“You look like he just told you your dog died,” she joked, trying to make light of the situation.

He smirked and replied, “Very funny.”

Liberty grew serious and reached out her hand. “How long?” she asked. She already knew that her life was on a countdown. She could feel in her bones that her time was coming to an end on this Earth. She was so weak and sometimes she had a hard time remembering things. All she could see was the shining light in front of her… she could no longer recall the darkness of her past. She was actually looking forward to death. The only thing about life that she would miss was the love of a man… her man… A’shai. In her eyes, he was the only positive. Life hadn’t been all that good to her so she didn’t fear death. Instead she embraced it, thinking unconventionally as she wondered what her afterlife entailed.

“Not long at all, but I’mma be with you every second, ma. I’m in this with you forever… believe that,” he said.

He reached down and kissed her lips gently as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He scooped her up into his arms as she rested her head on his chest.

“I’m taking you home,” he whispered.

A’shai carried Liberty into their luxury home. He had hustled hard for everything they had. The travertine stone floors, the Brazilian hardwood cabinets, the imported Parisian furnishing… it was all sheer opulence-the epitome of the American dream-but as he carried a dying Liberty in his arms he realized how foolish it all seemed. What was it all for? He had spent countless hours in the street, grinding, hustling night after night to give her material things. Wanting to provide for her and give her the world, he had saved every dollar, never spending anything without first sharing it with her. He had wasted time hustling and as he thought of what he could have done with all those hours, he was filled with regret. Time was something that he thought he would always have. Never had he ever thought it would slip away from them so quickly.