The Kiss of Death [Dave East]

08

ANISSA SNORTED, HOLDING HER CHAINED FIST ONTO HER LAP, SHE glanced back up at the Doctor Soju, moving her body. "My childhood was good. Just like everyone else's, I sang. I danced." She seethed through her teeth. Doctor Soju was writing through her notepad after she pressed pause on the recorder. "And your mother?" Anissa pauses, her chest slightly tightening.

Anissa woke up to her body being shook, she blinked twice to clear her vision. "Mama? What's wrong? Is it dad?" The poor girl didn't know better. Her mother, brushed Anissa's curls away from her forehead, smiling weakly. "I love you, you know that? I would never let anything happen to you." She added, years began to blur her vision. "You're my babygirl, my gift to the world. Don't grow up too fast. You're all you have, be stronger than everyone, everything. You came from me, you're a fighter baby. And I'm so sorry." Anissa was young and naive, she waved off her delusional mother, holding her cheek in her very small hand. "I'm not mad at you mama. You can sleep with me tonight." Her mother had no time to protest as Anissa moved her tiny body closer to the wall, making room for her mom.

Saray squeezed into the tiny spot that was large in Anissa's eyes. While she combed her fingers through her daughters thick curls, she vowed silently to slip out the house quietly and come back for her daughter when the time was right.

"What about my mother?" Anissa questioned, rubbing her nose. "What was she like?" Soju repeated her question. The therapist who was hired to get through Anissa leaned over her crossed legs, a slight smile on her face. Anissa sneered at this, she thought she had her. The incarcerated woman laughed at the Vietnamese woman before her. "She was lovely." Dr. Soju's phone suddenly went off, signaling that this therapy session was over. She got up without a word, collecting her things. "You're quite the onion Anissa." Soju said, stuffing her notoads into her purse. Anissa side eyed the phone that sat on the desk, it was open. Slowly she shimmied towards it, successful she snatched the phone, hiding it in the crook between her bed and the wall. Soju turned around, the same time Anissa sat down. Soju stares at Anissa oddly, the loud buzzer went off and the door opened, a guard walked in to escort the therapist out of the prison. Anissa sighed a long breath of relief, pulling out the phone. She quickly went to settings, deleting one fingerprint and adding hers. "Mama, Mama. Can I be free? Running, Running to you, mama can you hold me?" She sang barely over a whisper. She laid on her bed, arms behind her head as she reminisced.

Anissa laid on the floor, warm blood falling down her nose. Her father was in the kitchen, popping open his seventh corona. She heard the sound of a couch creaking as he took a seat. "Mama, Mama." Her voice was slightly broken from the bruising her fathers hands caused. "Can I be free? Running, Running to you." Her eyes slightly watered, as they fell down her face. "Mama can you hold me?" Her breath wavered at the realization that her mother wasn't coming back for her. It's been three years already