Wickman •Nardo Wick•

26•

Tap in if your day was good😌

Tap in if your day was bad🥲, what happened sweetie?

"You're so stupid, Alex," I say to myself as I sneak out of the house and into a car. Ben's car. Ben is DeSean's crazy ass best friend. I've been warned.

I get in and button my seatbelt, sitting in the back. I don't want to be seen let alone around another thug. Vroy and Durk would shoot me. So would Melly. Especially one that I let get away.

"Why you so far," he asks with a chuckle.

"Ion know you," I respond, pulling out my phone and turning on my location just in case something happens to me, Melly's smart ass will find me. He's a dangerous geek. I lowkey fuck with it. Maybe I need to be more careless. Knowing me that will never happen.

"Youn know Kentrell, but yet you going to him," he laughs to himself, paying no attention to the road. This nigga was gon kill me anyway, I'd rather a car hit me than a bullet. It's harsh but I'd rather die a way most people do, not the way most black people do. Always killing each other.

"We blood," I answer, looking at the road. Nigga flys passed a red light and 4 stop signs. He tryna get shot by a cop. He wonder why prisons overpopulated with African Americans, some of them innocent but the niggas like him guilty as hell. How you do all this with no seatbelt? And a innocent citizen in the back... wait I'm not innocent. I do have a body. I'm in the same category as him. Lord, forgive me.

"Blood will get you killed," he says, taking a quick turn, bumping a curb. I feel the car jolt and grip tightly to the seat in front of me. Lord Jesus, take the wheel out his hands. "Blood be the first ones to hurt you. You can't be betrayed unless you trust that person. Your enemies can't betray you, you already know their intentions. It's those you trust that betray you, then become your enemies."

"So DeSean should be an enemy," I question, checking to see how tight the seatbelt is.I'm not trying to fly out this car any time soon.

"You'll see, tiny," he says, grinning deeply. I shiver. My leg healed so quickly, which is shocking because of how much I stressed it. I guess I'm just that girl.

"Ight," I respond pulling out my phone to check the time. I see I've gotten a text from nardo.

Where the tf you at
We wasn't finished

I look up in panic. What am I going to do with Nardo on my ass? Shit. Do I say I went home? What if he hurts my mom? I can't do that.

Idk...

I just close my phone and leave him on delivered. Imma need some deliverance from him if he catches me. I don't have a plan on how I'm getting back. I just know I need to make sure my brother is okay, and see how the hell he ended up the man he is now. My mama raised him better than that. But of course, you don't turn out how you're raised. Everybody finds their own path.

"Where we going?"

"Mind ya business," he snaps back, looking back at me.

"My mind is my business," I respond quietly, not trying to get shot. He stares me in the eye and all of a sudden I feel a large pain on my side. Like my ribs are caving in. My head starts to ache terribly... and then everything just turns, black.

"Alex," I hear in the distance. I open my eyes and see nothing but white. It's peaceful and beautiful but not lonely as much as it is empty.

"Alex," I hear again, louder than the first time. I look up and see snowflakes falling from the sky. In the middle of August ? I know that's not possible. Yet they're as beautiful as can be.

"Alex!"

My eyes snap open again and I'm in a bed, with a guy standing over me.

"Bout damn time," he says. The room is dark and smells like the boys locker room.

"Language, Polo," I hear and older voice say.

"My bad big G," the younger guy responds. He has dreads, fresh retwist. He looks good. I look around for the older man and he's no where to be found. That's weird as hell.

"Where am I," I ask, sitting up, aching.

"Your future," he says, handing me a cool towel. I place it on my side.

"What do you mean my future?"

"If you leave Yes Man now," he starts, standing up. "This will be us."

"What do you mean 'us'?" I look around the room, seeing baby pictures cover the room. I see some of me and Polo together, looking like a current me and a younger him.

"You'll find out soon enough, Ma," he says with a smile.

"Is it a good thing or a bad thing?"

"I don't know. We have a roof over our heads, clothes on our back. Food on the table. It was enough for us growing up. Just wish dad was around."

"What happened to your dad," I ask, noticing no man in the pictures at all. I wonder how I'm in them. I wonder how far into the future he claims I am. What the hell is going on? Am I in some kind of crazy house?

"I don't know. I think he died. You never told me," he says, laying down next to me in bed. I don't move but I watch him closely as cuddles into me. "I miss these days."

"What do you mean," I ask him, still hesitating to touch him.

"I pray you never have to find out," he whispers to me. "Please be careful. Ion wanna hurt like this no more. Be smart. Be bold. And fight, for me. For us."

"Who are you to me?"

"You have to go back now."

"Who are you," I say louder. I feel my body get lighter. Like parts of me are fading away. I squeeze my eyes shut as the head pain in my rib returns.

"Finally, you're awake. I'm doctor Taurus," I hear a familiar voice say. "Open your eyes slowly. I'm going get your family."

What the fuck was that?