Imperfect

F I V E - A B I G A L E R U S S E L L

  December 5th of 2017, a day I will remember and might regret.

  Things like this would be hard for a person like me to do, but it had to be done.

I was far from Atlanta; my destination became so recognizable that I could remember every street name back from when I was a child. Houston, Texas became more memorable than Atlanta.

201 Amberstood Road was the address, the address that haunted me ever since I was a kid.

I took a deep breath as I knocked on the door quickly.

  Eventually the joyful and playful noise of neighborhood children soothed me down from all of the nervousness that I was going through. But, that didn't last long either.

  The children's playful noise also brought up the time that I thought I was going to be a mother. It brought up the pain and the hatred that I had for Lawrence's parents, but I still had love for him, even though he hates every part of me.

Before I could shed a single tear about my terrible miscarriage, the door finally opened slowly; my nervousness soon came back quicker than the commercial's energizer bunny.

"May I help you?" A guy in his late twenties asked me, not having a clue of who I was.

"Is this the 'Stevens' residence? I was looking for someone--some people." I responded to the man while I patted the back of my head nervously.

He was around the same height as me, around 5'6. His face was nicely shaven with a pleasant haircut as well. The guy's ears stuck out; he almost resembled Tahj Mowry, who was one of my celebrity crushes.

"I'm Ryan Stevens, why would you want to speak to my father?" He questioned me.

"I'm Anna Russell," I quickly responded to his question, "Terri and Darrell's youngest daughter. I just wanted to visit and get to know my mom's side of the family a little more."

Ryan looked at me surprisingly, suspiciously from head to toe.

  He kind of knew something was up and not right with me. It was like he could see through me, knowing that I was lying straight to his face.

"Come on in," Ryan insisted while showing me inside the house, "sit on the couch. I'll get my dad. He's upstairs."

I smiled in his face as I sought down on the couch.

  "Nice house," I said rubbing the couch as my eyes went everywhere, observing everything, "it looks really good inside."

"I'll get my father," Ryan repeated himself while running upstairs, "just stay right there." As if I was going somewhere, as if I was a disobedient pet or child...

I obeyed the guy, not because he told me to, but because I had manners, unlike some people I know--THE MULLINS.

There were pictures on the wall, same pictures that were on the wall years ago.

The walls were painted blue, but red stains sought on some parts of the wall.

  Well, they must had children because no "grown" people would make messes on the wall.

Before I could turn around, the entrance door opened with a lot of commotion.

"When are we going to the park mommy?" A little child asked the woman who was entering inside the house with the little boy.

"After you get your birthday money from Grandpa Mike-Mike, okay?" She said with a child-like tone to please her child's joyful soul.

"Okay mommy." He said smiling while looking at me.