Power of the Pussy |+18

22.

Laurel

My leg bounced up and down as I waited for my Aunt. I was anxious, this room was cold, and the chairs were hard as hell. I glanced around the visitation room, a few already with their loved ones, and some still waiting like me.

It took two days for Fannie to finally contact me. She was able to add me to her visitation list. I would finally be getting some answers and I was a little nervous about what I'd hear.

The rusty steel door opened making a loud creak. A Correctional Officer stepped out looking mean, but it was who he had behind him that made me gasp. Fannie walked out dressed in a dark gray uniform. The top was a size too big, but the bottom was snugly showing off her ample figure.

Pausing, Fannie scanned the room looking for me. As soon as she reached me, she gave me the brightest smile she had ever given me in life. We both sat down before picking up the phones. We couldn't touch each other and I teared up a little, needing her hugs now more than ever.

The both of us were too stunned to even speak. Her hair was neatly parted down the middle in two French braids. Instead of her signature natural beat, her face was bare, and her skin was a little pale. Yes, she still looked beautiful, but I hated seeing her in a place like this.

"I miss you," I expressed, placing my hand on top of hers. Fannie teared up before conveying how much she missed me too.

"What are they saying? Did they charge you yet?" I questioned.

Fannie sighed before answering. "Bail was denied, I have to wait for my next hearing to know anything for sure."

I was speechless. "What happened Fannie?"

She dropped her head like a five-year-old being scolded. "Laurel I tried. I really did." The pain and tiredness laced in her voice saddened me even more.

"After you left, what you said was repeating over and over again in my head. I was working up the nerves to call him. Practicing what I was going to say to him and I must've thought him up or something. Cause as soon as I picked up the phone, he was coming through the front door." She smiled sadly.

"Before he could even step his foot past the threshold, I rushed him. Hugging him and apologizing for everything. But even then I felt it," Fannie mumbled. "He was different."

I couldn't bring myself to speak so I nodded to let her know I was listening.

"Everything about him was cold... and distant. Anyways, we sat down and I apologized for what happened at the gala. I told him how much I regret bringing up divorce. And when it was all said and done, he told me it wasn't working anymore." Her voice cracked making me feel bad.

"Laurel, I was crushed. He was so willing to throw away fifteen years of marriage down the drain. Like I mean't nothing to him."

As if she was reliving the moment, Fannie begin staring off into space. "I was a mess, and instead of comforting me, he got up without another word and went upstairs. My husband, who stood before the Lord and vowed to love me for better and worse was seeing me at my worse and . . . left me."

"I don't know long I was down there crying but when I went upstairs, he was in the closet packing his clothes. He was so busy moving out, he didn't even hear his phone buzzing on the nightstand. Usually, I don't even care to go through his phone cause I knew I didn't have a reason to, but something deep down in my gut told me to check that phone." The tone in her voice dropped, going from sad to deadly in seconds.