AI Generated Image of a little Black girl with green eyes and fiery red curls for hair. She is wearing a dark green top with a smirk on her face and is seated in front of a green background. Created with Canva.
Miah is a sister-cousin/cousin-sister, but she is clueless. She only knows her big sister Kelsey is the light of her little six-year-old world. She is temper-tantrum goodness and field trip busy. She finds Kelsey lying down on their living room couch, softly whispering to herself.
“Kels, you talkin’ to you?”
“Hey, Miah. Yes, kiddo. I’m talking to myself.”
“What you sayin’?”
“Everything’s gonna be all right.”
“Oh . . . Okay, then.”
Miah rushes toward the staircase–her fiery red hair sailing in the breeze. She is clueless, and that’s a good thing.
AI Generated Image of an elderly Black woman wearing a white & light blue shirt with her silvery hair styled in soft curls. She has a contented yet thoughtful look as she leans across a white banister. There are soft pink flowers scattered behind her on bushes of green. Created with Canva.
Gloria Aduwala, known as “Nana Glo”, is sunshine and spiritual positivity. Kelsey finds her outside enjoying a spring breeze after a period of consolation with her father, Kazi.
Nana Glo greets her first grandchild with a light-hearted smile and a bear hug.
“What’s ailin’ ya, child?”
“Why didn’t you tell me, Nana Glo? I’m adopted . . . but I’m still family.”
“Child, what’s this I hear?! Why didn’t I tell ya?! That’s fuh ya parents to say. Not ya Nana. Ya still family–everything how it’s ‘sposed to be, child. Ya where ya should be. Ya loved right. Ya clothed, fed, and got a roof over ya head. Ya where ya should be, Kelsey Aduwala.”
Kelsey turns to hug Nana Glo–sinks her timid teenage face into her nana’s bosom–lets out a loud sigh.
AI Generated Image of a Black man wearing a light-colored shirt with a kinky afro, bearded face, and centered in front of a blurry inner-city background. Created with Canva.
Kazi enters the house and finds his two favorite girls in the kitchen. Kimya looks distraught. Kelsey is in tears.
*This. Must. Be. The. Day.* He thinks to himself.
“She knows?”
“She does.”
“Everything?!”
Kimya breathes out an exasperated breath, shifts in the chair, and sighs before responding. “Yes . . . Yes, Kazi. Everything.”
Kazi looks over in Kelsey’s direction and hangs his head solemnly. What more can he do but provide a safe space for Kelsey at this moment?
“Come here, Kels. Come here, baby girl. I got you. I always got you.”
Microfiction: Kelsey approaches Kimya about her suspicions
AI Generated Image of a Black woman with curly hair, hooped earrings, a beautiful smile, and centered in front of a pink to purplish background. Created with Canva.
Kimya is home from work. Her body is worn and she looks like lost hope and misplaced grief. Kelsey stands at the kitchen’s entrance waiting for her mother.
She is breathing heavily. The room is closing in on her. The sun moves in and centers itself on their kitchen windows. Kelsey’s breathing picks up slightly. She inhales, then exhales, then slams her mother with the question.
“Mom! You look tired. Work must’ve been insane! Come, sit down.” She casually pulls out a chair. Kimya flops her flailing body onto the chair’s surface.
“Thank you, Kels. What’s up? Something on your mind?”
Kelsey shifts on her heels, bounces back and forth, and hurriedly throws the question into the air, “Am I adopted?”
Kimya gulps. Her eyes widen. She cuffs her weakened hands onto her face and puffs air into them.
“I knew this day was coming. Yes, Kels. Yes, you’re adopted.”
AI Generated Image of a Black couple hugging & smiling on a green couch, wearing neutral colors, surrounded by soft lighting & candlelight. Created with Canva.
Kelsey’s parents,Kimya and Kazi, have given their lives to raising a beautiful, intelligent, God-fearing, encouraged-to-question, and free-thinking group of children. They are full of life, love, and determination. They don’t fear having hard discussions with their family, but this subject . . .wears them out.
Kimya was Kelsey’s birth mother, Leila’s best friend. Kelsey’s father, Kamal, was Kazi’s younger brother. When Leila found out she was pregnant, in true rejection form . . . Kamal broke up with her–denied the child–shunned Leila from that moment forward.
Kelsey was born. Leila asked Kimya and her boyfriend (at the time), Kazi to christen the baby as her godparents. They vowed to do whatever they could to care for Kelsey if needed.
Shortly after Kelsey was four months old, Leila took her life. Kamal, finding out the news two days later, took his. Kimya and Kazi stepped in: a best friend–a brother–godparents–parents.
Kelsey would be theirs. They would raise her as theirs. She would know true, unconditional, and undeniable love. And she has.
AI Generated Image of a Black little boy with green eyes, wearing a light gray shirt, with curly, cropped black hair. Created with Canva.
Tyson is a firecracker with hair that sings and eyes that lure the most anxious passerby.He is a tag-along brother. He follows Kelsey everywhere she goes. At eight years old, you’d think the kid had his own friends with which to play, but he dotes on his big sister fiercely.
The day Kelsey went digging for her origin, he told her what he heard his parents discussing.
“Mommy said to Daddy, ‘If she ever finds out from anyone else, we’ll have Hell on our hands.’ Oops! Sorry, Kels. I cussed.”
“You did, little buddy. And that’s all right. So, they said I’m adopted, huh? That’s what you heard?”
“It’s what I heard.”
Taking in this newfound knowledge, Kelsey wraps it up in her mind and saves it for the day of confrontation. Someone is going to tell her the truth.
A Cornered Gurl 
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