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As soon as that little girl drifted off to sleep. Destiny excused herself, quickly making her way to the nearest restroom. She pushed open the door, and slammed it shut behind her, she checked every single stall to make sure she was truly alone before locking the door behind her. She placed both her hands on one of the sinks to steady herself before she began to take deep breaths to calm her breathing down. It had been so long since she had laid a gentle hand on a child, so long since she had tucked one in for bed. She was a master rank in combat from Tarun’s Island, she fought in wars for the country she loved, she had experienced death many times in her life. Who would have guessed that laying her hands on a child would be the thing to break her down like this.
Destiny reached over to her left, pulling free a few towels before sticking them over the drain. She quickly filled the sink up with ice cold water. and with no hesitation she stuck her head into the water. It took a moment before the sudden chill spread throughout her face, her eyes opened up, and she lifted her head out of the sink. “Wow!” She exclaimed as she began to take deep breaths once more. The water ran down her face and onto her cream-colored shirt, darkening the area that it touched. Destiny took one deep breath before dunking her head back in, praying that the next time she rose from these waters, she would not wake up in that lonely house. As she rose from the water this time, she kept her eyes closed, so if this was a dream she wouldn’t wake up from it.
“Please, father… don’t let this be a dream.” Destiny hesitantly opened one of her eyes, and found herself staring into her reflection. Her face dripping with water, her shirt even darker, but still in the bathroom. “It’s not a dream…” Destiny felt all the strength leave her as she collapsed down onto her knees with a large thud. Destiny cupped her face in her hand, and let out a relieved breath. “I really do have a second chance…”
As those words escaped her lips, she felt her left pocket start to buzz, and the annoying ringtone she had placed on her phone began to sound across the walls. Destiny fumbled a bit but did manage to get her phone out, the screen glowed green and one word was displayed, momma. “You always could sense when I was upset.” Destiny said as she dried her face off a bit before answering it. “Hey momma,”
Her mother's warm voice filled her ears with a warmth that only she could provide. “How are you doing, baby?”
“I am…” Destiny stopped herself, she didn’t know how she was doing right now. She was both relieved and grateful for a second chance, but now that she had that chance. Fear and doubt began to race through her head. “I don’t know if I am okay…”.
“Did you get arrested again? Cause I am not gonna bail your black ass out of jail.” Destiny laughed a bit at that, and mother quickly followed up with. “Okay, so you are okay enough to laugh, that is a good sign. Tell me what is going on, Destiny.”
Destiny sat against the back wall, and began to tell her mother everything that had happened in the span of not even 24 hours. She didn’t leave a single detail out, she couldn’t afford to, right now she needed the advice of a woman that had lived 110 years. An insane number for those on the mainland, but for jepei users that was equivalent of 70 or 80, some could even live till early 300 with the right animal spirit. As she finished explaining, Destiny then said. “Momma, I don’t know if I can do this… it has been so long since.” Destiny lowered her head as she couldn’t even bring herself to repeat her daughter’s name. In her mind she had no right to speak her name out loud.
“For Ruth,” her mother finished.
“Yeah,” Destiny said with a solemn nod of her head. “How can I possible be what this little girl needs, when I let.”
Destiny held the phone away from her ear for a moment as her mother shouted. “Don’t start that nonsense again!”
“I’m sorry,” Destiny said, wiping away a few tears with her hand. “I know you, and Hezekiah and Cherlene tell me now to keep blaming myself… but it is hard to not.”
“Destiny, listen to me for a minute okay.” Even though she knew her mother was thousands of miles away, she still nodded as if she was right beside her. “Destiny, you have been blaming, and punishing yourself for the last seven years. You still live in that big ass house all alone, you isolate yourself from most of the world. You have punished yourself enough, it is time for you to accept what my God, and your, has given you. While you may not want to admit it, you have been praying for a second chance to do the right thing, and now you have that chance. It will be an adjustment, you may do the wrong thing, you may need time to be the firm hand she may need if she misbehaves, you may need time to remember how to give the comfort you need to give her. However, no mother forgets those things for long. I have faith that you can do this, that you can be a mother again. You need to trust in the path our father has sent you on, don’t run away from it, make mistakes if you have too, but don’t waste a blessing, especially not this one.”
“Yes ma’am,” Destiny said with a loud sniffle.
“Atta girl.”
Destiny spent a few more minutes catching up with her mother on recents events of Tarun’s island. Nothing had really changed much since the last time she had spoken to her mother. As the conversation began to come to an end. Her mother gave her a few more words of wisdom. “Destiny, it is time to stop living in your past, and move onto a brand new future. It is what you need, it is what we all want for you, and it is especially what Ruth would want for you.”
“Thank you, momma.”
“And I would suggest getting that guest room of yours ready.” Her mother chuckled a bit. “Cause you know that when I tell Cherlene and Hezekiah what has happened to you, you know they are gonna come running to see their new niece.”
Destiny couldn’t help but laugh at that as well. “I would welcome it but maybe tell them to wait a few weeks so she can adjust to my house. It is already overwhelming enough, without those two showing up on my doorstep, with more presents than she could handle. You remember how they used to spoil…” Destiny stopped once more, not able to say her name.
“I know, and I will try to make a trip up there myself to see this little one, or you could bring her to the island. Maybe Master Plainwalker can find out more about her.” The plainwalker family were an odd family that lived in the large mountain of Tarun Island. They had an odd ability to read one’s family tree and also acted as record keepers of the island's history.
“That is not a bad idea, I will try one day momma, and I trust that if I need it, I can call you for anything.”
“I have been telling your blackass to call me more, and now you have a reason to do so!” Destiny flinched a bit at her harsh tone but her mom was right, she had been bad at keeping up with the family in these last few years. “So I want an update every week at minimum, or lord forbid if I have to fly to that house of yours, I will wear your ass out in front of that little girl, am I understood.”
Only this woman could make her feel like a small child again. “Y-Yes, ma’am.”
“I love you, Destiny and I am so happy for you.”
“I love you too, momma, bye.” Destiny hung up the phone, and pressed her now warm neck against the chilled sink. It did wonders to calm her down. She took one deep breath before raising back to her feet, feeling much stronger than she had in a very long time. She patted her cheeks a few times before walking towards the door. “It’s okay to make mistakes, just be who she needs you to be, and love her how she needs to be loved.” As she pressed her hand against the door she did something she had not done in a very long time. She said a quicker prayer for both mercy and strength, as well as wisdom and grace. She was gonna need all four more than she ever imagined.
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After another few hours in the hospital, and once making sure that all of the paperwork she needed was in order to take this child back home with her. Destiny got her settled in a wheelchair, and began to take her out of the front doors of the hospital. It wasn’t hard to tell how nervous this small girl was, her head looking all around at the people coming and going. It was now reaching mid afternoon, and more people were arriving. At one point, Destiny followed the girl’s eyes as an ambulance drove by, she seemed absolutely amazed by it. She did notice how she jumped up, and threw her arms over her head as the door opened up and two men came out. “She probably thinks they are for her.” Destiny noted as she placed a soft hand on the girl's shoulder, telling her how she was ok. Eventually they made it to the Destiny vehicle of choice. It was the third car she had owned, but this one had a place in her heart. A modified black mustang from 2015, she was originally not gonna get this car, but a certain little girl had fallen in love with it the second they went to the car lot. She was even more happy when Destiny paid to get a pink racing stripe down the center of it. “I heard it makes cars go even faster!”
Destiny, now smiling at that memory, pulled open the door to her car and got the small child situated inside. She couldn’t help but notice how scared the poor girl got when Destiny went to place a seat belt over her. “It’s okay,” she soothed, taking a knee beside the girl. “This is just to keep you safe while I drive, in case I get in an accident it is gonna protect you from any serious harm.”
The little girl stubbornly shook her head a few times. It broke Destiny’s heart to see how one simple act affected this girl. She knew that she needed to buckle this girl up for her own safety as anything could happen. However, she just couldn’t bring herself to do that, not until she was ready to be buckled up. “Alright,” the girl looked up at her, her silver eyes opened wide in shock. “I am not gonna buckle you up, but I need you to promise me to sit still in your seat.”
“Y-Yes ma’am.”
Destiny gave her a calm smile before closing the door and placing a hand on her chest, she took one deep breath before closing, and opening her eyes. Her entire body began to admit a bright golden hue, and her eyes took the shape of tigers that hunted across the world. Everything became so much clearer now, her sense of smell even stronger, and reflexes increased to new levels. As a jepei user but projecting her aura outwards, she could take on some of the gifts of her animal spirit.
Destiny gripped her gemstone and like a string being pulled outwards. She felt her consciousness connect with Malika once more. She had told her animal spirit a long time ago that she would not be needing her extra netrix gemstone. Told her everything that happened in her meeting with Jessica and had ordered her to stay at the house. If there was one being in the world that wanted to mule Jessica like a piece of meat, it was her tiger. “Malika, can you do me a favor?”
“Do you need me to return to kill that bitch now or am I still being kept at home?” Destiny pulled open the door to her car and took a seat inside. “Cause I am sitting on the front steps ready to come and end her.”
“No, she is gone, and is not coming back. What I need you to do is…” Destiny looked at the small child sitting beside her. “I need you to get her room ready. I think being in a child’s room would be better than being in my guest room.”
“I will do my best, Destiny.”
“Thank you, I will be home in the next 30 minutes or so.”
“Why so long, you are only 15 minutes away from the house.”
“I am gonna be taking my time,” she smiled at the small girl who was now fiddling with the glove carpment. “I will explain better, when I get home.”
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As the connection severed, Destiny’s car came rumbing to life. A moment later she was leaving the hospital parking lot and making her way down the now busy streets of Chicago. Normally she had no problems speeding through the streets, she had enough money to pay off any tickets she would receive. However, today with a small child in the front seat of her car, without a seatbelt… Destiny was fine with anyone that might assume she was a little old lady taking her time. She turned to look at Lola, her eyes firmly gazing out of the window slowly growing bigger with each building they passed. Her childlike wonder was something that made Destiny happier with each careful corner they took. She hadn’t had anyone ride in her car in a very long time, eventually she reached over and turned on the radio. The sudden addition to new voices caught the little one off guard, as she spun around looking for the new voices. “It is just the radio, Lola.”
“Radio?” Lola said, fixing her gaze up onto Destiny.
Destiny pressed a finger on the square device in her car. “Right here, it is a device that can play music or people speaking about events currently going on in the world. I can turn the knob on the left to turn the channel, and the knob on the right controls the volume.”
Lola nodded a bit at her explanation and her small hand began to reach towards the volume knob. Having once experience the horrible pain that came from a child accidently turning the volume as loud as possible. Destiny reached out and placed a hand over the knob. “Let’s not touch that just yet, Lola.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“She is a very polite young lady,” Destiny thought to herself.
The rest of the trip didn’t have many words to be shared. She did discovery that little girl seemed to like the jazz music she was playing, often humming along with the smooth sounds of the trumpets and saxophones. It wasn’t until she passed a nearby school that Lola grew quiet once more, the small child moved up onto her knees staring out the window at the lines of children starting to line up, probably going back in for recess. It then dawned on Destiny that she was going to have to take a trip to the school at some point to get her registered. It also dawned on her: would she be able to let Lola go to school? That Mystic girl was right, there is no telling that Jessica would keep her promise. It seemed far too easy for her to gain custody of Lola without Jessica even throwing a punch. Now that she thought about it, Jessica never needed an assistant before, and she looked sickly. Something was up and if she and this little girl had a chance to have a normal life. She needed to do what she had avoided doing for such a long time.
“I need to find her and bring her in.” After she had failed the first time she had given up on the idea, even when Jessica was right in front of her, she was ready to try once more, but being in such a populated area as well as her curiosity towards Lola had stopped her. That was gonna be a fight, and that was a fight she didn’t know if she could win. Now she needed to ask herself, “how do I find someone that is so good at being hidden?”
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After quite possibly the safest drive home Destiny had ever taken before in her life, they finally arrived at her large two story house, equipped with both an attic as well as a basement that had been modified into a game room. Noticing how the girl’s eyes grew scared as they headed towards her garage. Destiny came to a stop just in front of it, she hit a button on her dashboard and the once opened gate began to slowly close. “Well, welcome to my home.” Destiny introduced as she opened the door to her car, she went around the side and opened Lola’s as well. The brown-haired girl hopped out and stared up at Destiny's large house with wide eyes. It was made of dark brown wood, the roof a mix of flat but towards the middle it slanted upwards. A large chimney rested on top, no smoke coming out of it but was something a few neighbors would be surprised to see tonight. The roof had black tiles spread across the top. The door was dark brown with a few golden engraving carved into it to give it some color. Her front yard had low cut grass, a few different plants and flowers were growing in the large flower bed that spread from one side of her house to the other. She had lost a lot of hobbies, but growing plants was something that she took some enjoyment in. The marple walkway led down to the sideway, but split down the middle to direct someone to her backyard, or to her driveway. They once were so colorful as her daughter used to keep them covered from head to toe with different colors of chalk. As it was now reaching mid September, the single tree in her front yard was starting to show slight signs of change. Just a few leaves were starting to take on new hues to them.
Destiny stepped up to her front door and opened the door ushering Lola inside. “This is your home?” Lola asked, looking around in the hallway that led to every room on the first floor. It was empty now, as she had taken down most of the pictures that once lined the walls.
“Yes it is,” Destiny took off the jacket she had put on early that morning. Just being back in her home reminded her how tired she became, it had officially been 24 hours since she had been to sleep. Destiny placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder and began to give her a slight tour of the first floor. Showing off the living room, the kitchen where a not cold pot of tea was sitting, she was grateful that Malika seemed to clean the floors of any blood that might have still been there. She had even thrown a few comfy blankets over the blood stains on the couch. Destiny reached up and placed a hand to her gemstone. “Malika we are here.” She spoke in her head.
She felt the small girl stiffen beside her, as the sound of movement caught both of their attention. Lola let out a small squeal of surprise, and much to Destiny’s joy ran and hid behind her legs. Destiny froze at that small gesture, memories of another shy little girl who would do the same filling her head. Destiny quickly recovered as she kneeled down in front of the girl. She followed Lola’s gaze towards the golden tiger that was starting to make its way down the stairwell. “Don’t worry,” she soothed, taking one of her small hands in her own. “This is my spirit animal, Malika, she wouldn’t hurt a fly.” Destiny held her other hand out and ushered Malika over. “Malika, this is the little one I was telling you about, Lola Summers.”
Her tiger let out a bright hue of jepei and once it settled she had grown even smaller. Now only two feet high at the shoulders and around five feet long. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Lola.” She slipped into the space between Destiny and Lola and brought her smaller head to rest on the girl’s side. “It is a pleasure to have you in our home, and please make yourself as comfortable as you can.” It had been a long time since she had heard Malika purr but it was more than welcomed right now.
Lola let go of Destiny’s hand, and hesitantly reached up to rub the beast on her head. “Y-Yes Miss Malika.” Malika purrs grew louder as leaned further into this touch. Lola’s lips began to curl up into a smile as dropped onto her knees, now using both hands to scratch and pet Malika.
Destiny couldn’t help herself as she grabbed her phone and quickly snapped a few pictures of this cute scene. Malika slipped around Lola and underneath her legs, her tiger then grew a bit bigger picking the surprised girl up on her back. “Hold tight,” Malika said as together they made their way up to the 2nd floor. That was where the three bedrooms were located, one for guests, one that belonged to her daughter, and the master bedroom that belonged to Destiny. It was also home to the largest of the two bed bathrooms she had in this house. The hallways were clean and squeaked a bit with every step they took, the walls mostly empty aside from a few pictures she still kept up here. Nothing too special, just a bit of dicerational pieces of art.
After showing her where the bathroom was. Destiny placed her hand on the knob of the closest door. “Now, I could either give you the guest room, Lola.” The knob felt so heavy in her hand, a door that she had not opened in a very long time. “Or I could give you this one.” Destiny opened the door and a very familiar presence seemed to fill the air.
The walls were painted a soft ocean blue, a few posters of some of her favorite shows and movies hanging across the walls. The large bed had the same colors of blankets with blue and white pillow cases. A knitted blanket lay folded across the bed, her daughter's favorite disney princess was Ariel, when her aunt found this out. She spent so long learning how to sew just to sew her that blanket. The room had two large toy boxes, one filled with stuffed animals, the other filled with a mix of dolls and her daughter’s collection of every female power ranger to ever exist. That was probably her favorite of the many shows that she liked. The closet was open showing off the lines of dresses and other clothes that Destiny hadn’t been able to give away. She just couldn’t bring herself to do so. The carpet was a bit stiff as it hadn’t gotten the proper care it needed like the others in her home. A nearby dresser sat against the wall that Destiny went over too. It seemed that the father above had been very kind to her indeed, as at a quick glance, she was sure that Lola could probably fit into her daughter’s old clothes. At least until she was adjusted enough to go to the store, and try on a few more outfits of her own.
“Why do you have all of this stuff?” Lola questioned as she slipped off of Malika’s back. Destiny turned around just in time to see Lola looking up at a picture frame that Destiny hadn’t looked at in years.
Destiny walked over and once again took a knee in front of the girl. She reached up and took the picture frame from the table. “Well this room used to belong to her.” Destiny motioned towards the picture. A cute little girl with light-brown skin, she looked much like Destiny did when she was that age. The same little buck teeth, the curious and mischievous eyes, she was wearing yellow pants and one of her favorite power ranger shirts, one of the yellow ranger from the original series. She had a large bun of hair on top of her round hair, a yellow ribbon tied around it. In her right hand was a sword matching the one the rangers had in the show, a yellow netrix gemstone hung around her neck, the gemstone being the shape of a dragon’s head. Beside her was a creature that most couldn’t see in this picture, but a small yellow scaled dragon rested beside her. Ruth and Majestic.
“W-Who is that?” Lola asked, pointing at the girl.
“T-That,” Destiny took a shaky breath. “That is my daughter, Ruth.” It had been so long since she had spoken her name out loud that it was almost overwhelming.
“Would she mind me having her room until she gets back?” Destiny looked down at Lola who seemed a bit hesitant. “I don’t want her being mad at me if I am her taking up her space.”
“My daughter isn’t coming back.” Destiny said sadly.
“How come?”
“She died seven years ago when she was eight years old.” She heard Lola gasp a bit at that. “So this room has been empty for a long time, but I think it is time someone filled it once more.”
“I-I can’t,” Lola took a few steps back. “This is her room, I can’t take that from her.” Lola shook her head a few times at that. “I don’t deserve that.”
Destiny set the picture down on the dresser once more and motioned Lola over to her side. As she hesitantly stepped forward, Destiny summoned as much of her strength as she could and lifted Lola up and plopped her down on Ruth’s old bed. Destiny smiled down at the girl. “Lola you deserve more than you have been given, you deserve more than you have offered in your life. Let me tell you something about my daughter, she was one of the kindest little girls in the history of the world. She was the first to give rather than receive, my brother and sister spoiled that little one so much, but she would always ask if she could donate some of it to those that don’t have anything. So I know that if I could ask her right now, she would without a shadow of a doubt want you to have her room.”
Lola looked up at her, her silver eyes seemingly losing a bit of their color, but she did manage to give her a small nod. “I won’t break anything or ruin anything in her room, I promise.”
Destiny smiled at her once more, before standing up and heading towards the dresser. “Now come with me really quick, I am gonna get a new pair of pajamas for you and we are gonna give you a warm bath.”
“Is the water really gonna be warm?”
“Yes, it will.” Destiny promised. “As warm as you want it to be.”
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