The Real Thing x obj

Breakdowns x14

Kasandra
As I'm packing up my stuff to leave there's a knock on my door. "Come in" I say and Christian walks in. He had his hood on and his head down.

"Don't you have football practice?" I ask looking down at my watch which reads foir o'clock and football practice was most times right after school.

"My coach made me come down here" he informs me still keeping his head down. "Did something happen?" I place my hand on his shoulder and he looks up at me and I notice he had a black eye and a busted lip.

I take ahold of his hands and see his knuckles are all bruised up. I gasp, "Christian, what happened?". I couldn't understand the blank expression he had on his face all the time even with a beat up face.

"Just a little fight" he shrugs like it's not a big deal. I lead him over to the couch in the office. "How'd this "little" fight happen?"

"Some stupid ass on another team was talkin' shit about Ty, and you know that type of shit pisses me off".

"Actually I don't know since you refuse to talk to me about it". I could tell he started contemplating telling me. "How much time you got?" He looks up at me. "I'm here as long as you need me to be"

He lets out a heavy sigh as he takes his hood off and sets his backpack to the side. "Where you want to start?"

"What was your relationship like with Ty?"

"He was like a brother to me and a genuine ass dude, and I'm not just sayin' this all cause he's dead"

"So what exactly happened to him?"

"Some dude got mugged and Ty was on his way home when that all went down but he was no where near the scene but the police started followin' him and took him in for questioning. They claimed he fit the description"

"Which was?"

"Black, that's all they needed to know. They kept tryin' to force him to admit to it but he refused and they fucked him up until he would give up which he did and had to serve a one year sentence at Rikers since they reached a plea deal and they beat him even more in there and kept him in solitary and he came home and just wasn't the same"

His eyes began to water but he kept biting down on his jaw to stop himself from crying. I couldn't even control my tears, I was bawling my eyes out. Stories like these are too common.

"Was his death unexpected?"

He shakes his head "Kinda, he would tell us he wanted to just to escape cause he couldn't stop thinkin' about what happened to him, he told us he felt like he was depressed or some shit but thats white people shit"

I shake my head "It's not white people shit,depression,anxiety and any other mental health issue can happen to anyone ,how do you feel whenever you get stopped by a cop?"

He stays silent. "Anxious right? Especially after what happened to your friend,it could happen to you too,crying and having these emotions and talking about them doesn't make you any less of a man"

"Cryin' about it ain't gon' bring Ty back or change the situation!" He shouts with tears beginning to run down his face. "We don't have the privilege of going through depression like other people,we still got police killin' and beatin' on innocent people,they don't care about us!"

I lean in closer rubbing his back holding him as he sobbed."I agree with you,but if you use your talent and build a platform for yourself you could help a lot more than getting into trouble and staying in this same spot"

"Play football so I can let the money get to my head,marry some "foreign" girl and never look back?" He rolls his eyes. "Then you can be different,no one said you have to follow down that path,I talked to Mrs.Harris who told me you and Ty were amazing on the field together,I'm sure Ty would want you to continue on". "You like any specific football players?" I ask.

He thinks for a bit. "I guess Obj,he's cool"

I smile. "What position do you play?"

"Wide receiver" he says. That was perfect. I'm sure Odell would love to meet him but I'd surprise him with that. "Can I ask you somethin?" He says.

"Anything."

"How old are you? You look a little young to be doin' this typa' stuff"

"Would you prefer meeting with someone older?"

"Nah,you just look like you could be a student here" he lowly chuckles. I laugh. "I'm actually twenty-three so still really young"

"Six year difference ain't too bad" he winks. "I'm a professional" I say playfully rolling my eyes. "Guess I'll wait a year"

I laugh "go ahead"

"By the way, sorry for stormin' out and screamin' at you last week,I was outta line" he apologizes. I nod,"I appreciate and accept your apology but that's how you felt in that moment so I understood"

"You want to talk more about your dad?" I hesitantly ask him. He nods "Okay,what you want to know?"

"I know you said you don't feel he impacted you in any way but are you one hundred percent sure about that?"

"Yeah, cause I promised myself and my mom that I'd never follow in his footsteps" he says. I could tell he was serious and meant it, which made me happy.

"Did you think about our college talk?"

He smiles and nods. "I always wanted to go to USC, before I just felt it wouldn't happen but you got me thinkin' about it"

"I'm glad to hear that,are there gonna be recruits soon at one of your games?"

"Yeah,not sure exactly when but sometime soon before the season ends"

"I'll try to come out and watch you guys play one day" I say.

"Thanks for bein' patient wit' me,I tend to have some trust issues" he admits. "You're making progress and that's all that matters" I assure him.

"Anything else you want to talk about?"

He shakes his head "Nah,not at the moment"

I nod "Okay,here let me give you my number if you ever need anything" I tell him getting a post it note and writing down my work cell phone number. "It can be for anything you need to tell me if you can't wait until we meet or if you need help,alright?" I hand him the post it note.

"Okay,thanks" he nods.

"And next time I see you,promise I'll see no more black eyes and busted lips?"

He laughs "Promise" and heads out.
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Vote and Comment💖

Wanted to do some chapters to show how important her work is.

And the story of his friend is somewhat close to the real life story of kalief browder. His documentary is on Netflix and I advise you all to watch it. It really brought a lot of issues to my attention and was such a hard but real documentary to watch.

May he Rest In Peace🙏🏾