Building Trust Through Our Issues

Chapter Twenty Four (Part I)

I was at the house chilling with my kids when I missed a call from Armoni. I left my phone in the living room when I went to the kitchen to get London a cup of juice. Armoni rarely leaves voicemail's so I knew that something serious was up, after listening to her voicemail, I learned that Aaliyah and Demarcus were in a car wreck.

I got the kids up and dressed as quick as I could. I didn't want to take all of the kids to the hospital, so I took Alayshia back to Brandy's. I called Ms. Yolanda before dropping London and Arianna off with her before heading up to the hospital.

The whole drive there I kept praying that they would be okay. I couldn't even imagine something happening to my baby, that would seriously fuck me up. Demarcus is a cool kid and I care about his well-being but Aaliyah is mine. I've raised this girl all her life and she means so much to me. I couldn't even imagine living life without her. Life wouldn't even be worth living.

When I got there; Aireka, Chris, Armoni, Ms. Rosa, Austin, and Whitney were already in the emergency room waiting room. I also noticed that Aaliyah and Marcus' principal was here, as well as a few of their friends and classmates from school. We had a whole section to ourselves, we were in this hospital deep as hell. "Wassup everybody." I said to everyone as I gave a small wave.

"Hi Mr. Jerome." Whitney smiled, when I looked over at her, my eyes widened because she surprised me. She was huge, it looked like she grew overnight. Her face was a lot fuller too. I wouldn't even be surprised if she was carrying twins.

"Sup Pops." Austin said giving me a head nod.

"It's good seeing you again Mr. Jackson." Their principal said standing up to shake my hand. I didn't want to be rude but I forgot her name so I just nodded my head and smiled at her.

"Wassup nigga." Chris said slapping hands with me with his free hand. His other hand was wrapped around Armoni as she leaned into him.

"Have you heard anything yet?" I asked Armoni as she stood up to hug me. She walked me away from everyone so people couldn't hear our conversation. She looked like she had been crying which was normal for her. This time I couldn't even blame her for crying, she was a concerned parent. I rubbed her back before she pulled away from me.

"Um, long story short. An older lady ran a stop light and hit Aaliyah's side of the car which knocked them into oncoming traffic, which caused Marcus' side of the car to get hit as well by another car. Aaliyah's car is mangled up Jerome. I don't know how they were able to come out alive. We still haven't heard anything since being here. So we don't know about their condition yet." She mumbled.

"Damn." I sighed.

"Yeah. We just have to keep praying and have faith that everything is going to be okay." She nodded as she tried to hold back tears.

"Don't cry, they'll be alright." I told her as I pulled her into another hug. I felt her body go lax as she cried into my chest. I was trying to support her but her body was going  dead weight and she was lowkey getting heavy. "Man, come get her." I told Chris.

"Nah bro, you got it." He smirked as he shook his head at me. I cut my eyes at him and he laughed. Once she finally calmed down and stopped crying, I sat Armoni down in a chair and wiped her face with a tissue that Austin had given me.

"You better?" I asked.

"No." She whined as she put her head in her hands. I couldn't do anything but rub her back while she continued to cry and cry. I know her head was hurting and her throat was dry as hell. Finally Chris came and got her and was able to calm her down. She was now in his lap asleep like a big ass kid.

I went and sat down in a chair and propped my feet up on the one across from me so that I could be comfortable. It seemed like we've been here waiting for forever just waiting to hear a little something about them. I was starting to get more and more worried because time was steady passing by and we hadn't heard one thing.