I Was Home

As she drives on the dark, lonely, quiet highway. She admires the shadows of God’s green earth. She continues to drive to the sunrising over the trees. This has been her encouragement for six months that things are going to be better. She would pray and talk to God knowing he was listening. She just wanted to make sure she was listening. She looked forward to the sunrise each day she had to make that hour drive. She didn’t know what to expect once she gotten to work. Driving up to her job, she sits in the car observing and taking in the views of the sunrise and reflect on her day. She didn’t say a word, look at her phone, but sat in the car with her eyes closed. She is taking deep breaths, saying I am more than a conquer, I am rich, I am loved, I am wise, and I am a child of God. Once she felt confident, she began to move, get out of the car and walk into the building.

“Good morning, Ms. Harria!”, yells Reeda down the hall. Ms. Herria waves, smiles and continue to walk to her classroom. She is doesn’t know what to expect when she sees Principal Lewis and Mrs. Rallins talking, watching the students, as they try to hide their conversation. Now, she knows something has happened. She gets to her classroom. She closes the door. She put her things down, sat down in her chair, laid back and took another deep breath. She closed her eyes again. This time she said a prayer. Once she was done, she opens her eyes. Principal Lewis was standing in front of her desk. She shook her head. “What is it, Lewis?”, she asks. Principal Lewis walks around her desk and gives her a hug. She weeps so hard, that she Principal Lewis embraced her head into his chest that no one would hear scream. He held her so tight that she would fall to the floor.

      Principal Lewis whispers in her ear “you can stay with me tonight?”

She sobers harder. She wipes her face, fix her hair and straighten her clothes. Principal Lewis looks in her bags while she is doing those things. He finds the bags with her clothes and toiletries. He takes them and put it in his office closet. She begins her day. When she got to her planning period. Reeda walks in her classroom. “What is wrong, Ms. Harria?”, she asks.

“Nothing, Reeda”, she replies. Reeda walks over to her desk to get a closer look at her. “Ms. Harria, you didn’t sleep last night. You have dark circles around your eyes.” Reeda was wise beyond her years. She made Ms. Harria ill because she seemed to know what was going on with her without a word being said.

“Reeda, I slept fine last night”, she replies. The truth didn’t have a goodnight sleeping in her car. She had to keep a watch because she felt eerie. She never been so afraid in her life. She was grateful to be at the work that morning. She wondered what she did wrong to be at this point in her life. Sometimes it isn’t what you did wrong, but what lesson am I supposes to learn. Each morning, I reflect to see what lesson she is to be learning. Somedays, she got the lesson. Somedays, she didn’t get the lesson. She would complain but she learned felt like she had sinned. As her day came to a close, she gets a text message from Principal Lewis. It reads “ 422 Way Lake Court”. She keeps her facial expression together while she was in the building. She gets in the car. She sits, cry  because she felt like a failure. She learned that each day she made it through. She wasn’t a failure. She was successful, strong, determine and trust God every second of the day.

      She driving to Principal Lewis home. She stops to the grocery store and gets some drinks and snacks. She didn’t want to go to his home empty handed. She finally gets to his home. She sits in the car. She prepped her mind to put on the face.  She gets out of the car, walks to his door and stand there for thirty seconds. When she was about to knock, Principal Lewis opens the door. “Latesha, you finally made it. I was getting ready to come look for you.”, softly spoken. Her eyes were glassy. He walks her inside, close the door. “The bathroom is on the left. I will be in the kitchen finishing up dinner and fixing our plates.” Principal Lewis walks away into the kitchen. She still stands in the floor. She looks at how nice his home was. She wasn’t jealous. God I would love something this nice and beautiful. She took a breath, walks in the bathroom, and wash her hands. She takes her time to get to the table. Principal Lewis yells “Tesha, your food going to be cold! Hurry!” Latesha slowly peeks around the corner. Principal Lewis stands up and grab her hand. She sat down to eat. He observed her movement. She would lift her head to look up at him. He reached out to touch her hand. She looked up and tears was running down her face. This time he let her cry it out. He held her tight enough to get her to the sofa.

      She cried in his arms until she felt asleep. He put the pillow under her head ,put the throw over her and take off her shoes. That night she slept without life mistakes haunting her. The next morning, she wakes up. A note is on the table. I reads “ Rest today, I have a sub in your classroom. You have great sub plans. Smiley face” She smiles, reread the note.. God has answered her prayers. She rested for the first times in months. She takes a shower. She never thought that Principal Lewis would be the one who can help her. She knew she couldn’t stay with him because someone would think something was going on between us. She knew had to be gone before he gets off work. While, she was preparing to leave. She received a text message. It read “ you better be there when I get home.” God, why you won’t let me leave?  I unpacked everything. I warmed the leftover dinner, cleaned his home and rested until he got home. When he got home, he smiles, sit down on the sofa beside her. He hands her an envelope. He looks inside the envelope. It was a good amount of money. I looked at him. “What is this for Peter?”, she asks. “Tell me what you think, Latesha?”  

      I didn’t want people to feel pity for me. “It is enough money for you to pay rent for three months. Latesha, follow me.” She stares at him. She puts her shoes on. She follows him. He walks around the block to a two bedroom, one and a half bath condo in the same complex as his. When he opens the door, the landlord was waiting on him. The landlord introduced herself, told me to look around the condo. “Do you like it, dear?”, she asks.

“Yes, ma’am”, I reply. She handed me the keys and walked out.  Peter looks at me winks his eye and close the door. A note was taped to the back of the door. “An air mattress is in the closet. Have a good night.” I sat in the floor and cried myself to sleep. When I woke this wasn’t a dream. I was home.