Once Upon A Nightmare

- THIRTEEN -

- Tottiana -

Ooh, honey. If my daddy could see me now. If only he could see how far I've gotten. If only he was here; he would have loved seeing his dream come true, loved to see our new restaurant.

Sure, it was a work in progress and needed many repairs but nothing was gonna stop me. I've gotten this far and I'm not about to quit now. Tottiana's House was going to be the talk of the town. It was going to serve homemade, family, comfort food that was easy for anyone to get their hands on. Everyone would be coming here and enjoy their stay. Daddy would have loved it.

Soon, I could see a live band and karaoke set every few nights. People were gonna love this place when it opened. It had a little something for everybody. It was going to have a nice, relaxed, family feel to it. Homey was what I was aiming for when I thought of this place. Authentic Louisiana meals and that southern hospitality, people were always welcomed.

Ooh, was this place going to go places. We are going to go places, daddy. I could feel him with me, pushing me along. I wasn't going to let him down anytime soon. Sure, I was renting this place, but that didn't matter. After a few months, I would be able to buy it or even get a better place. I could even expand. I would expand.

The word 'could' was not in Tottiana Works dictionary, nor any of the Works' family vocabulary. We would accomplish anything we set our minds to and mine was set on this restaurant. I was gonna make it here. We would both have our dreams come true.

I didn't care how long it took to fix this place, I was going to make it work. I was going to make this everybody's home, people young and old, white and colored, hungry or full, rich or poor; Tottiana's House was everybody's house. Whatever was mine was the customers. Everyone would get along like family here.

"Oh, Tottiana!" mama called. "Come take a look at this."

I walked over to where she was. When I opened the door, I couldn't believe what I was looking at. Just yesterday, the placed looked like a hurricane hit and now, now it was almost perfect. Everything was polished clean and the windows shined like diamonds. I twirled around in the room.

"How did you do all this, mama?"

She chuckled. "I didn't. He, on the other hand, did."

Standing right behind me was the one face I adored to see every day. A smile stretched ear to ear and his beautiful eyes twinkled with excitement.

"What do you think?" he said aloud, gesturing to the room around him.

I ran towards him and jumped into his arms. "It is beautiful! Thank you so much, Navim."

He spun us around. "Anything for my little dreamer."

I picked up a can of paint and handed it to him when he put me down. Together, we started painting the walls this beautiful royal red color. We took a few breaks, but the place was finally done. The walls looked gorgeous and the floor was polished. A bit. Tottiana's House was getting there, little by little. Every penny counts.

We thought we'd call it a day and locked up. As mama and I headed home, something felt wrong. It felt as if someone was following us or even watching us as we walked down the quiet and abandoned street. I knew that this part of town wasn't the safest or the best, but it had to do. I had to start somewhere and this place, oddly enough, made me feel at home. The shops and houses looked similar to those of New Orleans. But the feeling I was getting, it took the sense of home away from me.

"Mama, do you feel weird? Like, there could be someone following us?" I held on tighter to her arm.

"I think there is someone following us, dear. I don't know who, but I saw them, baby."