A Story To Tell | Book 2

.34.

:::VANESSA:::

"Lamont..."

Staring at my brother as he lay there, lifeless in the hospital bed, it broke my heart to pieces.

How could he be okay one minute and then the next, fall out, having a heart attack. That just doesn't make any sense to me. My brother is a young man, he's not in his fifties. He's in his early forties. How is this even possible? He seems so healthy.

I wasn't used to seeing Lamont look like this. And part of me was afraid that this was how he'd always be remembered to me. This isn't how I wanted my brother to die. I didn't want to see my brother die. He couldn't be dying right now. I just wanted him to wake up and tell me that everything was going to be okay. I just didn't make any sense that he was fine just the other day when he'd come over to talk to me about the court appearance he had to make on Monday. That's two days away from now. What if he never wakes up out of this coma and gets to hear that he's able to get my niece from her controlling mother, Adele?

Oh, God. Please answer my prayers. Please let Lamont be okay.

"Brother, wake up. You have court on Monday. You get to see rather you can take your daughter and her baby girl home with you. I know Monday's going to be the best day of your life. You can't be up in here missing it." I say to him, trying to look on the brighter side of everything because I just knew that God was going to turn everything around for him.

Lamont's been through so much with Adele. I'm not even sure why I'm surprised that he'd had a heart attack. Adele is just terrible. She didn't deserve to be walking around freely while my brother was in laying in this hospital bed in a deep sleep, labeled a pedophile. Something he's not.

"Remember when you and Adele first got married and mama was throwing a tantrum, refusing to attend the wedding because she said you were marrying a jezebel?" I smiled at how funny that day was. Lamont didn't think it was so funny because he just knew that Adele was the woman he was meant to spend the rest of his life with and mama told him that he was so wrong. Boy, mama is always right. He had to learn it the hard way. "I bet you wish you would've listened to her now, huh?" I smiled, shaking my head.

I stared at Lamont's face, not recognizing him. He looked older and tired. And just seeing that, I couldn't help but start to tear up. He just looked like he was moments away from me. Like he'd already left this earth and we were just holding onto him because we were afraid to let go. I never even pictured letting go. He had too much to live for.

"Lamont, you have to get up and save your daughter from Adele. I know she's missing you." I try wiping my tears away, thinking about my niece who doesn't even know what's going on with her father. I wish I had some type of way of getting in contact with her to let her know what was going on, but at the time of Lamont's incident, no one could find his phone. No one knows where it is. And because Adele keeps Keira so sheltered, we, as her father's side of the family, can't even get in touch with her to be here at a moment like this. None of us even know where Adele lives.

"Auntie Van, I think I got my sister's number." Michele said as she walked into the room with dried tears on her face. I stared at her, my heart filling with hope and more prayer than before. "My boyfriend's little sister had it. She said she hasn't used it in a little minute, but we got some hope." Michele walked over and took a look at her father, getting choked up again. "Auntie Van, what if he doesn't make it through?" Her voice started to crack.

"Don't talk like that, Michele." I say to her, touching her hand. "We can't lose Lamont. He's stronger than that. He's a fighter. We're all fighters. He's got it in his blood." Although I was saying this to her, in reality, I didn't think Lamont was going to pull through. He just looked too tired.

"You're gonna call her or should I?" Michele asked.

"You think you can handle it?" I asked her.

"I believe so." Michele nodded and turned away, walking outside of the room as I stood there, still. I didn't want to leave Lamont's side. I never wanted to until he woke up. He just had to be up. We all needed him.

"Auntie Vanessa, Ms. Dorothy said you should come and eat something." My nephew, LJ said as he walked into the room just seconds after Michele had walked out.

I turned around and looked at him and shook my head.

"I'm not hungry. I can't eat like this." I admit to him.

"I get that, Auntie Vanessa, but you need to try and eat something. Standing over him, missing meals, and crying isn't going to make him wake up any sooner. All we can do is just sit around and wait for changes. By you standing here, it isn't going to speed up the process." LJ reminded me so much of Lamont. I was glad that LJ was named after him. They were twins and thought just alike.

"I know." I respond.

"I have to head out to work, but I'll be coming back around six-thirty. Just text me if anything changes." He wrapped his arms around me and I did the same to him, happy for him.

He wasted no time walking out of the room. And although what he said made perfect sense to me, I just couldn't leave my brother. I needed him. There's so many things that I didn't get to tell him and I needed to get them all off of my chest. I just needed to tell him things that I've learned. Things about Chris that I hadn't bothered to tell him because I was too caught up in my feelings. I needed my brother. I needed his words. I needed some guidance. I needed him. He couldn't be taken away from me just like that. I wasn't strong enough without him. God knows this.

"Lamont, I have so many things to tell you." I say to him, trying to dry my tears, but they kept on falling. "I just need to talk to you and I just need to hear your voice. I need you." I start to cry harder. "I can't talk to mom or dad about this situation, big brother. I can't lose you, Lamont. You're all I've got." My voice started to crack and that's when I started crying even harder. "Lamont, please wake up."

"Auntie Van. That number didn't belong to her." Michele said as she came back into the room. I looked at her, drying my eyes. Her just seeing me like that had started her waterworks up again, but I didn't want to have none of that.

"No." I say as I walk over to her. "Stop crying." I tell her as I wrapped my arms around her. "He's going to be okay, Michele. He's just being stubborn right now, that's all. We just gotta stay strong and keep trying to get in touch with Keira." I say, praying to God, somehow, someway, we find out where Keira is so that we could get her here.

"What if we never get in touch with Keira?" Michele cried.

"We're going to find her, Michele. Adele can't keep her from us for long." I say, praying that what I was speaking was true. Just thinking about the situation, I was kind of wishing it that Adele was the one in this hospital bed instead of my brother. Quickly, realizing that I was wrong, I shook the thought out of my head and let go of my hug with Michele.

"Auntie Dorothy said she's gonna hurt you if you don't come on and eat. You haven't eaten all morning and she's getting upset with you for being cooped up in here." Michele said as she wiped her tears away.

"Tell Dorothy I'll come and eat when I get ready. I'm trying to figure some things out right now. I'm worried about Keira." I say. Michele nods and walked back out of the room.

I sat down beside Lamont's bed and looked out of the window, just thinking about how it would be possible to contact Keira. I remember her owning a Facebook, but that was my first thing to go to and that's how I found out that she'd deactivated her account. She no longer had an Instagram, so contacting her was almost impossible. It was like finding a needle in a haystack.

Just damn near close to losing hope, a tear fell from my left eye. Lord, if we never get in touch with this little girl and she finds out about Lamont in the newspaper, she'll never forgive us. Her father is her life. I just got to find her.

Where do I start, though? I say to myself as I look at my keys on the table and then back towards Lamont. Just thinking about it all, I realized that I didn't know anything about this girl's whereabouts. Just knowing that I was probably incapable of finding her, it made me feel horrible about myself and I had instantly broke out in tears, crying as if my brother was already gone.