A/N: THE LAST CHAPTER

*me nua-basia*- my sister

Chapter 24

Afia P.O.V.

I packed the last of my things and sat it on the floor next to my other things. I stared around the bare room, that had caused me nothing but pure heart ache since I arrived five years ago,

"Do you have to go?" Ashley whined.

"Yeah, I have overstayed my welcome here." I said smiling and looking around the room.

"Well you can move with me and Omar to Louisiana, your small so you could fit in my bags and plus you have the welcome pass which means it is impossible to over stay it."

"I don't think my sister would like that too much." I laughed.

"But I am going to miss you, who am I going to talk to about Supernatural, or Empire." She said whining even harder.

Ashley had ditched the last day before graduation to help me pack, and do everything in her power to get me to stay for the summer.

"You never talk to me about that because I don't watch either of those." I said frowning.

"But I could have introduced you to them and then I could have talk to you about them."

"It's not like we won't be in contact."

"But it won't be the same."

"I know but I will have to come down to see you." I said pulling her into a hug.

"You better and you better name this baby after me." She said sniffling.

I laughed and said, "But you said it was going to be a boy."

"I did, he is going to make one manly Ashley." She laughed.

I laughed along with her and our giggles suddenly came to a stop, it was almost time for me to get to the airport and these would be the last moments that I would be sharing with the girl that had become my best friend.

"How about if it is a boy I will name him Ashton." I said placing my hand on my hip.

"Not as fabulous as Ashley but it will have to do." She shrugged wiping away a tear.

"You are going to make me cry and you know with these hormones I might end up crying too hard to even make it to the airport." I said my eyes starting to water.

"I know, I know I don't want to cause any stress on my nephew, so Auntie Ashley has to toughen up." She said sniffling her nose and sticking her chess out childishly.

I burst out laughing and said, "Auntie Ashley?"

"Yes, Auntie Ashley, it has a nice ring to it." She said and then rubbed my stomach.

"You know you are just rubbing around fat right." I giggled.

"Whatever, I just don't want him to forget the sound of his Auntie's voice."

"You're so dramatic, plus he-I mean it cannot hear your voice it is still probably an egg, babies can't actually hear your voice until seven or eight months in the pregnancy."

"Ooh, I see momma has been doing her studying."

"Yeah, yeah." I said waving her off.

She laughed and nudged me and said, "Come on I will help you get your bags in the car."

"Thank you." I said gratefully.

We began to take my bags down the car, the house was silent, my parents had said earlier, 'They refused to watch a reenactment of a disobedient daughter.', So they went out and left me to pack alone, or I would have been alone if Ashley didn't show up and surprise me.

She didn't talk about what was being said about me at school, or about Ben or anyone who has been the source of my drama for months. Ashley just simply came for me and 'her favorite nephew.' As she would say. It had been a breath of fresh air really, I didn't think the baby could handle any more stress than it has been getting lately.

After a few trips from my room to my car we were finally done and I had twenty minutes to get to the airport.

"That is everything." I said sighing.

"Are you sure, what about your car?" She said becoming teary eyed again.

"I have settled that already; the car will arrive next week." I said grabbing my keys from where I placed them.

"How can I say bye to my best friend." She said pouting.

"Easy, say 'see you later'." I said hugging her.

"I will see you later." She cried.

"And you will. Plus, I will facetime you every day." I said pulling away.

"You better." She scolded.

"I will, I have to go but I will text you on the plane." I said walking to the driver's side.

Before I could even comprehend anything, Ashley's arms wrapped pulled me into the biggest and tightest hug I had ever received.

"I am going to miss you so much." She said voice muffled from my hoodie.

"I will miss you more Ashley." I said hugging her back.

"Ok I have to let you go now but I love you guys and be safe." She said hugging me once more and letting go and stepping back.

"We love you to." I said smiling at her and getting into my car.

I pulled away and I went in the direction towards the airport. I didn't even notice but I had tears coming out of my eyes and I wiped them away, I guess Ashley was the hardest to say goodbye to was because she was the truest one to me.

I pulled into the airport and parked it in the area they had told me to park it yesterday when I called and I grabbed my things and rolled into the airport and my flight was called immediately and I went through the security and handed the flight assistant my ticket, she then guided me onto the plane. I found my spot quickly and placed my things above me in the compartment and sat down. The sleep that I had not gotten yesterday had caught up to me and I find myself slipping into a deep slumber.

----

I had slept through the whole plain ride and I had not gotten the chance to text Ashley so my phone was currently filled with her text messages and missed phone calls.

As I was getting off the plane I decided to call her, "Hello."

"Damnit Afia you almost made me have a heart attack."

"I know I am sorry, it's just that I fell asleep."

"Well I am happy you two are ok are you still on the plane?"

"No just landed."

"Thank God I have been so nervous, but make sure you call me later tonight I don't care even if we are in different time zones."

"I will be sure to call you." I said recognizing a very familiar figure holding a sign with my name in messy writing.

"Ok bye I love you."

"Bye I love you to." I said before hanging up.

I walked over to the figure and seeing that it was, Angelo.

"Hey Afodile." Angelo said grinning.

Nothing has changed about him, in these three years, he still had that same Latino flair.

"You know I hate that name." I said rolling my eyes.

"I do." He laughed and pulled me into a hug.

"How have you been Angelo, Akua has told me you have barely been sleeping." I said letting go.

"I have been fine Akua is just worry some."

"Funny thing is, she says the same thing about you."

He laughed and said, "Let me get your bags."

He grabbed my things and we walked towards the pick-up parking lot.

"So, I hear I am expecting a niece or nephew." Angelo said putting everything in the car.

"Yes, you are." I said half smiling.

"Does Ben know?"

"Yeah I am pretty sure he does."

"Well what does he think?"

"I don't think he will be part of their life."

"Well they have a pretty tough Uncle." Angelo said driving out of the airport.

"I know." I chuckled.

We were silent the whole drive, mainly because I did not want to talk about Akua's current state, I wanted to believe when I went there she was going to be fine and sitting there with a smile and a welcoming hug. 

We arrived at the hospital and they gave me a pass and we took the elevator to the cancer floor, My, nose started to tickle from the smell of medicine. I hated hospitals.

We walked down the weirdly long hallway and finally stopped at a door that had the numbers, '427', my heart started to beat irregularly and my hands started to shake.

"You should go in there by yourself, I am going to take your things to our place." Angelo said breaking the silence.

I nodded and he left and with all the strength I could muster I opened the door and there sat a frail figure with hair that was cut close to her head, she was on several IV's and was sleeping. I didn't want to wake her so I settled for just being by her side.

I wiped away my tears and grabbed her hand. Akua had always been skinny but she was never frail skinny.

"Are you crying." Akua said opening her eyes.

"Yes."

"Stop crying, no sister of mine is going to be a punk." She said gripping my hand.

"Why didn't you tell me you were this bad?"
"Because I didn't want you to make any rasher decisions."

"But you should have told me."

"But I didn't, and you're here now which is even better now how is my niece doing."

"Niece?"

"Your baby is going to be a girl."

"It's too early to tell."

"Trust me it is going to be a girl, I am good at finding out the gender of a baby, you know I told mom what you were going to be two months into her pregnancy."

"You sound like a friend of mines, but she said it was going to be a boy."

"Well I am calling girl, and I already have a name picked out."

"And that is?"

"Amara."

"What does that mean?" I said curious.

"It means grace in Igbo."

"How did you think of that name?"

"Because it was going to be my child's middle name." She laughed and slightly coughing.

"You were pregnant?"
"No, but I wanted to be."

"You could still get pregnant Akua, you will get through this."

"Did you want to know what the first name was going to be?" She said ignoring my last comment.

"What was it."

"Afua, it's your name and my name mixed together."

"You could still name her that." I said while tears were falling down my face.

"No, I can't Afia, I don't have long-"

"Please Akua don't- "

"No I have to say this; the cancer has spread to my ovaries and there is little they can actually do."

It felt like my life was going down in smoke, when she said those words, it feels like your heart is being ripped out of your chest and you have to watch someone else stomp on it. My sister, the person that I have been through hell is with is going to be leaving me to go through hell alone.

"Do you know when?" I said looking down at our hands

"They said I have a few months top."  She said letting out a rigged breath.

I shut my eyes and said, "By few months."

"As in two," She squeezed my hand. "Please don't be stressed, I don't want that for you or the baby."

"How can I not be, my sister is going to be dead in two months or hell even tomorrow." I cried.

"Don't think about it like that, Angelo and I have come to peace with it, and I have the both of you taken care of after I pass."
"I don't care if you have us taken care of, I want you to be here for me, Angelo, Amara or Ashton, I want you to be here for me when I graduate college and I want you to be there when I finally choose what I want to be when I leave college, or what about if I ever get married and I want you to walk me down the aisle. Who is going to be there for me when I finally confront mama and papa again, who will be there you are my foundation, you are my anchor, you helped me from going crazy, you are the one that has given me a reason to live Akua."

"You have to learn to be your own foundation, in a short time I will be gone and you are going to have to become the anchor to Angelo because he tells me that he is prepared but I know that he isn't. You must be there for yourself Afia and more importantly for your child, she is going to need a strong mother, and I will always be there when you walk down the aisle, and when you finally choose what you to be when you leave college, I will be there for you when you finally confront mama and papa again. I will be there for you, not in physical form but in spiritual form. I will be there for you when you give birth, I will be there for you when you are going through hell. Don't think of it as me leaving think of it as me going on a vacation." She said kissing my hand.

"Where would you go?"

"To the place, I have always wanted to go to back to since we moved America."

"Africa?"

"Yes, it is about time for me to go home anyway."

"I thought that we would go together."

"You will find your way there *me nua-basia*." She said smiling.

"I might get lost."

"That's the fun in the journey, you will get lost, and you will lose your way but the feeling of home will never leave you."

We sat there for a moment and her words hung in the air, were these her last words to me, did she know that she was going to die soon. My mother says that everyone knows when they are going to be taking there last dying breaths moments before they actually do take them.

"I have one thing to ask of you." Akua said slightly slurring her words.

"Anything Akua."

"Talk to Benjamin."

"I have he wants nothing to do with me or our child."

"He is your soul mate and he will never not want anything to do with you or Amara."

"How do you know?"

Her eyes were halfway open and she said, "Let Angelo tell you the story."

"The story what story?" I said frowning leaning forward.

Her grip loosened and her eyes rolled to the back of her head and the machine made one solid line and a long beeping noise.

Panicked I rushed outside and screamed for help. And then a rush of nurses came running into the room with a doctor and they began to do CPR, they rushed me out of the room and I watched from the window as I saw them try to put life back into my lifeless sister, I could hear the breaking of her ribs as they did CPR on her. The blinds were then shut and I was left with nothing but a window with the view of blinds. I slid down the wall. The elevator dinged and Angelo came out of it and when he quickly spotted me his smile fell and realization hit him.

"What's wrong with Akua?"

"I-"

The door opened the doctor came out and the look on his face concluded everything.

Akua was dead.

                                                            THE END