Cullayne POV

I was already at my wits end with my cousin and to walk into the shop to see her arms up by a perfect raggamuffin was by far not my cup of afternoon tea.

I stared at her as she stared back at me but I was not really interested in her answer nor was I the least bit taken in by the lanky scruffy man who glared with open interest at me.

I wanted him out of here so I turned fully to him and made to tell him to leave but in that instant my eyes and his made four.

I involuntarily stepped back as I instinctively started to read him up. There was a deep-rooted anger in him that was shrouded by pain and rejection. I saw a shadowy kaleidoscope of figures around him some menacing, while others helped his dark and wicked authority that was fueled by his desire to dominate and have brutal power.

An automatic shiver coursed down my spine and I felt my body get weak but it was the scene behind my mind's eyes of him standing over a crumpled figure with a gun his finger pulling the trigger multiple times that took me to a threshold that I had never been.

My body shook with a bone-chilling chill as it seemed to be riddled with the burning painful impact of those bullets that he fired without remorse. It had me gasping for breath and fighting to regain my composure as I became numb with fear pain and an unfathomable sense of loss.

I have never read like this before. What was happening? Why did it seem I was connected to whomever he was after?

"Ms Cullayne...hey?! Ms Cullayne yuh alright?!"

Voices like distant echoes parade through the phantom plains where this reading took me and I fought to reach out to them to drag me back to my reality.

"Quick get a bottle of guiniehen weed root and sage-smelling bar," I heard a voice say only to be followed by "Quick Seana!"

I did not know if it was my momentary trance but somehow it seemed that Seana stood there reluctant to move. It was as if she took pleasure in seeing me like this but try as I might I could not move to read her.

Which was very strange. Her resentment toward me and dislike were obvious because she showed it openly to me but the reason for it I was unable to read.

I felt my body go weak and then limp as I fought to pull myself out of the despondent slough that reading the stranger had caused and the added stress put on by trying to get through Seana's barrier.

"Ms Cullayne smell this..."

I heard someone say as I was carried to a chair and gently placed to sit.

"Uno watch ar deh mi a guh call Kemar..."

I heard another voice speak as the bar was shoved beneath my nose and in a few minutes following I started to feel like my old self. I swallowed and took a deep breath and pushed away the hand that held the smelling bar to my nose.

I sat upright and feebly assured the room of people who seemed to come from nowhere that I was fine. I turned to Mr Ford whom I had taken into the shop to assist with the purchases he would need as Seana was not waiting outside the reading room when he was through.

I made to speak to him when the tall lanky figure moved to walk by me instead my hand shot out and grabbed his. In mere seconds of my fingers contacting with his, it seemed like a ball of fire rushed from my body and shot through his. As I held onto him without my control, words started to spill from my lips.

There are things in our lives that we will never be able to change but you are still the prodigal son that is out there. You need to return home before it's too late. The hands that are feeding you are like the pig thraff and it's not where you are to be.

Return home before you waste away your life that God so richly wants to use. God your father wants so much to put on a banquet feast for your return...

"Leggo off a mi rass hand and nuh preach to mi." He said dragging his hand from mine to flash it as if being burned. He rubbed his wrist and said menacingly. "An nuh read mi yuh ere lil gyal if a yuh know way good fi yuh yuh fallah yuh madda a read d people dem weh come yah fi dat!"

Silence descended on the shop as we stood there looking at each other. I wanted to move from the chair and run to the safety of my room but all I did was look into the eyes of the lost boy that was raging to break free so that the man he was could live the life intended for him.

I felt a tear stream down my cheek and I hastily brushed it away. For the first time in the days of my starting to read felt the bitter resentment that I had for my gift materialize.

I shakily got up from the chair and fought my wounded pride as I turned to Mr Ford and spoke through the unshed tears that clogged my throat.

"Give the paper I gave you to Ms. Seana and she'll instruct Neesie on the required items to give you. Also please follow the set instructions I gave you."

I was making to leave when Shanty returned gasping for breath in her hasty return her limp I realised was beginning to be more prominent.

"Ms Cullayne Kemar seh him a leave Chedwick Health Center at 1 o'clock so him will come over when him through."

I held her hand and pulled her towards the reading room without acknowledging what she said. I just wanted to be alone and wrapped up in the motherly comfort of her arms.

The minute the door was shut behind her I did just that and without hesitation, she wrapped me in her arms like she did all those times when I needed the solace and comfort that was not compromised by a mother's desire and a father's dedication to his wife.

"I... I can... can't do this Mama Shanty," I stammered as I cried into her shoulder.

"Ssshhhh now," she hushed rubbing my back comfortingly.

"Mam... Mama Sha...ty mi serious."

She pushed me gently away and looked at me her face now wrinkled with age and the grey now prominent in her coil hair that was caught in a tight bun at the nape of her neck.

"Listen to me you are doing exactly what is the will of God for you. It is not going to be easy but we are here for you."

I shook my head in angry defiance causing the thick braids of the end of my cornrows to fall from where I had tucked them under the turban I wore.

"I am not my mother. I unlike her don't want to be a reader!"

"Shush now!" she snapped clearly intent on not to indulge me.

"There is something inside of you dat is far more powerful dan dat of what I saw in your grandmother and even your mammy. You are a legacy child and you need to stop running."

I knew she was right. I did have something inside of me but I did not ask for it and yet in all things one thing was true I could not run from it.

"Stand in your purpose Cullayne don't let the devil win."

She hugged me back to her slender frame and as I battled once more with myself I heard her mumbled an invocation that touched me deeply as I discovered it was what she did for Kemar and her other children and grandbabies.

I was however not sure if I was strong enough to stick around. All it took was one plane ticket to end it but would it end when the gift was a part of my very being?

=========================================

Ok, so there you have it... we've reached the end of the second five chapters 😊.
Hope you enjoyed it 😊😊.

See it fit to comment (interaction from readers is always a writer's motivation.)

Leave a vote (shows that the chapters were worth reading.)

Share with friends (this would really be the icing on my cake.)

Also, I would love it if you add A Read~er Woman- The Legacy to your readers list for notifications of future posting of chapters.

Thanks for your support it means so much 💕💕💕