"After her rehabilitation, she wasn't the same person.”
“I didn’t ask you that.”
“She hated London and everyone close to her, myself included. The man who was once her husband, well he tried to make it work but she fought him every step of the way.”
“Her husband. Hold on, she never told me anything about being married.”
“After the fire took her outward beauty and momentarily her spirit, she didn’t think she was worthy of being his wife. Then again their relationship was already on the rocks before the accident. September’s appalling state couldn’t have helped the situation any, and he flirted with the idea of leaving until he realized that if he did, he wouldn’t get a dime of her insurance money after she died. Which would explain why he decided to come here with her.”
“How long dammit!”
“About five years.”
“So she came here because she wanted a new start.”
“And he wanted what he thought he deserved, however the dirt of it all forced him into the arms of drugs and other things."
"So Greg was her husband?"
"He was until she divorced him, but neither would let go until you came along.”
"I don't understand; he seemed to really need her."
"I think Greg got use to her again, but the scares and the constant rejection that she had put him through after the accident blinded his love Omari. I guess he just wasn't man enough to face it until you came along. And when you came along, everybody could see how that once addictive glow of hers had finally returned. She was happy and so full of life again; it pushed out the old and brought in the new. She was that kindda Kate you know."
"So why is she in here now?"
"Infection, she's been fighting it for years with the help of medication and…"
"That explains her falling asleep all the time doesn't it?"
"Yes, it would."
“So is she going to be okay or what?”
September’s mother allowed a look of doubt to answer my question before she added, “In the past, she would always manage to pull through, probably because she took her medicine and did all of the other things that she needed to do to stay alive.”
“Are you telling me that…?”
“No, I’m not saying that you are the cause of this relapse. She’s was still taking her medicine last I checked, I just think her body has finally ran out gas Hon.”
“Its amazing she even still alive Omari,” the doctor added.
“What’s amazing is that after all this time, you still don’t know what and who September is,” I said before I turned and left.
There are a group of unsaid and rarely used human emotions that can cut like a knife whenever you’re forced to deal with them. At that moment in time, I didn’t want any part of these razor sharp sentiments, however I knew that anything worth keeping always came with a steep price, and I just happened to have vault full of emotional capital to spend. Of course I could have put this event on credit, and then paid it back on a small-intermitted basis, but that wasn’t me, never was, so I decided to pay up.
“I was waiting for you,” September said in the littlest of voice after I entered the room.
“Had to talk to your doctor.”
“Typical, right?”
”Yeah, TV tends to give doctors way too much credit if you ask me,” I said as the full extent of September’s burns finally became apparent to me.
“I guess the jig is up, huh Babe?”
“No, no, this is okay with me.”
“What a bloke I am huh? I should’ve told you the truth.”
“Wouldn’t have mattered."
“Why, why…”
“Hush it, because I’m not going anywhere.”
“I’m sorry if I’ve hurt you Omari.”
“I’m not hurting, you wanna know why? I tell you why, its like this, my heart has been waiting for you," I said as the tears flowed freely down my face. "‘Cause you see, for the first time in my life, I actually saw someone for who they really was, and guess what, I fell in love with that person."
“I don't wanna leave you Omari."
“Hey, if I could, I'd walked that line with you," I said after I lay next to her. "Do you want me to want to walk that line? Because I will, I swear to God I will. I'm more afraid of living here without you than I'm of death."
September’s big loving eyes closed before she whispered, "Its not your time Baby."
“I can make it my time.”
“And your kids would never forgive you for it either.”
Her soft-spoken words found that well guarded place in my heart and warmed all that I was before she quietly slipped into the warm throes of a medicated sleep. A few hours later she awoke, however she wasn’t vibrant or as witty as she had been in the past. The game was truly afoot and we both knew it, so there was nothing to say that hadn’t been said, even if there was, words couldn’t explain what we were going through. But as usual, September’s gentle smile made everything appear easy, because I suddenly took solace in the fact she herself never believed anything lasted forever, which meant our separation wouldn’t last forever. One day, when it is all said and done for, we would be together again.
Two days later, while faced with her own death, she somehow found the energy to gingerly massage my hand until I found the strength to find sleep. Afterward, September quietly faded away in her sleep, once again making it easy for me.
Omari Willingham
In the dimly lit background of my trendy rooftop loft, active noise from the city below crept up to my window as incense burned and salted water boiled.
The odd creaking and squeaking belonged to the building's antiquated wood floors, while the tranquilly splashing water that accented the well-orchestrated harmony was from an indoor water fountain in my front room. The glass of wine on my kitchen counter was my first and probably my last. The slow burning cigarette in my ashtray didn’t belong to me, but to one of my two lost but found friends who were here to see me off. How and when we all decided to kiss and make up wasn’t important, what was important was that they came to my rescue when I needed them the most. Tragedy can have that effect on people; therefore I gracefully welcomed them and all of their issues back into my life.
On much lighter note, I was about to embark on another journey that was going to take me halfway across the world for about six months. To some extent the trip was business oriented, and in another sense it was going to allow me to grow as a person. After September’s death, my friend Cadenza came to me and advised that I get away for a while…something about giving my soul a chance to breath again. Tried explaining that September was my fresh breath air, but Cadenza’s advice wasn’t really advice at all, instead it was more of a direct order from all of my friends. It just came from Cadenza.
I had a couple of options, but none of them came close to traveling with Cadenza’s parents as they traveled the world promoting a new cook book. I agreed to take part of the book tour only if Cadenza would take that cooking show in LA. Of course she tried her best to hide her excitement, but I knew that had been a dream of hers, so it felt right to give it to her.
After saying good-bye to my friends, I jumped into a limousine and headed to the airport. Once inside the airport, I boarded a plane and finally did something that I had been putting off since September’s death. I reached into my pocket and pulled out those two letters that we wrote to each other. For a brief moment in time, it seemed like yesterday when we decided to write those letters to each other.
I took a deep breath read… Dear lover,
By now, I have reached the end of my life cycle and have traveled on to my next great challenge, the after life. If this isn’t so, bloody shame on you for reading this without me you big head bloke. Are you laughing? If you are, it has always looked good on you Anyway, if things have worked out as I have foreseen them, the obvious is clear and unmistakable to you by now. And I hope from the bottom of my heart that you
don’t find or feel ill for me not telling you the complete truth about my past. Believe it or not, it pained me more than you’ll ever know not being able to tell you, but try and understand that would have meant reliving a nightmare that I’ve spent the last few years of my life trying to forget.
For me, my love, take solace in the fact that if it weren’t for your love, I would have carried that nightmare to my grave. However your undying love for me made what was left of my life worth living again. For that I thank you a thousand kisses deep. Now for the ending, because I know why you’re here. You’re curious about what I wrote the night in which you and I became you plus me… Dear Omari,
Thanks for saving room in your heart for me. Thanks for seeing me, for me
Thanks for being beautifully you
Forever your love,
September
TheEnd
The Other Side of My Kitchen Page 27