Chapter 5: The Girls and Their Abilities

Years and years passed by before Eva Marie spoke to her father again. By the time Dr. Aggie and Eva Marie did speak again, Eva Marie was unaware that it would be one of the last conversations she would have with her father. As the years went by, so did time. Jackie’s construction job relocated to Atlanta, Georgia after Hurricane Katrina took a major hit on the city of New Orleans. Mama Red and Dr. Aggie decided to stay behind, in Tremé, as Dr. Aggie had fallen ill with pneumonia a couple of months before the historical storm hit. Eva Marie vowed to always remain in contact with her mother, no matter how long it took for Dr. Aggie to come around. Especially with her beginning to start a family with Jackie.

The year was 2005 and the young couple quickly realized that they had a lot on their plate to deal with. A new move to a new city, with three young daughters; Caresse Annette aka Rez, who was 5, Marcelle Antoinette aka Toni, who was 3 and their youngest daughter, Brigette Marie aka Bri, who had just turned 1. Before leaving for Atlanta, Eva Marie had brought the girls to the hospital to meet their grandfather for the first and last time. Of course, little Bri and Toni wouldn’t remember but Rez did. That was also the first and last time Eva Marie had spoken to her father since the awful fight they had when he found out she was pregnant with Rez. Eva Marie stayed in the hospital that whole night talking to her father, trying to make up for lost time. In the end, they both realized it was too late for apologies. But it was nice to hear her father finally realize that he was wrong for the way he reacted to the news of his first grandchild.

That following week, Eva Marie, Jackie and the girls were moving into their new home in Atlanta and Dr. Aggie passed away in his sleep. In Dr. Aggie’s will, he left The Healing Pointe to Eva Marie, in hopes that she would continue to carry on the family legacy of practicing bonne magie and healing those that needed to be spiritually healed. Eva Marie decided to leave The Healing Pointe behind, as she started to look at Atlanta as her new home.

“New home means new beginnings!”, is what Eva Marie would tell herself in the early days of living in Atlanta. She found it to be quite an adjustment settling down into the city of College Park but it wasn’t long before she found herself comfortable yet, filled with worry. Mama Red was beginning to go blind and running The Healing Pointe by herself was becoming more and more of a hassle to deal with everyday. By the beginning of 2006, Eva Marie found herself flying back to Tremé just to make her mother sell The Healing Pointe and come back to Atlanta to live out her last days with her family. Of course, Mama Red put up a fight but she reluctantly gave in. She sold The Healing Pointe for a nice lump sum and within the following week, was living in Atlanta, with Eva Marie, Jackie and the girls.

Now, Eva Marie felt like she could relax for a while. With her mother close by, she wouldn’t have to worry about calling her everyday just to see if she was ok. It was tight for them, living in a 4 bedroom house but Jackie would always say, “This is just for now. Things will get better, baby.”

Eva Marie never complained because she knew Jackie worked hard for her and the girls every single day. Plus, the only thing she knew was practicing bonne magie and telling people’s fortunes. She decided to leave all of that behind in Tremé for good. Eva Marie began to solely focus on raising her girls, especially her oldest daughter, Rez.

Rez had slowly but surely began to pick up some supernatural talents that Eva Marie had never seen before; she could see into the future. But just not your typical vision, Rez would foresee unfortunate events happening. Eva Marie found this unfortunate but somehow useful. She quickly realized that she wouldn’t be able to put Rez into public school, like a normal child. Rez was extraordinary and although she would foresee someone passing away or misfortune happening, she never let it dim her light. Rez was a very intelligent little girl, who had a smile that would melt your heart. She grew into it really well as she got older.

As Eva Marie began to truly become a mother, she also had to learn how to be a teacher. Eva Marie began to home school her daughters and she soon realized that her daughter, Toni, was special, too. It was on a day when she was beginning to teach Rez a math lesson on multiplication. Eva Marie would always put Toni and Bri down for an afternoon nap, while she would focus on teaching Rez her lessons. Until that fateful day, when Eva Marie heard a loud thud come from downstairs. Eva Marie and Rez looked at each other in surprise and disbelief, as they thought the worst had happened: Mama Red.

They both quickly ran down the two flights of steps in their home, thinking that Mama Red could’ve fallen or maybe passed out. Thankfully, she was asleep in her bed, taking an afternoon nap, as well. Then, they heard the loud thud again. This time it was closer but it sounded like it was coming from outside. Eva Marie and Rez both ran to the front door to find little Toni standing in their front yard, trying her best to pick up a golden, metal ball as if to play with it. Every time she picked it up, it would fall out of her hands, make a loud thud and shake the house. Eva Marie quickly ran outside and picked Toni up, worry written all over her face.

“Marcelle Antoinette Boudreaux! You were supposed to have been taking a nap! Where on Earth did you get that ball and why aren’t you in your room?!”, questioned Eva Marie, as she walked into the house and put Toni down. Then, she waved her finger in Toni’s face.

Little Toni looked up at her mother with the most adorable, big brown eyes and replied, “I went to play with the Egyptians. From a long time ago. They gave me that ball to play with, but I can barely lift it.”

Eva Marie rolled her eyes as if she didn’t believe her. She squatted down and stared into Toni’s eyes and said, “Little girl, do not lie to me. Where did you get that ball? Who gave it to you? Huh?!”

Toni was adamant. She kept saying she went back in time and had met an Egyptian who gave her that ball to play with. Eva Marie began to get so angry with Toni that she had to realize her daughter was still a child who didn’t know any better. It pissed her off even more because she knew that Toni didn’t just leave the present time to go to the past. How could that even happen?

Until a couple of years later, when Eva Marie realized that Toni’s abilities to time travel were true and actually happened. By this time, Eva Marie and Jackie not only gave birth to another daughter named Desiree Laurent aka Desi but, they also could see that Bri developed abilities, as well. By this time, Rez was 16, Toni was 13, Bri was 11 and little Desi was 10. Toni had time traveled to the past to meet her great-great grandmother Marie Laveau, without the consent of Eva Marie or Jackie. This made Eva Marie quite upset, as Toni and the girls knew about their family history. They also knew that they were very special and extraordinary girls. Eva Marie let them know where their gifts came from and explained the difference between bonne magie and noir magie. She told them to never practice noir magie, to only use their gifts in bonne magie or wherever it’s counted and needed.

Toni knew better but she wanted to see for herself. She wanted to actually speak to her dearest Mère, in person. Toni knew the only way to do that was to make herself go back in time. It wasn’t hard for Toni to teleport into the past or future. All she had to do was close her eyes, spin herself around a couple of times and before she knew it, she could be back in the B.C.'s or even in the French Quarter of New Orleans, circa 1906. When she finally came back to the present, she had been gone for three days. Eva Marie and Jackie were worried sick. Meanwhile, old Mama Red sat in her rocking chair in the living room, looking out the window with a distant smile on her face. But Mama Red always sat in that same rocking chair, sometimes smiling, sometimes just staring off into space.

The day that Toni came back, Eva Marie had never known a fury like no other. Toni arrived in the room she shared with her older sister, Rez. Rez knew she was coming back as she had already seen what would happen when Toni did come home. As Toni’s body appeared from a faint ghostly hollow to her actual, physical self, Rez was sitting in front of her vanity mirror by her bed, braiding her hair. She turned around, stared at Toni and just shook her head.

“How long was I gone?”, questioned Toni. Rez turned around and faced the mirror. “Three days, sis. And I just wanna give you a heads up, this shit is not about to be pretty.”

Toni ran to her sister’s side and begged her to tell her what’s going to happen. “Just tell me so, I know what to expect. Come on, Rez!” Rez looked at her with fake pity and replied, “Nope.” Then, she smiled and went back to parting her hair for the next braid.

Toni dropped her shoulders and began to walk to their bedroom door to find her parents. Before she left, she muttered “Bitch.” under her voice.

Oh well. I guess I gotta go ahead and put on my big girl panties and face my folks, thought Toni to herself. Toni began to walk to her parents room and knock on the door. Of course, her mother had to be the one to open it. Eva Marie’s eyes welled up with tears as she immediately grabbed Toni and hugged her tight.

Toni stood in her mother’s arms, looking confused and then she saw her father approaching, looking relieved. Before he could approach, Eva Marie released Toni and slapped her face hard. Toni kept her face turned in the direction Eva Marie had slapped her and she remained that way for about five minutes.

“And just where in the hell did you go, Marcelle Antoinette?! Huh?! You know I swear ever since you were a little girl, you have driven me crazy with all of this time travel shit! I could’ve died if something happened to you. Especially with you being gone for three days. What in the hell is wrong with you, child?” screamed Eva Marie.

“Mama, I just wanted to know about my dear Mère, Marie Laveau. You always tell us about her but, I just wanted to see for myself. I’m sorry for not telling you or daddy where I was. I just…”, Toni shrugged her shoulders. “I just did it.”

Eva Marie looked at Toni with shocked eyes and dismay. “You just did it. What does that sound like? Not a care in the world. Not thinking you’d be gone for three days. And not thinking that anything could happen to you, time traveling to the past just for fun, huh? Just to be able to say you met one of your ancestors, huh? An ancestor that you know of and you know better!”, said Eva Marie, as she pointed at Toni’s face.

Suddenly, Jackie intervened. “Alright, baby, alright. Calm down. Toni, go to your room. Eva, baby. Please, go sit and calm down.”

Toni turned around to walk back to her room. She heard her parents' room door close and before she walked back to her room, she decided to walk down the steps and check on Mama Red. Mama Red was in her room, sitting in the same rocking chair, staring out the window. She sat down on her bed, across from her.

“Hey Mama. It’s me, Toni.”

Mama Red turned her head and smiled. Toni held back tears as she stared at her grandmother’s old face. Her once bright red hair had turned dark brown and gray and the light brown eyes that once had vision had turned a cold blue. But just because she had aged and gotten blind, didn’t mean that Mama Red forgot. She knew who everybody was, especially Toni.

“My namesake child. How are you, mon petit? How was your trip?” asked Mama Red. Toni grabbed Mama Red’s wrinkly but petite hand and said, “I had fun, Mama. I had so much fun. Marie Laveau wasn’t as bad as Mama makes her out to be. But I did see the dangerous things she was involved in. So, I get it. But old New Orleans was fun back in the day!”, exclaimed Toni.

Mama Red laughed with excitement and she clapped her hands. “Oh, I’m so glad you enjoyed yourself, child. Madame Laveau was a fine woman and yes, that may be true about your mother but, she also did warn you. Yes?” Mama Red asked Toni sternly.

Toni nodded her head in agreement.

“Yes, Mama. She did. I just wanted to see for myself.”

Mama Red nodded her head.

“You are stubborn, just like me. I remember asking your mother if she knew what she was doing when she named you after me,” chuckled Mama Red. “Did she know she was setting you up to be like me, think like me?” Mama Red chuckled again.

“Come here, child,” said Mama Red, as she motioned with her hands for Toni to come to her. Toni got up off of the bed and kneeled down in front of Mama Red and laid her head down on her lap.

“Your parents don’t think the time travel gift is a good gift but I do. You try to learn as much as you can about your past. And your future. It’s good for you. No noir magie! I mean it. You use your gift to teach others, not to hurt them. Do you understand me, namesake?” said Mama Red.

Toni nodded her head and said, “Yes mam.”

Bri was telekinetic. It wasn’t Eva Marie who discovered she had this ability, though. It was Jackie, her father. One day, when Bri was 10, Jackie had come home from work early. Mama Red was taking her afternoon nap, while Eva Marie, Rez, Toni and Desi went out to the grocery store. Bri was always a tomboy and never liked doing the grocery trips or nail salon visits with her mother and sisters. She would always ask to sit back at the house and just watch tv or play on the computer until everybody got home. On this particular day, however, Bri wasn’t able to focus her attention on watching tv. In fact, she was focused on something else.

Earlier that day, Bri had gotten mad at something Toni said to her. They were already arguing about who was going to wash the dishes after dinner that night and Toni called Bri lazy. Well, that had set Bri off because she knew she wasn’t lazy. Anything her parents or even Mama Red would ask her to do, she’d do it. She knew better than to disobey her elders. It was Toni who would always catch an attitude and almost never wanted to clean up after herself. When she heard the word “lazy” roll off Toni's tongue, Bri instantly saw red. Toni had walked away from her but she was still in her sight. Bri’s eyes quickly went to the wooden jewelry box that sat up on her dresser and she picked it up with her eyes and made it hit Toni in the back.

Before Toni could turn around and yell out, “Ouch!”, Bri realized what she did and immediately dropped the jewelry box and slammed the door to her room. Oh my God, did I just really do that?, thought Bri to herself. She laughed out loud to herself and then she thought, I wonder if I can do it again.

So, while her sisters and mother were gone, she spent hours trying to make herself pick up things around the house to test her newfound strength out. It was her father coming home from work early that surprised and scared her. She was in the middle of attempting to lift up the flat screen tv in the living room. Jackie walked into the living room, distracted as he was sifting through the mail. It was then he noticed Bri just standing and staring upwards.

“Bri, what are you doing–” SMASH!

Bri turned her head so quickly and looked at her father. Jackie went from staring at Bri to staring at all the pieces of what was once the flat screen tv that was in the living room. Then, he stared at Bri. Bri stared at him. Jackie continued to stare between the smashed up pieces of the tv and Bri for about 10 minutes.

“Sorry?” said Bri.

Suddenly, Bri could see the lights from Eva Marie’s car pulling into the driveway. “Uh oh”, said Bri, as she could hear her sisters grabbing the grocery bags and approaching the front door. Poor Jackie just continued to stare in disbelief, as he was shocked more than anything. Not only did he just walk in on his daughter, practicing her amazing gift but, his brand new 55-inch television was no more.

Eva Marie walked in with the girls behind her, carrying the groceries and was about to greet Jackie with a kiss when she saw him just staring speechlessly and clearly upset. Once Eva Marie noticed what Jackie was staring at, she looked at Bri. Eva Marie rolled her eyes and swore out loud.

After cleaning up the mess of the tv and having a very silent dinner, Jackie and Eva Marie sat in their room that night, stressed. Jackie was extremely upset over the loss of his tv and Eva Marie was more so upset at Bri.

“I mean, this girl is truly a piece of work. Out of all the gifts in the world for her to possess, she has telekinesis. And not only that, she smashed my tv!” cried Jackie.

Eva Marie rolled her eyes. “Oh, Jackie, please. It’s not the end of the world. We can replace the tv.”

“Not for another 3 or 4 months. I had plans for my tax time money, man!” moaned Jackie.

Eva Marie shook her head. “This telekinesis thing isn’t all that bad but, I’m just mad that she chose the TV out of all things to practice on. And had you not scared her, she probably wouldn’t have lost her focus and dropped it and smashed it.”, said Eva Marie.

Jackie turned to look at Eva Marie and replied, “If you were to see someone lifting an object into air that you know for a fact is impossible, you wouldn’t be shocked by that?”

Eva Marie sat and thought about it. “I mean yes but–” “But nothing, Eva, baby! It’s shocking, yes. Terrifying, even! Just don’t make me feel any worse than what I already do. Please, baby.” pleaded Jackie to Eva Marie.

Eva Marie and Jackie were able to replace that TV, along with more items around the house that Bri seemed to find eligible enough to practice with. Once Bri was finally able to gain control of her abilities, they felt like they were safe for a while. Eva Marie and Jackie decided to put the girls in public school. After all these years of home school, she felt that they needed to be around kids their age. They needed to see and experience things that home schooled kids never really have the chance to. Plus, they waited a while to see what abilities their youngest daughter, Desi, would have.

Desi’s ability never appeared to them and this made Eva Marie and Jackie a little concerned. They were scared to put Desi in public school with her sisters, thinking that her ability would surface at the wrong place or wrong time. And of course, they were right. But Desi’s ability was different and it was shown in the purest of ways; she was an empath. Unlike her mother, she had the ability to hear the emotional thoughts of others and could feel everything they felt. Desi wouldn’t know of her ability until one fateful day when she would meet her best friend and eventually, her enemy.

One day, while Desi was at school, she asked her teacher for the bathroom pass to go use the bathroom. When she walked in the bathroom, she instantly could hear the cries and thoughts from a little girl in one of the bathroom stalls. Suddenly, she didn’t have to pee anymore. Desi walked over to the bathroom stall and placed her hand on the door. She could hear the girl's thoughts even more clearly.

I just want to run far, far away and never be found. I hate my mommy and I hate my daddy even more. I wish I’d never been born. Desi’s eyes began to tear up and she cried right along with the little girl. Then, she said to her out loud, “Don’t run away. I’ll be your friend.”

Suddenly, the little girl stopped crying and Desi realized what she had just said. She dried her tears up and stepped back from the bathroom stall. The little girl behind the bathroom stall opened the door and walked out. She stared at Desi, with small, dark beady eyes and Desi stared right back. Desi began to look at the girl and notice she had a bandage on her left cheek that looked fresh and she wore two afro puff ponytails that were dark black. She was the same height as Desi and maybe the same age, about nine or ten, maybe.

The little girl was confused at first. Then, scared. Desi sensed all of this and stated, “Don’t be afraid. It’s ok.” The little girl took a deep breath and said, “I’m not. But how did you know I wanted to run away? Can you… Could you hear me?”

Desi nodded her head slowly. “Yes but, that’s the first time I’ve ever done that before. I’m just as scared as you are.”

The little girl smiled and showed off her small gap in between her two front teeth. “My name’s Adelaide but, you can call me Lady.” She held out her hand for Desi to shake.

Desi took her hand and shook it. “I’m Desiree but, it’s Desi for short.”

Desi and Lady began to walk out of the bathroom and skip class for the day as they got to know each other and become acquainted. So much so, they had vowed to become best friends by the end of the day.