Hakeem had hoped, prayed, and wished that when he got his own test, the results would be different.

So imagine his disappointment when they were exactly the same.

That was the reason he sat a few chairs down from Maya and his mother, listening to them talk like they were the best of friends.

"He's pouting." Monica whispered to Maya with a short laugh, "How cute."

She had little to no sympathy for Hakeem not only because he'd done this to himself, but also because she was once in Maya's position, accidentally pregnant by a man who didn't particularly want the child.

Had she followed Deon's advice and gotten an abortion, there would be no Hakeem. Monica felt like since she and Deon eventually ended up together, going on to have another child, that maybe that outcome was feasible for Maya and Hakeem as well.

Brielle was in the way of Hakeem building a family.

"He is cute." Maya agreed.

"Imagine how beautiful the baby will be."

Their voice had returned to normal volume, so Hakeem was able to hear Maya say, "Yes! I want a girl so bad. We need names."

"You don't need to raise nobody daughter." Hakeem spoke.

The women ignored him and continued on with their task of finding names.

Grace shifted beside Hakeem and looked at Monica in annoyance, "Why you couldn't just drop me off first?"

"Because Hakeem isn't allowed to be within 50 feet of Maya without supervision. Didn't you hear?"

Hakeem was starting not to like his mama.

"I'll take you home. Ian finna sit here anyway."

Monica's head turned towards him in a flash, "You definitely are going to sit there. The appointment is for your baby. What's wrong with you?"

"The appointment for Maya."

"I wouldn't have even said her name." Grace muttered, "Now sis probably think y'all finna get married."

His face frowned up in disgust, "I'll never marry her."

"But you got her pregnant?" Monica asked angrily, hating that they were ganging up on her while she was with child.

"I ain't try to, and you heard her talking about condoms breaking. Y'all not finna make me feel bad when I told her from the beginning I didn't want this baby. Ion care about nun of that when she tryna bring a child in the world outta spite. That's lowdown ma."

He wasn't being a deadbeat because it wasn't like the baby would know if he was there or not. Of course he was more than willing to do whatever when he or she came, but going to doctor's appointments benefitted Maya, not the baby.

And Monica was more than happy to sit there anyway.

"Imagine if that child heard his dad talking about them this way. Talking to their mother that way."

"Man Grace let's go."

"I'm right behind you."

• • •

Bri's schedule of classes allowed her to be done by the time Takayla got out of school. The social worker did a home visit and spoke with Alisha about the incident, which didn't help at all.

All that did was cause her to get a whooping, welts covering the parts of her body that could be hidden by clothes.

She didn't tell Bri that's what happened, because she hated when Brielle and Alisha fought, and had she told her, she knew Bri would go off.

Kayla looked out of the passenger window before looking at her sister, "Whose car is this?"

Brielle didn't always drive because she genuinely enjoyed the peace that walking brought her. It gave her time to think, she got fresh air, and it just made her feel happy.

"Hakeem." She answered while slowing down to let the kids playing in the street move.

"Who is that?

"My husband." Bri rolled down the window, "Get y'all bad ass out the street before I treat y'all like some speed bumps!"

"You didn't invite me to the wedding."

Brielle laughed and shook her head, "There wasn't one. He doesn't know we're married yet."

When the test results came back proving that it was Hakeem's baby, Bri once again went through the dilemma of staying or going. She was partially blinded by the fact that Hakeem had told her he loved her, but she also felt like she could at least see how things would go.

She wanted it to work out because she loved Hakeem too, and he made her happy. That didn't mean she would stay through everything, and she continuously told herself not to lose who she was trying to stay with him.

"Can we get some Ice cream?" Kayla asked

Bri nodded and changed routes, "You had a good day at school?"

"No. I got in trouble for pushing Jania on the ground."

"Why you push her down? I told you can't be hitting people just because they make you mad." Brielle said, giving advice that she was trying to live by herself.

"'Cause she called me a crack baby."

"Next time don't push her on the ground, punch her ass out. If you gone get in trouble might as well make it worth it."

Kayla smiled and nodded, "And I got in trouble for giving this boy a laxative. I told him it was candy."

"You fucking psychopath."

Brielle didn't care when Kayla finally retaliated against people, because she would give chances before doing whatever she decided to do. Kayla wasn't necessarily bullied, but she also didn't fit in with the 'popular' kids. It was elementary, so Bri wasn't even sure how the hell it was popular kids.

In any case, they needed to leave her sister alone before she put on some black high-top forces and go stand in front of the school ready to fight mamas and all.

Once Takayla got her ice cream, they went home to find Jacoby sitting on the couch, "Bri Ian never been so happy to see you. Please go cook me some to eat."

His voice lacked the usual sarcastic or joking tone, and Brielle saw the seriousness on his face, "You better go cook some eggs. I'm finna go."

"Ain't no eggs in there. You know that's my go-to."

She rolled her eyes, "What's in there?"

"Nothing."

There had to be something in there. Or at least she thought. The only thing she found in there was Darnishia, and she was eating Chinese food without a care in the world.

Now, Bri didn't understand why Jacoby was hungry. It was no way she'd bring a whole plate in the house and not give any food to her siblings.

She didn't say anything though, because Bri felt terrible for what Jerome had done to Darnishia,

"What?" Darnishia asked with a mouthful of rice.

"Nothing."

Opening cabinets, Brielle tried to round up things to make something, but again, Coby was right. There was nothing in there.

She let out a sigh and started walking back towards the door, stopping because she wanted to ask, "Why Alisha didn't buy any food?"

Darnishia shrugged, "She got fired for stealing. The checks don't come anymore. I guess she can't afford to."

The words wouldn't stop themselves from coming out, "So why you in here smacking and shit but Coby starving?"

She looked up from her phone, "That's not my child. He barely even talk to me so I don't care if he eat or not. He got legs, better go find a way to get some money."

True, Jacoby was rude in the past, but they all were rude to each other before. You talk your shit, maybe fight, but at the end of the day that's your brother and you're supposed to look out.

"Okay," Brielle replied simply.

"Yeah okay."

Takayla was busy thinking about what food Bri would cook, "Can we have pork chops?"

Brielle didn't even want to bring any food in here because she didn't want Alisha to eat it, "I'm finna take you out to eat. Go change clothes."

She was so excited that she took off her hoodie in the kitchen, her shirt rising above her head and revealing the same welts that she'd tried to avoid Bri seeing.

"What the fuck?" She asked, kneeling down and pulling Kayla closer to her, "When this happened?"

Darnishia answered uninterestedly, "That lady from school came over here like two days ago. You know how extra mama is."

It pissed her off that it didn't seem to affect Darnishia in the slightest, her talking in a nonchalant tone as if it didn't care.

Which she didn't care. The last time she'd cared about her siblings she made herself a target.

"Go change," Bri instructed.

When Takayla left the room, Brielle finally asked the question she'd wanted to know since she read her journal, "Why do you hate me?"

Darnishia looked in surprise, "Huh?"

"You hate me. I don't think I did anything to deserve that so I wanna know why."

Honestly, Darnishia never got to the root of why she didn't like her sister. The resemblance Bri shared with Jerome didn't help, but she knew that wasn't a logical reason to not like her. Hate was a strong word, and once Darnishia thought about it, she did, in fact, hate Brielle.

"You saw the same shit I did." She spat, "And you still acted like he was anything other than a disgusting piece of shit. He beat mama ass almost every week and you laid in the bed with some fucking earphones on like you couldn't hear shit. He treated Coby and Kayla like shit because they're not his, but you wanna come in here asking me why he hasn't eaten when you didn't give not one fuck about that on the nights when mama only cooked for you, him and her. Fuck you Bri."

Brielle listened to Darnishia talk crazy to her without responding in the same way because she thought that she needed to do it, and then maybe they could move past it.

That line of thinking spoke to Bri's ignorance of sexual assault victims.

"He's where he needs to be. Dead as fuck."

"Dead as fuck." Brielle agreed.

Darnishia looked at her, looking for hints of sarcasm, genuinely surprised when she didn't find any, "Don't say what you think I wanna hear. Nicole said I can't expect you to feel how I feel."

"Who?"

"My therapist."

Even though Nicole told her she couldn't expect Bri to feel how she felt, Darnishia still wanted her to.

She wanted Bri to know what Jerome had done to her. Not because it would change anything, but because it bothered her so much that Bri celebrated his life after everything he did.

Yeah, she gave Bri details about that one day, but that was barely scratching the surface. Darnishia wanted her sister to believe her, and choose her.

That was ironic, though, because Bri never told Darnishia she didn't believe her.

Irony could also be found in the fact that Darnishia thought Bri only knew of that incident when she knew almost everything.

"I just want us to be sisters again." Bri spoke quietly, "I'm sorry."

This wasn't Brielle's burden to bear, but she felt guilty and thought apologizing would benefit both of them.

Darnishia scooped up more rice on her fork, "Nicole told me that maybe I should've told you. I just hate talking about it."

"I read the journal."

Her hand stopped moving, "You what?"

"I read the journal. I didn't know he was doing that shit to you. You think I'd talk about him if I knew he did stuff like that?"

She thought it would be a good idea to tell her because she assumed that Darnishia's sentence meant she wanted to tell her. The problem was, there were things in the journal that Darnishia hadn't even spoken with her therapist about yet.

Darnishia felt many emotions, anger, sadness, frustration.

However, they weren't as strong as the embarrassment and shame she felt.

She'd put all of her thoughts and feelings in that journal. She'd written things she wouldn't dare speak aloud, under the pretense that her journal was her escape from reality and no one could reach her there.

"I love you, Darnishia."

All she got in return was a blank stare.

• • •

"I can't believe she let this girl sleep in my bed." Hakeem stated to Grace while looking around at the bags and suitcases, "She had a whole fucking house. How she end up over here?"

"Mama told her she can be saving that money, so she moved over here. I care, but then again I don't 'cause she be having mama in the kitchen cooking, cooking. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner."

"All them times these hoes wanna call my baby homeless and now look at 'em."

After they left the hospital, Grace asked Hakeem to take her to the mall. They ended up spending the rest of the evening together, which mainly consisted of him listening to her talk. Grace hadn't realized that she missed Hakeem so much and was enjoying catching him up on the non-important aspects of her life.

"I think I called her homeless before too. My bad."

"And I had to ask her not to beat your ass too. If you wanna talk big shit you gotta let me know so I can show you how to fight."

Grace snorted, "I wanna learn how to shoot. It's 2020 I'm not fighting nobody."

They left his room, going back downstairs as Hakeem prepared to leave.

"I saw Josiah car outside that girl house yesterday. Please tell him to stop."

He looked down at her in surprise, "How you know about Rae?"

"Who don't know about them? The whole city tryna see what's gone happen next."

A public modern day soap opera, the messy city of Mobile couldn't help but stay tuned in, keeping score of who was 'winning' and who was 'losing'.

So far, Raelyn was in the lead.

"People so got damn nosy. Ian never been in nobody business like that."

"They did me the same way when they found out I had herpes." She said, "One girl balled up lil pieces of paper and glued them to my locker and wouldn't stop calling me G. herpo."

"Boy you was 'posed to slap that hoe head off."

Grace smiled, "Jamila did it for me. It was a big bitch."

The friend who'd once stopped talking to her because of Mario was the same one who fought the much larger girl for Grace. She didn't ask her to, and was unaware it had even happened until she went on Facebook later.

"Mila a real one. They still be fucking witchu'?"

"I told them that if they keep talking shit I'ma tell my brother and on God you'll kill them." Grace shrugged, "I probably wasn't supposed to say that but it worked. Sorry."

Of course they talked behind her back, but people were going to do that regardless.

Hakeem shook his head and laughed, "Grace don't be putting hits on nobody in public."

"I don't have to anymore. This was before Mario disappeared."

"I'll see you later." He replied, placing an arm loosely around her shoulder.

Grace almost let him leave the house before she told him, "I think I saw daddy the other day."

He froze in place, "Saw him where?"

"Over there by where Bri stay. Mila was driving too fast so I really couldn't see, but I think it was him."

Hakeem didn't want Grace anywhere near their dad. He really didn't even want her to know that he was in the area period.

Choosing not to lie to her, Hakeem blew out a breath, "That was him."

Grace nodded her head, "Do you think he's gonna say something to me?"

"Nah. He too busy doing more fucked up shit. I'ma take care of that though so don't worry about it."

"I'm not... but I think mama is."

This was news to Hakeem, "Why you say that?"

"I heard her on the phone with Danielle." Grace responded, referring to their aunt and Travis' mother, "She said she saw him at the outlet while she was with Maya."

The outlet was in Foley, maybe a half hour from where Deon lived.

"And she ain't say nun? But she wanna do all this other shit when that's the most important thing."

Grace wasn't going to say anything to Hakeem about it because she knew it'd make him mad, but she made a spur of the moment decision to say, "She saw him before that though 'cause she said he asked about Bri."

So that meant he was watching them.

Hakeem closed his eyes in anger, "What the fuck is wrong with that lady?"

"She misses you."

"Grace I'm not her nigga. What she want me sitting up under her all day for? And her doing all this not doing shit but making me not wanna come over here."

"You came over here everyday before." She reminded him, "You can't expect her to just forget that."

Hakeem wasn't trying to hear that, "I don't give a damn. Ain't that something you tell somebody?"

Grace thought so, which was why she told him.

He said bye again, and went home to ask Bri if she'd ever seen him. He wasn't expecting Kayla to be there. Not that he cared, he just wasn't expecting it.

Bri never brought Kayla around because she wasn't taking any chances. That's not to say she thought Hakeem would ever touch her sister, but does anyone think their partner is capable of that until it happens?

"Wassup." He greeted, watching Brielle and Takayla drive around on Grand Theft Auto.

"Wassup." Bri replied without turning around.

Takayla turned to wave, "Hey."

He didn't know what to say, so he repeated what he just said, "Wassup."

"That's Hakeem, Kayla."

"Your husband?"

Bri shot her a look, "Well not no more. He gone think I'm crazy."

Hakeem wanted to laugh, and under any other circumstances, he would have, but he couldn't right now, "Bri lemme talk to you right quick."

She finally looked at him, and saw tension all over his face, "Okay. Kayla I'ma be back."

"You seen a old nigga following you or some? Maybe he said some to you?" He asked when they got in the kitchen.

Bri shook her head, "No. Why you ask me that?"

"Deon been down here."

She did, however, look up in time to see the man, who was now leaning against his car, staring unashamedly at her. He made no effort to look away, and Bri didn't either.

Only her reason was that he looked like someone that she couldn't place.

As Bri stared at Hakeem's face, she placed who the man standing outsider her house looked like, "He was at my house." She replied, "He was picking up Darnishia."

Hakeem didn't know that she knew that, "Bri that man a trafficker."

"Drugs?"

"If it was drugs I wouldn't give a fuck about him being around you."

"What about Darnishia?" She asked loudly, "Why wouldn't you tell me that about him?"

"'Cause you always playing hero. I'm handling it."

"That's not your decision to make, Hakeem. And I can't tell you're handling anything. She still talking to him right?"

He was handling it, just not as fast as he would have if he'd know Deon had asked about Bri. Hakeem would never tell Brielle that Darnishia wasn't his priority.

"Fuck that let's go over there right now." Brielle said while turning to walk back into the living room to get Kayla.

She knew if she told Darnishia what Deon was doing, then she'd never talk to him again.

Hakeem took a deep breath, "I think she was... you know.. selling stuff for him."

Standing quietly in the doorway, Bri swallowed hard, "That's still my sister Hakeem."

"I'm just telling you before you say something to her."

Their ride was quiet because Brielle couldn't talk even if she wanted to.

She was catching hell from all sides and she couldn't understand why her. At what point did she catch a break? At what point did things go right for her?

trigger warning. pls do not read past this point if you struggle with thoughts of self harm.

When they stopped in front of the house, Bri told Hakeem to wait outside while she and Takayla went inside to talk to Darnishia, He didn't care at all because he didn't want to be a part of that conversation.

They had barely entered before Kayla ran back out screaming loudly. Bri was right behind her, except she paused to throw up the contents of her stomach.

She saw Hakeem in front of her, and heard him asking what happened, but she couldn't speak over the lump in her throat.

So he had to go see what had happened for himself.

Hakeem walked in to see Alisha dead on the sofa, and Darnishia hanging from the ceiling fan.

• • •

👼🏽 rest in peace to darnishia

alisha is burning in hell 🥳

ima keep dropping chapters back to back as long as y'all keep voting & commenting. if the chapter takes a long time, ask yourself: "did I vote?"

have a great night guys 💕