"Just can't seem to get over the way you hurt me...Don't know how you gave another who didn't mean a thing the very thing you gave to me"- Beyoncé, "Resentment"
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~ FANTASIA ~
The sound of beeping machines and a tv playing lowly in the background of whatever room I was in awoke me from a deep slumber that I wasn't even aware of experiencing. I sat up slowly, looking around the room that clearly didn't belong to me. I was in a hospital room. Dani was laid across a chair against the wall, sleeping, with a lightly snoring Chloe on her chest. I stared in a mix of confusion and horror at the intravenous needle in my arm, wondering how in the hell I ended up in the hospital. The last thing I remember is being at Danielle's house with Taraji listening to her tell me about- oh my God. I tried to get up out of the bed quickly, but the i.v. drip that I was attached to was slowing my movements. Danielle woke up, groaning and stretching her limbs that were probably tight with tension from sleeping on a couch all night. She laid Chloe down in her car seat, squinting her eyes at me as she watched me try to rip the needle out of my arm. She calmly stood up and approached the bed, gently grabbing my hands to stop me from hurting myself.
Danielle: Tasia, you need to stop and listen to me.
Fantasia: No, what I need to do is turn myself in to the police for my crimes! I need to be serving a life sentence for raping Taraji! I molested Taraji!
She slapped her hand over my mouth, trying to keep me quiet. I squirmed and thrashed around, biting her hand. She cursed in the tone of a high-pitched scream, yanking her hand back and frantically shaking it to alleviate the pain. I dropped my head on the pillow and cried, staring up at the ceiling through blurry eyes full of tears that were bound to be shed. I cried until my eyes were painfully sore. I used what little strength I had left from trying to fight off Dani by sitting up in the bed and looking around the room. I should be in a jail cell, not a hospital room. Dani glared at me, still nursing her bitten hand.
Fantasia: I'm sorry, Dani.
Danielle: You need to stay calm and actually listen to me before you react. There's something that you need to see.
She came up to me again, more cautiously this time, with her phone in her hand. She leaned slightly over my shoulder and positioned her phone in front of me, opening Instagram and going to The Shaderoom's page. She scrolled to the latest post. It was a screen recording of Taraji going live. As Danielle played the video and I watched it, my heart began to gradually sink to the bottom of my stomach with every word that Taraji spoke. In so many words, she was telling the world that Amber lied. She didn't say those exact words, but ultimately that's the message that everybody took from it. Taraji absolved me of my crimes. She discredited her own trauma to protect me and my career. I wanted to read the millions of comments, but Danielle moved her phone away from me before I could. A fresh batch of tears filled my eyes and began to soak my face.
