Friday, December 17th, 2021. Grace Temple Church, Hattiesburg Mississippi.
"Does anyone have anything to say about the dearly departed, Willie Sanders Benjamin?" Says the pastor during the funeral. "I do.." Confessed the child in the back. The child walks to the front of the church behind the podium. "Hello everyone, you may not know me, but Willie is my Grandpa but I called him PawPaw. My PawPaw always told me to always cherish my loved ones while they're still living.. But I didn't cherish him.. To be honest, my PawPaw was and still is my hero! He was a legend and I will miss him every single damn day! I want to make my PawPaw proud so for the rest of my life I will do nothing but cherish everyone around me, and you all should do the same!" Kaden boomed out as the room yelled out in cheers. Kaden walks down to sit in his seat next to his girlfriend, Joi. Joi holds Kaden's hand as he sits. "It's going to be ok Kaden.." Joi says as he starts to cry. Kaden breaks down into tears as he hugs Joi tightly.
Kaden walks out of the church 3 hours later. His Mother was waiting inside the car while she cried. "Is your Mother going to be alright?" Joi asked worriedly as she walked out of the church. Kaden looked back at her as his eyes were still watering. "She should be after we talk about it at home.. But honestly, she just needs time for herself." Kaden replies. "Well, if you need anything, me and my family are here for you!" Joi says. Kaden hugs her instantly as he cried a bit more. "Thank you!.. I really am glad you're here for me, cause you didn't have to come.." Kaden sobbed. Joi rubs the back of his head. "I didn't have too, but I wanted too. You mean the world, the solar system, the universe and even more to me!" Joi gushed as she grabs Kaden's face. "Remember that ok?" Joi says. Kaden holds the both of her hands that are on his face and starts giggling as tears roll down his face. "Ok Joi!" He boasted as he gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Ok, I have to go home now! I'll call you Tomorrow!" Joi exclaimed as she leans in. "Ok..-" Kaden tries to reply but gets cut off with a kiss from Joi. Joi smiles after breaking the kiss and then runs off. "Whoa.." Kaden says as he faintly touches his lips. Kaden smiles as he walks to his Mom's car as his Mom. "Hey Momma, are you ready to go?.." Kaden asked his mother with uncertainty. His Mother looked at him while her eyes turned black. "What.. The.. HELL!?" Kaden screamed out as his entire area turned into a static like mess. Kaden gets slapped by his Mom. As the slap connected to his face, he sees a "creature" with a black top hat and 1 eye look at him with a wicked smile-like facial structure. Kaden falls onto the ground. "KADEN!?" His Mother yelled out in a panic as she grabbed him before he could hit the pavement.
5 hours later, Kaden wakes up in his bed. "Ughh...." Kaden groaned. He tries to look around but his vision is hazy for the most part. He shakes his head and afterwards his vision miraculously goes back to normal. Kaden gets up from his bed and goes downstairs to see where his mother was. "MOMMA!" Kaden yelled out as he reached the kitchen. Kaden walks by the fridge until something catches his eyes. He turns back to the fridge and sees a note from his mother that reads "Ran out for a drink with a couple of friends, trying to drink this pain away 🥴 - Love, Mom!" Kaden looked at this note and laughed a bit. "Ahhh classic mom!" Kaden laughed.
He turns to see a picture of his grandpa near the hallway. "PawPaw.." Kaden says as he sees the picture then shakes his head. "HE WOULDN'T WANT ME NOR MOMMA TO BE SAD!" Kaden blurts out anticlimactically. Kaden takes out his phone and calls his friends. "MATTHEW, DIEKO, TOFUNMI, DAMIEN, ZANE, AND AKIRA! LETS HAVE SOME FUN!" Kaden yells out. "AYE SHUT THE FUCK UP IN THERE!" His Neighbor yells. "SORRY MR. DOOLEY!" Kaden replied loudly. "Kaden you good?" Damien asked. "Yea I'm alright! Just come over!" Kaden says before he hangs up. Kaden then calls Joi.
"Hello?" Joi says when she answered. "Hey Joi, you still in Hattiesburg?" Kaden asked. "Yeaaa? Why?" Joi questioned. "Well I wanna hang out!" Kaden answered. Joi hangs up the phone as Kaden hears someone knocking on the door. He walks to the door. "Hello?" Kaden says with a questioning tone. "It's us Kaden!" Says Matthew. Kaden opens the door as all of them walk into the house.
As Kaden is about to close the door he sees Joi's Mom's car is about to come to his place. "OH guys! Joi is almost here!" Kaden says. "Ok dude- but we still need to talk about your grandpa dude." Dieko says. "I know I know! But everything is fine now!" Kaden says but before he even finished his statement, the car Kaden was looking at that Joi was riding in, get hit by a truck. Kaden turns after hearing the sounds of the truck's impact with the car and looks absolutely terrified.
"JOIIIIII!!!" Kaden yells out as he runs towards car and sees Joi's unconscious body while both of her Mom and Step-Dad took most of the impact of the crash. Kaden grabs Joi and takes her out the car as everyone else in the house runs out. "OH SHIT!" Tofunmi blurts out while the others take out their phones to call the ambulance.
30 minutes later, Joi was urgently taken to the hospital while Kaden went with her. "It's going to be ok Joi!.. ITS GOING TO BE OK!" Kaden screams as he tries to calm himself down about the situation. When they reached the hospital, Joi was rushed inside the emergency room, and when Kaden tried to go in with her, the staff stopped him. "Sir, we can not allow you to go in with her." Said one of the staff members. "Fine.. but when can I see her?.." Kaden asked. "We are uncertain but we can give you a call once she is awake or if the worse happens." The staff member replies. "I'd appreciate that.." Kaden sadly stammered as he wrote his house number down on a piece of paper. He gives it to the staff member then leaves.
TO BE CONTINUED...