Behind the dark shades, I stared at the pearly white casket in front of me, surrounded by red and white roses. Sobs from loved ones echoed throughout the full sanctuary as the pastor spoke of few words from his Bible. My mother was well known around the neighborhood and popular among her colleagues. It wasn't shocking to me to see a full house upon entering the room with Freddie and Athena.
On the outside, I sat calm but on the inside I was barely holding all together. Those words "She's dead" continued to repeat in my head over and over and over. I didn't want to believe it when I heard it. I was in denial until I saw her laying in her casket during visitation.
"Babe, you okay?" Freddie leaned in and whispered in my ear.
I nodded slowly never taking my eyes off the closed casket. "I can't even see her one more time to tell her I'm sorry." I spoke back to him.
"Now we will have a few words from Tammy's only daughter, Neveah." Pastor Richard called me to the podium. Freddie helped me stand up and grabbed a sleeping Athena out of my arms. I slowly headed up the stairs with the help of from one of the ushers. Lowering the mic down to my level, "Ahem." Clearing my throat and unraveling my feelings from the paper.
Staring down at the crowd, I took another deep breath, debating if I wanted to follow what was on my paper or did I want reveal who my mother truly was.
"It's okay, baby! God got you!" Some lady yelled from the crowd.
Getting my shit together, "My mother Tammy was a woman who didn't budge. When she wanted something it was hers and that was with anything in life and one thing for sure nobody was going to come in between of what she wanted. We didn't always see eye to eye when it came to certain things." I paused and eyed Rocko who sitting next to identical twin aunts, Breann and Breanna. "But she didn't deserve this." I stressed to them. "She still had more life to live. When I was a kid, she always talked about leaving Riverborn and moving somewhere far away to relax and shop for the rest of her life." I stopped and chuckled to prevent myself from crying, "It hurts me that I didn't get chance to say goodbye or apologize for what said in our last conversation." Closing the paper and removing my shades, "I'm soooo sorry mama...I'm sorry this happened to you." I began to break down at the podium losing the strength to stand up. Freddie handed Athena over to Boogie and ran up to catch me before I fell. I couldn't hold it together anymore, people stood up and held their hands up to their mouths in fear, thinking the death of this young girl's mother is just too much for her to bear. Pastor Richard came back up front to control the crowd and continued on with the service. Freddie quickly escorted me back to the family limo with Sam and Boogie on our tail.
I sat in the limo outside the church until they brought my mother's casket out and placed her in the hearse. Through the tinted window, I watched Rocko talking to my aunts by the entrance, friends of Tammy gave their condolences to Rocko and them, and went their separate ways. Those who were joining us to cemetery waited in their cars until it was time to pull off.
"I need to know what happened to my mother, Freddie." Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves. " Something doesn't feel right about all of this." Shaking my head. "I can feel it in my gut. I know Rocko did this."
"You think I haven't been on that already. I'm waiting hear back from a few people." He reached in his pocket and pulled his cell out to check his messages. "Somebody saw something and the amount of money I'm putting out for info, somebody is gonna talk."
"They better."
"Mommy?" Athena called to me while rubbing her eyes. She looked up at Boogie and started to get fussy in his arms trying to get out his grasp.
YOU ARE READING
STEP DADDY (COMPLETED)
General Fiction(CURRENTLY BEING EDITED) --- Growing up as an only child, Neveah Greene had the life most teens her age could only dream of having lived in the small middle-class city known as Riverborn. Neveah was determined to graduate at the top of her class at...
