King of Hearts (gxg)

14. Feelings ♔︎

***************
| King of Hearts |
***************
By: Janae Destiny

*
*
*

'I'm not okay. And I don't think I have been for a while now...'

Ten years later and the death of Monie's parents still affects her as if it happened ten days ago.

She still remembers the cops and social workers showing up at their front door the night it happened. She remembers packing her and Marco's bags and being taken to an emergency group home where they would stay for a few days because their uncle- and the only family member both able and willing to take them in- was out of town when everything had happened.

She still remembers staying with her drunk of an uncle for a few months in an attempt to stay out of the foster care system. And the only reason he agreed to take them in was for the social security checks both Monie and Marco received for having two deceased parents. Because if it weren't for that, he wouldn't have wanted anything to do with them.

It didn't last very long though, staying with their uncle that is. Not even the 'free government money', as he liked to call it, was enough to make him pretend his alcoholism wasn't affecting his ability to properly take care of the two newly orphaned children. And as expected, the loss of his little sister only made his drinking problem much, much worse.

Monie was about 12 at the time, but she did the best she could with the situation she was unfortunately dealt. She would make sure to regularly wash her and Marco's clothes, and make sure they were bathed and as well-groomed as she could. She didn't know how to cut hair at the time, so that's around the time she let his hair grow out long enough to keep it in braids. She also made sure Marco always went to sleep with something in his stomach, even if that meant she didn't. She did her best to be as little of a worry to their uncle as possible, while also trying to keep any questions and speculations from their social workers at a minimum.

She did all of that because she knew the horror stories of the South Chicago foster care system. She knew there was a high probability she would get separated from Marco. And that's all she wanted more than anything else; to stay with her baby brother. She didn't want to risk losing him. She needed him just as much as he needed her. But even in her efforts to come across as a well-functioning household, the facade didn't even hold up for a full year before their uncle was being investigated for child neglect and the kids were taken away from him.

It first started because Monie's seventh-grade science teacher noticed a very drastic decline in her grades. She wasn't turning in her homework on time, she wasn't participating in class because she was sleeping through almost every discussion, and she had lost a lot of weight. And for a 12/13-year-old, losing weight when you're already slim is far from normal.

'Monique...' her teacher had called her over to her desk after class one afternoon. 'I know you've been going through a lot these last few months, but is everything okay at home?'

'Everything is fine.'

'Are you sure?'

Monie just nodded her head.

'Are you eating at home? Because I've noticed some changes in you lately.'

'I'm eating. Yes.'

'Are you eating... enough?' Her teacher had put a lot of stress on the last word.

Monie hesitated to answer that question. She wanted to tell the truth, but again, she knew what came with being honest.