Seven Minutes of Heaven.

Part twenty seven.

2019

On July 24th I lost my father to cancer. Cancer that my family didn't inform me about. Despite the years that had gone by my family and I still weren't in good terms but them hiding my fathers illness was immature and evil of them. My family didn't even tell me that he passed either. I got that information from an old friend of mine River. It hurt me to see their faces of shock and disbelief when I showed up at the church service. I can't believe they were going to burry my father without letting me say goodbye. I hated them for that. Like them keeping my fathers death a secret wasn't enough my sisters had the audacity and heart to share a narrative on social media that was far from true. According to their narrative I didn't care about my father. I knew he was sick but never visited him.... they claimed that he died because his medication was too expensive and I who had the money they needed offered no help at all. Social media is a bitch. Before my sisters weren't know ...... the had probably a hundred followers on instagram each, but now they were the trending topic. I was a trending topic. I was the criminal and they were the victims. People called me all sorts of names and Josh equally got a share of bad press like me. Josh and I hadn't sat down to talk about the issue yet. We were both trying to control the narrative and calm the fire down.

"Hey." Josh greeted me as he walked up to me. I wasn't sitting at our pool with my feet in the water. I was watching Leigh and King play with our dogs from a distance.

"Hi." I greeted Josh back and watched him sit next to him. He as well put his feet into the water.

"How are you doing?......not just with your health but with all the lies and drama?" Josh asked me.

"With physical health I'm good........ but mentally I'm in the worst possible state." I answered. " I didn't even get to mourn my father as I would have wanted to you know....... I felt unwelcome at my own fathers funeral.... I felt like I took his life." I continued to explain before getting caught in a web of emotion.
Josh held me close as I gathered myself together. He said nothing. His presence was all I needed.
"I just can't with everything you know." I continued after I wiped off a tear that escaped my eye and I sat up on my own again. Freed from Josh's hold.

"I get you........ people will always be people.... the situation will blow over. People will get bored and find another person to target." Josh told me.
What he said was true but living in the moment of the judgement wasn't the best feeling.

"I don't understand why my family hates me you know........I did nothing to hurt them." I told Josh.
Josh pulled me in for another hug and kissed my forehead. "I literally got pregnant...... moved out and went back like once...... It's not like they paid my bills or whatever." I added. "I have never parted myself or the kids from them.... They chose to on their own." I continued.

"Look....... Stop trying to find a reason for their actions okay..... no reason would ever be valid for them acting the way they do." Josh told me. I took his word and tried to get my mind off my family drama. As Josh and I just sat and talked my phone kept beeping, when I peeped on it it was Ibrahim. I don't know why he was texting me and I didn't want to know. Josh and I had gone through a lot already and I didn't want anything to ruin just how great in a place we were.

"Whose keeps texting you?" Josh finally asked me.
I didn't have any friends at all so I couldn't say it was a friend. I lost every friendship I had after high school. I guess I never really had friends as I thought I did or maybe I was that friend everyone wanted to cut off after graduation.

"Ibrahim." I answered honestly.

"We'll fuck." Josh replied.

"I don't know what he wants but I'm not going to entertain him okay." I told Josh.