Mrs. Wright

I put my focus on the treasure hunt. I quickly shower and get ready for life above the surface. I’m not just floating around in a black void anymore. I have a mission.

It’s that mission that is keeping me away from going to see my mom in the hospital. I’m terrified that what little hope I found with her letter will be undone when I see her nearly lifeless face. So for now, as difficult as it is, I stay away from my mom so I can focus on the task at hand.

On my way down the stairs, I hear two voices coming from the kitchen. In addition to Uncle Ty, there is another male voice: Nate. He’s arguing with Uncle Ty, though they’re trying to keep their voices down. I lean in close so I can overhear.

“You have to let her do this. You don’t have a choice!” Nate says.

“I ain’t got to do nothing but stay Black and die. You know that,” Uncle Ty says.

“This is what Rosalie would have wanted. You need to let this happen.”

“She’s not ready to do anything like that. We just got her to agree to go back to school.”

What are they talking about? What is it Nate wants me to do? Why doesn’t Uncle Ty think I’m up to it, whatever it is?

I can’t stop myself from taking a quick peek inside the kitchen. But I do it carefully, because once they know I am there, they’ll stop arguing. Nate is pacing up and down the kitchen, and Uncle Ty has his hands balled up in fists.

“I know how you feel about Ayo,” Nate says. “I feel the same way. I want to protect her too. But we don’t have a choice. It’s not just me asking. Do you have any idea how many calls we’re getting at See Us? Everyone wants to know what she’s thinking, which direction she wants to go, because we all know that’s what Rosalie was grooming her for. This is her destiny. Why are you standing in the way of it?”

“She’s hardly fifteen. She doesn’t have a destiny; she has homework. She has friends. She has a mother in a coma. She doesn’t need you to add the entire race on her shoulders.”

“That’s not the way Rosalie saw it! She had a vision. You know that!”

Uncle Ty stands up so quickly that his chair falls over. “And where the hell did that get her?”

“So, that’s it? You’re letting those cops off?” Nate asks in disbelief.

“No! The trial hasn’t even started yet.”