STATESIDE

We advise that you listen to: Somebody That I Used to Know by Gotye

May 2013, Age 15

Violet was awakened by her mother. She looked frantic as her eyes were the size of quarters. The sun was barely up. 

"Mama, what's going on?" Violet asked rubbing her aching back from sleeping on the old mattress.

"Come on, we gotta get to the airport." May had one suitcase packed.

"For what?" Violet asked rubbing her tired eyes.

"You're father died."

"I thought you said you didn't know him. What do you mean he died?"

May sucked her teeth, "Girl, just get up."

Violet rolled her eyes earning a look from her mother, "Now little girl."

Violet sat at her grandmother's table in the state of Florida. The current thunderstorm comforted her in some ways. She held the telephone attached to the wall in her hands. Her fingers playing with the cord.

"Wait, you're in Miami right now?"

"Yeah. My dad died." Violet's voice held no emotion. The pill she popped on the way to her grandmother's house was working in her favor, dimming the emotions after all. 

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"Cee, I ain't even know the man." 

"You did speak to him before he passed though."

Violet lowered her voice, "Yeah but I didn't know he had other kids."

"Why are you whispering?"

Violet averted her eyes as her grandmother peaked inside, "I can't talk too loud when there's a thunderstorm. Old superstition."

He laughed over the phone, "My bad. When are you coming back?"

"In a few days. I'll be sure to bring you a magnet. I just know your white ass wants to come here and perform one day."

Her grandmother entered the living room, "Chile, hang up my telephone. Running up the damn bill too."

"Oakley, I gotta go. I'll come to see you when I get back."

He sucked his teeth, "Aight. I love you."

Violet semi-smiled, "Love you too, Oak."

Her grandmother, Ivy, sat across from her sipping on ice water, "Who was that?"

"My friend Oakley." Violet didn't want her to mention their use of 'i love you'. It was more of a friend thing than a couple thing despite their subtle feelings for each other. 

She watched as the old lady hummed, "Mhm. You different."

Violet tugged on her hair averting her eyes, "Granny, what you mean?"

She sat her cup down on the patterned tablecloth, "Something happened over there."

Violet's stomach sank. Her grandmother continued, "Your mother is sitting in my house cracked out like I don't know she on that stuff. I know she got you out there all by yourself."

Violet raised an eyebrow, "Why I ain't stay here then?"

"Cuz the courts wouldn't let me, told me I'd be kidnapping you. I couldn't keep you here."

Violet sucked her teeth. "A lot of bad stuff keeps happening."

Tears fell down her cheeks as her grandmother placed a warm hand over hers, "You listen here. You call me when you need me okay? I'm trying to get you back over here. You hear me?"

Violet felt her grandmother wipe her face, "Granny a lot of things happened to me. Mama doesn't care. What am I supposed to do?"

Her grandmother jumped as the loud thunder make the house shake like a bad omen, "When the time is right. But be careful I'm sensitive to yo energy."

"What do you mean?"

Her grandmother gave her warm careful eyes, "You're life ain't gone get much easier."

Violet rolled her eyes, "Damn."

"It only gets better whenever you decide you wanna change it. Can't nobody make life easier other than yourself."

Violet kept replaying her grandmother's words as she sat in the back of her father's funeral. Everyone was dressed in black as the church choir sang. People sat with emotion as they grieved. Violet was quite the opposite, emotionless. 

Violet's eyes scanned the front pew. His wife, now a widow, and his other kids, her half-siblings blew into white tissues. Her jaw ticked with anger. She saw their expensive suits and dresses making her pick at the hem of her own black dress. 

Violet's mother, May, swayed in her seat drunk. She had been hollering the whole damn service making Violet her babysitter.

"Mama, hush," Violet whispered as May continued her performance.

Her mother walked up the aisle at the end of the service with a plan. Violet watched from the exit with anxiety. People made faces at her as they left the homegoing service. Her father's new family stayed at the front basking in the last few moments with the dead. 

"You're the woman he left us for!" Violet's mother seethed.

Violet gasped as her mother placed her skinny finger in front of the pew. The ex-wife stood up enraged, "You're not supposed to be here."

"He left me for some ugly piece of shit," May yelled causing a scene. 

Violet stomped after her mother. She gripped her mother's arm, "Ma, stop."

She looked at her family in the pew, "I'm so sorry."

May shrugged Violet off moving towards the exit cursing. Violet felt tears pool into her eyes from embarrassment. She took a look at the casket up front. The church was quiet and still. The ex-wife looked at Violet with warm eyes. 

"You must be Violet." The woman stood up. 

"Yeah. I'm truly sorry about her. You won't see us again." Violet took a step back but the ex-wife's face made her pause. 

"He talked about you. You have his dark eyes just like them." She pointed to her other three siblings. 

"I didn't know he was sick. I would've come out here sooner." Violet's voice was timid. 

The woman shook her head, "It's okay. Come by the house tomorrow for the reading of the will, okay? Here's some cash so you and your grandmother can come."

The next day Violet sat next to her grandmother feeling anxious. They had snuck out while May was passed out drunk on the couch. Violet watched as the lawyer read the will. Her father had left his kids with money, land, and property. 

"You better hope he left you something." Her grandmother whispered placing a comforting hand on Violet's bouncing leg. 

"Lastly, we have Violet Ruby Diamant. The will and testimony read as follows: to my firstborn Violet, I leave you a trust fund that will be released to you once you turn eighteen. And a check for ten thousand dollars." 

Violet felt the air leave her lungs. "What?" 

Violet handed Oakley a Miami magnet as promised. She sat on his front steps enjoying the warm May weather. His eyes lit up as she retold her story, "Wait like American dollars?"

Violet nodded her head feeling like she was floating, "I didn't tell my mom."

Violet recalled sobbing as she hugged her grandmother goodbye. The whispers still remained in her head, "I'll keep an eye on that trust fund. It can't be touched until you turn eighteen, don't worry."

How her mother was sober on the plane but the minute they touched down, left to get a drink. Violet's eyes locked in on the concrete ground. Her eyes followed a stray ant as it climbed through the blades of grass.

"So, what are you gonna do then?" Oakley asked running a hand through her hair. 

"I need her signature to get the check deposited. I need to catch her off guard." Violet told him embracing his touch a bit. 

"I missed you though."

Violet couldn't smile even if she wanted to. Oakley could tell she was high. Her pupils were dilated when she came to see him, "I was gone for like four days."

He shrugged his shoulders kissing her, "So."

Violet stumbled into their small apartment rubbing her tired eyes. After spending the night at Oakley's she needed to go home. Her high wore off hours ago leaving her grumpy. The sight of shopping bags and cocaine lines made her blood boil. 

"Ma!" Violet called out moving to her bedroom.

Her room had been ransacked. The slit in her mattress had been opened. Violet cursed as she stuffed her hand inside feeling for the check. Her mother appeared in the doorway with fresh clothes and new shoes, "Looking for something?"

"Where is it?" Violet asked pushing her mother.

"That money you tried to hide from me, I got it! I spent it too. You thought you was slick. What's yours is mine remember that!" Her mother rebutted opening a pack of cigarettes.

Violet didn't know if it was the drugs in her system or her anger from her father's death but she lunged at her mother pushing her to the ground. The women tussled like animals. Violet got a couple of hits in but fighting a crackhead was her worst nightmare. 

Blue and red lights flashed in Violet's face as she sat on the curb handcuffed. Her mother shouted from the police van, "Let me go!"

Violet was shaking as her adrenaline wore off. An officer stood in front of her with a look of sympathy, "You alright kid?"

Violet's lip trembled as she nodded. A woman dressed in fancy attire approached her with a suede work bag, "Violet, you can come with me."

"For what?"

"I'll be taking you to your emergency placement tonight." 

Oakley stirred in his sleep as loud knocks came from his window. Violet perched inside as he lifted it open. 

"Vi, it's like four in the morning." Oakley stopped talking when he noticed her black eye and bruised lip. 

"What happened?"

"I just came to tell you I don't live with my mom anymore." Violet handed him a piece of paper with a new address.

"Bro what-"

Violet shushed him looking at him with frantic eyes, "I have to get back before they notice I'm gone. I'll see you around okay."

"Wait." He tugged on her arm pulling her into a hug. Violet tensed at his touch but gave in. She really needed it as she pulled him in inhaling his familiar scent. With one kiss on the cheek, she left the same way she came. 

Authors Note:

umm this is long but worth the read, I'll drop another chapter because this is a filler

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