20-year-old university student Maliyah Tijjani is independent and fierce, yet damaged. She's been damaged for many years of her life and she is trying her best not to bring her past traumas into her new profound freedom. She avoids dating to maintai...
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I'm not even going to lie, a nigga was nervous as hell.
I was moving from one neighborhood to another, leaving my childhood apartment. The home I knew my entire life. I wasn't gonna cry cause that's sus but damn. (Fellas... it's okay to cry)
I walked through the empty house one last time, picturing all the distant memories I had made with my Father and I. Damn. That's crazy.
"Cookie! C'mon fat man we gotta go." My Mama yelled, and I heard the horn honking. I hated when my Mama called me by my nickname in front of others.
I wasn't gonna let her know that though.
And by "others" I mean her new husband, Richard, and his sixteen-year-old son, Marcus.
I can tell they love my Mama. If not, I'll kill 'em both with my bare hands. Deadass. I told them this shit too.
Marcus's mama passed away while giving birth to him, fat head ass. Richard remarried twice after that, and as you can tell, they ain't really last.
I don't know if he was the problem or if the woman he married were, but all I know is he better try no shit with my Mama.
He knows better and he treats her well. In fact, he is the reason we move out of these raggedy-ass apartments and into a nice lil house about twenty minutes from here.
And by "lil" I mean big.
That 2 bedroom apartment wasn't big enough for me, my Mama, Richard, and Marcus's ego.
Them mfs cool and all but I was used to being the only man in my Mama's life for a while now. That may sound selfish but trust me, I only think that shit.
I never said it out loud or displayed any type of disrespect towards them. They were both respectable people and weren't on no funny shit. That I've seen.
A man can have his doubts.
My father was shot dead when I was sixteen. Gang-related shit. Shit that I promised myself I wouldn't get into. Yea I got friends in the business and shit but they respect me enough to keep that shit away from me.
I wanted no parts in it. I was the result of teen pregnancy and my childhood was hard enough. I didn't want my adulthood to be a reflection of the shit that I used to see.
I respect my childhood friends who are still in the business though. That's on them.
Especially Elijah. Elijah and I grew up hooping together. His pops and my pops were like brothers, making us brothers too, even though he was a lil older than me.
When my father passed, Elijah's pops really took me in and protected me and my mother for a while, long enough for her to get back on her feet. To this day, we know he would kill for us.
