Tonya sat on her bed with her bestfriend Mecca as they polished each other's toes. Neither of them could afford going to the nail salon every two weeks like normal teenagers so they settled for stealing polish from Wal Mart and painting each other's toes. They saw it as bonding time.

"This yellow looks so good on your toes bestfriend" Mecca said to Tonya.

"Thanks boo" she replied as she wiggles her toes.

"So there's this party tonight, wanna go?"

"Maybe when Toya goes to sleep. Whose party is it?" Tonya asked.

"Chloé's her parents are out of town so she's throwing a huge bash. Messiah's gonna be tthheerree" Mecca wiggled her eyebrows.

Tonya blushed. There was a knock at the front door so she stood on the heels of her feet and carefully walked towards the living room.

"Who is it?" She yelled as the knocking continued. There was no answer so she looked through the peephole. When she saw who it was she groaned.

"Where's your key?" She grumbled as she opened the door for her visibly drunk mother. She silently thanked God that Toya was taking a nap, this way she wouldn't see her mom staggering into the house like a fool.

Tonya looked at her disgusted with the sight before her. Tia's hair was matted, her shirt was dingy, and her leggings were a little too tight. "You look a mess" Tonya said as she headed back towards her room.

"I'm sstttiiillll your mother lil girl" Tia slurred.

"Well act like it" Tonya yelled down the hallway and slammed her door.

Mecca looked at her bestfriend with sad eyes as she paced her bedroom. "Fuck it, we can go to the party"

There was a small knock on the door, "Go the fuck away" Tonya yelled.

"It's me" Toya's small voice came through the door.

Tonya opened the door and smiled down at her little sister but when she saw her pouting she instantly went into mama mode.

"What's wrong chocolate drop?"

She sniffled and rubbed her eyes, "Mommy" she pointed down the hall towards her mother's bedroom.

Tonya squatted down in front of her, "mommy's a little sick, she's gonna be ok"

"Her sick? We got to give her medicine then" she replied as she tilted her head to the side.

"No pooh, medicine won't help her with this type of sickness. You hungry?" She asked desperately trying change the subject because Toya would continue to ask questions. Her little sister was smart for age which was why you could have an entire conversation with her, understand her, and she could understand you.

"Yes! I want some spasgetti, not like last time though" she answered as she made a face making Mecca and Tonya both laugh.

"I will try my best." Tonya answered.

"I got you bestie, let's go munchkin" Mecca said as she scooped Toya off of her feet and the three of them made their way towards the kitchen.

Tonya connected her phone to Mecca's bluetooth speaker and they started to make dinner. Toya sat on the floor of the living room and played with the few toys she had. Mecca expertly showed Tonya how to make spaghetti, "good job sis" she complimented as she watched Tonya cook the ground beef.

After a while Toya shouted "HHUUNNGGRRYY" as she laid back dramatically in the middle of the floor.

"Be patient pooh, it's almost done" Tonya said to her as she giggled.

"That lil girl gonna be a handful when she gets older, watch" Mecca said as she strained the noodles.

"A hot ass mess" Tonya said as she tasted the meat she had just cooked, nodding her head at the taste.

"A HOT ASS MESS!" Toya repeated.

"LaToya make me whoop yo ass" Tia said as she came stumbling into the living room.

Toya looked over at her mom with puppy dog eyes and poked her lip out. "I sorry mommy" she whispered.

"What hiccup smells so good?" She asked as she walked into the kitchen hovering over the stove top.

"First of all back up" Tonya said as she nudged her mother. She was the one that always bitched about people putting their dirty hands on her pots and now she was doing it.

"You need to hiccup learn some respect"

"Give me something to respect and maybe I will" she replied, rolled her eyes and proceeded to make Toya's plate.

"Toy come on and eat"

"I coming" she smiled, got up and made her way to the table.

"Where my food at?" Tia asked.

"You got two hands that work perfectly fine" Tonya mugged.

Both Mecca and Tonya made their plates and joined Toya at the table. "Dis ggoooodd" Toya smiled.

"Thank you" Mecca and Tonya said in unison.

Toya finished all of her food and even wanted more. She was so full that she fell asleep on the couch not even 10 minutes after eating. Tonya woke her up, gave her a bath, and placed her into her bed.

Tonya walked into her room and plopped down on her bed. For some reason she felt empty, loss, and depressed. Everything was starting to take a toll on her, how did she become more responsible than her mother.

"You still trying to go party with me?" Mecca asked as she grabbed her bag getting ready to head home to get ready.

"Na, I think imma sit this one out. I'm not feeling to good" Tonya replied as she stared at the ceiling.

"Bbeessttiiee-"

"I don't wanna go Mecca" Tonya interrupted.

"Do you want me to stay here with you?" She asked seriously.

"Nah, I just wanna be alone right now" Tonya replied.

"Kk I understand" Mecca said honestly. She knew everything that happened earlier with her mama coming home drunk off her ass was the reason. They had been friends so long that she knew what she was feeling as soon as she felt it.

She hugged her bestfriend, went into Toya's room kissed her cheek, and left out of the house making sure to lock the bottom lock on her way out.

Tonya stripped out of her clothes and made her way into the bathroom to shower happy that the hot water was now working thanks to Messiah's uncle.

After cleaning her body she stepped out of the shower, oiled her skin, and got dressed in a cute onesie. As soon as she laid her head on her pillow Toya came into her room. "I sleep with you?" She asked as she rubbed her eyes.

This was something that happened often, Toya would have a bad dream or simply couldn't sleep and would come into her room to sleep with her. "Come on" she replied as she lifted the covers for her to get into the bed.

"I love you Ton" Toya whispered as she placed her hand on her big sister's cheek.

"I love you too" Tonya smiled as her heart swelled. She genuinely loved her sister but sometimes she didn't really know how to show it. She sometimes felt like her sister was a burden on her life and that she had made to many sacrifices when it came to her. In this moment though, she felt as if those sacrifices were well worth it.

Around three in the morning her phone rung jolting her out of her sleep, she rushed to answer it so that Toya wouldn't wake up. "Hello" she whispered into the phone.

"T-T-Tonya?" she heard Mecca's voice on the other end.

"What's wrong?" she asked curiously as she got a sickening feeling in her stomach.

"It's, it's Messiah. He's been shot" she cried into the phone. Tonya's entire body went stiff causing her to drop her phone onto the floor.

The blood curdling scream that left her mouth caused Toya to jump up and start screaming too. Which caused Tia to run into the room to check on them.

"What's wrong? What happen?" She asked as she checked Toya first to make sure she wasn't hurt. She walked over to Tonya who was shaking as tears fell profusely down her face.

"Tonya tell me what's wrong" she pleaded. Surprisingly she was pretty sober, considering the fact that she had been drinking non stop for the past two weeks.

Tonya looked into her eyes and could somehow tell that she was genuinely worried. She breathed deeply in and out before she spoke, "Messiah, he's been shot"

Tia's heart dropped. Messiah was like a son to her, she knew all about the things he was helping with around her house. "Come on" she said to her daughter as she reached her hand out for her to grab it.

Toya walked over to them and wrapped her arms around Tonya's legs. "Sissy what's wong? She hiccuped.

"I'm okay pooh" Tonya said as she rubbed her head. Then she remembered that Mecca was still on the phone, she walked over to the phone to hear that she was still on the line crying. "Mecca is he...... is he dead?"

"I don't know, the ambulance came and took him to Grady, I'm waiting on my Lyft to your house then we can go sit with him"

"Okay" she sniffled. She sat on her bed and took deep breaths, she literally felt as if she couldn't breathe. Toya silently cried as she watched her sister intently. She stood, walked in between her legs, and laid her head on her as Tonya stroked her hair.

Although she felt as if she didn't know how to show her affection, this was Toya's way of showing hers.
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Mecca ^^^^
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Author's 📝

The next few chapters may be hard for some of you to read, the events that took place in this chapter are a major turning point in the story.

Is Messiah dead ?

Anything y'all wanna see happen next ? I'm always open to suggestions .

As always; Thank you 🙏🏽 Thank you 🙏🏽 Thank you 🙏🏽

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