Four's Game (SEU, #1) [ SAMPLE + UNEDITED FULL VERSION]

UNEDITED VERSION [ 31 ] immobilized

unedited.

i listened to code blue by the dream on repeat to write this entire chapter.

I smiled brightly as I watched her swing Kaila Carina around in a full circle, the sun rays from the window igniting her rich dark skin as her grin spread wider when Kaila opened her arms and threw her head back, giggles sounding from the three year old's mouth.

"Again! Mommy! Again!" Kaila screamed, choking on her own laughter.

My mother stopped spinning and readjusted my little sister in her arms. Leaning her head down on Kaila's, their foreheads met and she rubbed her nose against Kaila's smaller one. "How you wanna go again, baby, when you can barely see me?" My mother's voice was fluid of a southern accent but it was sweet and warm, a voice that made you feel welcomed.

Kaila's chubby hands gripped my mother's face to steady her dizzy head. "I see you, mommy." She babbled, her words barely comprehensive but my mom always understood the babbles she spoke.

"Yeah? Where's my head?" My mom removed Kaila's hand from her face and spun her lightly again. "Where's my head now Kaila?"

Kaila reached out in a disoriented daze trying to figure out which head was really my mother's and I started laughing from how my mom was teasing her.

"You're so cute." My mother told her, placing a big kiss on her wavering head and holding her close to her chest as she made her way over to me as I was at work on the kitchen island. "What you got for me, Natty? I'm smelling something sweet."

I smiled at her and tilted my bowl of mixed ingredients.

At seven years old, I had been so eager to be in the kitchen that mom finally allowed me to be around and create treats and little snacks for Kaila Carina and myself. She had been teaching me how to read cookbooks, how to use measuring cups and calculate and monitor my time when cooking.

People wonder how I'm so good at mathematics, well, it all started with Momma Leopard.

While she got Kaila up from a nap and was trying to keep her from falling asleep, I'd been mixing the ingredients she'd helped me portion out earlier for our blueberry muffins. With everything successfully mixed in the bowl, the last thing needed was to get the blueberries in. Which I saved for my mom to do, not wanting to leave her out of the process.

I raised the small bowl of blueberries up to her. "I put everything in, last up is the blueberries."

My mom rubbed on my head, smoothing down my fresh braids she had done the night before. "You wanna let your sister put them in?" She suggested. My mom liked to always make sure we did things together, even as I was four years older than Kaila Carina. She wanted us to always be close, no matter what, and I never knew how well it would all work out with the turn of events that our lives had taken on after the accident.