Chapter 6

He didn't know what had happened and he was just too much in despair to understand what had happened in between the force and the ground. Where did she go? From then on he had recurring nightmares upon nightmares sometimes they changed other times they were the same and he was starting to get tired of it before finally turning 25. He didn't celebrate anything from then on. When his friends had come back to town they met up, but it wasn't the same and the atmosphere was just too different for him. " How've you been old friend?' Apparently, Kinase had gone into a business college and turned into a businessman and Desarie was expecting. If he remembered correctly their exact words were they wanted a nice place to raise their kids.

Moite wouldn't want to have kids somewhere that could be dangerous, but that was their choice. Desarie seemed happy and so did Kinase. They met at the same old Diner only this time it wasn't the same. Someone else owned it and not only that they had come back to see more businesses and a lot more housing. Moite tried to move on he generally tried but every time he did it was as if he still had that sinking feeling. "It's been too long like what almost 7 years?" Moite could tell she was expecting and he honestly didn't know if he was happy for them or more upset because it wasn't going to happen with Racha. Moite missed her way too much and even though he was hurting they could still see he wasn't over what had happened.

" I'm happy for yall. I really am." He looked down at the plate like it was magically going to fill back up with food before grabbing his Vodka and drinking what was left of it. Kinase could tell he was still hurting and this probably wasn't what he expected when he saw Moite sitting there drowning in Vodka. Kinase and Desarie traveled for 6 years before really thinking about raising a family and they never thought of coming back to Decorah, Iowa.

They didn't really want to call Moite out but he did look drunk. He even sounded drunk. " Do anything interesting lately?" Kinase asked before the waitress sat their food in front of them. " Hey Marle could I get a dr? Pepper please?" Moite asked politely even though what he really wanted to do was smash the glass onto the ground. He refrained before looking back at his old friends." Nothing really. I work at the school then I go home." Moite wasn't even joking he didn't like teaching kids who didn't want to learn they were always misbehaving. He now understood why Mrs. Jix always said ya'll hate me. He laughed at that thought.

" You teach?" Desarie asked surprised before eating her Mashed Potatoes. " Yeah, every once in a while. Remember when Mrs. Jix didn't like some of the students? She always said Ya'll hate me." Kinase chuckled too as Desarie just smiled. " Babe. I gotta go." Kinase moved so she could get out as she hurried to the restrooms. " Everything ok?" Kinase sat back down before he looked down at his plate. " Yeah, it's the pregnancy." Kinase loved every moment with his wife and they still didn't tell Moite that they had gotten married. " How long have ya'll be together for?" Kinase smiled thinking back to all the happy memories. " We didn't start dating till a year after we went into High School. " Moite was confused until he realized they were together for the sex. " Oh, so ya'll be together only for sex? " Moite laughed again as Kinase looked up at him upset. " What?" Moite immediately shut his mouth as Desarie came walking out of the restroom. " Nothing just something that Racha said." Moite felt more out of it after he said her name and Kinase realized the pain Moite was really in.

Kinase got up so she could get back into her seat. Moite noticed he was more of a gentleman when he was with her. Kinase was in love with her and Moite could tell. Everything about them had changed and he was the one who was alone when he'd rather be the one happy. Not that he wasn't happy for them but having Racha, if only. If Moite could have Racha it would be different. He'd be a gentleman, sing to her, dance in the middle of the night with her. Racha was always his life to him and now he felt broken and just flat-out destroyed. Sometimes he wrote out his feeling and what he'd love to see in life with Racha.

Moite thought about how the future could have been different as if Racha was here with him. " How've you been holding up?" Desarie didn't know why she asked as it just slipped out, she didn't like how she had said it either. Moite heard her and honestly didn't know how to respond so he said the first thing that came to his mind. " Been better." He meant it too. Kinase didn't understand after 7 years he was still mourning over Racha and they never found a body. Moite had gotten up from the table with a messed-up look before leaving the building in a rush. " I said it out loud. crap!"

Kinase felt very bad saying those words before Des put her hand on his arm. " I'm going to talk to him before he leaves." He rushed out calling out for his friend before seeing light. Kinase didn't know where it was coming from but then it kinda died out. Moite didn't see the lights as he tried to shake them from his mind. " Hey man, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring it up." Moite looked at the light coming from his hands as it became brighter before seeing Desarie looking from her phone to the light Intrigued. " How are you doing that?" Desarie grabbed her husband's arm before they were all swallowed in the light. She wondered if anyone else could see the light. " could you maybe turn it off? " Moite heard them but he couldn't do anything, it was as if it was doing it on its own.

They looked around till Moite and Kinase yelled " What the-!" in unison. Desarie was in utter shock before feeling like passing out right there. Racha laid out in mid-air. She seemed to be floating, stuck. They couldn't tell if she was breathing or not. She looked as if she were stuck. Des couldn't help it she reached out trying to touch what was her friend. Moite stared in defeat, confused he wanted too badly to change what was real or unreal. They all stared before everything just disappeared. " Ya'll saw that right?" She shouldn't have said it but like earlier it slipped out. Des looked around the parked cars hoping to see any sign of what just happened all the while Moite crumbled to the ground in sobs. Moite saw her again eyes closed falling for the millionth time. " I can't." Moite cried out as Kinase still didn't know if that was real or if he was daydreaming. The only reason why Moite never killed himself was that he had put it in his mind that she was alive somewhere hurting too.

The only time Moite acted was with his students and that was only because he loved kids. He had always wanted kids with Racha. His students did like to misbehave but he also got through the pain because of them. He loved playing with the kids and teaching them, In that moment he felt better than he did in a long time even though he still had a feeling in the pit of his stomach.

That year could go by fast enough for Moite. Kinase and Desarie bought a lot thanks to the Mayor they became known. They helped everywhere they could and Desarie finally gave birth to a healthy baby boy and named him Erin Raika. Everything was going great for them they had opened a car lot next to the Catfish Cafe. The Diner they grew up in was no more and they missed it but things had changed and they all hoped it was for the better. Desarie was happy and content with their life as she held her son in her arms. Kinase was all smiles for his little family even Moite who thought about Racha.

MOite had tried to move on and go on dates but not one woman was right for him or maybe it was just because they didn't stand out as Racha had. He wasn't sure really, but he was still broken and no one could heal him from it. Moite left the Hospital after visiting Desarie and Kinase. He tried to rig his mind of everything as he thought to himself how could anything could get worse?

The year had come and gone Erin Raika was 1. He could say, Dada and Mama. He was mixed with Brown curly hair and brown eyes. He smiled like there wasn't anything wrong with the world, he was a very happy baby. Baby Erin was almost 1 and a half and had already begun to crawl and he definitely had the power of speed. The day was too good to be true for Desarie as she tried to keep up with her son. Kinase was hiring help for the car lot as newer Vehicles were invited to the lot all the while Moite was trying to pour his feeling into Writing. He didn't know where this was going either.

You'll never understand the way you make me feel. If I could have a thousand years I'd tell you every detail. I never thought it would be this way. I'm out of my mind. When could I go on the path that'll lead me to you, having every moment loving you? It would be extraordinary to be with you. You are my life. You are my light. You're the dream in my life, you're the light in my eyes. I wish I could see you wearing white. Watching you walk down the Isle holding on to you as he gives you away to me. Saying I love you wishing on a true spell holding to the happiness I love you too. Ashes to Flames here I am. Dancing, singing too. I love you, just say I do.

Moite was unsure of what he wrote and every emotion hit like a ton of bricks like the night of what happened. Moite was getting tired of feeling the way he was. He breathed out before calming himself into thinking about the one thing that calmed him down the most, drinking. " You're pathetic Moite. Pathetic." Never in a million years did he think he'd refer to himself in the third person, especially like that. He hated what his own life had become and the only thing that was great in his life was teaching. Moite and Kinase had stopped talking after the light episode that happened. Moite didn't care if he was sorry and that he didn't mean it. Desarie had understood everything that Moite had gone through she would be the same way if it was Kinase.

" Now you just got yourself to blame, ha, wow, why me? " Moite said to himself before ripping up the paper and chunking it towards the overflowing garbage. He finally took a look over his apartment and how it looked. He was disgusted with the way he had been living like he didn't care about life. The next two months were hectic for him he tried to clean himself up but after drinking for 6 years straight he didn't want to. He did however get his apartment cleaned. Kinase and Desarie had finally opened the car lot to the town. Moite went only to check it out not to make up or talk to them.

He saw countless people he used to go to school with and not just that but even some exes of his. Everyone was either married are with friends he noticed he was the only one who didn't talk to anyone. " The nonlistener." Moite knew didn't think he'd hear that voice after so long. Moite turned after looking at a 2006 Suv. " Nearia hey." She had aged well. Her brown blonde locks ran down her back and her makeup wasn't cakey like the time during High school. She didn't wear her glasses as she did in High School. " Sorry didn't mean to stare." Moite would've worn something better and he did feel self conscious as he noticed that everyone else wasn't wearing anything casual like he was. She smiled before she grabbed two glasses of Champayne from one of the servers there. She handed him a glass as expected before asking how he has been.

They talked for a while before she asked if he'd like to go to Dinner. Moite laughed. " That's not true." They had talked about what they do now before talking about all the misbehaving kids back in the day. " I'm just shocked he got married. Not being rude. I just never thought that time was just so fast, one minute I'm with friends in school then another I'm teaching at that same school but to the little kids."

Nearia was a great person. He hadn't laughed like that in a long time and it felt great to feel like this. He wasn't sure where this would go before feeling hollow inside. It bothered him that every time he tried to be happy it was as if the past would creep up on him. It bothered him deeply. they continued to eat their 4-course meal. Where they had gone was expensive and it was the same place He and Racha had gone on a double date with Kinase and Desarie. He missed his friends and the memories they shared with each other. He didn't know why he thought about them when he was on a date with someone who made him feel like there was something in him that wasn't hurt.

Racha didn't want to remember as she opened her eyes before she noticed sand covering her body. The last thing she remembered was the regret in his eyes as moite pushed her. Racha didn't understand where the sand had come from. The questions popped into her head as she tried to push the sand off herself as she looked at the view in front of her. What was supposed to be a diner confused she looked at the car lot in its place as she looked to the right at the catfish cafe. " The heck."

She didn't understand what was going on as she looked behind her at the not so much of forest before questioning where and how the heck she had gotten there. She didn't understand anything before she noticed Kinase and Desarie her friends making out as people watched lovingly as she mentally and physically wanted to vomit. They looked twice their age as they continued even as the people shopped around and pointed at the vehicles around them. That's when she cussed about everything.

Racha still couldn't believe what she was seeing before she distinctly remembered that they were all at Desarie's. " PDA." She said as she looked at them disgusted as they suddenly freaked out as she looked at everyone else as they became alarmed. " You see her right?" Desarie said as her body trembled Kinase's arm tightly hung around her as he threw the nearest thing at her as she yelled. " Hey! Watch yourself!" she yelled looking back at them watching before they fled. She didn't understand why the only two people she knew treated her the way they did all the while Desarie searched for answers through her mind as Kinase and she ran into the building. " Has to be a ghost." Desarie became worried and frantic as every memory of the past came back ten folds.

" The hell is going on?" Racha asked herself before noticing cars driving down a road that wasn't there the night before. She walked towards another part of town Before questioning everything. Some people recognized her as they to pointed at her before speaking her name although an officer went wide-eyed as he pulled a tazer from his belt. She looked behind her and wondered what the fuck, them too. She thought she was having nightmares as she looked down at her appearance before she noticed she wasn't clean but very dirty. " Freeze." The officer said as she just lifted her hands before a few of the people that knew her ran in fear as they yelled. She couldn't take it anymore she finally lifted herself into the air as they shrieked and screamed in fear. She pressed her pointer finger and thumb together while she closed her eyes before she breathed deeply looking down at the people as some stared in total shock.

Racha noticed the one tiny town wasn't so tiny as she noticed more housing and businesses before venturing towards her home. Respect was the one thing she could count on but now not so much. They had excepted them for their powers now it seemed that they had changed that into something dangerous. The judgment was something everyone kept to themselves now not anymore. The voice inside her mind screamed before she wondered why they didn't care for her as she landed on the roof of her house only to find her bedroom window locked. Really? She did however realize that would've been understandable as she didn't come home last night before landing on the front lawn. She didn't ring the doorbell but she tried the door as it as well seemed to be locked. " Ugh!" She heard a honk as she ignored that nagging feeling although she tried to see inside the house she heard footsteps behind her.

" Are you lost?" A familiar voice asked as she turned around and saw the stricken look on her mother's face it went a pale shade as she softly said " mom." She knew tears streamed down her face. " You-you're not here. I'm seeing things." Uiaze said before trying to shake her head at her only daughter standing in front of her Racha reached out to her mom as Uiaze seemed very distraught. " Mom. It's me." Uiaze ran back into her newer SUV as Uiaze didn't hesitate although Racha tried to run after her but to no avail and ended up falling onto her knees before weeping for the only thing she thought she could run to. She cried before thinking of her birth mother instead. Would her birth mom do the same? She remembered every detail of her dad cradling her as she cried for her mother before she died from stage 4 cancer. Her father had found love again a year and a half later before turning 6.

They both had a rough start, but nothing could replace her stepmom as she treated Racha like her own. They never not once thought about having any more kids before they moved back into her birth mom's town to be closer to family. She remembered everything as she realized vehicles honked at her before she got up from the ground. No one cared for her.

The last thing she wanted to do was stay dirty as she broke into her home. She took a nice hot shower before grabbing garments and clothing from her mom's closet as hers seemed to be an office instead of what her bedroom used to be. Her stomach growled loudly as she scrunched her hair with her hands she went to the fridge grabbed a coke and opened it as she looked for something to eat. She found some leftover chicken and Mac and cheese and put it in the microwave before looking around at the new things. She grabbed the newspaper from the coffee table and saw Kinase and Desarie on the cover she half smiled before she looked at the corner of the page as it fell to the ground. " What?" She yelled although she thought she had been mistaken she grabbed it from the floor and looked again. 11\21\2007. She didn't hesitate before running back into the steamed bathroom as she tried to see herself in the mirror. She didn't look older like Desarie or Kinase but something had obviously changed as she remembered it was 1995 instead of 2007.

Moite never understood why his uncle and dad hated so hard on Racha's mom as they made him do what he did. No one understood them until they met Tina. They were always with each other until they found out Tina's deepest secrets as they didn't understand each other's powers. His uncle was the one who made her sick, her death caught up with her because of the secret then again that's what he was told. He wasn't supposed to tell anyone until Moite overheard him talking to his dad as he didn't understand till his father told him exactly what had happened. He hated what he had done as it became a recurring nightmare for him. He hated using his powers because it reminded him of her and the look on her face wasn't what he wanted to see every time he woke up in a sweat. He had cried it all out as he remembered vividly telling her family. They didn't want to believe him before they soon realized it was true. They struggled for several years and still struggled before getting to know him as they treated him like their own son only he wasn't. Almost 10 years ago next month would be the anniversary of the accident. He never meant to hurt her, if only he had told her before it all happened it would've been different.

Probably not he thought as Desarie had called him about the ghost of Racha although he only laughed before she started yelling through the phone as he couldn't find the words. " Ok. Bye." He said before hanging up on her as she tried to speak, only he didn't want to listen. Desarie was closer to her than Kinase and him. He thought only because they were girls. Kinase and he hung out all the time or used to. It seemed like most of the time he tried to stay to himself unless it was for Wren and Uiaze Racha's parents. He loved them a lot and got to know them better as they constantly talked about her, eventually, they tore her room down and made an office out of it as that to him would only make it worse but so far they seemed fine. He sat in his underwear on the couch trying to watch tv before he used his powers to get another beer from the fridge as his phone flashed with Uiaze's name on it before he answered.

" Hello."

He sat up right away before struggling to understand what was going on as he listened intently. "Yeah sure. No, I'm not busy. " Not once did he ask if she was Ok. It might've been selfish but he felt like he was going to regret what he was about to do anyways. " I'll check, don't worry about me. Bye"

He hung up and pondered for a minute before he thought that Desarie was only messing with him, but hearing the panic in Uiaze's voice as she cried through the phone was different as he got dressed in a random shirt and pants before slipping on his shoes before he breathed onto his hand to see if he really needed to brush his teeth. He shook his head before going back to the couch and grabbed his beer and another from the fridge before grabbing the keys to his pickup.

When he had gotten to their house he had already drank the rest of his beer and had already started on his third. He looked closely at the front of the house although the window seemed broken the front door was ajar. He should've brought his gun but he wasn't in the mood to kill anyone as the nightmare continued on in his mind. Let's get this over with he thought before getting out of his run-down pickup slamming the door and carefully opening the door more so he could walk in. Maybe a homeless person broke in. " Hello." He called out as he regretted it immediately

He saw the newspaper on the ground as some other things including the atmosphere seemed off. A weight seemed to be hammering him down before he yelled again throughout the home as he found himself walking towards the kitchen. The microwave sounded off as he jumped and cussed. "Freaking nutcrackers." His heart rate skyrocketed as he opened it up to see a cold container of chicken and yellow cheese before turning his head to where the noise came from.

A hopeful girl opened a door and he felt the color drain from his face. This was a joke. They were pranking him. He wanted to pass out but he kept his ground before backing away before Racha lifted her hands to show no harm only he didn't know how to feel as he backed up into the living area his other foot was also planted in the kitchen. she spoke softly as she looked ready to cry he noticed something off about her as he didn't hear what she had said. He felt like suicide would be the only option as he didn't want to believe any of this. " Who the hell-" he choked with his words before he found himself walking backward as his back hit the sharp corner of the counter. He didn't care about the pain. He didn't want to believe who was right in front of him as he again saw her falling every time he made contact with her as he closed his eyes tightly before opening his eyes to see her standing there.

He was hoping with every fiber she'd disappear. Maybe she was a ghost but seeing her made him want to kill himself. He knew he was crying before she spoke only this time he heard every single word as he wished he didn't hear her voice. " Moite. It's me. " Seeing her crying didn't work on him it used to but now he didn't know what to do. This wasn't real. He constantly yelled it through his head as he found himself grabbing a long pointed knife from the counter before stalking backward as he realized his mistake; trapping himself in the corner at least he had the knife.

" Stay away from me." He yelled pointing the knife towards her as she teared up again as lifted her hands, again. She stalked forward as she begged with her eyes as he didn't want to see her.

" Moite, Please you know me. It's me." He couldn't take the sight or voice before lifting the knife to his throat only she wrapped her small but frail hand around his wrist." You weren't supposed to forget me." His breath caught before tears streamed down her face as He froze. He remembered those words when she spoke. He jerked backward after she said it only she seemed suddenly frightened before the knife clattered to the floor as she backed up scared. She wasn't wearing the same clothes but she had obviously taken a shower. He could tell because of her hair. She didn't seem the same Radha he knew. She was different, confused, and definitely worn out.

He didn't know if it was a mistake or not but he stalked forward grabbing her as he shook her harshly.

" Is this real? Are you real? He had his hands roughly on her arms and he found himself squeezing as she just cried before nodding as she didn't speak not one word. When she whimpered from the pain that's when he knew as he slammed his lips harshly against hers wanting to feel anything.