𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐘 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐘𝐎𝐔 | 𝐍𝐖

𝟎𝟏𝟏

♬ 𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 (𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭. 𝐍𝐄𝐘𝐎)
𝘳𝘪𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢.
𝟏:𝟏𝟖 ➝ ———— 𝟐:𝟐𝟏

𝐒𝐀𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐌 𝐓𝐀𝐉𝐄𝐈𝐑 𝐒𝐂𝐎𝐓𝐓
𝔞𝔱𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔱𝔞 - 𝔤𝔞 | 𝟷𝟸:𝟷𝟸 𝙰𝙼, 𝙳𝙴𝙲 𝟸𝙽𝙳
―·✩·―

LOOKING out at the Atlanta skyline at nothing in particular, Saheem took a pull of the blunt between his lips.

It was extremely rare for him to smoke or drink, but he needed it. Rod Wave played lowly through the apartment, the door ajar so Saheem could hear it from the balcony.

It had been four long days since he'd seen Khepri, and he felt physically sick.

Saheem knew he was in the wrong and wallowing in self-pity was the last thing he should've been doing, but he couldn't help himself. He didn't know whether it was the lyrics or his guilty conscience, but he felt like shit.

How he acted towards Khepri reminded him of the exact person he didn't want to be. The twenty-one-year-old might not have known what he wanted to be as a child, but he knew he wanted to be nothing like Tavares.

Countless nights of watching his eldest brother, June, wipe his mother's tears. Sitting alone on father-son activity days, being afraid to be caught crying, learning how to ride a bike alone, and feeling destined for failure no matter how hard he worked.

Saheem felt himself becoming the person that caused all of that pain and that made him upset.

"Have you ever felt like being somebody else? Feeling like the mirror isn't good for your health?"

Situations like the one that occurred a week ago were the exact reason Saheem hated visiting his family in Chicago.

The vibes hadn't been the same in years and they were all expected to walk on eggshells around each other— avoiding starting any problems or making any existing problems worse.

In Saheem's mind, that was dead, he'd been outspoken since a child and wouldn't tone that down for anybody.

Especially his parents.

He hated how Tynisha and Tavares acted as if the past didn't exist and expected everyone else to do the same. His parents lived in a false reality, only acknowledging the best parts and pretending the negatives never happened.

Both parents had a negative impact on their children's childhoods, though Tavares was the worst of the two. Not only did he corrupt Saheem and his many siblings, but he ruined Tynisha too.

If Tavares said jump, Tynisha asked how high.

If Vares decided he no longer favored one of their children, Nisha would ignore them until Tavares 'liked' them again.

Their dynamic confused Saheem. But, clearly not enough, as he unintentionally showed traits of them through his interactions with women.

"Bouta blow my own high thinkin' bout this shit, foe." Heem huffed, blowing out the smoke he had been holding in his mouth.

There were only two people Saheem would call on for advice, and unfortunately, one was deceased and the other definitely wasn't awake past midnight.