Lemme ask you something. Have you ever broken the law? Like, on some extreme-type shit? And I don’t mean stealing a snickers bar from your local Walmart. I mean, like, robbing-a-nigga-at-knifepoint at-10:30-p.m.-in-a-dark- alleyway kinda shit (just so that you can get their wallet and see that they only have two-hundred dollars and an expired credit card in it.) That’s what I mean. Have you ever done that before in your whole life.
      Well, I have. Many times, actually. Everything you see a black man do in those hood movies, I do the same things they do. Expect for kill niggas or fuck thots. I mean, I rob people knife and gunpoint almost every other night, I smoke weed blunts, cigs, vape pens,on an occasion—just to prevent addiction—I sip some lean, and I’ve seen things you can only imagine.
      Like how I’ve seen my homies come and go like day and night. I mean, shit, it happens! But, naw, I’m gonna tell y’all a story. I like to consider this my story because I feel like I was the only one seeing the things that I’ll talk about in a few. And… well, let’s just say I do something that bites back to haunt me. But, before I can talk about that, lemme just take a brief moment and talk to y’all about me. My name’s Jeremiah Jones, I’m fourteen turning fifteen, and all though I may seem like a regular kid, I’m actually a gang member. Yeah, that’s right, I’m apart of a notorious gang in East Baltimore known as The Eastside Wolves.

The Beginning
To start from the very beginning, I'm gonna sum up my life from when it was good to… now. It all started on November 2, 2003. Mark your calendars because that's the day I was born. Before I spent my days living on the streets of East Baltimore, I was born in a nice, middle-class home of Livingston, NJ. I also had both my parents my older brother Tyrone, and my little sister Brenda. We had a good life, a good home, we went to a good school, I had some decent friends, the neighborhood was good. Pretty much everything was good.
      That was until it all went to shit. On June 20, 2013, almost a couple of months before my tenth birthday, my mom was shot and killed by police on her way home. In the car was my dad, who immediately got out of the car and beat the other cop on duty senseless. My dad caused this cop to become blind in his left eye and almost killed him. That was until the cop that killed my mom also shot my dad dead. Both cops were fired from their positions, but we're never charged for anything. We heard about it on the news and went to the funeral where both of my parents lied six feet next to each other.
      Since we didn't have parents anymore, the law said we had to follow our parents will to see where we ended up. Since my dad died last, his will said that if he died and my mom can't take care of us, then all of us would have to go to live with Grandpa Dave in East Baltimore, MD. And not only did I think that moving would be the worst, but moving to the ghetto, urban, hood area of Baltimore was not gonna be an upgrade, but but a huge downgrade.
      Once we settled into the house, everything seemed to be going good. I mean, I made some cool friends and started to somewhat connect to Grandad. Of course, the hood was terrible at anytime, (mostly at night when police sirens are blaring through the city and some gang-bangers are shooting) but it was rather I live in a decent house with my family or I live in the streets.
      Anyway, life seemed to be on our side this time, until the day marked June 21, 2015. Just 2 years after my parents deaths. I was eleven, turning twelve, when my older brother was arrested and charged for aggravated assault on fourteen year-old Ethan Hathaway. The story was pretty simple, Ethan was a white, rich, racist kid who was talking shit about my brother. Of course, my brother--being the savage that he is--decided to find him on the streets, drag him into a dark alleyway, and beat him senseless with a lead pipe. Ethan parents called the police and my brother was arrested the day he went to school after the attack.
      Since my brother was still in youth, he was sentenced to Juvenile Detention for one year and house arrest for a couple of months. Ethan, on the other hand, moved back to Scranton, Pennsylvania with his family. I remember seeing my brother's tough- looking mugshot on NBC news. The way he stared into the camera definitely made me scared to the bone.
      During my brothers sentencing, word spread around my school that I was somehow connected to the Eastside Wolves gang. I'm guessing this is because my brother was supposedly apart of this gang, too. And even though I knew my brother was doing some rebellious stuff after mom and dad died, I had never heard of this gang at all. I mean, at that time, the only thing hood I've ever seen, besides the gunshots outside, was Boyz in the Hood and a bunch of Biggie Smalls documentaries. Other than that, I was pretty small minded when it came to anything gang related.
      So I did my research on the gang and learned that the Eastside Wolves are a notorious gang of criminals that do all sorts of crimes. They originated in 1980 in Compton, California, but the gang later spreader to 10 different states. One being, obviously, Maryland. Based off of the crime reports from 1994-present day, these guys sound like no joke. This would usually be the kind of shit I'd be scared of. But instead, I was interested.
      I saw this interview with a former member of the Wolves who was caught in the big gang war between the Wolves and the Westside Bears (which is our rivalry gang) way back in ‘94.  And in this interview, he basically explained how the Wolves were loyal to each other and only broke the law because they want to show that they don't wanna live by the white man's rules. And even to this day, I still believe that I don't wanna live by the white man's laws.
      After I discovered this, I decided that I wanted to join the gang. Even if I had to kill someone, I didn't care. I wanted to show the white man that I wasn't gonna take it anymore. At first, I  didn't how I was gonna do it. But I then remembered that my buddy, Jaden, always used to say that his older brother Jamal, was apart of the Wolves. And since I didn't have any connections, I seriously told Jaden to tell his brother that I wanted to join.
      And even though Jaden was a light-hearted, funny guy, I guess he actually took me serious. Because while I was at the park one day, I saw this fifteen year-old-looking dark-skinned guy wearing all black clothing. He was around 5’7 and had dark brown eyes. I could tell from up close that he was Jaden’s older brother. He looked a lot like him. Anyway, he told me that I had to go with him to the others to become apart of the family. So, I followed him to his  black impala and drove with him to the spot where they kick it.
      Long story short, we arrived at the spot, (which is just a stoop outside of someone's house) I gave ‘em my reasoning for wanting to join, and they tested me to see if I was worth it. They made me do an oath, gave me a book of the rules, tested me on those rules, and--for my gang initiation-- told me to collect 400 dollars in 48 hours. After I succeed to do all of this, I was so proud to be brought into the gang. Since I was apart of the gang, the others decided that my nickname would be The Kid. Or just Kid. I like the sound of it and never argued about it.
      A lot happened after I was brought in to the gang. The leader, Tyrese, killed his baby mama's boyfriend and was sent to life in prison, my best friend, Jaden, was killed in a shootout between the cops and one of your member, Rodney, my brother got released from juvie but dropped out of school. Like I said, it was a stressful and emotional year for me. But, I've moved on. I've gotten to know the others in the gang and we all become good friends.
The Present
To give you more info on our gang, the Wolves consist of thirty men as of right now. At first, the gang had seventy men back in 1990. But, then the gang war caused a lot of men to die or get locked up for life. I don't know every single person in the gang, but I do know twenty out of the thirty men we have in East Baltimore.
      Including me, we have Jermaine or Jerry (16), Elijah (16), Khalil (18), Jamal (17), Tyrone (18), Will (19), Jerome (18), Wesley (20), Martin (21), Tymere (23), James (23), Tyrel (23), Moses (24), Dwayne (24), Adonis (25), Dontai (22), Jeff (25), Phil (25), and Michael (25). The other ten don't really hang with us, so I don't really know them. Anyway, the day was August 25, 2018. On November 2, 2017, I finally turned 14. But, right about now, now one cared. I was sitting on the stoop outside of Jeff’s house until my brother came out the house to announce something.
    “Okay, boys, it's that time of the month. Get strapped and let's go.” My brother commanded to anyone willing to go with him. I had nothing else to do, so I followed my brother to his black Honda Odyssey. With me followed Jerry, Eli, and Jamal. Together, we all hopped in the car and loaded our guns. Another thing about the wolves is that we have guns. I carry a sleek, all black Beretta M9, while Jerry carries a glock-lookin’ Smith and Wesson SD40VE, Eli carries a gold-plated Desert Eagle .50 cal, Jamal carries a .44 Magnum, and Tyrone carries a Glock 48. The others have guns as well, but I don't care enough to know what they are.
      Let's just say, ten to fifteen minutes later, we pulled up at the 7-Eleven on South Broadway near the City Springs Park. In case you haven't figured it out already, we're gonna rob the store for as much loot as possible. I hope we get at least twenty-thousand. Usually, we only rob stores every other month. And robbing the store isn't too easy. After we rob the store, we always drive away from the cops and ditch the car in some parking lot. Just so that we can steal a new car and drive to the hideout. Then, we stay low for two days and chill out with crime until our next robbery.
      “Y’all strapped, right?” Tyrone asked. We all nodded our heads in agreement and prepared to rob the store. My brother counts down from five to one. And the second he gets the syllable out… he unlocks the door and we all dash out of the car with our guns and our black bandana masks. We didn't even close the door of the Odyssey when we ran into the store.
      “It's a mother-fucking robbery, nigga!” Jerry said to everyone in the store while waving his gun at everyone like a mad man. Tyrone hurriedly jumped over the counter, shoved the  cashier to the ground and started throwing bills in the bag. While doing that, Jamal, Jerry, Eli and I were stealing as much stuff from the store as we can get. I started stealing cigs and blunts, while the others stole candy bars and Arizona’s. In ten seconds, the once empty bag was now full of cash.
      “A’ight, let's go!” Tyrone ordered. We all listened and ran out the store with our stolen stuff into the Honda. We closed the doors and as Tyrone started the engine, he reversed out of the driveway and zoomed us away from the store. We drove on South Broadway Street all the up to North Broadway Street  and took a right into East Fayette Street. Since we were quick in this Black Honda, the cops finally blare their sirens and flash their lights until my brother took a left on North Montford Avenue. Then, to try and shake ‘em off, he took another left into Jefferson Street swerved right into North Patterson Park Avenue. After that, I didn't keep track of where we were going.
      Celebratory cheers and hollering from all of us in the car started to evolve. And even though we could all serve time if we get caught, the rush of adrenaline pumping through our bodies just makes everything about robbing stores fun. We all hushed our voices to listen to the radio that my brother turned on.
      “Breaking news, we have just received information that the 7-Eleven on South Broadway Street has been robbed by five armed men. Witnesses say that the five men escaped the crime scene and are still driving off in a 2013 black Honda Odyssey. Police are currently in hot pursuit with the men as we tell you this information.” She finishes.
      “Oh, we famous-famous.” Jerry said as Eli chuckled. As we sat in the car, Jerry took out a blunt and started smoking it.
      “Yo, my nigga. Pass that shit, vro.” Eli said. Jerry passed it to Eli while letting the smoke stream out of his nose  like a bull. I didn't need their blunt because I took out my pack of Kool cigs and my light and started to smoke and relax. My brother doesn't like to smoke anymore, but he's cool with me smoking. As long as I don't smoke too many cigs or blunts, I'm good. While we all chilled in the quiet car, Jerry almost choked on some smoke when he had something to say.
      “Yo, Ty, pass me the aux, bro. I got some fire to put on.
      “If you play any of your trash-ass mixtapes, I'm beating yo’ ass.” My brother replied.
      “Naw, man. I got some real heat, you know? I got you, bro. Just pass the aux.” Jerry said. My brother then throw the aux cord back to Jerry as he plugged it into his phone. A couple seconds later, a few notes on a synth piano can be heard. And immediately, everyone except for Jerry and Eli groaned from annoyance. It was the start of one of Jerry's songs called ‘Young Spender.’ Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, Jerry and Eli are SoundCloud rappers. Well, underground SoundCloud rappers. Let me explain.
      When I joined the gang in 2015, I joined about a couple months after the SoundCloud collective group B.M.B Gang was formed. Big Money Baller Gang (B.M.B. Gang) was founded and created by Jerry when he was fourteen years old. Jerry likes to go by B.M.B. Jerry and Eli likes to go by B.M.B. Fatboi.
      Also in this group you have Jerry's other friend, Jason (who goes by B.M.B. Jay), another friend named Tom (who goes by B.M.B. Tommy), and his last friend Chris, (who goes by B.M.B. Chris) The only active rappers on their are Jerry, Jason, and Eli. Chris and Tom are both producers. Eli is the only one in the group that both raps and makes beats.  I know you think we all hate the group, but don't get me wrong, I think they can really blow up and become famous. I mean, last week, Jerry and Jason made a song called Drip that reached eighty-thousand listens and four-hundred likes. If they keep it up, they can go places.
      But, everyone else in the gang don't think it's all that. And that's because Jerry supposedly has that same flow in his songs and everyone else says his bars are the same in every song. I actually disagree on that, but I won't say why. Anyway, while we were listening to the song in the car and smoking some blunts, I realized that the cops were no longer behind us. And just like that, we got away. The cops are gonna try and look for us, of course, but they'll just end up arresting the wrong group of niggas. That's what always happened.
      After we got rid of the po-po, we parked the car in a parking garage and emptied it for anything that showed we were in it. Then, we quickly found a red Lexus ES 350 and hijacked it. A couple minutes later, we were driving to the hideout. It's that fast and easy to get away with crime. Once we arrived at the hideout, Tyrone kicked us out and told us to hide while he went to hide the car. See, the hideout is basically an abandoned warehouse. In this warehouse, there's a basement leading to where we hide. In this basement, there's a small box TV with an Antenna, a mini fridge filled with leftover Chinese food, a couch, a wooden table and seats from all of us. Sure the space is a little cramped, but it’s still good.
      When we all got downstairs, I saw that the the whole gang was already down here before us. The TV was on, food was being eaten, niggas were smoking and drinking and playing cards. They were already settled. As we walked in the tight area, I sat down on the green couch and finished my cigarette. I don’t usually get high, but I have been high before. It’s not as fun as you’d think. So, to keep it simple, I usually just some cigarettes, vape pens, and, sometimes, blunts. I wouldn’t say I’m addicted because I’ve gone days and weeks without smoking. But, I’m not gonna say I’m clean, either.
      Anyway, by the time Tyrone came downstairs with us, he changed the TV to NBC news. And after the commercial break was over, the headline read, “five armed men rob 7-Eleven in Baltimore.” As soon as my brother saw it, he hushed everyone in the room so we can get some news on… us.
      “In latest news, Baltimore Police are still on the lookout for five-armed men who robbed the 7-Eleven on South Broadway Street. Witnesses of the incident and the store owner say that the men were wearing black mask and looked to be around the ages of fifteen to nineteen years old. The men escaped in a 2013 black Honda Odyssey and are still on the run as we speak. Witnesses say that these men could’ve been the same men that robbed the Family Dollar back in June. But, if you do know who these men are, please contact the police immediately.” The news lady finished our story and changed the subject to something that Trump was doing in the office.
      Since we now know that the cops are still looking for us, and that we have to hide for at least two days to see if we’re safe, we all went back to chillin’. Tyrone then took the bag and emptied the cash on the table the others were playing cards and eating food on. When I saw the stacks of hundreds and fifties fall out of the bag, I prayed that we had enough money. And after I finished another cigarette, Tyrone finished counting the money. We all saw him finish and we all hushed to hear how much we made.
      “Thirty. Thousand. Dollars!” He cheered. We all joined his cheer and gathered around the table. Since we were thirty men, that meant we can all get one-thousand dollars each. Tyrone took some bucks and started handing us all money. He gave me my stack and I counted it just to make sure he wasn’t finessing me. (He wasn’t, by the way). After I had my money, I didn’t really need anything else. I could’ve just sat down on the couch, watched some TV and slept happily to myself. But, that chance flew out when I saw Jerry and Eli try to sneak out of the hideout. “Yo! Where the fuck do y’all niggas think your going, huh?” My brother asked, stopping both of them dead in their tracks.
      “Ok, so,” he paused, trying to think of the words, and then he continued. “Ok, so, y’all know Rocky, right?” He asked all of us. Rocky was basically the plug in East Baltimore. Whatever you needed, Rocky definitely had it. He’s cool with everyone in Middle East. We all nodded our heads and Jerry continued. “Well, he said that he was gonna have this party at his crib. He said it was finna be lit as fuck! You know, bad bitches, drinks, drugs, all kinds of good shit.” Eli then stopped him and finished his sentence.
      “He also said that we were invited to come and kick it there. And, that’s why were leaving.” Eli said. My brother stared at both of them intensely. Think about what he should do. Then he spoke.
      “Listen. Y’all knew that this party was today and y’all still went to rob the store. Now usually, I’d punish you both by forcing you to stay here for an extra day. But, I just realized something: if you two dumbass niggas fuck up, that’s your problem. Not mine. So, if you wanna go, you can go.” Jerry and Eli lighted up when he realized them. But, they both stopped in their tracks again when my brother told them to stop. “Wait, now. I’ll let you go, but under one condition: you have to take Jeremiah.” He said looking right at me. I almost gasped when he called my name. He never ever allowed me to go to house parties before. So… why now?
      “A’ight, bet! C’mon, let’s go.” Jerry said for me to come. I stuffed my money in my pockets and followed them out the room. I still didn’t understand why Ty allowed my to go. Maybe it’s because he just wanted me to have fun. Or maybe it’s because he didn’t wanna worry about me. But, if I think about it now, it’s probably because of the fact that I’m more mature now. Maybe my brother finally stopped looking down on me and finally realized that I’m no longer a kid. I’ve finally become a man to him.