cw: language, mention of betrayal, violence, guns, homicide, mention of verbal abuse, victim blaming, child abandonment
(🔊❤️)
"We should name him Kush."
"You're not naming my son after a fucking drug. We're naming him Keyonte."
"The boy was born on four-twenty, A'merie. His name is Kush."
"Kentrell, his name is Keyonte."
...—༄
As it turned out, his name was both.
There he was, fresh out his momma's—
Actually, let's skip this part.
He was three years old when his whole life changed.
It's was a chill day in the projects, not too much happening—
Well, plenty of shit was happening, but you gotta mind your business and pretend you straight until you are.
It was a nice day out. Clear skies, the Texas sun was beaming, there was a hot ass breeze going, sirens went off in the distance, the house down the block was getting robbed... Y'know, normal shit.
Like I said, nice day.
At least it was, until his dad came home.
Pops wasn't the issue, though. Kush thought he was an asshole for forcing him to eat vegetables, but he was good people.
The problem was that Kentrell wasn't careful.
Usually, he was smart about everything he did. He was always ten steps ahead on everything.
But this time, he was three steps behind.
His best friend set him up.
Kentrell thought they'd finally squashed the beef between them and the other street pharmacists, but in reality, them niggas didn't give a damn about making peace.
Whatever he did to piss them off, they was out for blood now. And his snake ass friend tipped them off about his plan to move his son and wife away from all this.
The violence, the drugs, the gangs—everything.
Pops just wanted to do right. He was tired of being on the streets and didn't want that life for Kush, so he had a plan to get them out.
But the man he was so close to didn't like that. For him, it was gang life or no life.
Marshawn lied, saying that a rival gang was planning to kidnap and kill the toddler to get at Kentrell, and not even thinking twice about it, pops went home in an attempt to get his son to safety.
Kentrell didn't even make it to the front door when seven bullets hit his back, five more flying through the windows—one of those just barely missing Kush's life.
He'd turned his head at the perfect time, so the bullet only grazed his left eyebrow.
Since he was so young, the scar got smaller as he grew, and eventually, it looked as if he'd only cut a slit in his brow for the look of it.
After that day, A'merie took her son to a small coastal city called Corpus Christi, where they lived with her sister-in-law.
It wasn't exactly the hood, but it damn sure wasn't the suburbs.
As time passed, A'merie's love for Kush faded into hatred. She started blaming him for her husband's death.
"If we never had you, he never would've got shot," she'd say.
And for a while he believed it, but his Aunt Snoh always made him feel loved again.
...—༄
His world shifted again at six.
Much to his dismay, he got a baby sister, curtesy of his mother's new boyfriend, Julien. But he didn't see her much since his mother had abandoned him with his aunt.
She'd even told Snoh about the baby shower, just so she wouldn't bring Kush and ruin it.
After two years of numerous fights between the women, Kush was allowed to meet and spend time with his younger sister.
He hated it.
Ryélle was the name of his plague, and it was incurable.
It followed him around everywhere...
"Kush, want hung'y!" the toddler Ryélle demanded, bursting through the bathroom door.
"Ryélle, get out! I'm peeing!" nine-year-old Kush yelled.
It snitched on him for any and everything...
"Ooh! Kush got another cookie!" seven-year-old Ryélle tattled.
The middle school boy looked at her with wide eyes, knowing what would happen. "Shhh!"
"KUSH, I KNOW GODDAMN WELL I TOLD YOU NOT TO GET NO MORE!!" his aunt yelled.
And it ruined all of his fun.
But it was also his heart in human form, and she knew he'd lose his mind over her.
To make a long story short, Kush's mother disappeared from his life completely after telling him she hated him and a bunch of other shit that didn't hurt him much. But then again, there wasn't much that got to him emotionally anymore anyway.
His mother and her boyfriend were still very involved for his baby sister, which was all that mattered to him.
As far as he was concerned, he didn't have biological parents anymore. His aunt and sister were his only family, and he stood by that.
...—༄
Despite the family drama, Kush had turned out fine so far.
He never made anything less than a B in school, he didn't do drugs or drink, he didn't lie unless he felt it was absolutely necessary, and he had great manners—though he was somewhat selective about when to use them. But overall, he was a good kid.
Of course, Kush was still a boy, though.
With a beautiful smile, a deep dimple, a slit in his brow, and eyelashes that made every girl jealous, Kush knew he looked good. And he definitely used that to his advantage to get what he wanted.
But not all the time. He was still a decent human being.
Rolling...—༄
