Page 3 of Meek: Chasing That Gangsta Love

“That was my friend from upstairs asking if we were still going to look for jobs today.” I said.

“Humph.” She rolled her eyes. “Well, you damn sure better do something cause your lazy ass won’t be living off me. Lock the door on the way out.”

I wasn’t scared of Dreka, but I was still smart enough to watch my back, so I took the back ways of the projects instead of the normal route.

This Miami heat was something serious today and I instantly felt my clothes sticking to me.

I was headed to a little boutique down the street hoping to buy me at least one outfit.

Next, I hopped on the bus and headed over to Walmart so I could purchase more panties, bras, and some personal hygiene.

I was working with $250 so I was going to have to spend it wisely.

By the time I got back to the projects, everyone was out by now and I’d completely forgotten about Dreka and her threats.

It wasn’t until it was time for me to walk pass her building, did I remember, and thank God, I saw her before her and her friends saw me.

I took a left to go the back way dodging that bullet.

When I made it to my building, my mama was sitting on the couch getting ready to shoot up in her veins. A gush of sadness overcame me.

“What the fuck you looking at?” She asked. “Go to the store and get me another pack of cigarettes.”

I ran to my room and sat my bags down before running back out to do as I was told. I ran all the way to the store and back, but this time when I went the back way, Dreka and her crew were waiting for me.

“Didn’t I tell you I was going to fuck you up!” She charged me like a bull throwing a blow to my face. I dodged it causing her to swipe the side of my face and fall to the ground. Before I let her get the best of me, I threw a blow to the side of her face getting ready to defend myself.

Before I could get the second blow; I was being pull down by my hair from behind.

“Ahhh!” I screamed out in agony, that shit hurt like hell, but nothing hurt worse than the way the five of them jumped me and took turns using my body for a kicking and punching bag. I lay balled up in a fetal position trying desperately to protect my face.

The only thing that made these bitches stop was the fact Rags was coming out of his girlfriend’s building and ran over to stop it.

“Yo what the fuck ya’ll doing?!” He slung them off of me one by one.

One of her friends tried to jump back at him and he balled his fist up warning her. “Bitch I wish you would.” He growled.

She sucked her teeth as I stood up with my whole body aching. Blood dripped from my nose as well, so I used my shirt to try and stop it. I guess I was gonna be down by four shirts now because I knew this blood wasn’t coming out.

Dreka sucked her teeth. “Fuck you Rags, the only reason you’re even saving this hoe is because she’s been sucking your little ass dick!” She fumed. “Yeah, I saw ya’ll last night, that’s why I’m telling everybody.” She smirked.

I sho’nuff felt like a dirty little tramp after that, I felt the vomit in the pit of my stomach as I looked at Rags with hurt eyes. I took off to my building wishing I could hide and never come back.

“That’s why I called social services on ya’ll dirty bitches! They’re gonna come take you away from yo mama!” Dreka taunted me but that shit fell on deaf ears. I didn’t care about anything anymore.

I walked in the house with the bruised face and the tears falling.

I reached in my pocket and sat the cigarettes next to my mama on the couch since she was high as hell and didn’t have a clue to what was going on around her.

Once again, I went in the bathroom to wash myself up.

My face and body both wore bruises. When I got to my room, I closed the door and threw my body on top of the mattress where I stayed for the rest of the day.

I didn’t worry about my mama bothering me knowing that she’d be incompetent for at least another day.

At midnight, Meek came knocking on the window and I let him in.

This time he had a tiny cake in his hand.

“What’s that for?” I asked.

“You forgot it’s your birthday?” He shoved it in my hands. I turned on the tiny lamp and smiled forgetting the fact that the sheet wasn’t covering my body.

Meek frowned examining me up and down. “What the fuck happened to you Kish? Who the fuck did that shit to you?” He gently grabbed my arm and looked at every bruise my body wore.

“Dreka and her friends did it because she saw you climbing out of my window.” I said removing my arm from his grip and wrapping myself in the sheet again.

He balled up his fist with visible anger wearing his facial expression. “I’ve been in Broward all day and I rushed back in time to catch you by midnight, but I promise you I’mma handle this shit in the morning.”

I didn’t want to dwell on what happened; neither did I want to live in misery. I was still a firm believer that I was God’s child, and he had a happier ending for me. I picked up the pretty pink cake that said, ‘Happy 17 th birthday Kish’ and thanked him again.

“You don’t have to sing happy birthday to me, but I still want to make a wish.” I smiled and closed my eyes. ‘Lord, if you’re listening, please come save me.’ I opened my eyes, and Meek was just staring at me with his chinky dark eyes.

“I hope you wished for better days, Kish, shit we all need them.” He said.

I had a plastic fork in my drawer, so I used it to cut us two slices to eat before we fell asleep.

When I woke up in the morning, Meek was gone, and someone was knocking at the door.

Reluctantly I wrapped the sheet around me and walked to the door.

I looked over at my mama who was still passed out in the same spot on the couch and frowned.

“Who is it?” I asked.

“Child Protective Services. May we come in and have a word with you?” The female asked.

I opened the door with no problem. One look at my body and face along with my mama on the couch in the condition that she was in, was enough to conclude their investigation.

All it took was an hour before she was being hauled off in handcuffs for child neglect and endangerment, while I was being walked out to a different car going to an unknown place.

Word spread around the projects quick as everyone stood around gossiping about it. Meek came running through the crowd to find out what happened. “Kish! Slow up!” He yelled. I looked up and asked if I could speak with him briefly. The caseworker told me ‘yes’.

“You leaving?” He asked worried. “Where they taking you?”

“I don’t know Meek, but anywhere besides here. I have an aunt who lives up in Fort. Lauderdale, hopefully she’ll come for me.” I said with a lot of hope behind it. I knew that God answered prayers, but I didn’t know it would happen like this.

“Damn.” He said looking sad. He knew I didn’t have a phone, so he scribbled his number on a piece of paper and stuffed it in my front pocket. “Make sure you keep in touch with me Kish, I mean that shit.” He kissed my bruised cheek.

“I will.” I said managing to smile. “Take care of yourself Meek, and thanks for everything.”

I was hauled off to a group home for girls where I’d patiently wait to see if anyone wanted my ass, and you know what?

I was absolutely okay with that. Being there was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life because when I left the projects, my bed bugs came with me.

It took for my counselor to put in a lot of work getting rid of them and I was grateful for that.

I was there for a full week dealing with bullshit from a bunch of mean, rude, and all out evil ass bitches, all except for one.

Her name was Mya, and she was the same age as me with a beautiful spirit.

We clicked immediately but after my first week, my father came for me.

I hadn’t seen this man since I was five years old although he looked the same.

My father was a mixture of Haitian and white.

That’s where I got my skin, hair, and eyes his good genes, damn sure not my mama’s.

I didn’t even want to go with him, but if I wanted to leave that group home then I had no choice.

I said my good-byes as the summer came to an end before making sure I exchanged numbers with Mya.

She wiped tears from her eyes. “I know I haven’t known you that long, but I’m gonna miss you girl.”

“I’m going to miss you too, I promise I’ll call you.”

“You better.” She smiled.

I walked out to the car ready to get on with my new life, the summer was over, and it was definitely one of the hottest and worst summers ever.