(3) Born with a gift 3

"How old is your daughter again," said a fat black lady who looked like a fortune teller, sitting in a meditation position with dead animal skin used to decorate a tent, with a crystal ball in the middle of the table

"Shes 5 ma'am, " Debbie said looking at the lady whose hand was on her forehead, John who was sitting next to Debbie looked at the lady irritated

"Oh I see something," the lady said with her eyes tightly shut "she's no ordinary child, no no no, she's just in kindergarten right" John put his hand on his face, with the sense of anyone could have assumed that "and you said she started talking the day she turned 5?"

 Debbie clears her throat and answers "Yes ma, and she talked frequent Asif she has talked before, it was strange and.... " the lady uses her finger to stop her from talking"Enough talking, now look into the crystal ball both of you"

 Debbie leans forward, John mumbles I feel stupid before he leans too "now tell me what do you see". Debbie replies "I see nothing "

John then pauses for a moment, then suddenly his eyes widened, then he speaks "I see... I see.. " the lady and Debbie becomes curious "I see... I wasted 10 whole dollars " the lady sighs and says..."Normally I charge double" he grunts and faces the other way

The lady focus on Debbie "something tells me this man is not the father of the child''

"How did you know? "

"What... You think am a fake, well sweetheart am real alright, and to tell you the truth I feel a sense of connection between you and your child, and I have two options "

"And what are they? "

"Shes either a curse or she's a witch "

"What??!!" John jumps in "This is ridiculous, stop filling her mind with rubbish am sure there's a perfectly good explanation for all this"

Debbie nods No "Can't you see, Precious isn't like others she's... different, shes just Different everything about her, I need to know what's wrong with her, even if it comes to this "

Debbie said a bit emotional "so, what do you think, can you save my daughter? "

 the fat fortune teller sits up straight"Your daughter posses a lot of things, and the more she'll grow the more weird things would begin to happen, I don't know if she's a witch or a demon or a supernatural being what I know is that the only way to stop her from seeing things or having to do things is if she wears a special charm"

"And how much will this special charm cost" John ask with a face that says he isn't bluffing

"Oh it would cost you nothing" Debbie begins to thank her "but there is a catch though "

''And what's that" Debbie asked concern

"The charm wouldn't last for long I don't know when it would stop working, all I know is there's a time the charm wouldn't have any power" the fortune-teller stands up she opened a cupboard and brings out what appears to be a wooden cross necklace

 "Here take this and put it around her neck" Debbie carefully takes the necklace from the fortune teller

"Thank you madam " she rises to leave with John when the lady stops them"Wait, Debbie, I think there's another way for you to know what's wrong with your child "

"There is? "

"Yes, go back to your home town I think you'd seek your answers there"

"I can't, am banished, if I ever set foot there am dead" the lady didn't say another word she just got back to her meditating.

______ They enter their car, Precious was fast asleep at the back seat, Debbie carefully goes to the back seat and carefully put the charm round her babies neck

"I hope this work"

 she looks at the precious peaceful face, John smiles while looking too then replies

"Me too"

She sighs "I know I say this a lot, but thank you"

"Stop saying that, it's okay"

"You've done more than what any human would even do, you took us in and made us your family, that's the nicest thing anyone could have done for me"

he simply smiles"What can I say, maybe am your guardian angel sent from above"

"You indeed are, and I'll forever be grateful "

"Let's go home"

Debbie surely hasn't forgotten about her home, her family, her friends, she tries her best not to think of them much, cause the worse feeling was knowing she won't ever see them again. She's not alone, she has a family of her own now, sometimes she wonders how life would have been if Daniel accepted her, if her baby was just born normal, She often wonders if her child is a blessing or a curse.

__________ Later in the evening, John and Debbie eyes where both focus on the TV their favorite movie series was on, but then they hear precious calling out different names then she goes to meet her mum and dad and begins to cry, Debbie carries her on her lap and uses her hands to dry her tears

"Baby what's wrong"

precious sobs" I... I can't find my friends "

"Well, did you check everywhere "

"Yes... Yes I did, mummy my friends has all gone away"

Precious begins to pour, Debbie paths her back and rests her head on her chest then she lip-syncs to John the charm worked John looks at her and smiled.

_________Precious eventually gave up on looking for her "friends" and soon forgot they ever existed.

It took time though, but I guess as she grew older those memories felt like dreams and those "friends" were just imaginary.

Precious grew up having no friends at all, you could say she's the word "introvert" herself but unlike other girls, she's more confident, easily approachable, friendly, a girl with a heart of gold, but she hides it, the only part that showed was just a lost lonely little girl who Could need a purpose

Who could need a friend?

As time passed, Debbie soon forgot all her worries about her daughter, she seemed "normal" now. and it made her feel at ease, Everything was normal for the time being, but occasionally her mind still travels back, back to her home, Back to that awful period. what went wrong? how did it happen,? how is Precious this way?

These are questions that kept playing over and over in her mind 

She made a promise to herself that she would protect her daughter from all of these. Precious deserves a life like everyone else