A World Unknown

2. A Walk To Remember

The town was always bustling with street vendors and small shops lining the main road into town. It was only a 15-minute walk into town and Tiara’s mother had started letting her go after she turned 10. It was almost like a rite of passage, being able to walk to town on her own. Her mother always cautioned her to avoid the old shaman woman. She wasn’t sure if the woman would cause them any harm and didn’t want me to find out the hard way.

“Just be kind if you come across her and mind your business,” Her mother would say.

Normally, Tiara would never disobey her mother, but she was starting to feel desperate. Her mother was becoming more ill by the day and Tiara didn’t know who else to turn to. First, she got the oil and herbs she needed to give her mother. The shaman’s shop was at the end of the row of shops that lined the streets. She had to make an effort to go there since nothing else she needed was close by. Against her better judgment, she walked down the road, passing several shops, and stopped just before the door of the shaman. It was a modest building, slightly bigger than the shops around. It was covered in symbols and paintings that Tiara had never seen before. She took a deep breath and took one giant step to position herself in front of the screen door to the shop. The inside door was open and the only thing visible from the outside was the hundreds of candles burning inside. She peeked inside and jumped back suddenly when she met a pair of blue eyes staring back at her.

“Ah!” Tiara yelled, “You scared me!”

“Serves you right, peeking into people’s private quarters without an invitation!” The woman yelled back.

Tiara gained her composure and began pleading with the woman.

“Please, ma’am. I don’t know if you can help, but I really need some help for my mom. She’s been sick for a while now and she won’t go to the doctor.”

Tiara stepped back as the screen opened, revealing a portly woman with bronze skin and blue eyes the color of the sky. Her salt and pepper hair fell around her in locs that went down past her butt. She looked in my direction, but not directly at me.

“Are you blind?” I asked. I instantly felt my face get hot as I didn’t want to offend the woman before I got a chance to get some help.

“A rude girl at that! I have seen more than you think and I can tell you now, I don’t have anything to offer you,” the woman said with such finality in her voice. Tears welled up in Tiara’s eyes and she fell to her knees in front of the woman.

“Please, ma’am! So many people have been healed by you. I know my mother has never spoken to you, but surely you can still help her,” I pleaded.

“Child, I told you. There is nothing I can offer to help your mother. I see the cause of her illness and there isn’t a spell I can cast or a concoction I can create to cure your mother. I’m sorry child. Sometimes the choices we make can have devastating outcomes.” The woman was so cold. She went back into the shop and closed the screen.

Tiara was completely confused. Why would her mother do anything to make herself ill? She got up, wiping the tears from her face and stood there, not sure what to do next. Seeing that her plan had failed she turned away from the shop without another word and slowly made her way home.

When she got home, she set the items she bought on the dinner table and went to check on her mother. As she got closer she called to her, “Mommy, I’m back. Sorry it took so long.” Tiara went into her mother’s bedroom to find her resting peacefully in her bed. She went to her bedside to give her a kiss on the forehead. As she gently pressed her lips to her mother’s skin, it felt cold. She touched her mother’s cheek. It felt cold as well.

“Mommy are you ok,” She asked quietly, not wanting to wake her, but needing an answer. Silence. Her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach. “No!” she screamed as she violently shook her mother, Tears springing from her eyes burning with confusion and pain. Her mother’s head bobbled lifelessly on her frail body and a pencil hit the floor. As Tiara looked down, a piece of paper floated out of her mother’s hand. She picked it up and began wailing, not wanting to believe what she was reading.

Tiara, my sweet baby girl. Mommy is in a lot of pain. I can’t live like this anymore and I am so sorry to leave you in this way. I love you more than you could ever know. Please, don’t be upset with me. I will make sure you are taken care of. When you read this note, please call 333-555-567…

The last digit was an attempt with a long pencil streak to the end of the paper. It’s like she suddenly expired. Tiara was used to being independent, but nothing could prepare her for this. She searched around the room for the landline phone. On the night stand she saw a prescription bottle of pills she had never seen her mother take. It was empty and on its side. Most likely, this was the cause of her mother’s sudden passing. A self-inflicted wound. Tiara couldn’t stay stuck in this moment for long. She was all alone and the only thing she could do is travel to a neighbor’s house a couple miles away or try to figure out the number her mother was trying to give her. There was only one digit missing, so there were only ten possibilities.

She found the phone on the other side of the bed and began to dial. She decided to try a zero first.

“Hello,” a man answered.

“Hello, my name is Tiara Blackstone. Di- di- Did you know my mom, Patricia Wells?” She said in between whimpering.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know anyone by that name,”the man replied and quickly ended the call.

Tiara was already feeling discouraged, but with the day waning she knew she had to make contact with whomever her mother was referring her to. She tried again changing the last digit from zero to nine. Thankfully, every number she dialed she was able to speak to someone to at least know she had the wrong number. She got down to six and dialed again.

“Hello,” a woman answered.

“Hello, my name is Tiara Blacksto-,” Tiara was interrupted before she could finish.

“Tiara! Is that you, baby?” The woman asked with so much hope and happiness in her voice.

“Yes, this is Tiara. My mom gave me this number…”

“Oh my, why would she have you call me? I’m so happy to hear from you. Do you know who I am?”

“No, I actually didn’t even know your number. I got lucky and guessed the last digit,” Tiara sniffled into the receiver.”

“What’s wrong, baby? You sound sad. Where is your mom?”

Tiara went silent. She didn’t know this woman, but if her mother wanted her to call, she must be someone that can be trusted.

“My mom passed away,” Tiara sadly replied. An audible gasp was heard on the other end and the woman began to weep.”

“Not my baby girl! Lord who did this to her? Tiara listen, honey, I am your grandma Robbie Mae. Your mother is my daughter.”

Tiara was relieved to know she was speaking to her grandmother, but more questions arose in her head about why she had never gotten a chance to speak to her until her mother passed.

“So, you’re my grandma?” Tiara said with a glimmer of hope in her voice. She wasn’t as alone as she thought.

“Yes, baby, I’m Grandma. I haven’t seen you since you were born. Your mother moved the two of you away from the family. I think it had a lot to do with your father. Where is he?” She asked.

“I haven’t seen daddy in a few weeks. He was here all the time and then me and mommy just didn’t see him anymore. She got really sick and didn’t want any help from the doctors. She wrote a note with your number on it so I called, but she didn’t put a name down,” I told her.

“Do you have anyone you can stay with until I can get to you? If she wanted you to call me it’s because she knew I was gonna take care of my grand baby. I never wanted to be so far away. I couldn’t make your mom stay. I suppose she was in love with your father.”

Tiara’s mom never talked much about how she and her father met, but she could tell when they were together that they were each other’s world. They seemed inseparable and so in love.

“We don’t have any neighbors close by.” I said.

“Listen, baby, I’m about 4 hours drive from where you are. I’m hopping in my truck and coming straight to you. I know where you are.”

Tiara breathed a sigh of relief knowing that she had someone to rely on. After all, she was still a growing girl and wouldn’t be able survive on her own. The pair said their goodbyes and ended the call. Tiara was whisked back into reality as she turned around to see her mother’s lifeless body on the bed. She got in the bed with her mother and cuddled up next to her. She lay her head on her mother’s chest and wept silently as the tears rolled down her face and nose, landing on her mother’s clothes. She lay there and cried herself to sleep.