One In A Million Chapter 01
Rogani sighed as she stared at the picture in her hands, feeling her hands trembling at the memories that flooded her head.
Flashback, 2001
Rogani peeked her head out of the door of her room after hearing a scream and then the first of the sobs. They had startled her and naturally she wanted to see what all the noise was. She rubbed her eyes, she was tired since she had been abruptly woken out of her nap. She was excited also, Liyah would be coming back today, her mom had said that she would either be back today or early tomorrow.
Rogani's eyes widened when she saw her mother fall to her knees, screaming loudly. Rogani ran out of her room, and rushed to her mother's side.
"Mommy Mommy! Are you okay?!", Rogani cried but her mother's shoulders only shook violent. Rogani didn't know what to do but naturally, whenever someone cried, she cried too.
She saw her father's huge form tower over her. He had tears in his eyes also. What was wrong with everybody?
Her father picked her up and sat down beside his wife. He kissed Rogani's cheek and basically buried her into his chest, squeezing her tightly, as Rogani saw his other hand rub her mother's back in a comforting motion.
"What's wrong, daddy?", Rogani questioned and saw more tears fall from her father's eyes as her mother's form shook even more.
"Babygirl...", he started but he couldn't even control himself as he broke down too, as did Rogani, even though she had no clue what the problem was.
A few hours later, Rogani saw her father trying to get her mother to lay down for a while but her mother just shook him off, screaming God knows what and bawling again. Rogani was still as confused as ever when she hopped onto the couch and turned the tv on and the words on the screen shocked her.
A message scrolled at the bottom of the screen and it read:
BREAKING NEWS: Singer, Aaliyah has just been killed in a plane crash in the Bahamas
Rogani found herself looking down, confused. She didn't know much about death but her parents had told her that it was when people left here and went to heaven.
Rogani jumped off the couch and ran to find her dad. She walked into her parents room and saw her mom clutching a pillow as she cried into it. Her dad was on the edge of the bed, looking down as he cried.
"Mommy, Daddy...on the tv...they said Liyah isn't here anymore! Liyah wouldn't leave me so what are they talking about?", Rogani questioned and saw her father stand up and walk over to her.
"That's not true...right, daddy?"
When her father didn't say anything, Rogani found herself growing angry.
"Daddy!", she yelled, feeling tears rolling down her face.
"Babygirl...sissy isn't here anymore...she's gone on to a better place"
"No!", Rogani yelled, feeling her heart break "No! Liyah wouldn't leave me daddy! Yesterday, she promised me she was coming back very soon, sissy wouldn't lie to me, daddy! She's about to come through the door, watch!"
Rogani tried to walk away but was scooped up into her father's arms.
"I'm sorry, baby girl...I'm sorry", he sobbed and Rogani joined him, realizing it was true. Rogani felt her world tumble all around her.
The sound of her phone ringing, broke her out of her thoughts. Rogani smiled at the picture and laid it down before grabbing her phone.
"Hey Rashad"
"Where you at, girl?"
"I'm up in my room, where are you?"
"At your door"
Rogani shook her head with a smile as she got up. When she opened the door, she grabbed her brother into a tight hug.
"Why you always stopping by my house unexpectedly? I could have a man over here"
He snorted and gave her a daring look.
"You ain't crazy, little girl"
Rogani rolled her eyes at that comment and went to sit down on her couch, her brother following.
"What brings you here, brother?"
"So, you know Roman Reigns, right?"
Rogani nodded, grabbing her remote, trying to find something on tv
"Well that new studio he was building has just opened and he's gonna be there for the next three days"
Rogani looked at her brother with a questionable look on her face.
"Um...and that concerns me...how?"
"He's holding tryouts at the studio for his wife, Galina. You know how she's looking for some backup dancers, right?"
Rogani nodded, putting on Spongebob, it never got old to her. Rashad looked at the screen and then back at her and smiled before continuing to talk.
"Well I'm taking your ass down there to try out"
Rogani immediately protested
"No, Rashad-"
"So many fucking opportunities have passed you! And I'm not taking no for an answer, Rogani. I will drag you out of here kicking and screaming, and you know I will. You have an amazing talent. The way you dance...not to mention your voice! You remind me so much-"
"Don't...Rashad...", Rogani felt her heart drop. She saw a look of realization come across her brother's face. Rogani slowly sat back down on the couch, bringing her knees up to her chest, hugging them.
"That's it? That's what you're afraid of?"
Rogani couldn't bring herself to answer him. She felt her brother wrap his arms around her and she couldn't stop the tears from pouring out.
"I...I miss her so much...", she whispered
"I know, baby...I do too"
What was suppose to be a joy-filled evening turned out to be one of misery. And honestly, Rogani felt really stupid because of it but she also couldn't help it...just the mention of her sisters name brought her world crashing down again. It was something she would probably never get over, she had come to that conclusion years ago. Her heart aches in the worse way, there was never a day that went by where she didn't think of Aaliyah.
Before she had knew it, she had fallen asleep from all the crying. She didn't realize it until she felt her brother placing her in bed. Stuck between half-asleep and half-awake, she whispered
"Don't leave, Shad"
Without a word, her brother pulled off his shoes and got in bed beside her.
"It'll get better, Rog...I promise it will", his words were soothing but all they did was make her cry again "You just gotta know that she's okay...you wanna know how I know? Because I can feel it...I think about her all the time too, and I still hurt because of it...but when I start to feel sad, I immediately remember that Liyah's okay, she doesn't want us to worry, Rog...because she may be gone from here but she went to a better place...the best place"
Rogani couldn't help but cry even more, sleep long gone. She didn't know what to do. She wanted to scream and throw things and curse god but she would never do that. Nothing would bring her sister back...and she didn't know how much longer she could live with that fact.
