Ruthless

Chris 38

Whenever I thought about 'him' I couldn't sleep, even though he was dead and probably getting tortured by the devil himself, he still managed to haunt me; it went deeper than the molestation... Pastor Teague was able to turn my entire family, my entire community against me. Being sent to a conversion camp, being ostracized, that shyt affects you and even though I've been getting help, it's not something that can be cured overnight but one of the ways I was able to move on from what happened was to run. It was cold as fuck, the snow was up to my ankles but running helped clear my head; it was like I was running away from all my problems and the cold wind against my face help bring clarity. I did a couple of laps around the neighborhood, passing Legend's house a few times and I was surprised that them niggas were still up, I could hear them laughing every time I passed and a few times I was tempted to stop by but I wasn't finished with my run. On my tenth pass, however, Darnell was standing on the porch smoking a blunt and I slowed to a walk before he walked down the driveway to meet me.

"I know you gotta be tired, why don't you come in and chill... we ain't doing shyt but watching fights on Youtube." Darnell said and I thought about it for a second. "And while we're doing that, you can tell me how to make that damn drink that had you, Legend, and your boy hiding in a general's son's closet." He said smiling.

"I don't know... it's pretty late and I...." I tried to think of some reason not to go in there, it wasn't that I felt uncomfortable around them, it's just.... I've always been kind of a loner, that is until I met Legend and Preston.

"Man come on, you had us help you move shyt into your house the least you can do is help us drink some of the liquor you bought. Matter fact, I'm not taking no for an answer." Darnell said putting his arm over my shoulder and leading me towards the house. "Look who decided to stop by." Darnell announced to the room.

"Ayy I got a question, the way Legend hypes up the Marines.... say y'all were tossed into a Hunger Games situation; two people from each branch of the military... who would win." Nolan asked and I was kinda caught off guard by that random ass question. "I'm only asking because some of these videos don't look too good for y'all Marines, in fact, I'm pretty sure y'all lost against every other branch."

"That's probably because you're looking at the wrong videos.... plus the best fights aren't recorded because we're not stupid enough to let ourselves get caught." I said sitting down, "So what exactly are y'all doing?" I asked looking around the room.

"Basically it's a drinking game.... we pick a video, then we pick who we think is going to win, based on your pick if the person you pick gets their ass beat you gotta take a shot. You down?" Bazil asked and I shrugged, then found out rather quickly that I was horrible at this game because within an hour I was fucked up.

"Let it out nigga.... damn why didn't you tell me you were a lightweight?" Darnell asked as I leaned over the toilet and tried my best not to throw up.

"Far.... far from a lightweight, I haven't been this fucked up in a while, and mixing dark liquor with light is never a good idea." I said fighting back the urge to throw up. "How the fuck did I let y'all talk me into this." I moaned as my stomach twisted and turned against my spine.

"Hold on bruh..... take your shirt off, I'll be right back." Darnell said walking out of the bathroom, I must've been really fucked up because I took my shirt off and waited. A few minutes later he came back with a towel and draped it over my back, it was cold as fuck but it helped a lot.

"I'm not really a big drinker, but when I do drink I usually go all out and this is a little trick I picked up from one of my..... friends. He's big into sports and whenever he goes out before a game he does this and he said it really helps." Darnell said sitting on the ground next to me and rubbing my back.