1
BABY
After being lockedup for almost three years, I’m glad I don’t have to keep looking over my shoulder. When some people get released from prison, they’d wanna go out and celebrate their first night of freedom, but all I wanna do is make it to my auntie’s house and chill.
Auntie Misha is the youngest of four girls. She raised me and my sister, Leah, when my mama overdosed on crack cocaine. At the time, I was eleven years old, and Leah was only nine. Even though I was so young, I remembered most of my childhood.
I remember daddy disappearing after telling us he was going to the store for milk and cereal. We waited hours for him, but he never came back. I remember sleeping in abandoned buildings and washing our asses in gas station bathrooms when my mama got evicted from her apartment. That same bathroom is where I found her, slumped over the toilet with a needle in her arm.
The only good thing that came from this situation is that Leah remembered nothing. She thought mama died from a heart attack and instead of telling her the truth, that’s something I let her believe all these years. I always watched out for my sister, even when mama was still living. I’m the one she ran to everytime she got sick, and the one who made sure she ate every night. I missed meals just to make sure she didn’t.
So, when my ex-boyfriend, T.K, snuck into her room when she was sixteen years old, with the intentions of doing God knows what to her, I felt I didn’t have a choice when I did what I did. I knew auntie had a bat behind the door that she kept for emergencies, and grabbed it, running back in my sister’s room to beat his ass with it.
Afterwards, he had the nerve to call the police on me, like he wasn’t tryna do some nasty shit to her. I damn near caught his ass red handed at the foot of her bed, and he still had the audacity to say it wasn’t what it looked like. She had the covers pulled all the way up to her neck, a mortified look on her face.
Seeing that only pissed me off more.
She was a good girl. Never been in any trouble, so for him to almost violate her like that had me thinking I should’ve done more damage. I don’t regret my choices, and I wouldn’t change shit about that day.
I only got three years in prison due to the circumstances. I kept my head down and minded my business the entire bid, so I’m out early, after two and a half years on good behavior.
I was weeks away from graduation when this happened. Two months after my eighteenth birthday. I had to get my G.E. D while locked up and now that I’m out, I had no idea what to do with this newfound freedom.
Hearing a horn behind me, I snapped my head in that direction and laughed when I saw my sister rolling up in a nice ass grey Audi.How can she afford something like this?
The last time I spoke to auntie, she never mentioned anything about her having a job.
“Sista, Sista!” she yelled loudly, with her head sticking halfway out the window.
I just shook mine and ran to the driver’s side door, grabbing the handle to swing it open. She got out just in time for me to throw my arms around her shoulders.
“I missed you, Lee-Lee. You got so grown. Look at you!” I gestured towards her body.
She chuckled, wiping at her tears, before pulling me in for another hug. We stood there bawling in each other’s arms for a good five minutes. This is my first time seeing her since I got locked up because I told my auntie not to let her come and visit me. I know she would’ve felt guilty and blamed herself for what happened, but I needed her to move on with her life.
“Period. I got ass now,” she pointed out, twisting her head to look back at it.
I couldn’t help the smile on my face. We looked so much alike we could pass for twins, although she was darker than me. My daddy ain’t do much for us, but I’m glad we were blessed with his honey brown eyes. She went to get in the car, and I followed, walking over to the passenger’s side door. As we drove away, I threw up my hand, chucking up the deuces towards that raggedy ass prison.
During the hour ride back to my auntie’s house, we played catch up. She told me everything I missed out on. Apparently, my auntie got a boo thang, who comes over almost every night to blow her back out. And since she turned eighteen and graduated a few weeks ago, Leah was saving money to move out. I told her how proud I am of her. I didn’t even wanna think about the way things would’ve been if I hadn’t walked in when I did. The conversation continued until we pulled into the driveway.
When I noticed all the cars outside, I figured this get together had something to do with me.
“Who planned this, Leah? I told auntie I didn’t want company.”
I should have known she wouldn’t listen. It’s too damn early in my release to have all these people in my face.
The only thing I wanna do is take a hot shower. This’ll be the first time I enjoyed it without thinking about somebody sneaking up on me. It had gotten so bad, I started to sleep with a razor under my pillow.
“I told her don’t do it, but you know how she is,” she smacked her lips, reaching to open the car door.
Leah threw me a funny look over her shoulder before she walked in.
“SUPRISE!”
The minute I crossed over the threshold, everybody shouted at once. I guess I had to pretend I didn’t know they were here, so I placed a hand over my heart and gasped. “Oh my God. Are y’all serious?”
My auntie was the first to come up. She sobbed hysterically while pulling me in for a hug. My cousin, Jayda, walked up next, with her arms extended. I wasted no time throwing mine around her neck. I can admit, during that embrace, I felt a few tears rolling down my face. We are around the same age, so naturally we grew up together. If you saw me in the streets, you saw Jayda right beside me.
