt that peace. You know what I mean?”

“I know exactly what you mean.” I sighed pitifully. “I was so excited when he first told me he would look into it. But now, I don’t know. I’m almost scared to learn something. Like you said, either way, it’s gonna hurt. If she left, that means she left us. If she was taken…” I trailed off. The rest didn’t need to be said.

“I miss her.”

She said it so quietly, I almost missed it. Those whisper thin words floated in the air between us like smoke, and I passed right through them to get to my little sister. I pulled her into a hug and we held each other, as we’d done so many times before. Kenya’s girls, bonded by blood, love, and pain.

I had plenty of tears left to fall, but whenever Dionne got sad like this, it was like my tears retreated to give her the space to cry.

As she sobbed quietly on my shoulder, I stroked her hair and cursed the day my mother left, and whatever or whoever took her away, be it her own demons or some person with bad intentions.

“It’s okay, D,” I told her. “Whatever happens, we have each other. Okay?”

I felt her nod. With one last squeeze, we parted ways and I kissed her goodbye and headed to my car. I had a missed call and text, both from Jakari.

“Hey, you called?”

“Hey, beautiful. Where you at?”

“Leaving my apartment. What’s up?”

---