Dallas, TX (EDITING)

Chapter 25: "Can You Make It Better?"

Dallas, TX
Saturday, June 25, 2018
3:22 pm

DIVINE.

"Wassup cuzzo," I greeted Omari when I came through the front door and followed behind him. 

"Wassup? You hungry?" he asked as we made it into the kitchen.

"Yeah..." I looked around lost. "Why did you cook all this breakfast food in the afternoon?"

"It's uh—for ma and pops; for when they came home—just in case they were hungry"

"Oh alright, I'll take some bacon and grits. You made eggs?"

"Yeah, it's biscuits in the oven too. What did you need to talk to me about?" he asked as I took a deep breath and sat at the table with my plate. 

"Yesterday, after I left the store, I went to go see Lyric's cousin, Mira," 

"Why?" 

"Because I've been tryna figure out where she's been at. It's about to be two weeks since she's been missin'"

"What did her cousin have to say?"

"She just told me that Lyric has done this befa', I don't need to worry and that she'll be back soon. Amira told me some other stuff like..." I drifted off.

"Like what?" 

"Lyric has mental issues. She's not insane, but she's depressed. She's been through a lot"

"And you think her cousin is telling the truth?" Omari asked as he sat down and began eating his food with me. I took a good silent minute before I spoke.

"...You don't know where Lyric is? At all?" I asked. Omari just looked at me for a few seconds like he was hesitant to say something. 

"I uh....uh," he looked behind me. I turned around and saw Lyric standing there, staring at us. I just had a feeling she was there the entire time I spoke about what Mira has told me about her.

"June..." I stood up. Lyric stepped back and stared at me with this repulsed look in her eyes. Replays about how we stopped talking before she disappeared played in my mind. I could see why she was giving off a different energy. "Can I talk to you?" I asked.

"There's nothing to talk about," she said nonchalantly. "It's very clear Mira already gave you the information you needed" 

"I-" I got cut off by Omari clearing his throat.

"Um, I'll leave you two alone," he walked out of the kitchen with a piece of bacon in his hand. I went up to Lyric and tried to comfort her but she dodged me. She looked uneasy in the face. 

"Wha-what are you doing?" Lyric stared at me eye to eye. Her brown eyes glistened as her eyebrows were furrowed. Something about her seemed different.

"Can we talk? Please?" I asked again and she took a deep breath before speaking.

"You know what, sure...you can drop me off at my house too. Let me just get my stuff" She said as she walked away. I took a deep breath as I followed behind her but instead, walked into the living room where my cousin was. I didn't know if I was mad at him for lying to me about seeing Lyric or if I was happy about her being here out of all places. Maybe I was feeling a bit of both.

I saw Omari on his phone, sitting on the couch as Lyric gathered her stuff out of his room. I went over to the couch and sat down next to him. I wanted to snatch his phone out of his hand and throw it against the wall but I knew if I did, I would just traumatize Lyric once more. Instead, I looked at him and he put his phone down and looked back at me. "So you had ha' hea' the whole time?" I asked.