Eden (Urban)

five

Sai played with her fingernails, waiting for Shawn to open the door. She had caused a ruckus outside asking him to let her in.  Some of their neighbors gave her questioning looks, but she knew he was in there.

"Your car outside, mane. Don't try to play me like that," she yelled loud enough for them to hear her. From inside, she heard some footsteps approaching and sighed gratefully.

Sai had made her rounds to just about everybody, and this was one of her last stops. She had put it off for so long because she didn't want to face the reality of the damage she had done to either of the two waiting behind the door.

The door yanked open, revealing a medium height woman that Sai did not recognize. She looked Sai up and down, crossed her arms, and cleared her throat.

"You need some water or sumn'? Your throat dry?" Sai asked. She knew she was coming at the lady wrong but she was irritated that no one answered the door and it had been twenty minutes.

"You need to ask yourself that shit. Been yelling forever, you must be hoarse." Sai thought up a lot of nasty things she could have said but she was trying to let go of her anger. She carried it around for so long and it was getting heavy. Coming back to Atlanta was supposed to be a better experience than it was the last time. She started off on the wrong foot but was trying to fix it now.

"Are they here or not?"

"No. Can you leave a message?"

Sai side-eyed her. She was only a few inches taller than herself and Sai could definitely leave her leaking. All she had to do was pounce.

Save your energy, she repeated over and over in her mind. "Nah. I'll just let myself in." Sai pushed passed her and into the house that looked so familiar. She had spent a lot of time here in the past, and it hadn't changed a bit. It still had that same modern feel to it.

"Calm down, Mo," Shawn's voice interrupted her thoughts. He came up behind them and moved around Sai to get to Molina. She looked as if she was going to strangle Sai with her bare hands. Apparently they both had bad tempers.

"She was feeling herself. Almost got the shit beat out of her," she mumbled where Sai couldn't hear. Mo grabbed her purse and said her farewell then rushed out the door.

Shawn locked it behind her and turned back around to face Sai. To be honest, he didn't feel like dealing with her at the moment. The day had already been rough, and she was just gonna rile him up.

"You heard me out there knocking. Why'd it take you so long?" She asked. The way he looked at her hurt her feelings. It was like any care that he had for her was long gone. He looked as if he was staring right through her.

"Because the world don't revolve around you. And it's time you start realizing that shit." He walked through the living room with Sai following hot on his heels.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

In the beginning, everyone was concerned. All of them were so worried and anxious to find out what had happened to her, if she was okay, anything. It was understandable; that was their best friend. When the wedding got postponed he understood. Neisha was just worried about Sai and both of them thought of her as like a sister.

But then Sai left. No word of where she was going or if she'd be back. He would get it if Sai didn't talk to him, but she left without even saying anything to Neisha. No call or text. And the guilt began to eat away at the woman he loved. Nobody could make her feel like it wasn't her fault because she felt like it was. How could she not have seen that her best friend was being abused?

The wedding wasn't postponed anymore. It was canceled. The hole that Sai had left grew bigger and bigger until it drove Neisha and Shawn apart. The couple that once seemed like they had everything together was no longer there.

Shawn wanted to be supportive, but he would always try and beg her to let it go. Move on without Sai and be happy for who she still had in her life. All that managed to do was start arguments. Neisha had lost herself in grieving the loss of Sai. It wasn't even that Sai was dead. It was that she simply refused to talk to Neisha, and that was what hurt her the most.

So Sai being here today, feigning innocence like she was absolutely blameless just set him off.

"It means that you just need to leave me the fuck alone. Seriously man I cannot deal with your bullshit," he said through gritted teeth. Given all that she had been through, Shawn didn't want to yell or come at her wrong. Though they weren't on the best terms right now, he didn't want to show that aggression towards her. It was getting hard given that Sai just would not leave him alone.

She began to accept the fact that she might need to give him more time. Maybe she and Neisha could work things out instead.

Sai ducked out of the kitchen quickly and made her way to the master bedroom. On her way there she peered into one of the spare rooms, noticing the unmade bed and some clothes everywhere. He must have been sleeping in there.

Neisha gently removed the pillow from over her head and realized the loud voices were not just a figment of her imagination. The familiar voice wasn't just apart of a dream. Opening her eyes, no one other than Sai was standing right in front of her.

Too many emotions confronted her all at once. Most of all, she was relieved. Tears rushed out of her eyes as she stared at her sister who had practically fallen off the face of the earth for an entire year.

Her throat burned as wails escaped from her chest. Once the tears flowed out, they couldn't be stopped.

Neisha had thought the absolute worse: that she died. It killed her spirits slowly until she couldn't get out of bed anymore. She heard the whispers from Shawn's family and it made her feel even worse about herself. What kind of friend was she to let this happen?

The embrace of someone she missed so badly was the only thing that could calm her down. She forced air through her lungs as Sai rubbed her back and told her everything was gonna be okay.

She had so many questions but they could wait. She just wanted to live in that moment.