by Twyla T
After calling back to back and getting no answer, he started to get a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach. “Did you tell Charlotte not to say anything?” Charles asked when he walked back into the room.
“No, but I assumed she wouldn’t say anything unless you all were together. Did something happen?” Crystal asked. Ignoring her question, he asked her what type of game she was trying to play. Never being asked to come in and have a seat, Crystal finally took it upon herself to walk over to the kitchen table and sit down. Charles just stood there. After about three full minutes of complete silence, she finally started to speak. “I honestly never imagined my life to turn out the way that it did, but it happened. I wish I could go back and change how everything played out, but no matter how hard I want to, it’s impossible. I wanted to make peace with everyone before I leave this earth. I agree, I should have come and spoken with you and Carla first, but let’s be real. That was not gonna fly over well, so I decided to reach out to Charlotte first. It wasn’t easy getting through to her, but we finally had a chance to talk.” Charles was getting ready to interrupt her until he heard her saying, “I only have a few months left to live. I told Charlotte about my cancer, but I didn’t tell her exactly how much it has progressed. I don’t want sympathy from any of you; I just wanted to somehow attempt to clear my conscience and live out my last days happy. I had breast cancer years ago, and it went into remission for almost ten years, but now it has come back and spread pretty much all over my body.”
Charles sat there stunned, not knowing what to say, do, or think. When the silence was too much to bear, Crystal got up and ran out of the house crying. Charles knew that he would be in a shit load of trouble for what he was about to do if anyone saw him, but he ran after her and put his arms around her, attempting to console her as best as he could. He felt so bad for her. Blaming her for all of the mistakes in the past wouldn’t be right because he was guilty too, but he honestly wanted no relationship with her. Somehow, the news she had just delivered to him made him feel guilty. He stood there while holding her, wondering what all she had gone through over the years and wondering if she had been alone to cope with everything. It took a lot of time, money, and effort to get his marriage back on track after everything went down, but everything worked out and he didn’t want to mess it up after all of these years.
“Grandpa, why is she crying?” Kingston asked, snapping Mr. Miller out of his thoughts.
“She’s just having a bad day son,” he replied to Kingston. Against his better judgment, he invited Crystal back inside and started a pot of coffee. “You can stay here tonight and sleep in the guest room, but you’ll need to leave in the morning. Although nothing will happen between the two of us, considering the history, no one would ever believe a word we said, so we don’t need this to get out,” Mr. Miller said.
After talking for a little while longer and finishing a cup of coffee, Crystal said thanks and headed to the guest bedroom. Mr. Miller and Kingston camped out in the living room watching TV, where they would end up for the remainder of the night.
Chapter 5
Cameron signed on the dotted line for Malcolm to be admitted to the state hospital with the quickness. She was beyond sick of his bullshit. Barely listening to anything that the people were saying, she left all Bertha’s information as the primary contact. Now was the time to get away from that lunatic once and for all is all that she could think about. After exiting the facility, Cameron finally pulled her phone out and noticed she had several text messages from her group chat, and one in particular stood out. It was from Keith. Just seeing his code name, ‘Kendra’ made her heart flutter. Before opening any messages, she also noticed that he had called. Damn, I wonder if everything is alright, she thought to herself before opening the text messages. When she read his, her heat melted. He just wanted to make sure that she was okay. If he knew about all this damn drama, Cameron thought while shaking her head. She finally decided to call him back because he had called quite a few times before, but he didn’t ever answer. It was kinda late, so she just sent him a text instead of calling.
Life is so crazy! You won’t believe what happened today. Thanks for checking on me! (smiley face)
She replied to him while smiling and then opened her group chat and noticed that it was mostly Shay clowning and sending screen shots. After she caught up on reading their messages, she sent a text.
Cameron: Y’all ain’t gon believe what the fuck happened today.
Shay: Oh lord! What’s going on now?
Toya: You didn’t even text and tell us when y’all made it. What happened? Do we need to brace ourselves?
Cameron: Shit, I didn’t even have time to text. Drama started as soon as we made it. Guess who opened my sister’s door?
Toya: Oh my gawd!! You better not say Malcolm…you better not!!
Cameron: YES!! Malcolm!!
Sonya: What the hell?! Girl!!!!
Cameron: All hell broke loose after that! I’m bout to send a voice memo explaining everything while I’m heading to pick up my mama. I’m ready to go back home but she tripping. I’m not staying here tonight though, so she will have to catch a flight if she decides to stay.
After a few minutes passed, she knew her girls had listened to her voice memo because text messages started coming in.
Toya: Wait wait wait!! Charlotte might not be your sister? Or what? WTH going on?
Shay: You leaving Malcolm in North Carolina in the nut house?
Sonya: You shot him? Lawd!!
Cameron: Yes yes yes!!
Toya: It’s gonna take a minute to process all of this. Let me listen to this damn message again.
Shay: Me too shit
Sonya: I just don’t even know what to say! Like really!!
Cameron: Hell I don’t know either! Shit is just crazy!!
Toya: Beyond crazy!
Sonya: Are you gonna call Bertha?
Cameron: Hell naw!! Fuck that family!
Sonya: You probably should call her and give her a heads up though…I mean, that’s her son.
Cameron: I might but they need to put her ass in the room beside him.
Shay: So what you and your mom gonna do? Y’all gon stay up there?
Cameron: I’m ready to go now and if it’s up to me, we leaving as soon as I make it back. Mom stayed to talk to Charlotte while I came to sign these papers.
Toya: This is just…just…CRAZY AS FUCK!!!
Cameron: Well let me call Bertha since Sonya insisted. I’ll holla at y’all later.
Cameron took a deep breath and decided to call Bertha. It was pretty late and she was really hoping she didn’t answer, but after two rings, she faced reality that her wish wasn’t granted. “Hello,” Bertha said.
“Hey, I was just calling to let you know that your son has been admitted into the State Mental Health facility of North Carolina and-”
Cameron couldn’t finish her sentence before Bertha started cussing her out. “WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN? WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM YOU LITTLE LOWDOWN BITCH?” Bertha screamed.
Cameron just took the phone from her ear, looked down at it, and tried to figure out why she even bothered calling in the first place. I’m gonna kick Sonya’s ass, she thought to herself. Bertha was still yelling and calling her every name she could think of. Cameron simply told her that she was listed as his emergency contact and hung up on her before she heard the word bitch one more time. “I knew that shit was about to be a waste of time,” Cameron said while shaking her head.
When she pulled back up to Charlotte’s house, she just sat there staring into space for about five minutes. Going back in there just wasn’t gonna cut it, so she dialed her mom’s cellphone number, but got no answer. “I knew she wasn’t gonna answer… ugh,” Cameron said while rolling her eyes. After sitting there for about three or four more minutes, she finally decided to get out. Before she made it all the way to the front door, it was opened and there her mom was. Her eyes were puffy and swollen from all of the crying she had been doi
ng. She met Cameron and started hugging her while crying some more.
“I know you’re ready to go, but I need to explain some things to the both of you while we are all here together,” Mrs. Miller said through sobs and tears. Cameron knew that her mom wasn’t going to take no for an answer, so she told her okay, but as soon as she was done talking, they were leaving and she would drive back.
As soon as Cameron walked in behind her mom, Charlotte was sitting on the couch crying. Her eyes were more swollen than their mom’s. In Cameron’s mind, she would listen to her mom, but she was not changing her mind about staying. She already had everything mapped out in her head. It was about forty-five minutes until midnight and if they went ahead and left, they could be back home by eight in the morning. It took Mrs. Miller about thirty minutes to say everything that she needed to say. Neither Charlotte nor Cameron interrupted her. When she finally finished, they all sat there speechless. She ended her speech by telling both of them that she loved them very much and nothing or no one could change the fact that they both are her daughters, no matter what. Charlotte wanted to talk, but she knew that Cameron wouldn’t be receptive to anything she had to say, so she opted to remain quiet. She knew she was wrong. She wanted to tell them that she didn’t sleep with Malcolm today, but it wouldn’t have made anything better. The damage had already been done and this one time she was innocent really didn’t matter.
Cameron was having all kinds of mixed emotions. She knew that she had been doing her dirt for quite some time now, but she would never in a million years sleep with Charlotte’s man. “Mom, we need to go ahead and hit the road,” Cameron finally broke the silence by saying.
“Are you sure sweetie? I know you’re tired,” her mom replied.
“Y’all are welcomed to stay here,” Charlotte said softly.
“Thanks, but no thanks. Let’s go mom, Cameron said while getting up. She walked out and headed for the car without saying another word. Picking up her phone, she sent her girls a text telling them that she was about to hit the road and head on back home. Then, she sent another one saying that Cameron is actually her sister/first cousin. They all told her to be safe and call if she got sleepy, after they sent more shocked and confused emojis. She thought about texting Keith again, but he didn’t reply to her last message, so she willed herself not to send another message right there. Mrs. Miller came out of the house about three minutes after Cameron had started the car up. She thought about how that yellow car had grown on her, but now she was probably about to hate it all over again.
“Well, I hope you enjoyed your surprise trip,” Cameron said when her mom got settled, as she was pulling away from the place she deemed as hell. About ten minutes later, Cameron decided to stop and gas up and grab some snacks and two five-hour energy drinks. I should be able to take it on in with this stuff, she thought to herself while turning to her thumbprint radio station on Pandora.
“Have you talked to dad?” Cameron asked her mom.
“I saw where he called a few times, but no, I didn’t answer or call him back. I’ll see him when we make it back,” she replied.
“All of this is his fault anyway,” Mrs. Miller mumbled, trying to keep Cameron from hearing, but she heard her loud and clear and couldn’t help but to silently agree. “Let me take a little nap and I’ll be able to drive some in a few hours. You don’t have to drive the whole way back by yourself,” her mom told her. They both got lost in their own individual thoughts as Cameron glided down the interstate. Since it was the wee hours of the morning, the traffic was perfect. Rolling with the big trucks allowed her to speed, which would knock a tremendous amount of time off the trip.
Chapter 6
When Malcolm woke up, he was in an all-white room and he felt dizzy. There was only a door with a small glass in it, but no windows were in the room. His heart started beating rapidly and sweat immediately began to form all over his body. His breathing escalated as if he had just run a six-mile marathon. He got up to go look through the glass on the door and, when he did, he was disappointed because he couldn’t see out. Knowing that they could see inside without him being able to see out made him start kicking and banging on the door and screaming. “LET ME OUT OF HERE! GET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE! I DON’T BELONG IN HERE!!” he yelled. Malcolm started thinking back to the time when he was sent off as a child and became angrier. Thoughts if his mom entered his mind. She vowed to always protect him and he was wondering where she was now when he needed her the most. “Somebody help me! Help me!! Mama where are you?” Malcolm said, as he slid down to the floor crying.
He knew that for him to be in a facility, Cameron had to sign him in. It always takes someone’s signature and she had to be the culprit behind this shit because his mom would never do anything like this. “This some bullshit,” he mumbled to himself. Just when he was about to start kicking the walls again and show his black ass, the door opened and a nurse walked in holding a chart and medications while smiling.
“Well, good morning Mr. Price. How are you feeling today?” she asked.
“I’m feeling like I want to go the fuck home! What am I doing in here? I didn’t do anything wrong!” Malcolm said out loud, but deep down, he knew that he should have been in a jail cell for the things that he had done, especially his most recent transgression that he would never tell a soul.
“I’m sure you will, in due time, but we have to evaluate you and make sure that everything is fine,” the nurse replied to him while smiling, trying her best not to show any fear. Malcolm began thinking about exactly how he was going to play this out. He knew he had to be cooperative, but he needed to make a phone call very soon.
“So, you know I’m from Mississippi, right? Can I get a transfer to a facility there because I have no family here? I also need to make a phone call,” Malcolm said nicely to the nurse, trying his best to change his mood.
“I will be able to handle all of that momentarily, but first I need you to take these meds,” the nurse said. Malcolm hated taking any kind of medications, but he knew at this point, if he wanted to get out of there he really didn’t have much of a choice. He finally threw the pills down his throat, washed them down with a cup of water and smiled brightly at the nurse, who in return smiled back at him before exiting his room.
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After Bertha got hung up on by Cameron, she immediately called the airline to book a flight. A last minute flight cost her almost eight hundred dollars, but in her mind, she would do anything to get to her baby, even though he would have to reimburse her. Grabbing only a couple of outfits and her personal belongings, she jumped in her car and headed towards Jackson to catch her flight that was scheduled to leave at six o’clock the following morning. She could have waited to leave, but she knew she wasn’t going to be able to sleep anyway and she didn’t want to take the chance on missing her flight, so she went ahead and left.
Bertha made it to Charlotte Douglas International Airport two hours after her flight left Jackson and headed straight for Hertz Rental when she retrieved all of her belongings and exited the plane. A rental should have been ready and waiting for her because she paid online to avoid any lines that would be there. Things went smooth, and she programmed the address to the North Carolina State Hospital into the navigation system as soon as she got in the car and took off in that direction. Deep down, Bertha knew that Malcolm could use a little help, but she vowed to protect him at all costs and she would continue to do so, no matter what. What mother wouldn’t? she thought to herself.
Upon arrival to the facility, she demanded to see her son Malcolm immediately. “Where is my son? I’m here to take him home with me right this instance. He doesn’t belong here! His name is Malcolm Price. I want him out of here right now!!” Bertha yelled at the receptionist, who was only sitting there looking at her like she was crazy. She was asked nicely to calm down, but when she wouldn’t listen to the lady in admissions, security was called. They threatened to put her
out if she didn’t calm down immediately. After she broke down crying and explained to them that she just flew in from Mississippi, they started to relax a little and show her some empathy.
“Ma’am, we understand that this must be very hard for you, but we can’t help you if you’re not calm. Believe it or not, this happens often. People come here demanding to take loved ones home, but there is still a proper protocol that is set in place and it will be followed. Please, just try to calm down and we will do everything we can to help you out,” one of the security guards said to her after handing her some Kleenex to dry her tears.
After about ten to fifteen minutes had passed, when Bertha was finishing up with a cup of coffee, a doctor and nurse walked up to her. “Good morning, you must be here on behalf of Mr. Malcolm Price,” the doctor said.
“Yes, I am. I’m his mother, Ms. Price. Where is he? I need to see him. Give me the papers, so I can sign him out and take him home,” Bertha replied, cutting straight to the chase.
“Come walk with us so that we can talk privately, please, ma’am,” the doctor said. Bertha reluctantly complied because she had a feeling that they were not about to deliver the news that she was wanting to hear. She followed them down a long hall, where they made a right, then a left, and ended up at a door that had the word, CONSULTATION written in bold letters.
“Ms. Price, we hate to meet you on these type of circumstances, but unfortunately, life happens this way sometimes-” the doctor began saying until he was cut off by Bertha.
“Doctor, I don’t mean any harm, but I just need the paperwork to sign so that I can get him out of here. He doesn’t belong here and having him to stay last night was enough,” Bertha said.
The nurse spoke up next. “We wish that it was that simple, but it’s not. We are sure that you love your son, and we hope that you understand our rules to the facility here. He has to stay a minimum of forty-eight mandatory hours because we were called after hours. We will evaluate him, and it’s possible that he will be free to go, but I can’t guarantee you that at this very moment. You’re going to have to be patient and work with us,” the nurse said.