Miracles

Chapter 53

~Avisha's View~

"Are we still friends?" I ask Jaina.
She smiles, "Friends for life." I smile back.
"Are you guys ready?" Amari asks as she sets her camera for recording the pranks she's about to pull.
"Yup, we're ready."

She starts cutting some carrots on the chopping board when mom walks into the kitchen. "What are you guys doing?" Mom asks. "Watching how fast Amari can chop carrots," I answer casually.
"What? No, stop that. It's too dangerous." Mom says and as she's about to take the knife away from Amari, Amari shrieks.
"Mom, I cut my finger." She cries. Mom checks to see if it's true, "Oh my God!" She gasps. "Liam!" She runs to call dad. Dad comes down immediately. "What's wrong?" He asks. "Amari cut off her finger."
"What?" Dad checks Amari's perfectly fine fingers. "Honey, there's nothing wrong with her finger."
"Wait, what? I just saw her cut off her finger." Mom says surprised at the sudden turns of events.
Amari starts laughing, followed by Jaina and me.
"Guys, it's a prank. See, she just cut the sausage." I tell them.
"C'mon!" Mom exclaims. "Do you have to prank us on every holiday?"
"Of course, I have to." Amari smiles sweetly.
"We'll get you one day," Dad says as he and mom leave the kitchen.
"I'll be ready," Amari shouts after them.
"Who's next?" Jaina asks. Amari smiles mischievously. "My favorite people in the world, my nieces and nephews."

"Hey, guys." I sit with the kids who are busily watching a Christmas movie while sipping hot cocoa. "Hi." They say, acknowledging my presence.
"Where did you get the hot cocoa?" I ask them. "Amari made them for us." They respond. "Oh, and she didn't make some for me?"
"You can have some of mine," Polly says. I think that's Jolly, or is it, Holly? They have a striking resemblance, I find it difficult to remember who is who.
"Thank you." I smile at her and as I'm about to drink the chocolate, Jaina comes into the room with fake red spots covering her body. "Wait!" She shouts scratching herself. "Don't drink that. Amari poisoned it. Look at what happened to me after drinking that super sweet hot cocoa."
"Aaah!" The kids start screaming and running to the kitchen to get water.
"Wait!" Jaina shouts again. "Water makes it worse. It brings the red spots."
"What should we do then? I'm already starting to itch." Chad scratches his head.
"I don't know," Jaina says. "Run?"
"Aaah!" They scatter, calling out their parent's names.
Amari comes out of hiding with her camera. "It worked. More to go." And with that, Amari continues pranking our family, including Jaina and me. But we outsmarted her by pulling her own prank on her.

"You two are so gonna get it." Amari stomps around her room with a scowl on her face and she checks her hair to see if there are any eggshells in it. "I smell like eggs." She says, glaring at us. I give Jaina a high five while laughing at Amari.
Just then, someone knocks on the door.
"Who is it?" Amari asks. "It's me, Rasheeda."
Amari opens the door to reveal Rasheeda carrying a box. "This is for you." She says. "And thanks for the present, Jayden is the best. We'll be hanging out tomorrow." Rasheeda smiles. "You're welcome," Amari says, taking the box from her.
"Who's it from?" Jaina asks. "Open it," I add.
"The note says, for my sunshine. Let's see what's inside." She starts tearing the wrapping paper.

Inside the box are postcards and a note that says, wear this dress, along with a paper with a QR code on it.
Amari scans the code on her phone. A map and some instructions pop up.
"I'm supposed to go to the places on the postcards to find the person who sent these." Amari reads with a smile on her face.
Jaina and I wear the same smiles as she takes the dress out.
"Oh my gosh!" Jaina exclaims. "My brother has never bought me a dress as pretty as this."
"How do you know it's your brother?" Amari asks. I roll my eyes, "Oh please. You know this is Wyatt's doing."
Amari just smiles and lays her red flare dress on her bed.
She goes to take a shower, dresses up, and hails an Uber to take her to her man.

I'm currently lying on mom's lap as we sip hot cocoa and watch tv with the kids, dad, Xavier, and Jaina. The three El's went out with the spouses.
"Mama?" I call. "Yes, sweetie." She responds. "You believe in God right?" I ask. "Yes." She nods.
"Who is God and how do you know He's real?" I voice out the one question which has been on my mind for a while now.
"I think this is one of the biggest questions ever but I'll try my best to tell you what I know," Mom says. I nod, "Okay."
"To me, God is a friend. A very close friend. We're like this." She crosses her middle finger over the index finger to emphasize what she's saying.
"I talk to Him all the time through prayer, singing, and even reading the Bible. He always listens and even though He might not always reply or give me what I want, I know He's here. He hears me and He's with me. He's with all of us, even though we can't see or touch Him. I believe He's as real as the air we breathe and we can't even see the air but we still believe we're breathing it in to keep us alive. Our faith in Him makes Him more real than every other thing in the world."
"So God is my friend and He's with me right now as we're speaking?" I ask.
"Yes." Mom nods. "He never leaves." I smile, "That's nice. He's a very good friend if He doesn't leave." Mom smiles back. "I hope I answered your question?"
"Yes, thank you."
"No need to thank me." She brushes it off and pays attention to the tv.

I do the same but it seems my body has other plans. My eyes go drowsy and I feel a liquid flow down my nostrils. I touch my nose and soon, my fingertips are stained with blood.
Quickly getting up, I run to the bathroom to check myself in the mirror. I feel my breath hitching and as if my legs can't work anymore, I fall. I'm going short on air. I try to shout for help but I can't because I'm suffocating.
Someone enters the bathroom and screams. It's Jaina. She starts mentioning my name and asking what's wrong with me.
Mom enters the bathroom and her eyes widen at the sight of me. She calls out to dad and Xavier.
Dad immediately tosses his car keys to Xavier and carries me into his arms, whispering encourages words to me.

He says I'm going to be okay but is that true? Am I going to be okay?
Because I feel like giving up.