Stay Down

24

"kapree daniels." he mumbled, looking back down at the picture.

coach moved towards him, "you knew my daughter ?"

he shook his head not understanding, coach daughter was suppose to be dead, he said it, the school said it, there was a funeral and all.

"i thought you said she was dead." he asked, turning to his coach for answers.

"she is." he admitted. "eight months ago before the start of the season."

"no." blessing shook his head, pacing. "i was with her." he admitted, making the coach look at him. "she's the one i was gonna ask to marry me tonight." he confessed.

"son" he started, slowly. "you couldn't have seen her."

"she has these tattoos going up her arm of scriptures and quotes, you were mad when she got 'em."

"son.."

"she told me that you use to be cop and that you and your wife met when you guys were fifteen." this time the coach looked up at him, "she said you'd tell her the story every night before she went to bed and she'd beg you to tell it to her again and you'd do it because you loved the story yourself." sittin' down in the chair, he mumbled, "she said you were the best story teller."

coach was quiet, staring down at the picture.

"come with me." he told blessing before grabbing his car keys and walkin to the back of school. "get in." he instructed, pullin' off onto the road.

the drive was silent.

blessing kept the picture gripped in his hands.

holding on to the little hope he had left.

stoppin' at a familiar place, they got out the car, coach striding far ahead not stoppin' until he got in front of a small stone ,carved, grave.

finally reaching him, blessing read the inscription.

loving daughter and friend
kapree loving daniels
jun. 1998- august 2019

a small picture of her sat in the middle of the stone.

"see son" coach huffed. "there's no way." his voice getting weaker, he hadn't been to her grave for a while and he missed her so much.

looking to his left, blessing seen his mothers grave across from kaprees and suddenly he could see everything.

kapree walkin' to his mothers bible study, her hair tied up in a ponytail with no bandanna, wearing her school uniform. her sitting at his dinning room table as him and pops left to go to the trap.

her and his mom so engrossed in their bibles. her peaking up over the journal to catch a few stolen glance at him, him just ignoring her.

he seen her leaving his mothers house , king leaning against his car, before firing bullets in her direction, into the side of her head.

his breath hitched in his throat preventing him from breathing.

"blessing." coach stood up, worried, "you okay?"

the reason why his friends could never see her when he'd wave to her in the middle of the games, the bandanna to hide the bullet wounds, the pastor, the women at the park, the little boy.

his dad, they all knew.

they all could see her.

coach watched as his eyes turned back to normal before he kneeled down in the dirt between the two graves.

he just sat there, for hours.

the coach staying with him.

then something happened, a feeling he'd never felt before, a feeling of realization as he looked stared at them.

he smiled to hisself before standing to his feet. realizing that he was blessed, to have even got the chance to know someone like her.

how she healed his mind.

saved him from his self.

she seen a good in him, that he could have never seen in hisself until now.

until meeting her.

"come on coach." he smiled, patting his back, "i think we had a pretty eventful day, huh?"

coach smiled, getting up from the ground. "tell me about it son." he laughed, "ya know." he told 'em. "my daughter would have actually really liked you."

blessing just laughed, "i know, coach."

walking back to the car, he turned his head around to see kapree and his mom standing side by side, smiling at him.

and he remembered something kapree had read to him.

for some will entertain angels, without knowing it.

and he smiled back at them, before walking away