Forlot: Thunder Will Come Down - Book Twenty-Seven

Chapter Forty-Four

I was not intimidated by my evil cousin. Her threat was not even that. It was a joke. She would never kill my friend Kara, let alone me, because we are girls. Her followers would not be delighted to hear that she murdered two precious women. Besides, we were not a threat to her...yet.

"How can you possibly murder me and your cousin and get away with it?" Kara spoke up. "Then again, you are a racist. You hate Caleb because he is a white male."

Diversity's wicked grin faded. "I was kidding." She uncoiled her thumb and fingers, and a blue ball of energy magically appeared in her palm. She threw the ball, and it slammed into Kara's stomach and vanished. Kara flew back, hit the wall, and collapsed to the ground.

"Kara!" I shouted.

As much as I wanted to assist her, I needed to keep my focus on Diversity. She would probably kidnap us or trap us in one of her bubbles if I got distracted. I managed to grab both of her wrists and pushed her up against the casket.

I gritted my teeth and said, "What did you do with my husband's body?"

"How should I know? I gave the body to Destiny and Marty as a present."

"You what?!"

"Marty and Destiny have been through so much. It was the Great Depression all over again. And it was all thanks to that white boy."

Gosh! I hate when she refers to Caleb as the white boy!

Before I could ponder it, my fist was in her face. I punched her as hard as I could, and my cousin spun around and covered her face with her hands.

"Did that hurt?" I said, shaking my hand. "I hope that it did. I hope that it is the worst pain that you have ever felt. Multiply that pain by a million. You being punched does not even come close to the pain that my husband endured. You say that you and Destiny and Marty have had a tough life because of him. Yes, some whites have better lives than some blacks, but this is not one of those cases."

She still did not look at me. "His ancestors owned black slaves. White people are racist!"

"Wake up, Diversity! Not all whites are racist. Not all blacks are racist either. I would not be honest with you if I did not say that there are a few racists here and there. But what the heck gives you the right to treat good people like animals? Caleb is a human being. Like you. Like me. He ought to be treated like one."

I fiddled with my fingers as I continued.

"And I am sick to death of hearing of his privilege. What privilege? Where was Caleb's privilege when his father deserted him and his mother? Where was his privilege when his parents disowned him? Where was his privilege when he was kidnapped and abused by Ava and Slapi? Now that I think about it, Ava's and Slapi's existences are your fault."

Suddenly, I heard what sounded to be yelling and chants from just outside of the courthouse. Diversity lowered her hands and cackled. Cackled like a witch. I asked if she knew who those voices belonged to.

"I do, Cindy. They know me, and I know them."

"Who are they?!"

"My followers. I invited them to protest."

"Why the heck would you invite them?!"

She spun back around and stared intensely at me as if she were sucking the soul out of me. "This may come as a shock to you, my dear cousin, but your husband - if he is even worthy of that title—"

I smacked her again. "If you say anything bad about Caleb...no. If you say anything about him, you will be the next pretzel mascot."

Diversity flicked my nose. "Brave words for such a powerless girl."

"Powers are not everything."

"We will see about that..." She whispered in my ear. "...when I put an end to your husband once and for all."

She wrapped an arm around me and forced me out of the room. Kara attempted to follow us, but she was too weak from the impact from earlier. As the two of us took our sweet time down the hallway, my nasty cousin explained the same things that Lean Share covered chapters ago, so I zoned out and tried to come up with an effective plan. I had to retrieve Caleb's dead body from Marty and Destiny, and they and Diversity needed to be in jail or Forlot's mental asylum.

Diversity and I stepped out from the courthouse. The first things that I noticed, of course, were the two massive groups who were shouting and holding up signs. They were not positive signs either. The group to my left had only white people, and the group to my right only had black people.

"What is this?!" I exclaimed at the top of my lungs.

Diversity released me. "Segregation, my dear. It is segregation at its finest."

"May I ask why your followers are segregated? You know what? I take that back. They are segregated because you made them that way."

"Ding, ding, ding! You deserve a prize. How about seeing your husband's corpse one last time?" She clapped her hands. "Destiny! Marty! Please bring out the body. It is time."

Marty and Destiny appeared out of the black crowd and had on these disgusting looks of happiness. I thought that I would throw up. My ex-boyfriend was cradling Caleb's body. They halted when they were a few inches from me and Diversity.

"Caleb!" I proclaimed.

I wanted to run to him and protect him, however, I bumped into something. It was invisible. I pounded my fists on it and ordered Marty to bring Caleb to me.

"You are not the boss," Diversity said. "By the way, I trapped you and everyone in the courthouse in a force field."