Moses
I ran my tongue along my bottom lip with a hum, looking away from the deserved road in front of me and instead, gazing out the window to the side once the feeling of being watched rang low in my ears.
The loud voice of my younger cousin Malaki distinctly processed in my head. He was connected to the aux in my car, rambling on about shit that hadn't been important enough for me to indulge in so I took it upon myself to turn him down a bit, my eyes twitching up into a squint as an eerie feeling crawled up my spine.
Pressing my foot down onto the gas, I tightened my grip on the steering wheel, going one-twenty on a sixty-five-speed range while leaning up in my seat and scanning my eyes across the road around me.
I watched as a bent-up Nissan pulled up and held the same speed to my left. Both going one-twenty on a sixty-five maximum. Illegal as hell.
I barely registered the car slowing in front of me once my eyes locked onto the small, brown skin child inhabiting the vehicle to my left. She was sitting in the backseat and I felt a frown form itself on my face once I registered the look on her own.
She looked miserable just then. Like that janked up car was the last place she ever wanted to be and that made me frown even harder.
I used my thumb to rub at my stubbled jaw before shifting my gaze back onto the road in front, letting my foot off the gas before glancing back over. Behind the steering wheel, a man slammed his fist down onto the side of his door. His eyes burned in pure rage as he shouted at the woman in the passenger seat while the child in the back tightly shut her eyes, a single tear rolling down her small chubby cheek and chipping away at a piece of my heart.
I tried to keep my face neutral as I gazed at the bunch but I couldn't help the way my jaw tightened when the woman swung her fist at the man, hitting him in his temple and shutting him up.
I, myself winced at the hit and I hadn't even been the one on the receiving end of it. Shit looked like it hurt.
Sucking my teeth at the two, a disappointed shake shook to my head. Briefly, my eyes locked with the angry male himself and I ignored the scrunched mug he in turn, showed me.
Right then and there I decided to mind my own business like I should've in the first place. I turned back towards my windshield with a bitter taste residing in my mouth and my face all tense. The road hadn't nearly been as busy as it was on any other day so I didn't worry much about cars being in my way or the speed in which I drove. I was on my way to my friend, Izaak's for that strong ass stash of drugs he sold on the side, needing a fix once my last had finally become no more.
So far my drive was peaceful.
Until now.
"Stop!" The young girl in the back seat yelled, and I blew out a stressful sigh at the sound of it.
Her shout of protest had been heard as clear as day since both car windows were down.
She cried out and I clenched my teeth in disgust as I saw her stretch her body in between the two adults. They tugged at the wheel like kids, swerving the already banged-up vehicle left and right and it gave me short-lived relief when I noticed she at least was strapped in with her seatbelt. It hadn't been fully secured, not with the way the fabric stretched and tugged against her skin and extended to its farthest capacity, but it was relief nonetheless to know that she was sensible enough to have it on.
When the man angrily snapped back at the girl and called her names a child should never hear, let alone be called, I sighed once more, closing my eyes for a moment before slowing my vehicle in avoidance of getting hit.
