MANCHILD
'noun'
"A boy or adolescent from the streets who was prematurely exposed to and knowledgeable about sex, violence and crime, incarceration, adult responsibility for younger siblings due to a dysfunctional home, and hustling to make a living...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
For the past few days, I felt completely lost. The therapy session with Mama and Reyna did our relationship some good, but it left me feeling some unresolved resentment towards my dad. It also didn't help that after this big revelation of cheating came the truth behind his murder. It wasn't just some big coincidence or robbery gone wrong. No. The man that shot and killed my dad was the boyfriend of the lady my daddy was cheating on Mama with.
The news came out when my godmother was sitting in the kitchen with Mama talking about everything that was out in the papers. Mama, Reyna, and I chose not to keep up with the trial and everything because it was too painful, but now that everything was out in the open about my parents' relationship, I decided to eavesdrop on their conversation one day.
"Tina, I know you don't really want us talkin' about Ray's murder, but it's all over the newspages. The girls' here?"
"They're upstairs." I heard Mama's voice as she sat a pan down on the counter.
"Okay, well, apparently word got out that the guy who shot Ray was that young heffa's boyfriend. He'd been stalking Ray ever since he caught her sneaking out a hotel room with him a couple months before the murder."
On the other end of the conversation was silence. I leaned further into the wall to hear soft sniffles. Mama was crying. "Damn it." She whispered harshly, before slamming something down on the counter, causing me to jump. "I can't believe he caused all this." She choked out.
My godmother must've jumped from her seat to hug mama because I heard her say "Come here" in a gentle voice. There was more silence for a few minutes before I heard Mama blow her nose.
"Okay, I'm fine."
"Good." My godmother said before getting back to business. "Since the investigation is completely over, the police released something to you all. Ray left a letter to you and letters to the girls. Do you want to read yours?" She asked making me scrunch up my face. Daddy left letters to us? What the entire fuck?
"N-no! What the fuck, Viv? No!" Mama started fussing loudly. I heard my godmother shushing her, furiously.
"Calm down, girl. I'm not gonna force you to do anything...but I do think this would be good for you and the girls. I'm gonna ask Ranada. She's 18 and should make that decision for herself. As far as Reyna is concerned...I think it's best if you just ask her, too. If she says no...then save her letter for when she's 16, maybe."
