Clemency. ✓

26

Shawn Carter,

I woke up to the sunlight shining in my face along with the sound of people talking. In an attempt to open my eyes, Lori's head popped up just for her to see it was her parents standing there with their arms folded.

"Fuck." She whispered. "Hey Mama, hey daddy."

"Hell no," Marjorie sweared. "Get your ass up out of that bed with him."

She slowly got out the bed and went to put slide a shirt and some shorts on. She came back out placing her hair in a ponytail holder.

"Young man, I suggest you get your ass out my daughter's apartment," Mr. Harvey said.

"Daddy, I brought him here, okay? He didn't drive." She said. "I went to check on him and we went to eat late and came here." Lori said,

"And had sex, right?" Her mother questioned.

She sighed, crawl back on the bed to criss cross them. "Yes, we had sex. That was my idea as well."

"You need to take him where he needs to be. When you do that, you make sure you bring your ass back here so we can talk. Is that understood?" She asked.

"Yes." She said walking her closet.

The two them walked out so we could get dressed. Neither Lori or me said a word as we got ourselves ready. We just did as we were told. I called Dria to see where she was. She was home so that's where Lori took me.

"Sorry about that." Lori said pulling into the yard. "I forgot they probably would've came by the house after everything that went on. Let me know if you need anything. A ride. Food. Someone to talk to. I'm here."

"I will. Thank you!"

She backed out the driveway, then I used my key to get inside the house. It was quieter than usual with Uncle Dennis' absence. I jogged upstairs following the sounds of crumbling paper and trash.

I opened Dria's bedroom door where I saw she was going through drawers and trashing items.

"Hey," I spoke.

"Hey." She said dryly.

I began to look around at how empty everything looked.

"So I guess you still doing this?" I asked.

"I been told you I was doing it." She replied. "I'm not staying here any longer. The situation with Uncle Dennis' only made me go with the decision more."

I sighed, sitting on the bed.

"So what we gone do with the house? I can't afford to live here either."

"I've already talk to the landlord. It's taken care of." She said. "I just suggest you find somewhere to stay cause we gotta be out by next Monday."

"And Grant?"

"I don't know yet. See if wherever you go, he can go for a little while." She said.

I didn't reply.

It's hard me to think about packing up and moving out the house my mother loved so much. We had so many memories here that I'm just not ready to let go of yet.

"So what are we gonna do about Unk?" I asked.

"I called a funeral home this morning. They're willing to work with us, but the cheapest thing they could offer was cremation for $600 or a graveside burial for the same price, but that's excluding the casket. We're still looking at a good $800 to $1000 we gotta come outta pocket for." She said. "We need to make a decision."