It was the twins first birthday and Afeni thought it'd be a good idea to take them to visit their mother. She hadn't seen them in several months and Afeni knew that'd be just what she needed to make her smile.
She grabbed the two seater stroller and put them in then pushed them into the building where their mother was. All of the people knew Afeni by now and who she came to see. Her and Angie were the only people that ever came to visit.
She pushed them to the visiting room and waited for Damita to come out. She walked out and sat down across from Afeni.
Afeni sat the twins in her lap and she smiled. "They're getting so big."
Aaliyah had taken her pacifier out of her mouth and started smile at her mother.
"Hey liyaah. Heyyyy"Damita cooed and kissed Aaliyah's cheeks. Amaru just sat in his mother lap, chilling.
Surprisingly, they were still very comfortable with their mother. They knew exactly who she was. Every time Afeni brought them to see her they were so happy.
"Have they been trying to walk?"Damita asked as Aaliyah stood in her lap.
"Yeah, ever so often. Aaliyah tries to more than Amaru though. He always sounds like he's trying to talk."Afeni chuckled and Damita replied with a weak laugh. "I can't believe my babies are one now."
"Where's Amari?"Damita asked.
Afeni spoke quickly trying to think of something to tell Damita. She didn't want to tell her that her oldest child didn't want to see her. "Oh, you know she has school. I'll bring her next time."
"Oh..okay."Damita sighed and looked down at her feet. "So. How are things?"
Every visit was the same....awkward.
Damita didn't know what to talk about, she didn't know what was going on outside the institutions four walls to ask about anything.
"Everything is good. Amari is doing well in school and making all A's"Afeni smiled and Damita did too.
"Have you spoken to Katherine?"Damita asked hopefully.
"Not recently. She hasn't been picking up."Afeni sighed, knowing that wasn't what she wanted to hear.
Damita was ready to come home and Afeni was ready for her to come home, but it was out of her hands. There was nothing she could do, Katherine was controlling the whole situation.
"Have you been my house? She hasn't done anything to it has she?" Damita asked.
"Not recently, but the last time I went by there and everything looks fine."She explained to her.
They only had a couple more minutes left in there visit and Damita dreaded them leaving her.
Damita started to cry as she held her babies close to her and they just hugged her. Aaliyah tried to kiss her mother cheeks and Amaru just hugged her back.
"I know this is hard, I know this is depressing, but I'm doing the best I can to get you home. I promise."Afeni tried to comfort her.
"Maybe you aren't trying hard enough! I'm still here."Damita raised her voice.
"Damita..calm down, ok. I told you I'm taking care of it."Afeni stood up and reached for the twins. The woman at the desk had been signaling her that it was time to go. "I'll call tomorrow."
With that said Afeni got up and walked out.
Damita just sat there with her face in her hands, crying. If Amaru was here he'd never left this happen to her. He'd have Katherine's head for putting her away.
"Mrs.Shakur, it's time for your medicine."The nurse tapped her shoulder and she got up. She took the pills dry and walked back to her room.
She didn't want to be bothered for the rest of the day.
