by Chanel Hardy
“We knew this day would come. It’s my fault, I should’ve protected her that day.” Charles said in a faint voice. Piper didn’t understand.
“What are you talking about Mr. Bonèt?”
He stared at his daughter with tears in his eyes as he held her limp hand. “Sixteen years ago, my sister put a curse on Andrea. On her sixteenth birthday, my baby girl would fall into a deep sleep, forever. She will never wake up.” Piper couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Black magic?” She whispered with her hand over her mouth. In Louisiana, hearing about these practices was common for most folks who grew up near the bayou. But most people only knew little juju’s and hexes. Nothing as strong as what Andrea was under. Piper knew this was the work of a powerful woman, and there was nothing they could do. “No! It can’t be! Not her! She doesn’t deserve this!” Piper cried.
“I know. I wish I could change things. I wish it could’ve been me instead.” Charles sat there, in more pain than any father could imagine.
***
Months passed by, as they watched her sleep day in and day out. Charles and Michelle brought Andrea home a few days after she had gone to the hospital. The doctors couldn’t find anything medically wrong with Andrea, and her parents wouldn’t tell them about the curse. So, they took her home. In her room, she slept, peacefully. Piper came to visit her every day. She was the only one besides Charles and Michelle who were allowed near Andrea. Charles spent days and nights searching for his sister, in hopes that she would take back the curse. But he didn’t find anything. No signs of her at all.
Two years passed by, and Andrea hadn’t aged a day. Still, her parents and her best friend were by her side. One night, while Charles was sleeping in a chair next to his daughter’s bed, the house began to shake. Charles was startled out of his sleep by the sound of a flower vase falling to the floor and breaking. Michelle came running in to see what was going on, along with Piper who had spent the night. Suddenly, there she was. Juanita.
“Did you miss me, dear brother?” She said, with that evil smirk on her face. She looked different this time. Older, and frail, like she was sick.
“Juanita… It’s really you.” Charles uttered. Juanita walked over to Andrea’s bed, and leaned over, moving a stray curly hair from Andrea’s face. “You stay away from her!” Michelle demanded.
“Hush woman! You should be happy to see me.”
“Juanita please. Take back the curse. Spare our daughter. You can curse me instead.” Charles begged.
“Now what fun would that be?” Juanita laughed. “Don’t worry. Today is your lucky day. I’ve come to take back the curse.” She ran her hand across Andrea’s soft brown cheek. “Under one condition.”
Charles and Michelle didn’t like the sound of this. “What condition?” Asked Charles.
“I want her youth, in exchange for my dying, aging body.”
“NO! OVER MY DEAD BODY!” Shouted Michelle.
“That can be arranged.” Juanita snapped back.
“Please, stop. Juanita, I beg you. Just take back the curse or let her be.” Said Charles.
“I didn’t have to come here. I’m doing you a favor. If I want, I can kill the both of you, take her youth, and let her lie here until she dies. Your choice.”
“NO!” Shouted Piper, crying for her best friend’s life.
“Have it your way then.” Juanita stepped back, opening both arms, and mumbling in another language. The house began to shake again. Piper looked over at the broken glass on the floor and picked up the largest piece. She charged at Juanita and shoved the large piece of glass into her chest. Right in her heart. The house stopped shaking, and Juanita screamed out in pain. She fell to the floor, her lifeless body, sitting in a small pool of her own blood. Charles and Michelle stood there, in shock. Piper dropped the glass, in disbelief of what she had just done, tears rolling down her eyes. She looked at Andrea, who was still lying there. She walked over toward her and whispered in her ear.
“I love you.” Piper then placed a gentle kiss on Andrea’s lips. Charles and Michelle gathered around their daughter. Juanita was dead, and the curse was still there. They all felt hopeless. That was until Charles felt Andrea’s hand move. He couldn’t believe it. “Andrea?” He said in a soft, hopeful voice. Suddenly, her eyes opened.
“Andrea! I can’t believe it!” Charles jumped in excitement as they all cheered happily.
Andrea sat up. “Mom, dad, Piper. What happened to me?” She looked over at the dead body on the floor. “Oh my God! Who is that?”
They all looked at each other. “There is a lot we need to tell you. But right now, were just happy to see your beautiful face.” Her father hugged her tightly. So, did her mother.
***
Later that night, Charles and Michelle explained everything to Andrea, and got rid of Juanita’s body. Andrea took it all well and understood why her parents kept it all a secret. She was just happy it was all over. They all were.
Andrea and Piper sat on the porch, sitting in silence. Piper reached into her pocket, and pulled out a small necklace, with the letter P hanging from the end. “I never got a chance to give you your birthday gift.” She said to Andrea. She then pulled out a necklace she was already wearing, identical to the one she was giving to Andrea, except hers had the letter A hanging from it. “I got this necklace a few months before I got yours. I wanted it to be a surprise. I love you Andrea, I always have. I just never knew how to tell you, or what you would say.”
Andrea smiled, and reached for her gift, she stood up and turned around, lifting her hair up as Piper placed the necklace around Andrea’s neck. She twirled the end of the necklace with her thumb. “I love it Piper, and I love you, too.”
Even the strongest black magic in the world, was no match for true love.
IV. Briana
“Don’t forget to pick up flour on your way home from school!” Briana’s mother yelled from the top of the stoop.
“Yeah, I know. Bye ma!” Briana replied, annoyed by her mother’s constant reminder to pick up flour. This was the third time she had mentioned it since Briana woke up that morning. With her tote bag full of textbooks, Briana took her time walking to school. She loved listening to the loud cars pass by, and the smell of flowers blossoming as Spring made its way through the city.
“Morning Briana!” Greeted Mr. Bernard from the corner barbershop as he swept hair away from his front door.
“Good morning Mr. Bernard! Working hard today?” Briana greeted cheerfully with a huge smile.
“Hardly. Same ol’ same ol’ with me.” He replied. “You have a good day at school now ya hear?”
“I’ll try.” She waved and continued walking to school. He waved back and continued his sweeping. As Briana approached the next street, she noticed a group of guys hanging out in front of a convenience store. Her anxiety kicked in, and she was worried that one of them would say something to her as she passed by. She had her head down and started walking faster as she passed them. One of the guys, wearing a white tank top had his eye on her.
“Hey girl!” He called out to her. Briana knew this would happen. She clenched her bag tighter and continued walking. “Hey girl! I know you heard me!” He shouted again. Briana stopped, and turned around. The boy was walking toward her. The last thing she wanted to deal with was harassment from one of the hood boys.
“Come on man, leave that girl alone.” One of the boy’s friends said. It was a tall young man, with long dreadlocks that reached his waist. He was very dark, with a huge scar on the right side of his face. While the other guys seemed amused by their friend’s harassment of Briana, the one with the dreadlocks didn’t seem amused at all.
“What? You think you’re too good to talk to me or something?” The guy asked her aggressively. She didn’t respond.
“Man, I told you to leave that girl alone!” The dreadlock gentleman stood there with his arms crossed. His friend looked back at him, then looked at Briana. “Man forget you.�
�� He brushed her off and walked back toward his friends. Briana didn’t waste any time hurrying off to get to school. She arrived a little tired out from powerwalking the rest of the way there. She was paranoid that the group of guys might have followed her, but thankfully they didn’t. She walked inside the building with only a few minutes left before the bell rang for first period. She rushed to her locker to put her books away and grabbed the ones she needed.
“Briana, what’s going on?” Before she could close her locker, Gerard was standing over her, his arm leaning on the locker next to hers. He had a vain, smug look on his face, a look he always wore whenever he approached her. “What are you up to after school today?” He asked, grabbing a book from her locker.
“Nothing.” She replied, uninterested. Gerard had a crush on her since sophomore year. He had attempted to ask her out before, and she declined every time. But he never gave up. He approached her at least twice a week, and she brushed him off every single time.
“Is that all you do? Read?” He asked, flipping through the book he grabbed.
“No.” She said, annoyed. She grabbed the book from him and tossed it back into her locker. “I’m going to be late for class.” She slammed it closed and tried to brush past him, but he blocked her way.
“Come on, why won’t you go out with me? I’m fly, I’ve got money. Girls try to get at me every day but here I am, trying to get at you. So, what’s up?” He stood there, towering over her with his broad shoulders. His light brown skin smelled like expensive cologne, and his fade was fresh, like he had a barber on hand every morning. Gerard wasn’t an unattractive boy, but Briana wasn’t a fan of his personality. He was self-centered, obnoxious, and treated anyone who wasn’t at his level of popularity like garbage. The only reason he wasn’t a complete ass to Briana is because he wanted to date her.
“I’m going to be late for class.” She said again before slightly pushing him aside and walking away. The one thing she detested about school was having to deal with his never-ending advances.
***
Briana made her way to the 9th street market when school let out. It was only two blocks away from her school, and her mother only bought groceries from that market when she couldn’t make it to the regular grocery store. Briana approached the store and immediately felt a huge lump in her throat. The guys she had trouble with that morning were standing there, posted up outside the store.
“Oh no, ugh.” Briana mumbled. The library was across the street, so she figured she could go there and read for a while and maybe they would be gone when she came back.
She made a B-line for the library before one of the guys could notice her. It was empty, besides the homeless men who used it as shelter during the day, and a few senior citizens listening to audiobooks. She walked to the Adult Romance section, which was straight to the back. She browsed the first few rows to see if anything new had come in. She picked up a book titled “For the Love of Honey”, took a seat and cracked it open.
About ten minutes in, Briana was startled by two loud bangs coming from outside. It sounded like gunshots, she was pretty sure it was gunshots. She froze, not knowing what to do. She then heard someone running. She looked ahead and that’s when she saw him. It was the boy with the scar and dreadlocks. As he ran in her direction, they made eye contact. Briana, not sure how to react just sat there as he sprinted right past her and disappeared behind a bookshelf. Everything had happened so fast and she was puzzled by what she had just saw. Minutes later she noticed two uniformed officers walking into the library. She immediately knew why they were there. The uniformed officers looked around and started walking in her direction. This made her nervous.
“Hello young lady, we’re looking for a young man who may have been involved in a robbery attempt across the street. He may have run into this building. Tall, dark complexion with long hair. Have you seen him?” One of the officers asked. He sounded intimidating.
“I… I haven’t seen anyone.” Briana responded timidly.
“Are you sure?” The officer asked, as if he wasn’t too confident in her answer.
“Yes.”
“Thanks, young lady.” The two officers went to check another part of the library and Briana took a deep breath, smacking herself in the head with the book she was holding.
I can’t believe I just lied to a cop.
She wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. She closed the book, grabbed her school bag and went back over to the shelf to put the book back.
“Thanks.” A male voice whispered from behind the bookcase. Briana jumped. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He said softly. Briana walked slowly behind the bookcase. There he was, sitting on the floor.
“You’re welcome.” She said. “Bye.” She turned around to leave, but he stopped her.
“Wait, don’t go yet.” He said abruptly. She stopped walking and turned around. “The cops are still here. They’re most likely posted up outside, to see if I’ll come out. Could you wait with me?”
She couldn’t believe what he was asking. “Wait with you? Are you crazy! I just lied to the cops, for you. Why? I have no idea. But you should be glad I was nice enough to do that!” She scoffed at him and turned around to leave again.
“I tried to stop him.” The young man stood up. Briana stopped walking. “I didn’t know he was gonna do it. I tried to talk him out of it, but gunshots went off, and it was too late.” Briana turned around to look at him.
“Did anyone get hurt?” She asked.
“I don’t think so. I hope not.”
She looked him in the eyes, and she wasn’t sure why, but something inside of her knew he was telling the truth. “Just let me grab my book.” She walked back to the other side of the bookcase to grab the book she was reading before the chaos happened. She placed her bag on the floor and took a seat across from where he was standing. He went to slouch down next to her. He leaned in to get a look at what she was reading.
“Just wait until you get to the sequel.” He said. Briana looked over at him. “I read that back in tenth grade. Read part two a few weeks after I finished. It’s better than that one.”
Briana was taken by surprise. “You’ve read this?” She asked, with one eyebrow raised. The question came off as a challenge of intelligence more than an actual question.
“What? Is a brother reading that hard to believe?”
“No, I just…” Briana realized that her question came off as snobby, and he had picked up on it. “I just hadn’t heard of this book before today. That’s all.” She pulled the book closer to her face and went back to reading. She felt awkward and was beginning to regret sitting there with him.
“What’s your name?” He asked.
For a second, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to tell him. “Briana.”
“Jamal.” He smiled at her, but she hadn’t taken her eyes off her book at all. He decided to get up and grab a book from the shelf. He picked up a book titled “A Time Traveler’s Love.” He sat back down next to her and began reading. Briana glanced over at him while he wasn’t looking. This was the first time she had gotten a good look at him. His skin was like dark chocolate, smooth like it too. His dreadlocks didn’t look like the other guys’ hair in the neighborhood who had locs. His were neat, and tightly twisted. He had a mane of long, thick, dark hair that made him quite intimidating. The scar on his face didn’t do him any justice either. Without it, he might’ve been a very attractive young man. But even though he wasn’t, something about him was still so appealing to her.
“I’ve read that one.” She said to him, looking over at the book.
“You mean you’ve read this? No way!” He said in a condescending tone of voice. Briana huffed at him, offended. “Doesn’t sound so nice the other way around, does it?” He teased.
“Oh whatever.” She tried to play it off as if she knew he was just teasing. “Anyway, It’s a good book.”
“I’m sure it is.” He grinned at her, and she suddenly felt uncomfor
table. Briana wasn’t used to having what felt like a flirtatious moment. The only other guys who smiled at her were the old men in the neighborhood, and Gerard, who she couldn’t stand. This was unfamiliar for her. She closed her book and stood up.
“I’m gonna go check and see if the cops are still lingering around.” She grabbed her bag and walked toward the front of the library to look outside. She didn’t see either of the cops who came in, just a cop car across the street at the scene of the shooting, but they must’ve been inside the store. She went back to tell Jamal the coast was clear. “They’re gone.”
Jamal stood up, closed his book and placed it back on the shelf. “I guess this is goodbye then?” He walked closer toward her.
“I guess so.” Briana slightly shrugged her shoulders. She looked over at the bookcase. “Are you going to check out the book to finish it? It really is good.”
“Nah, I don’t check out books. I’d rather not get roasted by my boys. But I’ll stay, if you stay.”
Briana’s eyes widened. She wasn’t sure of what to say. She hardly knew him, but his presence felt warming. She didn’t feel like staying, but she didn’t want to say no either. “Okay.” She agreed. He walked back over to pick up the book and sat down at the table this time. Briana sat across from him. She remembered about what happened this morning while she was walking to school. “Thanks for what you did this morning.”
“Oh yeah, about that. It was nothing. My friend can be an ass. I keep telling him to leave these girls alone. He never listens.”
“Well I’m glad he listened to you that time.” She thought about what had happened across the street. “Was he the one that tried to rob the store?”
Jamal gave her a look as if he didn’t want to talk about it. “Yeah.” He replied, sounding hurt by what his friend had done. “I can’t believe I ran. I should’ve stayed, I should’ve made him leave. I feel like it’s my fault.” She looked at Jamal and could tell he was overwhelmed with regret.