Cranberry Clairvoyant (Azealia Banks Story)

Heal and Tell

Wait a minute.

“Wait a minute!” I screamed at the clock on my treadmill, receiving a few stares—expected. Still time wouldn’t wait. Time wouldn’t just give me a moment to recap, to try to figure out what I just heard.

Darrius can heal people. He can erase memories.

Compared to me, he was God! My mind was boggled, flustered, and angry. Of course confused, for it might take a while for not just me, but anybody to get used to the news that I just received. It was even hard for me to look at my friends as they stood but a few inches away from me, in the gymnasium of the ship. We were all exercising on the treadmills now, our bodies sweating and our mouths driving at full-speed. The gym sounded like a bee hive; even I couldn’t resist joining in on a few conversations. I didn’t know what it was that made us talk so much that night, but no one could stop.

At least for a little while.

“I swear, I don’t know whose idea it was to make us work out in the night, but I’m not doing this again.” Destiny said as she sat on the floor next to her treadmill. She had just fallen off of it and didn’t bother to get back on.

“Hey, we’re getting our summer fitness together. You better enjoy it!” Milan, cheery little Milan, chimed in. She was intently focused on running steadily while gazing out of the floor-to-ceiling windows. The windows were the only heartwarming charm of being in the gymnasium; it was certainly a distraction from the sweat and noise, and it gave view of an indubitably refined outdoor party taking place on a wooden wharf. Many of the partygoers travelled around the rest of the pier, but the main attraction were the couples dancing on the wharf. Destiny didn’t seem too overly fond of the couples, but it snatched my breath right away to see the couples in dresses and tuxedos from the early 1900’s.

One day, I hoped to have a regal man like the men I saw that day hold me and dance with me in the night to the sweetest of music.

“My dad says that he wants us to work out every night starting today,” I told them. My father did say this, claiming that it would help us “sharpen our self-discipline”.

“So I guess every night I’ll catch the flu.” Destiny winked. Milan and I laughed.

Suddenly, the noise rose. It sounded as if someone had just come into the room, and everyone else was greeting them. I turned around to see the two people I kind of wished didn’t exist—yes, Ezekiel and Darrius—being showered with ‘what’s ups’ and ‘hey, bros’ from the guys and dramatic greetings from the run-of-the-mill seductresses of our class.

“Can you guys quiet down?” A girl yelled. Surprisingly, the class quieted. From the corner of my eye I saw Ezekiel and Darrius walk past me to claim two free treadmills a few feet away from me. I snapped my head back to the front and watched the crowd shuffle and smile at each other; the song was over. They were taking a break.

“Damn,” Darrius swore suddenly.

“What is it?” His companion asked.

“I forgot my headphones. I’ll be back—I’m going to get them.”

So he left, and from there things began to quiet down. It was thanks to Ezekiel that we became entirely quiet in a matter of seconds, minutes maybe.

We jogged, jogged, jogged on those treadmills, some of us getting off to use other appliances around the gym. They were the ones that worked out fast; we were each required thirty minutes on the treadmill, and I have four left. Ezekiel, who just got here, maybe had about twenty-five minutes though. Nonetheless, he got off of his treadmill abruptly and didn’t get back on.