The Challenge| Erik Killmonger Story

Running

When I was eleven years old my mom woke me up in the middle of the night. An orange fluorescent light flickered outside my window. She was quickly shoving my clothes into a duffle bag.
"Come on baby we have to go!" She yelled. I groggily slid out of bed. Her locs were pulled back into a ponytail and she was dressed in all black.
"What's going on mommy?" I asked. She grabbed my hand and rushed me out of my room. There was no answer she just kept looking around the house wildly. I sat down on the sofa in the living room stared numbly.
"Come on put on your--" she started but a knock on the door startled the both of us.
"Shit. Shit. Shit," she yelled. She quickly pushed the other sofa to the door and picked me up. We ran out the back door. We were halfway to the back gate when mom fell. I rolled in the grass, dirt beads in my mouth. Something large fell on top of us.
"Grab the girl."

That's all I remember from that night and can't think of anything else that happened. I was chained to the wall with shackles. Erik sat in the corner asleep. I walked over to him and kicked his leg. He groaned and looked at me.
"What do you want?" He asked. I couldn't do anything but stare down at him in anger.
"Where are we?" I said gritting my teeth. He stood up, shackles rustling, towering over me.
"Wakanda,"
"Where in the fuck is that Erik!" I yelled shoving him with my shackled hands. He laughed each time which only made me want to hit him harder.
"I know you're angry sweetheart but hitting me isn't going to help the situation," he said. I stopped and backed away. What was I doing? I walked back over to the cell wall and looked around. The room was damp and only small lights lined around the walls. It was still dark though. The only thing I could make out was a small waterfall trickling in the corner.  I turned back around to Erik who was watching me the whole time.
"All I wanted to do, Erik, was live a quiet life and not be a burden...now that's ruined."
"No, all you wanted to do was graduate from college, earn your degree and get a job that'll help you support your mother and grandmother," he said, "you paid the bills, paid for your grandmothers dialysis all the while your mother sat up in that house with her mooching ass boyfriend. You tried to push back that 'accident' y'all both had."
"W-what are you talking about?" I asked raising my eyebrow. A cold chill ran down my spine.
"Fred's his name right? You know, when he slapped you. I saw the police report you filled. There was no point right? Your mother just bailed him out."
"You don't know what you're talking about," I said turning back to the wall. His shackles echoed in the room as he stepped closer. My heart raced like crazy. The torches and the room seemed to start spinning.
"You don't know how a man should treat you because your father was MIA...my father was killed and I'm here to take back what's mine...ours," he stood beside me and looked out, "I will give you the world and treat you like the Queen you are."
"Get away from me," I sniffed. Tears streamed down my face.
"You don't have to be that strong black woman Leanna. You shouldn't have to measure your strength with how much pain you're willing to take... black women are the most unappreciated women in the world. I see you Leanna," he cupped my chin and bent over. My lips quivered as his gently touched mine. He pulled away and in the process pulled my lip down. A grin painted across his face.
"As long as you're with me I got you and you'll want for nothing," he said. He took his hands and pulled down his lip. Across the pink, of his inner lip, was a fluorescent blue script.
"W-what?" I stammered.
"We're Wakandan's baby."