The car rattled over the gravel, ten years ago, each bump a tremor of fear.
“Clarence, where are you taking us?” Vanessa asked, her voice strained. She gripped the worn seat fabric, watching her husband’s knuckles tighten on the steering wheel.
“Shut up!” Clarence snapped, accelerating down the winding road. The trees blurred into a green streak as he pushed the car faster.
“Daddy, slow down!” little A’niyah cried, her small voice lost in the rising wind.
“Clarence, stop. You're scaring them,” Vanessa pleaded, her eyes fixed on her daughter’s terrified face.
“I love you all,” Clarence said, his voice flat and distant. “Since we couldn't be a family on earth, maybe we can be in heaven.” He steered the car toward the cliff edge.
“Daddy, no, please!” Aliyah screamed, her hands clasped in prayer. Her mother and siblings echoed her fear.
“Clarence, no! This isn’t right. Let the kids go, take me,” Vanessa cried, clutching a crying baby CJ. Her voice was raw with desperation.
“Mommy, apologize to daddy, please, Mommy. Do it, please. I'm scared,” Aliyah sobbed, shaking her mother’s shoulder. Her face was streaked with tears.
“A’niyah, please don’t stop talking,” Vanessa whispered, her face pale. She stared at A’niyah, a desperate plea in her eyes.
“Mommy, tell daddy you’re sorry. Do it, please! I'm scared,” Aliyah repeated, her voice cracking with fear.
Before anyone could react, the car careened off the road, tumbling over the cliff edge. Clarence, Baby CJ, and Aliyah were thrown from the vehicle as it plunged into the ravine.
That was the last thing A’niyah saw before darkness consumed her.
---
One year later…
“Mommy, I’m sorry, please don’t go,” A’niyah sobbed, clinging to her mother’s leg. She looked up with pleading eyes.
“A’niyah, just fucking go. My life would be better without you,” Vanessa spat, shoving A’niyah toward her uncle’s car.
“Come on, Nana, it’s okay. You don’t need her anyway,” Santana said, picking up the sobbing A’niyah. Santana’s voice was a forced calm.
“No, Mom, please! I’m sorry. No, I'm sorry!” A’niyah cried, struggling to break free and run back to her mother, who was already driving away.
“A’niyah, come on. It’s okay. You’re with us,” Vassiah, A’niyah’s older cousin, said, trying to soothe her. She wrapped her arms around A’niyah, but the little girl's body was rigid with fear and desperation.