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CHAPTER 29
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2021-05-02 15:05:01That night dragged on like a relentless virus - slow, agonizing and painful.
I didn't sleep - I couldn't sleep. The spirits wouldn't let me - they were all around me, watching me. Mama must have welcomed them into our home in addition to letting them into her heart. But it wasn't just the spirits I felt (they were a quiet and respectful bunch), but the thought of Hezekiah running through my mind that made it impossible to sleep. I sat on the bed, hands shaking from anxiety, neck pulsing in pain, wondering what was happening to him. Did his lungs still feel like they were filled with boiling oil? Did he still struggle for breath?
Throughout the night, I kept trying my methods of escape, hoping that the latch on the door would unlock or the window would open. But still, they re
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Everyone in the living room had suddenly gone quiet as the banging against the door became louder. Growling and snarling were heard on the other side as if it pained Hezekiah to be kept alone on the other side. The Coterie and everyone in the congregation stared motionlessly at the door, holding onto each other and whimpering at everybangagainst the door. Mama looked at the six of us who ventured down there. She saw the state that we were in, saw our faces, and knew just how grave the situation was. I knew Aza's words rung in her head as she waited for Hezekiah to bust down the door. You should have fed him, Alize. You should have fed him. Suddenly, Mama grabbed my shoulders and looked me in the eyes; I was still in shock, unable
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** The smell of rich spices and sausages filled up Miss Aza's home once she and I made the journey downstairs. The Coterie was making gumbo - a huge pot of it for everyone that sat around in the living room. The Coterie was in the kitchen when we made it downstairs, whereas everyone sat on the couch or on the floor, their clothes still dirty and tattered. All them stopped their chatter when they saw me. Everyone went quiet, plagued with questions that they didn't know how to ask. Kizzy, Esther, Imani, and Rocio sat together and stood together when their eyes landed on me. They probably assumed I was dead. They probably thought that I was a lost cause. But I wasn't. I was there, in the flesh, staring at them and waiting for one of them to say something. But none of them did. I wanted to say something - I wanted to tell them of the
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** I struggled with sleep for the rest of the night. I was a fool to believe that sleep would be easily achievable after what happened between Hezekiah and I in the kitchen. I laid awake in the darkness, my body tense next to Esther's on the blow-up mattress. Hezekiah had left into the night then, but his presence still loomed over me; his influence still lingered. I felt like he was still inside me; I felt his lips on mine. The taste of them. I heard the sounds of his moaning, and I saw his eyes, so bright and fluorescent like hellfire, but dark in intention and motive. All of my senses were overtaken by him completely no matter how hard I fought against them. It was just sex,I assured myself - a meaningless encounter between two bodies that meant nothing beyond
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