Breathe.

6

Nafessa Williams

I walked towards the assembly holding my phone in my hand and completely lost on why the damn hallways were this quiet. Everyone was silent. Literally. Everyone.

Someone tapped my shoulder and I turned around and came face to face with Gil. I hadn't seen him since the first day of school. "Hey girly." Even he was talking low.

"Hey Gil." I replied smiling.

"You seen Janet nem?"

I thought about how I hadn't seen Janet, Shawn nor Kelly today. Toni didn't come to school today either. Shaking my head, I answered. "No. I don't think they came today. Mind telling me why everyone's moving so slow and so quiet to this assembly?"

Gil frowned. "Oh I forgot you don't know. Today's Kenny's birthday. Janet and Toni's best friend. He would have been 18. The school always has this big assembly for him in the auditorium every year. His parents speak and everything. It's totes sad and somber and gloomy."

My footsteps stopped as people began moving around me. "Gil, I'll catch up with you later okay?"

He seemed confused but nodded. "Yeah. Definitely."

Turning against the current of the crowd, I moved through it and towards the fourth floor. Every classroom was bare because everyone was in the assembly. Even teachers. I opened the door to the restroom and searched every stall. Toni wasn't in there. Damn it.

Deciding against my better lack of judgement, I walked to the first floor and took the route that I was taught to use for skipping. I climbed the gate and headed towards my car.

The first place I drove was Toni's house. I remembered the way from when I had dropped her off and ironically we lived 8 blocks away from each other. Seeing that her mothers car was there, I knew that she wasn't there. She had told me herself that if her mother was home she didn't want to be there all emotional.

This led me to searching at parks and playgrounds. I even went to the mall because I got desperate. Toni wasn't anywhere near any of those places. Giving up, I finally went home. Opening my garage, the only thing that made me notice Toni sitting on my porch was the fact that her backpack was by the garage door.

She looked up at me when I pulled in and I could tell she had been crying. I got out as I went to my front porch. Sitting next to her, we sat in silence before she mumbled. "I went to Janet's house today..."

Looking over at her, I asked. "Really?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "We talked, turns out she doesn't hate me. She just bullies me because she's disappointed and angry. So, yay me. I guess..."

Shaking my head, I stood up and held my hand out for her to follow. She grabbed it and her bag as I walked her into my house after closing the garage. We stood in the kitchen for a moment before I spoke.

"Maybe you should speak up." I muttered softly.

Toni looked up at me. "What?"

"Maybe you should speak Toni. I mean it's never too late to speak, you can still—."

She took a deep breath as she adjusted her backpack in her hands. "I knew I shouldn't have come."

When she headed towards my front door, I stepped in front of her. "Toni, don't leave alright. I'm sorry. I am, it's just— if I knew for sure who killed my father, I would be yelling guilt from the clouds of heaven if I could. I would speak. I would make sure that his name fell from every tongue in Maryland and then from every tongue in the world. I would march this Earth and get his name out and—."