Lost In The Game

XXXI

Omniscient Pov
A Year Later

April Hudson stood in her living room watching Jurnee decorate the walls with My Little Pony decorations. The 'Happy Birthday' sign wouldn't stay in place and Jurnee was getting frustrated.

"Lemme help you with that," RaiShaun said taking over while Jurnee stepped down from the chair.

"Thank you," Jurnee replied, appreciating the help. Jurnee looked towards the couch where her now, sixteen-month old daughter, Eloni slept peacefully.

Eloni was an easy child to raise. She didn't like toys, so she didn't make messes. She was a quiet baby for the most part. That was until Demyya came around. Eloni fell asleep waiting on Demyya's car to pull up.

For the past year, everyone was so careful with Demyya. Her fragile heart couldn't take much so they all walked on egg shells when she comes around. Demyya dropped out of school after she gave birth due to her having a severe case of postpartum depression.

Today was the twins' 1st birthday and the families wanted it to be a special surprise for Demyya. Even though they didn't know how she'd react, April and Deanna were willing to take the chance.

"They're here," Jurnee announced as she ran to open the door. "I'm nervous for some reason. I haven't seen her in 6 months."

While everyone continued with school and raising their children, Demyya fell off the grid. She had enough money saved up to pay off her car note and moved in with her father. She didn't hold any grudges with Jurnee and her family or even her own mother, she just wanted a different scenery.

"Hey baby. How have you been?" Deanna asked grabbing the diaper bag from her daughter.

"Hey momma. Hey yall. I've been, well, living I guess."

Silence fell across the room when Morgan came in carrying one twin. RaiShaun's daughter. After Demyya had to go into emergency surgery while giving birth to her second twin, she lost too much blood and the baby lost oxygen. The youngest twin was a stillborn child and that broke Demyya's heart.

Morgan and his family took the death of his first born child very hard. They were so ready to spoil  the baby and she was snatched away before they could enjoy her. All of the clothes and gifts they had at the house for her, they gave to Demyya for the one baby that was born healthy.

"Come on y'all. Don't act like this. It's been a journey for me to accept this tragedy. I'm okay. We're all gonna be okay," Demyya spoke up, noticing everyone's mood change.

"Hey dada baby. Whatcha doing? Huh? Is it you and your sister's birthday? Huh?" RaiShaun had removed Reighan from Morgan's arms. Reighan laughed and giggled as RaiShaun tickled her.

"I tickle daddy, I tickle," Rei laughed again. Reighan began walking at nine months and talking at eleven. April believes she's moving too fast. Deanna believes she moving out the way for another baby but hoped Demyya wasn't pregnant so soon.

Hearing her laughs, the family got themselves together and continued to enjoy each other's presence. Kenny and Lailah walked into the living room with their now 2 year old daughter, Caydence. Everyone spoke and continued playing with Reighan, Caydence and Eloni.

"Where's my family?" Morgan asked looking up the street before closing the door.

"You know today might be hard for them, baby. We've been preparing for this day since day one. They might have been avoiding it." Demyya was stronger than she appeared to be. Stronger than her family expected her to be.

Demyya felt someone staring a hole in her and looked up to find Kenny watching her from across the room. It's been a year and some change since they were dating and having sex but the look in his eyes dictated that he wasn't completely over what they had. Demyya wanted to prove to him and Lailah that the drama they've once had was over.

"Come here pretty momma," Demyya cooed while picking Caydence up. "You wanna Cheeto Puff?" Caydence smiled while struggling to keep the chips in her head.

Little did Demyya know, that act of kindness warmed Lailah's heart but set something off in Kenny's. Kenny's eyes shifted across the room from RaiShaun to Morgan. Before anyone knew what was going on, Kenny plunged towards RaiShaun. The two began fighting and flipped over the gift table. Demyya picked Caydence up and hurriedly picked Reighan up, just as Kenny was slammed into that exact spot.

"Stop it right damn now!" April yelled causing Kenny to let his guard down. Hearing his mother yell and curse, Kenny knew he had made her upset.

"At the baby party though?" Jurnee asked while helping Morgan's parents with the bags of gifts they brought in.

"Y'all still fighting? Y'all just do too much," Monique butted in. "I don't even care to know how it started or what it was about. We're getting older each year and y'all are still holding a grudge between each other." The room fell silent and all you could hear was the coos and baby talk coming from Demyya's arms.

Throughout everything that they had been through, Kenny still had no desire or aim to get better in this very moment, even though growth was prominent in most of them. The older they got, the less tolerant they became. The energy to get mad and fight over everything had died down. But some of them remained in their old ways.

"Fighting is senseless and stupid because all it causes is a drive for more hatred and danger." April had watched everyone grow from elementary kids to graduates and almost graduates.

"There comes a time when this shit get old. All this hurt that you feel son, needs to be put to rest. The truth can hurt or hinder; it just depends on how you perceive it." April took a seat in the recliner and rested her hand on her thigh. "Now you can take this advice as a lesson or let it go in one ear and out the other. But I refuse to let you ruin my god child's birthday party. Take it or leave it."

Lailah just stood back, confused as to why her boyfriend was still lusting after Demyya. Thinking that her and her daughter wasn't good enough for Kenny, she began packing up their belongings.

"Thanks for the invite but I think it's best if we leave. Come on mamas, give granny and TeTe Jurnee kisses." After Caydence said her goodbyes, Lailah helped her out the front door.

Reighan walked towards the door and waved. "Bye bye", her small voice was heard. "See you next time." Reighan began laughing as she made her way to the middle of the living room and sat down with all her toys.

"Well, since everyone is here and calmed down, I just wanna say a few things," Demyya announced while turning down the music. "First, I wanna thank God for letting us live to see another day and keeping us strong on today. Secondly, I wanna thank y'all for this surprise birthday party for Reighan. Even though Megan was born into Heaven, I know that we would've been the perfect family for her. Despite the little fight earlier, this party was perfect and Reighan enjoyed herself. Anddddd I wanna announce that I am three months pregnant with Baby Merrisol.

"I knew it," Deanna said hugging her daughter. "I kinda hoped it wasn't true so soon, but if you're happy baby, I'm happy."

Everyone was so focused on Demyya and her little purge of a stomach, that nobody realized what Kenny was doing. But April had a weird feeling and before she could look up, gun shots loudly sounded throughout the house. Everyone ducked and hid behind furniture, all while Demyya rushed to get her daughter. A loud thud was heard while, mostly, everyone still had their eyes closed.

"Now that I'm going to jail for murder, I don't need y'all fake love. Just make sure y'all take care of my daughter," Kenny said emptying the clip of the gun and sitting it on the table.

"Oh my god," Morgan stood and walked over to the body, noticing a single gunshot wound to the head.

Reighan sat in the middle of father's blood laughing. Demyya tried to grab Reighan but she crawled into RaiShaun's lap. "Dada wake up. Wake up Dada."

Blood is the worst when it's on a person's hands. This time the only true blood that has been shed is the absence of a father, the structure of a family, and the mental harm to a child. Reighan was oblivious to the pain and confusion that was going through everyone's heart and the pain that would later in life, be her pain.