Chapter 59: One Down, Two To Go

Jasmine always had a deep sense of family that no one understood or even possessed. The family always wondered why she was always out in the family plot mourning over people she had never met. No one else did that. Maybe that was one gift she received from the voices. Now that her brother was resting there, he was the only one she went to see. Day and night she went out to mourn him. She would drop everything to visit him. It was strange to see because she seemed to be prepared for her own death, but she was expecting to go first. She never wanted to witness her own siblings’ death. She was still quite strong, but she wasn’t strong enough to handle anyone else’s death. Unfortunately, the next morning, she had to encounter death again.

Jayla was up very early, and she didn’t know why. She wasn’t hungry or needed to pee. She was just up. She thought it was strange, so she decided to play on the computer for a while. As she walked toward the door, she felt weak. She held onto the dresser as she wobbled by, trying to keep her balance, but she couldn’t be helped. She fell to the floor and called out for Jasmine. Jasmine normally was a lite sleeper, but the voices were singing sweet lullabies to keep her asleep. They were trying to protect her from witnessing death again. Jayla kept calling out for Jasmine until she could no longer speak. And she was gone.

Later that morning, Brandon was going around the house upgrading the plumbing. He actually enjoyed it a little, even though he often pinched his fingers and cut himself. He bought all kinds of books to help him learn about handiness. Suddenly, it dawned on him. He was good with his hands, and he liked what he did. He decided that he wasn’t going to get a career and climb a corporate ladder. He was going to be a carpenter and bought himself a wood bench  and immediately started working on his woodcarving skills.

Kolby’s birthday was a few days later. Asia had a cake all ready for him as soon as he came home from school.

“There’s our birthday boy,” she exclaimed. “Come on, honey! Make a wish!”

“I wish I could meet an alien!”

“Ha ha,” Jared laughed. “You will, son! You will.”

Everyone sang, popped poppers, and made noise with noise makers as his blew out his candles. And before they knew it, a taller, handsomer, confident young man was before their eyes.

“Good heavens, you’re handsome, son!”

“Mom!”

Jared thought to himself that it was too bad Kolby wasn’t the heir. He could have potentially stopped the spreading of the blonde hair! It never occurred to him before that he was the first non-blonde Pruett man. Over the next few days, life had gotten back to normal. Jasmine spent quality time with everyone not knowing when her time would come–or if it even would come!

Hail, Jasmine! May she live forever.