Chapter 22

March 2016

On a blustery and overcast day around St. Patrick’s Day, Karisma and Jarrod married at Indianapolis’s county courthouse without fanfare. Karisma had long since let go of childish dreams of a splendid wedding and dazzling gown. Instead she had donned a sundress and been satisfied with blue polo shirt Jarrod chose to wear. She had brushed Sydney’s stringy blond hair into pigtails and found some warm tights, a skirt, and long-sleeved top for the little girl to wear since she was practically living with the couple by then. The mood had been somber and Karisma went through the motions like she was simply filling out paperwork on the job.

For some reason, Ibrahim had stopped talking to her again and this rejection had been the real catalyst that pushed her into legally and permanently attaching herself to Jarrod. Aside from him, she was alone in the world, depressing circumstances that she had never in 1,000,000,000 years expected to find herself in. Every single time she closed her eyes she saw one of them and when she opened her eyes to find herself alone again, another little piece of her soul died.

As she sat rocking her new stepdaughter to sleep the night after the civil ceremony she found herself singing softly a song she had recently heard on the radio, “Precious child, in my mind I see you clear as a bell, precious child, precious child, in my heart there is a hole…. that will never be filled.” Her tears flowed dropping onto Sydney’s head nestled against her shoulder. She no longer felt anger, only a great and heavy sadness. “Whether we are near or apart, you will live forever….in my heart.”

After Sydney was settled on the couch, she had stolen away into the bathroom with a baggie and paper straw to make the painful memories go away.

“Sorry, but even you as a BSN should realize that those supposed medical professionals were practicing quackery!” Richelle, the relief supervisor, balked as she and Karisma took their lunch break together in the nurse’s lounge

Karisma had recently during a 5 day long trip to Florida managed to obtain copies of Wisdom and Janoah’s death certificates. She couldn’t get over the feeling that the documents were doctored somehow. Richelle, a 50 something year old with nearly as many years on the job as Karisma had been alive, was approachable and knowledgeable, so she took her questions to her. The doctors tended to be unapproachable, so she had not bothered with them at all.

“There’s no way a 15-year-old with no history of drug abuse or addiction could have withstood to ingest all of that Fentanyl of her own freewill.” Richelle continued between bites of chicken salad and whole wheat crackers. “She’d have been unconscious not breathing from a fraction of that amount.”

“She wasn’t particularly happy to be alive, never had been, but we never believed she killed herself.” Karisma admitted absentmindedly stirring her canned soup rather than eating.

“It isn’t a pretty way to go.” Richelle shook her head for emphasis before dropping her voice and confirming Karisma’s worst fear. “Frankly it sounds like somebody intentionally overdosed her. You said your mom could never get a straight story from anyone at the hospital about what happened. That’s because they didn’t bother to find out or alert the police like they should have. No blood, hair, or tissue sample taken from the body to determine exposure; no investigation. The whole thing was botched from the beginning.”

“Well my brother was at another hospital and there was an autopsy after he died from a traumatic brain injury, but all we ever found out was he arrived as a John Doe without identification and had a lot of bruises on his face. He looked awful when his cadaver was finally located and identified.” Karisma shook her own head in frustration.

“Again, no tissue samples taken to determine the age of the bruises or blood samples to analyze for the presence of abnormal substances? What the Hell were they doing, a damn eyeball autopsy?” Richelle’s face turned red with her outrage.

“What exactly is an eyeball autopsy?” Karisma queried.

“Exactly what it sounds like, hun! It’s when those supposed medical experts just look at the victim and write down something rather than doing their damn jobs!” Richelle clucked her tongue.

More than once over the past nearly 7 years, Karisma had asked herself more than once, if despite their adamant insistence, the remaining Lewis family members truly wanted to know precisely what happened to Wisdom and Janoah in Florida to bring their lives to an end so young. At times, like now, she realized that she probably did not want to know all of the finer details. However, her remaining sense of family duty and loyalty would not allow her to let bygones be bygones.

What’s done in the dark must one day come to light, baby. Don’t you never forget that!

Her mother’s words of wisdom rang clearly in her head blocking out the rest of what Richelle was saying. Whether she wanted to know or not was completely irrelevant. She knew deep down that her mental anguish would never end until the truth was known and the dead could rest in peace.

“If I was your mom I would’ve sued until I owned that hospital and coroner’s office!”

Since she had never actually their graves, Karisma made up her mind to start working on her courage and the next time she and her husband went to Florida, they would stop off in Louisville. Everything fiber in being was telling her to come to her senses and never look back. Those voices went unheeded.

She had run for long enough.

Reviews

[SweetNutmeg]

"never in 1,000,000,000 years"
I think, in this sentence, spelling out a million would read more smoothly.

"Richelle, the relief supervisor, balked as she and Karisma took their lunch break together in the nurse’s lounge"

I'm not quite sure what Richelle is doing here, usually you balk *at* something. Or is that a typo?

"Since she had never actually their graves,"
There is a verb missing here.

Aside from these minor nit picks, this is a very good chapter. It is well grounded with physical details, and full of interesting information. That is a surprising and ominous turn things have taken with Karisma. I look forward to reading more.