Part of The Game

XXVIII

The next afternoon....

Omniscient

Today, Tanya was at her house. She got a call from Tyrell last night telling her that he needed to talk to her and Tariq. Tanya being suspicious was an understatement since the last time he needed to talk to them was when Bryan died.

She unlocked the door and walked in, automatically noticing a woman on the couch. The woman looked familiar in the face but she couldn't put her finger on it. When she looked around the room, the boys were already waiting for her.

"Hi." She waved to everybody.

"Hi, how are you sweetie?" The woman asked.

"I'm fine and yourself?"

"I'm good, thank you."

"So I guess a proper introduction is necessary." Ty said.

"Right." The woman said. "I'm Angela, your grandma."

"On our dad's side?" Tariq asked.

"Yes."

"How come we never knew you?"

"We didn't know anybody on dad's side." Tanya said.

"Why?" Riq asked.

"Well, I can only speak for myself." Angela said. "I didn't like your mother, honestly. Your father was always telling me about how she was doing drugs again and making false promises. When I found out she was pregnant with Tyrell, I was a little more sympathetic towards her. She had stopped using but when he was born, she started up again. Then, she got pregnant with Tanya and it was the same thing. But with Tariq, she never stopped using. When you were born Tariq, you were this tiny little thing and you were going through withdrawals. That's when your father knew it was time to divorce her. He had to do what he felt was right for his kids. One day, though, he called me and told me that he wanted to work things out with her again. I was so angry and selfish that I told him if he did, he would never hear from me again. I guess you know how that turned out."

"How did you know that they got back in contact?" Ty asked.

"A few weeks after Tariq was born, she got pregnant again."

"By dad?" Tanya asked.

"No ." She said. "But, your father offered to take care of the baby."

"I'm assuming mom said no." Ty said.

"Said she could take care of him." She scoffed. "She could barely take care of herself let alone a newborn."

"So we had another brother?"

"Yeah, um, Bryan."

"Bryan Alvarez?" Tariq and Tanya asked.

"Yeah, you know him?"

Tanya stuck her hands in her jacket pocket as her eyes watered. They hadn't talked about Bryan since Christmas and now to find out that he was actually their biological brother made the pain of his death worsen.

"He, um, died a few months back." Ty said.

"Oh gosh. How?"