ꜰᴀʟʟɪɴɢ ꜰᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜ. | ᴛᴀʀᴀꜱɪᴀ

unfolding

omniscient pov | kids hospital.

"whats going on?" karen asked, watching taraji rush down the stairs.

taraji ignored both karen and monica while continuing to head outside.

"her head is bleeding. we're going to the hospital." fantasia said.

karen grabbed her keys, rushing out, and monica followed behind her.

taraji hands shook as she tried to type the location in the gps. fantasia held her hand and began typing it in. the hospital was 15 minutes away. once they had it in taraji sped off.

meanwhile, back at the residence.

"NO! i need someone to get rid of this bitch before i go down and if i do im taking all of you down with me."

"ok will relax you fucking maniac"

"what can we do?"

"we need a plan. meet me at the warehouse, and we'll come up with something."

at the hospital, taraji rushed mariah in and requested immediate care. after a few minutes of raging, mariah was finally taken to the back. soon came karen and monica joining taraji and tasia in the lobby.

"what'd the doctors say?" monica asked, taking off her purse and sitting down.

"we haven't heard anything yet."

"i hope she's okay." karen said.

tarajis leg bounced uncontrollably. tasia placed her hand on it to calm her, but taraji aggressively pushed her hand away before walking outside. that left fantasia confused, but she tried not to pay it any mind for the time being.

after a few minutes, taraji went back inside and sat down from everyone.

"family of Mariah Henson...."

everyone had arisen.

"Dr.Eisreal..." he trailed off. "after examining Mariah, we discovered that she has what we call an MTBI, meaning mild traumatic brain injury and, in other words, a concussion. in the midst of examining her, we saw that her scalp had been split open, and there were pieces of glass smeared into the side of her head, but don't worry me made sure to remove each piece gently and carefully. that was also followed up with eight teen stitches due to the size of the injury."

"can we get to it? is she gon be okay?" taraji asked, growing impatient.

"she's going to be fine she just needs to rest. it's gonna take time for the wound in her scalp to heal, i will say. oh, and before going any further, may i ask how  is she at home?"

"well, she's pretty much to herself. she would lock herself in her room all day if she could. i can't get her to do anything fun or exciting because she declines it all  and she's never been this way."

"when did this start for her?"

"i wanna say a month or two after we moved her. one day, she just lost it, completely lost it."

"and by lost it, you mean?"

"repeatedly running herself in a wall, pulling hair out, punching things until her hand bled, and so much more. i didn't understand what was going on."

"did you take her to see someone?"

"no, because i knew she wouldn't communicate with someone she wasn't familiar with."

"hm, so, there seems to be something or someone thats making her wanna cause self-harm to herself. her forearms are covered in over forty cuts, some old and some fresh, she's dealing with something more traumatic than we thought and at a very small age."

"what?" monica and karen said in sync with a sad but confused expression spreading across their faces.

"i would have known." karen said.

"that's why she never wanted me to put her short on— and wear long sle- did you know about this?" she looked back, asking taraji.

"yeah" taraji simply said.

"and you didn't think to tell me?"

taraji scrunched up her face, and only fantasia knew what tarajis next move was. there was nothing she could do to stop her, so she just sat back and waited for her to do her thing.

"i shouldn't have to tell you shit about yo own daughter, you pathetic clueless bitch. all the signs was right in yo face. did you ever—" she was cut off by karen yelling her name.

"taraji!"

"not right now, gran, she need to hear it, and you know she do, and maybe you too."

she turned her focus back to monica.

"has it ever occurred to you that it was something deeper going on with her than just you being a sorry excuse for a mama?"

"baby..."

"fantasia" she warned, glancing over at her. fantasia looked the other way.

"you don't know shit about me!"

taraji just let out a chuckle.

"everything she going through is because of you. you put her through hell and back, she a fucking KID cutting at her fucking flesh and you never even noticed it. over forty something cuts, and neither you or gran noticed that shit because yall don't pay enough attention to her in that house that's why she feel like it's okay to shy away from the world and lock herself up in that room. she don't feel seen, loved, or heard. gran...

she trailed off, looking over at karen with tears swelling up in her eyes,

"where yo husband at?"

"the house"

"why he ain't come to make sure everything with her was good? cause if you ask me, it seems like he feel guilty about something. you see, unlike you and monica, i pay attention to all the signs because i was in her shoes, and i know how it feels to be looked over."

"taraji, what are you implying?"

"she wouldn't know." monica said.

"and you would? you never sat back and ask yo self why she lost her shit at the sight of gran old man? huh, mommy of the year?"

monica had no words. she felt defeated.

"this ain't the first time she did that at the sight of him, is it?"

the silence from both karen and monica gave taraji all of the confirmation she needed.

"tell Mariah i love her tasia." she grabbed her keys and ran outside to her car. they ran behind her, but it was too late she had already sped off.

cliffhanger it is buenos nochas 😜