Chapter 6: Fire !

Onika’s father is still acting weird. He won’t really speak to anyone and sometimes when Onika, her mother or brother came home, they would see that something was missing. Her mother thought it was a robber until she realized the person took furniture too. It had her thinking that her husband was doing it. Things were slowly clicking into place.

Onika’s P.O.V.

It’s night time. I think around 10 p.m. I’m supposed to be sleeping but I keep tossing and turning. One of my favorite gold hoops were missing. I miss them. I haven’t told my mother because I know it would hurt her. I got those from my grandmother. I sighed and turned again. I wish they would just pop up or something.

I’ve made friends with a few kids that lived about 5 blocks from the house. They’re my age and just like me. Shy but loud. And also not afraid to speak their mind. They always ask about my parents and I lie to them, time and time again. Same story at school. I have a feeling that she knows what’s going on, but wouldn’t ask me anything. I rather it like this as well. I don’t want to talk about this to anyone.  As you can see, there’s just too much happening right now for me to really sleep well at night.

My thoughts are disrupted by a someone calling my name.

“Onika, it’s me.” Nicki says to me with a smile.

“Hi Nicki, I can’t sleep again.”

“Ah, I know the feeling babygirl.” She then says to me with an understanding pout.

“Yeah… will you sing to me again please?”

“Shure thing. Anything for you princess.” She said then giggled. Her voice was so soothing for me. I fell asleep almost immediately. But not before hearing the front door slam… once again.

~End P.O.V.~

Carol Maraj was downstairs on the living room couch, reading the bible. She jumped abit when she heard the door slam shut once again. She was waiting on her husband to reach home. She sat up and waited for him to come out of the kitchen with his plate of food and his beer.

“Robert, we need to talk.” She said while he put his beer down on the coffee table.

“Carol, I jus reach home, leave me be.” Robert answered her harshly before reaching for the TV control on the coffee table.

“Robert, dey ain’t much times that meh call yuh name eh, so ama tell yuh again. Robert we need to… now!” she said with her Trinidadian accent thick as ever.

He looked at her funny before sighing and taking up his plate of food and placing it on his lap.

“Speak woman.”

Carol sighed before answered. She was calming herself this way.

“Robert, what I’m about to ask you, I want you to tell me the truth…” she said and paused. “Are you stealing from us and why are you doing it.”

He looked at her as if he were guilty for a few seconds before his expression turned into rage.

“Yes and so what?!?” he said harshly. He was acting funny and his eyes were red.

“Robert, we both work so why do you do that?!? You have us worried sick that someone’s coming into our house every day, stealing things that are very important to us.” Carol said with tears brimming her eyes. “I can’t believe you would do such a thing. Why?”

Robert took a sip of his beer before answering.

“Because Carol, I have no job and I owed a few buddies so I took from you all to pay them. Simple.” He said coldly. It took every fiber of Carol’s being not to reach over and smack him. Her hands were literally shaking. She had a feeling that he didn’t have a job but how long has it been and what does he do over day then?

“Robert how long has it been?” she asked. Her voice was very soft which scared Robert abit. He didn’t want her to do anything other than yell at him. He brushed off his shoulders before answering his wife that was now standing infront of him.

“Ever since the kids came.” He said and looked Carol in the eyes. She looked at him with disbelief. She had her hand to her mouth and tears rolling slowly down her cheeks.

“Okay, well I’m going to bed.” She said before turning to grab her bible and walk out of the living room. She went up to the room their shared. She went and showered before putting on her night gown and tying her hair up. She went in bed and put on her night light before reaching for her bible and reading a scripture about not giving up. There was one that really stood out to her. It says:

Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you. Deuteronomy 31:6

She smiled before putting her bible away and clasping her hands together in prayer. She said a silent prayer about her family before doing her nightly prayer. She turned off the night light and turned on her side. As she was falling asleep, she heard the bedroom door open and close. A few seconds later she felt the bed shift and a pair of hands wrap around her waist. The arms were to tiny to be Robert’s own so she turned over to see her son looking at her straight in the eyes.

“I love you mommy. No matter what happens.” He whispered while still hugging on to her body.

Carol smiled at him and played with his hair abit. “I love you too mama’s boy.”

They fell asleep soon after.

Meanwhile Robert was downstairs still. In all that little time that just passed, he has drunk 3 beers and still something was missing. He reached into his back pocket and revealed a small clear baggy which contained crack. He smiled. As he was about to start the whole process, he remembered where he was. He stood up and got his coat. After he placed it over his shoulders, he walked out the door. This time he closed it softly.

Over a period of a few days, things went normal. Robert never came home and they noticed that nothing was missing anymore. Jelani’s attitude was getting better but Onika was still abit off in her own world.

Carol couldn’t really blame her daughter. Her surroundings was molding her abit to be this way. Shure, her daughter would still be her sassy little self and acted like different things a lot, but there was still something missing in her daughter. That was another thing; her daughter had a thing for acting. She looked to believable and realistic that Carol couldn’t help but wonder.  Should she send Onika to a creative arts school?

Carol’s P.O.V.

I woke up this Friday morning feeling abit uneasy. Like I felt that something was coming. I didn’t know what exactly but I hope it isn’t something bad. I got the kids ready for school and sent them on their way. Hopefully I didn’t have to go to Onika’s middle school to hear that she fought again.

I shook my head at the thought. There was a time that she literally ripped open a girl’s top while clawing her hands over her skin. It left terrible marks and I confronted Onika about it. After I scolded her, she kept looking at me as if she were waiting for me to do something before turning away and going to her room.

-That Evening-

While I sat with my kids at the dinner table, Onika abruptly stopped eating and looked at her brother. He stopped eating too and looked at her. I cleared my throat to catch their attention. They both immediately turned back to their plates before finally confronting me.

“Mom, is it alright that me and Onika sleep over by a friend that lives a few blocks away?” Jelani asks me.

“Shure, you can go but Onika is staying.” I said while looking at her.

She pouted. Her lower lip was slowly trembling while her eyes opened abit wide. I hated when she did this. It could easily make me give in.

“But, why?” she asks me.

“Because, you fighting in school will not be tolerated.”

Onika sighed loudly before stomping off to her room. She slammed the door. Jelani was just staring at me.

“But ma, it does not gonna be any fun without her.”

“I know, but she needs to learn that violence isn’t the answer."

Onika came back downstairs with a paper in her hand. She handed it to me and folded her arms while waiting for my reaction.

I sighed and read it over. It was reasons why she should go.

“I see… No. Now go to bed.”

She looked at me abit sad before running off. Tears were brimming her eyes.

END P.O.V.

That night Carol had a dream. It was different from all other dreams that she has had. There was a fire in the house. She couldn’t reach her children in time and them all dead. Robert was laughing at them.

“That’s for doing this all to me… I hope you all burn in hell.” He yelled at her.

Carol woke up that night dripping of her sweat. She ran to the kitchen to get a drink of water before returning to her bedroom and calling up her children’s friend’s mother. She asked her to take the kids for the weekend. She knows she told Onika no but she felt that she had to do it.

It’s Saturday night now. Onika and Jelani are by their friend. Onika was happy that her mom let her go but still found it odd that she didn’t stick to her word in the beginning.

Onika and Jelani were sleeping in the guest room when at 3 am, their friend’s mother woke them up.

“Hey, you guys need to get up. There’s something going on at your house.” She said.

They woke up quickly and put on a robe over their night clothes. Also they placed their slippers on their feet. Sinds it was a few blocks down they walked it. As they were getting closer they could see smoke. As they saw this, they began to run.

Onika’s P.O.V.

I ran as fast as my little legs could take me. I was scared. Was mommy okay? What happened?

As my house came into view I could see the fire truck and an ambulance.  I saw my mother on the stretcher. I ran towards her.

“Mommy, Mommy!!” I yelled with tears rolling down my cheeks. I couldn't bare to see her looking so helpless. She had a mask over her mouth that was helping her breathe. I was upset. Why did this happen to her.

Jelani just started beating a nearby tree, cursing obsinities while one of the paramedics tried to calm him down. He was crying as well. I walked up to him and just held him. He immediately stopped beating the tree and turned to me. We cried together. Never in our lives did we expect something like this to happen.

I could just imagine that all my dolls and clothes were gone. Things that meant most to me, were no longer there. And what scared me the most was that my father was nowhere to be seen.

“I think he did this.” Jelani says to me. It was almost as if he heard what I was thinking.

I sighed. I just wanted to see my mother. The neighbor took us back to her house and told us that she would keep us until our mom was better and we had somewhere to stay.

I must say I was very grateful for that because, honestly I was just in shock. I think that this could easily mark the worst day of my life. All my things gone and my mother in the hospital because of my father. I literally hated the man more now.  He has pulled the last straw for me. I have had it with him.

-End P.O.V.-