Читать книгу Drama High: Holidaze - L. Divine - Страница 10

“Jayd, can you hear me?” Mama says, but I can’t see where her voice is coming from. I know I’m dreaming, but it feels too real to be a dream. “Jayd, snap out of it before you get hurt!” Why is she yelling at me? All I’m doing is walking around the living room, and I could walk around this entire house with my eyes closed and not trip over a thing. But wait, this isn’t our living room. It looks like it, but I can tell from the furniture I’m back in my great-grandmother’s time again and this must be her house.

“Jon Paul, no! Give her back to me,” Maman screams at her husband, who’s holding their daughter tight. The baby screams loudly as Maman’s cries become even more powerful. She begins to shriek like an opera singer and my great-grandfather can’t take anymore. He slaps Maman hard with the back of his hand and she falls to the floor, hitting the Christmas tree on the way down.

“Lynn Mae,” Maman cries, holding her bloody face with one hand and reaching her free hand up toward her daughter, who is still in her father’s arms.

“Jayd, wake up, now!” Mama shouts, but this time she’s not in my dream with me. Where is her voice coming from?

“What is she doing here?” Jon Paul asks my great-grandmother, looking dead at me. Oh hell, no. I don’t want to be in this dream. Maybe I should wake up, but I can’t. I wish I had more control over when I wake up from or fall into my dreams.

“You do, Jayd, and now is the time to exercise that power. Wake your ass up!” Mama’s talking to me in my head, but not like my mom does. It’s as if I’m dreaming, but in reality I’m awake. What the hell? Before I can get a grip on what’s really going on, Jon Paul charges at me with his daughter in tow like he’s going to slap me, too.

“Jon Paul, Sarah has nothing to do with this. Leave her alone,” Maman says, now on her feet, her green eyes glowing like I’ve never seen before. Unlike in my last dream with Maman, this time her eyes look like emerald fireballs. He’s in for it now. And who the hell is Sarah?

“She’s always here. You know all about her whoreish ways, don’t you, young lady?” How did he hear my thought? I back away from my great-grandfather, frightened of his temper. As I stumble over a chair, I land in it and catch my reflection in a clean pot on the kitchen stove. The face staring back at me belongs to a girl about my age, but she’s not me. I’m bugging for real. This is too much for me to handle.

“Jon Paul, haven’t you heard of picking on someone your own size?” Maman’s voice begins to get higher in pitch and her eyes even brighter as she focuses all of her attention on him. His head begins to pulsate, just like it did in the vision that Mama and I shared on Christmas Eve, and he can’t take it anymore. He begins to charge toward the kitchen door, but Maman’s not letting him go anywhere with her daughter.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Maman says, putting her arms out for her daughter, whose eyes are also glowing. “Sarah, come here. And bring Lynn Mae with you. He can’t hurt you now.” I stay put because I don’t realize that she’s talking to me. But when she focuses her glowing gaze in my direction, I jump up from the table, walk toward my now mentally paralyzed great-grandfather, and take my grandmother out of his hands. When I reach my great-grandmother, she pushes us behind her and focuses all of her energy on crippling her husband. Maman’s powers are completely off the chain. And I thought Mama was gangster with her shit.

“Jayd, drink this,” Mama says, still talking to me from outside of my dream. I look down at the baby in my arms and she smiles back at me, making me think of what my ex’s daughter Rahima must be doing now, wherever she is. But this is Mama, not Rahima, and I’m about to freak out completely if I don’t wake up soon.

“Why is Jayd standing in the middle of the living room floor so late at night?” I can hear my uncle Bryan ask, but I can’t see him either. What’s really going on?

“She’s sleepwalking. Help me keep her safe, but don’t touch her,” Mama says. Sleepwalking? Damn it. I haven’t done this in years and it’s never good when I do. “Jayd, focus on my voice, not on whatever’s going on in your dream, and snap out of it, please.” The urgency in Mama’s voice scares me, but I still can’t find my way out.

“Okay girls, it’s time to make our move,” Maman says, not letting go of her visual hold on Jon Paul for a second. “As you can see, he kicked in the front door, so we’re going to have to make our way out the back. Stay behind me. And Sarah, whatever you do, don’t let go of Lynn Mae.” We follow my great-grandmother back into the kitchen and walk around her husband, who is now crippled on the floor and holding his head, which looks like it’s going to burst. “Walk right by him. Don’t look at him. Just keep moving and everything will be okay.”

“Jayd, stop walking,” Mama says, but I can’t. I have to follow Maman and get baby Mama out of harm’s way, no matter what my grandmother says.

“Jayd, it’s not real. Stop walking, now. Bryan, follow us.” I follow Maman out of the back door, hand her baby to her, and she looks me in the eye, releasing me from my dream state.

Upon waking, I fall back into Bryan’s arms, completely lifeless. He holds me upright as Mama brings me to.

“Here, Jayd. Swallow this,” Mama says, forcing some thick concoction down my throat. I resist at first because the smell is putrid. Whatever’s in this cup reminds me of when Mama used to make me drink orange juice mixed with castor oil when I would get constipated as a child. I still don’t drink orange juice to this day because of that experience.

“Y’all are too much for a nigga sometimes, you know that?” Bryan says, holding on to me tightly as Mama continues force-feeding me. I hate it when this happens.

“Watch your mouth,” Mama says to Bryan. I look up at the both of them and realize we are standing on the back porch. It’s dark and cold outside. Mama’s dog looks at us from her post on the bottom step and seemingly shakes her head at the sight. All Lexi does is sleep and scratch herself, so I’m not really worried about disturbing her.

“Jayd, are you okay, baby?” Mama asks. Sometimes it’s too much for me, too. If I could just leave my powers at the curb right now, I’d do it in a heartbeat. I’m getting sick of this shit.

“I’m fine,” I say, coughing up some of the thickness she’s made me swallow. I’m shivering in my thin nightgown and sweat pants and my feet are bare, causing the cold to run straight through my body. “Can I go back to bed now?” If Bryan’s just getting in from his radio show, it must be close to two in the morning and it’s a school day for me, no matter what kind of dream I just had.

“Not until you tell me what that was all about, Jayd. Whenever you sleepwalk, it’s serious, girl, and you know it.”

“Mama, I start a new semester tomorrow and I have to drive my mom’s stick shift all the way to Redondo Beach for the first time. I need sleep. Please, can we talk tomorrow?” Mama looks into my eyes and feels my pain.

“Fine, but don’t forget any of it. I need details.” I’m sure she’s already got the summary in her mind. I wish I could forget, but this dream was too freaky. I’ve never dreamt of being someone else before. I hope that was the last time it happens. I have enough to deal with as it is. I just want to get through this day with as little trouble as possible. With new classes, Mickey and Nellie tripping, and Nigel still out because of his wounded shoulder, there’s going to be enough drama to deal with this morning as it is.