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A Time Ago…

If Tsireya had to pinpoint a place in time where the hell in her life started, it would have to be the moment her cognitive memory fully developed.

It was around age seven that she first remembered her mother Lakeisha’s mumbles about wishing she would have given Tsireya up for adoption.

That thought process made sense, seeing as Lakeisha was only fourteen years old when she had her daughter.

Lakeisha and her daughter lived with her mother, Pearl, who was a blessing to Tsireya’s life since Lakeisha still wanted to be a fourteen-year-old kid.

That was fine until it wasn’t. Pearl had a fatal heart attack when her granddaughter was six years old. Playtime was over for Lakeisha.

Now, she was on her own as a mother with no assistance.

It was a silent blessing that Pearl left her paid off house to her daughter upon death.

Without that, Lakeisha would have been a homeless, young, single mother.

Tsireya was never abused by her mother. Abuse required too much of Lakeisha’s time, and that couldn’t happen.

Any time spent with Tsireya was time away from the niggas she messed with and tried to run game on.

Lakeisha did just enough to not be considered an abusive or neglectful mother.

She ensured her daughter had a roof over her head, lights, food, and clothes on her back.

When Tsireya was ten, her mother sat her in front of the Cooking Network and told her to learn something because she would not be a slave over a stove for her.

By twelve years old, she could cook the options that were given to her like a pro.

Lakeisha even allowed her to get nicer options to cook when one of her men would stop by.

The fact was, she wouldn’t slave over a stove because you would have to know how to cook to do so.

When the men folk came over, Lakeisha wanted them to think she was a full package to lock them in, so Tsireya was her little secret cook.

It wasn’t until the key was turned in the lock that the sad truth was revealed.

A revolving door of men was all that Tsireya knew when it came to her mother’s activities.

It couldn’t be said that any of the men that came in were worth a damn.

The ones that were worth something quickly assessed that Lakeisha was not only a piss poor mother but a piss poor person.

Once their assessment was completed, they were gone like a quick, swift wind.

In all the years of the men coming in and out of Lakeisha’s house, none of the men had ever tried or said anything inappropriate with or toward Tsireya.

All good streaks eventually come to an end.

That was why a sixteen-year-old Tsireya sat on her bed with a butcher knife in her hand behind a locked door.

It wasn’t common for Lakeisha to tell one man to come to her house and meet her there while she was on another man’s dick.

She simply sent a text to her daughter to let her know who she should expect.

That was as far as protection went because God forbid the wrong man showed up at the wrong time.

When Logan showed up at Lakeisha’s house, almost immediately, he was on good bullshit.

He boldly told Tsireya that she had a fat ass like her mama’s, and he wondered if the pussy was just as good.

Those words sent up all the red flags in the world that she learned about in all those ‘don’t touch me in my no-no place’ seminars.

She didn’t need a college-level literacy skill set to read the room to know that she was in danger.

Her instinct told her to move to the room in the house with the weapons, the kitchen.

The butcher’s knives block was closest to the sink, so she proceeded to wash the few dishes that were in the sink to be close to it. Her strategic thinking paid off.

When Logan pinned her body against the counter, the fight began.

Tsireya refused to be a victim of sexual assault.

He would have to kill her. After a short struggle, she was able to grab a knife to deliver a slice across his arm and face, which caused him to recoil in pain.

She immediately retreated to her room with her weapon in hand and locked the door.

There was no telling how long it was before Lakeisha’s yell and door pounding was heard from the other side of her door. Tsireya jumped up to hurriedly open the door. When the door opened, she didn’t expect to feel her mother’s hand go across her face.

“Bitch, you tried to fuck my nigga! I knew that ho in you was strong. I don’t care how innocent you look with those bookworm glasses and good grades.”

Tsireya’s eyes bulged behind those bookworm glasses that she mentioned. “Ma-Mama, I didn’t do anything. He tried to mess with me. Th-that’s why I cut him so that he would get off of me!”

“Bitch, shut that lying shit up. That nigga don’t want you. He said you tried to suck his dick, and when he told your ugly ass no, you told him that you would do just what you’re doing now,” Lakeisha ranted with her hand on her hip and her head participating in the rolling Olympics.

She couldn’t form a thought that would allow her to believe that a nigga would want her daughter over her. That shit was not a probability in any universe as far as she was concerned.

Tsireya was a timid girl, a true introvert.

She didn’t have friends, but more importantly, she didn’t want them.

She’d worn glasses since the tender age of four, so it was weird behavior that her mother would bring them up now.

Timid and introverted were never meant to be interchangeable with punk.

With a mixture of hurt and anger, Tsireya’s head bucked back.

“Mama, none of that makes sense. How did he get cut if all of that happened? Plus, if you’re calling me ugly, then that’s like calling yourself ugly too since we look like twins.”

That was all of the truth. The mother and daughter duo had been told more times than they could count that they could pass for identical twin sisters.

At thirty, Lakeisha could easily and almost unbelievingly pass for an eighteen-year-old.

This phenomenon was the reason that she felt no quarrels with having sex with boys from her daughter’s high school.

Tsireya’s mother was in constant competition with younger girls.

Lakeisha’s eyes fluttered a few times before she raised her hand again to slap Tsireya across her face. This time, it was blocked. The thing was, she couldn’t explain why Logan was cut. She knew the story that he gave her didn’t make sense, but she couldn’t lose her most recent cash cow.

“Nah, bitch. You got to get the hell out of my house with your ho ass!”

Logan stepped behind Lakeisha with a smug expression.

Yeah, he knew from the moment that he met her that she would believe anything a nigga said because she was too busy worried about what he could do for her.

When he came to the house, his attraction shifted from mother to daughter.

Lakeisha’s sex game was not as on as she thought it was.

She was just easy without limitations. Sometimes, a nigga just wanted to smash without having to do too much work.

Well, with Lakeisha Robinson, no work was required.

“Wha-what? You’re kicking me out because one of your many boyfriends is a pedophile?” The pain was almost unbearable in her heart at that moment. Her mother was a lot of things, but she never thought in a million years that she wouldn’t protect her.

Logan stepped forward to push against LaKeisha’s back. “Yo, you better get your ho ass daughter! The fuck she on? What, lil bitch? You mad that I won’t put my dick down ya throat like I do your mother’s? You want to slob on this dick like her?”

Lakeisha turned around and put her hand on his chest. “Baby, you know she does. She’s jealous as that she can’t get a nigga like you.”

Tsireya stood there in disbelief. Her mother was not only trifling, but she was also a damn idiot.

What real man would say something like that when it came to comparing a mother and teenage daughter?

In that moment, she realized that she would probably have more of a chance if she was out on the street than if she stayed where she was.

“Wow. Where is Chris Hansen when you need him? We have the newest episode of To Catch a Predator.” Tsireya mumbled the last part. It didn’t matter because neither of them understood the reference.

With a pointed finger, Lakeisha yelled, “Get your shit, and get the hell out of my house, Reya! You got an hour to get all of your shit out, or me and Logan will get it out for you.”

With her final order given, she walked out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

Tsireya plopped down on her bed. She didn’t want either of them touching her stuff.

She stood, went to her dresser, then started to pull things out.

After a glance in the mirror, she noticed that she had markings from the scuffle that she and Logan were in.

He’d grabbed her around her neck and slapped her as well.

Her skin was just the perfect shade of chestnut brown to leave evidence of the bruising.

Without any other thought, she pulled out her cell phone and called emergency services. Sure, she would get out, but if she had to suffer consequences of someone’s actions, then that person should as well. The stage was set.

Some Years Later…