ME, Myself, and I

I woke up on Thursday morning and I had a day off. I  decided to go to Hibachis with my sister for lunch. I got up and got ready for the day I threw on my red Nike t-shirt and some black jeans. I topped it with a black jacket and just wore my hair down. As I was looking in the mirror, something told me that today was going to be different.  My boyfriend TJ decided to stay home with my daughter which was already kinda different. I just kinda put it past me tho and continued with my day. I go to my couch and wait for my sister to let me know when she is ready. My daughter Zamoura ran into the living room throwing her ball. BOOM!  My diploma from college fell off the wall. 

“ Tj can you get me the broom!”  I calmly yell into the other room while I'm trying to make sure Zamoura doesn't go towards the glass. She looked at me with sorry in her eyes thinking she made me mad. Although I wasn’t mad because it’s not hard just to go buy another frame. 

“ Just be careful next time because you know balls ain't supposed to be thrown out here,” I said. 

“ Okay Mommy,” she says back to me in her sweet little voice. My phone goes off with a text saying we are about to leave the house. So, I get in the car and drive to Hibachis.  I go in and get our seats. As they seat me I get a text from my sister saying she is here. I told the lady my order. I wanted the steak and shrimp combo with a strawberry lemonade after I went into the bathroom to wash my hands before I eat. I walked into the bathroom and a nicely dressed woman came out of the stall looking just like me, the same height, body shape, hair, like literally everything. I stood there and thought to myself as she introduced herself.

“ Hi, Reeana, I'm  Reeana 2.0, ” she said to me. 

“ Reeana 2.0?” I questioned her with confusion in my eyes. She then points her finger on the mirror and a projector screen pops up on it. In the mirror, I'm looking at a sunny nice big backyard with a pool. A dog runs across into the house because a little girl is calling her to come in.

“ What is this?” I ask. 

“ This is a live feed from another life of yours. Remember in high school when you had goals to move to Florida and become a boss lady. Even when you had thoughts about what it would be like if you stayed in Peoria?”  she asked back?

“ Yes,” I replied. 

“ Well, this is how your life would have been if you didn't get pregnant right after high school. Just go ahead and watch I will be back. I'm starving.” she said to me calmly. I was too distracted to realize that she went out and acted like me. As I’m watching I see a young boy run out of the house screaming I get the ball first. A deep voice comes from out of the house.

“ Shoot for the ball! “  

“ Ughh okay but watch I splash this 3 in your face old man.” The young boy said. The father then comes out of the house all dressed in his designer sweatsuit. I go to touch the screen and realize I can go inside it. I walked into the mirror and basically, I was living the life I always dreamed to live. I was in Florida in a nice big house with my family complete and me being happy. My daughter walks up to me and says 

“ Mom, I'm hungry. Can we go out to eat later at my favorite place?” I thought to myself like dang, do I know her favorite place, but all of a sudden I knew it was I knew everything about the house and my life. Hours and hours went by and I got pulled out of life and back into the bathroom. When I turned out I was shocked to see two of me. My regular self and another me. There were three of me. The high-class Reeana 2.0, Regular me, and the new one a Reeana 3.0. Reeana 3.0 didn’t look so good though. Like she wasn’t as confident and just kinda seemed stressed out. 

“ Woah hold up what is going on? The regular me asked.  A tall lady then approached us three. 

“ Three different lives, but the same person. Which one will get chosen? ” The strange lady asked.  “ Reeana you already went into 2.0’s life and explored it now I want you to go into 3.0 life. Report back to me.” She then disappeared. The screen then changed to life in an apartment. I was complaining about not having a job and wanting to get back on my feet. I was mad at myself for going to that party and ended up in jail for three days. Instantly thought to myself this is not what I want. My boyfriend was lying on the bed just listening to me complain about how I wanted better. He was just waiting for me to get done talking so we could eat. We went to eat some Rumbergers. I got some gold rush fries. Goldrush fries are fries with little pieces of buffalo chicken in them. I kinda thought to myself that I wanted to hurry up and leave that life. Once I got out the strange lady was back. She asked us how we like exploring each other's lives. 

“ It was weird but good,” 3.0 said, still looking confused. 

“ How was your regular life?” she asked? 

“ It was okay. I was leaving Hibachis on my way home to my daughter and boyfriend. The house I lived in was a step up from the apartment I was in. My life was better actually. I was still in Peoria but I wasn’t doing bad like I usually do. 2.0’s life though I want that. It was a good life, especially in Florida.” 

“ So did you choose?” she asked again. I went to answer and everything went quiet and black.

“ Reeana gets up, it's 8:15 your going to be late to school” My stepmom yelled up the stairs. I got up and I thought to myself wow what a dream. I kinda wished that dream would have been a little bit longer. I needed my answer, that's all I could think about. My life feels like it’s at a pause right now. Having to decide what I want to do with my life after high school has been kinda hard. I want to go to college and do real good with my life but I also feel like I don’t need college to do good.  I got dressed then headed to school. While I was at school I told myself to start applying for more colleges just so I have an option to choose from. The dream was my motivation to not be stuck anymore.