Ashanti

Chapter 8

The night sky slowly approaches, the ray of moonlight invades its way into Esther's room, it's bright enough to wake her up. Her eyes are open, but they're empty. Esther's movements are stiff, she makes her way to the kitchen, dragging her slippers along the way.

Once she gets to the kitchen, she turns on the stove. Esther stands there, watching the normally black stove turn into a menacing red. Esther's eyes are heavy, so she blinks until she relives the previous night. The smell of burning flesh and chemicals make Esther slowly put her hand on the stove, she feels the burn, but she leaves it there. Her burning flesh and fingerprints nearly stick to the stove, making a sizzling sound. Esther smiles while reimagining the act that brings her ease, it all stops when she hears a chair moving behind her. Esther turns around to see a freshly made thanksgiving meal, turkey, greens, ham, and her famous peanut cobbler. Esther wrinkles her eyebrows in confusion, but presses her hand even more so she can continue this imagination.

Esther watches a golden fork softly scrape the edges of the plate, it grabs a small bit of food then slowly guides itself to Esther as if someone was holding it. No one was there, in fact, the silence was so deafening that Esther could hear footsteps that weren't hers.

Esther opens her eyes to confirm that she was alone, so she looks around to see no one there. She felt something dig into her hand, Esther notices the same golden fork lodged into her hand, the worst part is that forcing a metal fork into someone's hand would normally take a great amount of force that Esther doesn't have.

"Mother?" Ashanti calls out into the hallway, she hears a utensil drop onto the floor, she walks into the kitchen to see a fork shoved into the wall. Ashanti pulls the fork out, wondering why it was there in the first place. That's when she sees Esther eating something off the stove, Ashanti walks even closer to see that it was her own skin. "Mother? Are you feeling alright? Ashanti asks, cautiously putting her hand on Esther's back.

"We're not alone." Esther responds dryly. Ashanti wraps Esther's hand using a dish towel, "Someone's with us." Esther warns as Ashanti rushes her out the door and into Esther's old vehicle.

"This thing still works, right?" Ashanti chuckles while trying to start the car, Esther doesn't respond, instead, she stares out the window. Finally, the car starts, Ashanti speeds her way to the nearest hospital to have Esther taken care of.

" Hello! What seems to be the problem here?" The reception lady smiles while looking at Esther.

"There's someone watching me." Esther answers, the reception lady gives her a concerned look before Ashanti takes over.

"Hey, I'm sorry about her. She's not feeling too good- She burned her hand earlier, and she's been really focused on the fact that she thinks someone's following her, please help us, miss." Ashanti pleads, the receptionist gets to typing while nodding her head.

"Yes, yes. Understood. I'll have someone look at her hand, then we can get that psych eval started for ya..."

"I'm not crazy." Esther interrupts, she glares at the receptionist until she notices something behind her. Her pre sharpened cross she used to kill Pastor Roland was on the floor, covered in blood as if she just used it. Ashanti pulls Esther away when she starts to hyperventilate, Esther points to the cross that no one else saw but her, a few nurses ended up having to hold Esther down so she could remain stable.

"Just as I thought, a vicious 3rd degree burn, just take the medications prescribed to you ma'am, and you should be good...As for your grandmother's alzheimer's Miss Ashanti, there's nothing to worry about, this is very common with older people, it's called sundowning. It doesn't take much to settle her down, I assure you that everything will be okay. Again, my name's Dr Roland if you need further assistance." Dr. Roland bows before leaving the room. "Oh, and the results from your psych evaluation will arrive shortly."

"I said I'm not crazy!" Esther shouts, throwing her IV line to the ground, she stops dead in her tracks when the little black girl reappears with her head tilted to the side. Esther begins to scream and shout as the girl walks closer, Ashanti jumps up and tries to calm her down but Esther kicks Ashanti away. Ashanti hits her head on the chair beside the hospital bed, which got the attention of some nurses nearby. 2 of the nurses try to stabilize Esther, while one of them carries Ashanti away to deal with her injuries.

"Are you okay?" The nurse asks, he softly rests his hand on Ashanti's forehead, signaling the nurses standing outside the room for an ice pack and a water bottle.

"I'm alright...I'm really dizzy though..." Ashanti responds, she trails off when her vision's no longer blurry, and she can see the nurse's face along with a discarded pink gown in the distance.

"I get it, it happens..." The nurse shines a light in Ashanti's eyes to make sure that she's still able to see. "Well, my name is Kaison, you can call me Kai. I'm gonna be your nurse, okay?"

"Okay....But could you do me a favor?" Ashanti asks, swaying back and forth.

"Of course, anything." Kai responds, he starts testing Ashanti's reflexes while she talks.

"Could you check to see if my grandmother's alright?" Ashanti slightly rests her head on Kai's back while he's doing a standard check up.

"Of course, but I must say, I really admire you." Kai leans back, but still allows Ashanti to rest her head on his shoulder.

"Really?" Ashanti giggles while balancing the ice pack on her head.

"Yeah, I mean, I've been watching how your grandma talks to you and I'm surprised that you're still around. Most kids who get treated like that leave as soon as possible, but not you, you're too sweet for that." Kai looks at Ashanti, Ashanti slowly sits up, not knowing what to say.

"Well, thank you! I try my best to be a good granddaughter, even if it's hard sometimes. That's what God taught me." Ashanti watches as Kai's hand grabs hers.

"I love that, hey, you feelin' alright?" Kai inches closer to Ashanti's face.

"Yeah, why?" Ashanti feels someone else's presence, but chooses to stay quiet.

"Your eyes are really watery all of a sudden...And there's nothing in your eyes-" Kai gets closer and closer until something stops him.

"You. Noodle head. I need to use the restroom." Esther demands from behind him.