The Realest Ever - By Keith Thomas Walker Page 0,100

Kyra. I’ll only charge you for babysitting – as long as you keep getting groceries.”

In a last desperate move, Aunt Ruth revealed her dark heart and a possible motive for what she did: “I said I’ll give your check back, Kyra. You don’t have to leave. Just pay me five hundred dollars a month – and get groceries.

“Where are you gonna go, girl? I’m not kicking you out. I told you I would help you. I told you that before you came down here. I told you I would take care of you. You don’t need nobody’s help but mine. Don’t worry about that boy. Just stay here with me, and let me help with those kids…”

Kyra finally understood that her aunt was crazy as well as lonely. She invited Kyra to live with her under the guise of helping her get back on her feet. But Ruth hated every bit of independence Kyra developed. And she hated everyone in Kyra’s life who offered to help her. She wanted to run Donovan off so Kyra would be totally dependent on her aunt, but only an insane person would think that could actually work.

Kyra told her, “Excuse me,” when she took the first load out to the car. It was pouring rain by then. The sky was fierce with thunder and lightning. Kyra was completely drenched five seconds after she walked outside. She threw the suitcase in the trunk and returned to the house for the other one.

Aunt Ruth glared at her. Kyra was shivering. Rain water mixed with tears dripped off her face. Her sneakers squeaked with each step. Quinell wanted to go with her when she took the second load, but she told him, “No. It’s raining. Stay in here.”

After two more trips, Kyra had all of her belongings stuffed in the trunk and the back seat of her car. She returned to the house for her children, who were as eager to get away from Auth Ruth as she was.

“Put your jackets on,” Kyra told them.

She was nearly out of breath. She spoke in shudders, constantly sniffling and wiping her nose with the back of her hand. The white of her eyes was complete pink. Thankfully, her children had never been so well-behaved.

When everyone was ready to go, Kyra checked their bedroom one last time before she picked up Kat and pulled the hood of her jacket over her head. Quinell grabbed the last of his toys and stuffed them in his pockets before following her.

Aunt Ruth waited in the living room with a black robe wrapped around her body, looking like death itself. All she needed was a sickle.

“Where are you going, Kyra? It’s raining out there. You can’t take them babies out in that rain. You need to come sit down, and let’s talk this out. I got your check right here. You don’t have to pay me, if that’s why you leaving.”

Kyra didn’t understand how someone could be so fundamentally stupid. After everything Ruth did to her since she moved in, she had the nerve to think she could make it all go away with money.

Kyra wanted to tell her to go to hell. She wanted to tell Aunt Ruth that she was an ugly, old hag who was going to die alone, that she’d wish for death a hundred times before God pinched the wick on her pitiful existence. But what was the point? Putting Aunt Ruth in her place wouldn’t heal Kyra’s broken heart. It wouldn’t make Donovan forgive her for lying to him.

Kyra and her family exited the house and hurried to her car. Kyra felt the rain soaking all the way down to her underwear as she leaned in the back and fastened Kat’s car seat. When she finally got behind the wheel, Kyra turned the ignition and was not surprised that her car wouldn’t start. That was the devil trying to take away her last bit of sanity.

Kyra closed her eyes and said a quick prayer. She knew she’d keep her family in the car until it stopped raining before she’d return to her aunt’s house. They could set out on foot when the rain cleared up.

Kyra opened her eyes and turned the key again.

This time the Escort started right up.

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Donovan was deeply depressed when he left his mother’s house. The drive home was a lonesome one. It was hard to believe that his life changed so drastically, so suddenly.

Last night he was with Kyra and her children. This morning