The Curse of 1977 (Book 2)

"Wake up, honey!" A large, black, female jail guard shouted as she unlocked and opened the cell door.

As though she were awakening from a yearlong coma, Lynnette's eyes slowly and painfully creaked open to see not only the guard, but also her own mother standing outside the cell.

Feeling like her body had been beaten from pillar to post, Lynnette dropped herself off the bed and onto the floor before crawling backwards to the wall.

"No...no," Lynnette held up her hands in self-defense.

With a determined stride, the guard stepped in and grabbed Lynnette by her skinny arms before picking her up from off the floor.

"No, I can't leave!" Lynnette begged, crying along the way.

"Yes you can." The guard carried her out of the cell and down a long hallway with Lynnette's mother following.

Once they reached a door, the guard opened it and went over behind a desk. Lynnette stood next to her mother shaking from fear. Every so often she would glance outside the glass door behind her and tremble even more.Her clothes, from her faded tennis shoes, all the way up to her tattered t-shirt were a brazen mess.

She looked and smelled as though she hadn't cleaned herself in days. The stench of old sweat clung to her skin and clothing like so much dirt.

"We picked your daughter up two nights ago around 38th Street." The guard explained. "She was attempting to rob a convenient store."

Lynnette's mother just looked over at her child as though she didn't even know who Lynnette was all of the sudden. Her expression was so listless.

"But, if you ask me, I truly believe that she wanted to get arrested, just so she could get tossed in here." The guard said. "The store's owner dropped all the charges. But no matter what, your daughter did not want to leave her cell."

staring at her. She remained there beside her with her purse firmly in hand before approaching the desk and signing a

yourself, honey."

practically drag her

passenger's side and watched as the station behind her grew smaller and smaller the further

back around in her seat and clinch her body as tight as she could. She didn't even want to look at her mother who was uncannily silent as she tooled along while the car's air-conditioner blew into both of

As they passed along the city streets, all Lynnette's fretful eyes wanted to do was ogle at each and every person that walked down the sidewalk. It didn't matter how fast they seemed to fly by, she made sure to

"You know, you and your sisters all think that your father and I are a couple of squares when it comes to

to the person seated next to her. Her mother's words were so sudden

"Somehow, someway, with the way you've been behaving these past few months, I just knew where to

still. Even the air that was blowing inside the vehicle provided the young lady

"Your father works himself to death for us, that's exactly why I try to keep most of what happens away from him. And as much as we love your sisters, those three are just plain unruly and full of the devil. But you, young lady...I

"Mama, I—

on." Her mother forcefully

just dropped her head and held herself even tighter than before. At that point she didn't even

"You're not fooling anyone, young

makes you say that?" Lynnette began

but instead the woman kept on driving without once taking her eyes off the road in front of

"You've been this way ever since what happened with

Lynnette cried even harder to where her tears began blinding her

was terrible, but you never allowed yourself to fully overcome that. You

know what happened!" Lynnette