There is a room connect to the circle room. And in that room there is a tub. "This bath is clean." says Babusha. "What's… finna happen to me?"
"Mokiri, you need to have a baptism to clean your spirit." Daisy tells me. She takes me by the arm and guides me to the bath. The liquid in the tub is orange. "Who else been in here?"
"No one." says Babusha. "Get undress and get in."
I grab my belt. "Like naked or just take like my shirt to my bra and get in? Like you mean, skin dip. Get in there raw?"
"Mokiri!" Steroids made me ugly. I didn't like looking at myself. My belly all extended, I had muscle. I looked like a muscular ass raspberry. And my neck was thick. "Mokiri. Get in the tub."
I hate Daisy. I take off my jacket, my pants, and let my hair down. "Off." Daisy slaps my thigh. I'm in my underwear. I clasp my bra and let that fall off my shoulders. At least my breast are full and real. I just grab them for comfort, like this is my most vulnerable.
I let mmy underwear drop and step into the tub with my right leg. It's not cold but a bit hot. "Come to the foot of the tub." I do as directed. "Get in there. Sit down."
I let go of a breath as my ass hits the fluid. It's not bad. Finally I let go of my chest and Babusha lowers my head down and feel the orange water touch the back of my neck and shoot up straight. "Wait!"
"Mokiri!"
"Just let me breathe first!"
"Child, you have to calm down."
I take deep breaths and hold the sides of the tub. I flex my shoulder, scoot further down. What happens if I let go of the bath? Will I drown?
No. I'll be fine, I just need to… calm down. But what if I don't come up?
How long do I have to stay in here?
"Mokiri, we are here." says Babusha. "The water doesn't hurt…"
"It doesn't?" And I start thinking about the mermaid. The water wanted to drown me. It hit me. "This water is not the same, Mokiri." she grabs my shoulders coaxing me. Deep breaths… I'm ok.
Did the water bubble? "Wait!" I jolt forward again. "Mokiri!" Daisy pushes my chest down and I fight against her. "Wait!" I scream. She pulls my arms from the rim of the bath. "Let go!"
"What's wrong with you!" I feel the water on my neck again. "Sin! Stop!"
"She's wasting time!" DAisy put her hand on my neck. I start kicking. "Daisy! Let her go!"
Babusha's too old to fight her. It's a whole different world under here. I can't breathe…
"It's just water! It's not finna hurt her!" the girl grab Daisy and shove her from the tub. I lift out the water and slide out. I'm naked…
"Daisy, what is wrong with you!" shouts Babusha." "You are having a baptism next!"
"I don't need a fucking bath!"
"Stop yelling." I almost drowned again. "Daisy, get out!" I just wanna lay on this floor. "You yelling at me and she's weak!" I can hear. "She just like her fucking mama!"
"Get out!"
"somebody come get her!"
I am…?
.
.
.
Danebod gave me a blanket with a heater and a hot cup of chocolate. "Chocolate is good for the spirit. It causes joy." she told me. "Thank you." I took a drink from the hot chocolate. She put a chocolate chip cookie in it.
I dunked the cookie in the the milk and after three seconds ate the cookie. "It's hot…"
"I've never dunk a cookie before." said Sokkaina.
"You never had a cookie?"
"I've had… candy like lollipops."
I rose a brow, "Where are you from?"
"Yamen." she smirks. "My family didn't have much. Our house didn't have a door. We got robbed a lot. We had tv but no cable. Then, my mom found out my dad stole the tv and the tv didn't work." she said.
"Damn…"
"Then, the man he stole it from. Come to the house and shot my dad right in the doorway. So it was just me and my mama."
"Damn."
She drunk her own cup of hot chocolate. You wanna hear the rest?"
"Does soebody die in it?"
"No."
"Ok. What happened?"
"My mama met a banker from Qatar. And he was rich… ish."
"Why ish?"
"He said he was a banker, we didn't know he was a pimp."
I put my cup down. "How did your mother get with a pimp?"
"We didn't know. Everything seemed good until mama saw a woman in the kitchen and my mama got hit. I ran away. He didn't care."
"Where did you go?"
"I…"
"I'm back!" Danebod called. "I have good and bad news."
"Committed suicide." Sokkaina looked at me. "What!"
"What?" we both stare at her. "I committed suicide. I didn't wanna be homeless. I was 12."
"Anyway…" Danebod is shook. "Daisy is going through her baptism so Mokiri had to wait."
"Is she ok?" I ask.
"Yes and no." I don't want anything to happen to Daisy, Sister Sin. What about Lola? "Daisy went in and arm grabbed Babusha."
"An arm?"
"What did you see in meditation?"
"A cow…" I'm confused. "It was a white man and he was bleeding from his head. Is Daisy ok?"
"It may be a devil thing." she says.
"Technically a devil can't be controlled by another devil. It's Abner." says Sokkaina.
"Then we have to watch the tapes."
"Tapes?"
"Abner and friends is a tape of TV show."
Sokkaina stands up, "What about the church?"
"Which church?"
"That's where they come from. The cast."
"It's gone…"
"I doubt it. It lives in somebody memory."
"What church?" I ask. "The Admissions of Mark Church." explains Sokkaina. "That were the cast members were created. Adonijah ran the church."
"Oh! Karolina…"
"Who?"
"Karolina is Lola's aunt but she overdosed on cocaine?" said Danebod. "She's not bad or anything."
"I think she's dead." said Sokkaina. "But anyway. We could use the old church."
"I don't wanna go there. And we can't just take one of the back alleys through Locucts."
"Why not. This is Locucts."
"Correction, this is the bridge. Mokiri you had to learn how to shift.
"Huh?"