seasons | killmonger

28 | J A N E L L E

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Mbali... stop lying. Are you lost—" he reached to try and pull off the blindfold, but I threw my hand over his eyes in time.

"No! No, we're not lost. Just... please wait until I park, so I can explain everything to you? Nceda, N'Jadaka?" Please, N'Jadaka? I begged, and he could hear the strain in my voice.

He bit at the inside of his cheek before giving in, sighing. "Fuck, man. Fine."

The gravel under the tires of the car was the main thing that could be heard now, aside from the radio. My hands started shaking the more I slowed down to make sure we were getting closer compared to the picture that I saw online yesterday; and we definitely were.

When we reached the exact location, I put the car in park and ran my hands against my face. My heart felt like it was going to beat right out of my chest. "Bali—"

"Don't take it off yet, just listen to me please." I took a deep breath. "If you don't like it o-or get mad at me, I completely understand; I just wanted to surprise you with something while we were here. Okay?"

He nodded his head and mumbled a quick okay, back.

"Alright, you can take them off." I bit my lip and tried to sit on my hands.

Omniscient

When Erik pulled off the blindfold and allowed his eyes to adjust to the bright light, his eyes instantly fell on Mbali, before looking out to what was surrounding them.

He frowned, "Why'd you bring me to a cemetery?" He looked across at all the tombstones and dull green grass. He could tell she was nervous, aside from feeling it practically radiating off her, he would see it in her eyes.

She didn't say anything at first, instead, she reached out for his hands and took them in hers, squeezing his large ones gently. "R-remember when you told me about your mom when you went to show me the building where you lived?" She asked, but continued talking. "W-well, I felt bad when you talked about her— you were hurt and I could hear it. So... I did some research the day after when you told me that you didn't know where she was buried, and... I found it." Her voice grew soft.

"I looked up the prison and made a few calls that took a few hours; then I called a few cemeteries— and I found her. If I'm overstepping my boundaries, I apologize. I didn't mean to, but I felt like this was something that you might have been longing to do—"

"How'd you find out her name?" Erik cut her off, looking straight out the window, not wanting to make eye contact.

"I—I used your last name, and I compared it to your dads first to see if anyone knew anything. Not many did, so I looked up a woman who was a guard there to see if she knew anyone with the last name Stevens w-whose sentence seemed fitting with your age and your dads before they tore it down."

Erik but his lip and looked at Mbali, trying to get his thoughts in order. "What was her name?"

Mbali frowned, then the realization hit her, making her eyes soften. "You never knew your moms name..." she spoke to herself. "Janelle... her name was Janelle Stevens." Mbali looked out the window on her side. "Are you mad at me?"