The Certainty

“The Certainty That Lead to Almost”

Part I

“Whoah,” she grasped. The slip from her heels made her grab his shoulder to keep her balance.

“Are you okay?” Thomas asked concerned.

“Umm huh.” she replied nodding her head. As she walked to the podium to speak the final remarks at one of her best friend’s funeral, Asha began to strut nervously. “One foot in front of the other as we practiced,” she whispered to herself before approaching the final step. She approached the podium looking out to the crowd. Her first words were “love.”

Mackenzie was a thrill to be around, she was not just beautiful on the outside but showered each and every last one of us with a touch of her heart. The laughter and joy she brought when she entered a room would make any one of us behave naturally. I guess I can speak for everyone here, all 135 of us, when I say she will be missed.

The crowd sat silently wiping tears. Asha continued. One of my closest friends, the one I could count on not just in times of need, but in times of love, Mackenzie’s energetic personality has lead me to become the person I am today. Her positive outlook on life, her strong determination to succeed, her stellar attitude towards rejection, and her respectability towards others, was one I don’t think that can be matched. I’ll never find another her on this Earth, she was my soulmate. And before you guys look at me weird, we can have soulmates as friends. Google it. She said with an attitude. The crowd chuckled.

“This is going to be the hardest thing I may ever have to process, but I know she would want me to live my life, continue in my career, and show up for our other sisters like the mother she was to each and every last one of us. I have big shoes to fill, but most of all, I have a hole in my heart that must be filled with memories of her goodness and graciousness. We love you Kenzie,” she screamed as tears flowed from her eyes.

Asha placed the mic on the podium and signaled for help walking down the stairs, the crowd touching her back and hugging her, letting her know everything was going to be okay. Asha sat with the other three members of their clique. Stacy, Zelle, and Bri. Attached at the hips since birth, the Quintessential Dynamites were a force to be reckoned with and everyone in the town knew it. Someone’s gotta pay, Bri leaned over and whispered, all doing their secret snap, to let the room know that Kenzie’s death didn’t change who was in charge.

A week after the funeral the girls got word on the hoodlum who had supposedly struck killed Mackenzie Grafton. He was a three time ex-con, no relationship with God, and had ties to the mob who ran the locals on Baltimore’s north side. The file was sent over from Bri’s husband who was a detective. Asha got ahold of the file and immediately fell to her knees. “God, noooo, she screamed. Please God, please God, this cant be, why, why her, why me? God I need you to cover me in strength. Cloth me in your dignity, guide my heart in the right direction, and whatever you do, please guard my life. I know I made mistakes in my past, and I know I have secrets that have to be exposed, but please father have mercy.”

She pleaded with God to lift the burden of her heart, the weight she carried for the clique, didn’t match the secrets she held in silence.