Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 248926 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1245(@200wpm)___ 996(@250wpm)___ 830(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 248926 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1245(@200wpm)___ 996(@250wpm)___ 830(@300wpm)
“Do you remember what my childhood living room looked like?”
“Why?”
“Just answer me.”
“Yeah. I remember.”
I frowned.
But, why can’t I remember?
I let out a long breath. “What color was the couch?”
“Green and brown.”
That’s it. That’s how it looked in my mind. Good.
“What else do you remember, Max?”
“The walls were green. I figured that’s why the couch was green and brown. For some reason, when I walked into the apartment, I would feel like I was in a forest.”
I gave him a sad smile. “Did I have a DVD player?”
He nodded. “Under the TV, in the right corner of the room. . .I think. Yeah. That’s right. Before, it was in the left corner, but the kitchen door would always bang into the TV or something. I remember your dad telling mine that one night.”
I gazed in shock. “Why do you remember so much?”
He shrugged. “I’m shocked that you even want to talk about this. You usually never do.”
“It never seemed important. Plus. . .”
“What?”
“So. . .” I held out my hands. “You may think I’m crazy if I tell you this—”
“Oh no. You are crazy. No discussion needed on that. I thought we both agreed you were crazy a long time ago.”
I frowned. “I’m being serious, Max.”
“Shit. Me too.”
“Listen.” I touched the side of my head. “I was. . .walking about in my mind tonight and I met a little girl. She had on jeans and a blue shirt with a mouse on it. Do you ever remember me wearing a shirt like that?”
“No way. You hated mice and roaches. You never would have worn that.”
“Oh.”
“But, I do remember when your English or history teacher would call you a naughty mouse, and you would be so annoyed.”
“Hmmm.”
“But, tell me more about the little girl.”
“She had these two long plaits on the side of her face.”
Max nodded. “Your mama always braided your hair like that. Daryl would pull one side, and I would pull the other, and you would wrestle us to the ground.”
“I don’t remember that, but. . .” I widened my eyes. “My mom. . .what did she look like?”
“Look in the mirror. You look like her now, but several shades darker.” He formed a big circle around his head. “She used to wear this huge curly afro. X used to call her Loxy Brown.”
“Loxy Brown?”
“For Latino Foxy Brown. She was Afro Latina.”
I tensed. “Wait. She did have a little accent. Why didn’t I notice that before?”
“Who had an accent?”
“My mom. I saw her tonight.” I tapped the side of my head. “When I was walking around.”
“Say what now?” He headed over to the night stand and picked up the bottle of brandy.
“Okay, so I saw her and my father. And even Daryl. Crazy shit happened. My parents had Lunita in the middle of their fucked up marriage. Well. . .me. . .because I’m Lunita.”
Still holding the bottle, Max lowered to the bed. “Alright. Then, what?”
“The little girl. . .Lunita. . .she ran up the fire escape—”
“You always did that when you would get scared or really mad.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” Max took a swig of the brandy. “Whenever you went missing, I would be the only one that could find you. Sometimes your dad would even go to me to search for you, knowing I could grab you fast.”
“So, no one knew I would go to the roof, but you?”
He stared at me in shock. “How did you know that you went to the roof?”
“That’s what happened in my head. She ran up the fire escape and went to the roof.”
“Why do you keep saying in that way?”
“What way?”
“In your head.”
“Because. . .at first I thought it was a dream. Then, I thought it was a memory. . .but now. . .”
“What?”
“Now, I feel like. . .it’s a place in my head.”
“Em.” He took the top off the brandy.
The jazz song switched to a slow tune, but I couldn’t concentrate. This had all my attention.
Max took a long swig from the bottle.
I sighed. “I know that this sounds crazy, but I followed the little girl to the roof and up there, I swear I saw Lunita.”
Max moved the bottle from his mouth. “What?”
“She was on the roof in this pretty white sundress, dancing and looking so gorgeous. Oh. Oh.” I pointed at him. “She looked like my twin in every way. She had these flowers in her hair.”
He froze with the bottle in mid-air, staring back at me in pure terror.
I gave him a sad smile. “Is this too much?”
He set the bottle on the nightstand. “I don’t even know what is too much anymore. These past weeks have been kicking my ass.”
“How?”
“I was up in New Orleans learning all types of crazy shit about my family—”
“What crazy shit? What family?”
“We’ll talk about that later—”
“I want to talk about it now.”
“Why, Em?”
“Because. . .”