𝑯𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 - 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑶𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒔 (𝑩𝒆𝒚𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒊)

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒅𝒚

~

*𝑩𝑴 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝑴 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 "𝑩𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏" 𝒂𝒏𝒅 "𝑨𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏". 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑵𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒊'𝒔 – 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒊𝒈𝒉 𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒔 – 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒕*

***𝑾𝑨𝑹𝑵𝑰𝑵𝑮: 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆'𝒔 𝒂 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒆 - 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒔 - 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒕. 𝑰𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒚, 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒕!***

~
𝑯𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒏, 𝑻𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒔 – 𝑩.𝑴.
~

"What a great movie," Derrick beamed, him and Andrea leading the way back to their car from the movies.

"You say that every time we go see a movie, dad," Normani chuckled.

"Not my fault there are such great writers out there. I always wanted to do that."

"I still think you could, baby," Andrea said. "It's never too late."

"Eh...there's a season for everything. I'm afraid I missed mine. But the sky's the limit for you, baby girl. You don't have to do what I wanted to do, by any means. But whatever you do, don't let anything stand in your way."

Normani smiled, although she had to take her father's words of encouragement with a grain of salt.

While she appreciated her parents' undying support – especially from Derrick – she had yet to figure out what exactly she wanted to do with her life.

She was what most people would deem as a renaissance woman. She was good at everything. But while she had multiple talents, it didn't make it any easier to pinpoint what direction she wanted to go with her life.

She was a gifted singer, could write the most beautiful poems, and was a painter with vivid imagination to name a few. She was, by all counts, an extraordinary person. But she never longed to pursue an extraordinary career.

Most of the things she was good at were hobbies. She wanted to keep them that way – enjoy them as an escape from a stressful reality instead of turning them into a career. She was perfectly happy with getting a regular nine-to-five job and living a modest life.

She didn't have the heart to tell her dad that him projecting his "failure" to make use of his passion was doing nothing but adding onto the stress of becoming an adult.

The life her parents had was beautiful to her, regardless of the dreams they couldn't achieve. That's the type of life she wanted for herself – lowkey, peaceful, and just right for her.

"Derrick," Andrea said, interrupting the ebony's thoughts, "stop lecturing your daughter and put the address to the restaurant in the GPS, please. We just want some food."

The family of three laughed as he did just that. The whole ride to their favorite Italian place was joyful. The Hamiltons always did things as a family.

It was a tradition that Normani never got tired of. It seemed like today would be just another family day, filled with laughter and good times.

But nothing could've prepared her for what happened within the next few moments.

They had the green light. So, naturally, the speed of their car didn't slow down despite them coming up on a major intersection. They were so into their conversation, they had no idea that a tractor trailer was swerving as it sped its way to the adjacent red light.

The driver was fighting a losing battle to sleep, deciding that pulling an all-nighter on the road was a better option than stopping at a rest area to catch up on sleep. He had a deadline to meet. And if he wasn't careful with his time, he could get another strike.

He had already received quite a few honks and looks from other angry drivers as he raced down the highway. Unfortunately, though he only closed his eyes for a few seconds, that small amount of time was enough to do a world of damage.

Normani only saw the tractor approaching for a split second before it hit. She wanted to warn her parents to get out of the way, but everything happened so fast.

The impact was unlike anything the ebony ever felt. She was expecting to hear blood-curling screams of agony, but there were only the sounds of crashing metal, glass, and the screeching of tires from other cars that managed to swerve out of the way of the massive crash.

Normani's voice was the only one that rang out as she screamed, her family's car scraping along the concrete until it hit a nearby pole.

She tried desperately to catch her breath. Her eyes were down casted, transfixed on the drops of blood that splattered on her clothes. She looked up and her whole world collapsed.

Her parents weren't moving. Their bodies were frozen where they were. Normani did her best to lean forward. Her breaths grew shaky as she laid a hand to her mother's shoulder. She could only see her profile as she whimpered.

"Mom?" she uttered.

Leaning forward more, Normani released a hushed sob at the sight she saw. Andrea had been completely impaled, a giant glass shard piercing her side and pinning her to the seat she sat in.

She looked over and her heart sank even more. Derrick made a direct hit to the pole they crashed in, blood from his head splattering the part of it that entered the broken window. His eyes were still open as his body laid limp.

In such a short moment, both of Normani's parents were taken from her. She was in such shock, she fell mute as some medics, along with nearby bystanders, helped her out of the damaged vehicle.

The police showed up after a while, taking the driver of the massive truck and putting him in cuffs. His wild eyes locked onto Normani's before he struggled to get to her, wanting to apologize for what he had done.

But the policemen had a firm grip on him, and all Normani could do was look at him in despair. She couldn't feel a single emotion. Not anger, not rage, not sadness. She just felt...numb.

"Is there anyone we can contact for you, hon?" one of the medics asked as she sat lifeless on the gurney.

She watched as her parents were put in body bags and wheeled away. Her eyes stung with unshed tears, though everything inside her felt just as dead.

Of course, there were other people she could have them call. But she couldn't find it within herself to even speak. She didn't want to be around anyone.

Though her entire world had fallen apart, she made the conscious decision that no one else could look out for her but her. She was alone in this big world, left to navigate life's woes on her own.

But she had no idea that after a while, she wouldn't be left to her lonesome existence anymore...

This was
the tragic event
that gave us
"Haunted".

The death of
Mani's parents
is what ultimately
led her to
Bey.

The Butterfly Effect
is a crazy
thing.

As always,
this is the space
for all suggestions/ideas
you want me to
explore for this
book!

See ya'll
next week!
🤍✨