New character, Dakota in the media

"Your daddy loves you and I love you too. Sorry we couldn't work it out for you. But we gone do what's best for you." - K. Michelle

ANT

My heart is beating fast as fuck and I'm trying to calm down because I'm close to having a panic attack. My son has been missing for almost seven hours. It's almost one in the morning and nobody knows where Noble is. Jessica called me crying about an hour after I left telling me how he said he was going to the bathroom but when he never came  out she went and looked and he wasn't anywhere in the house. She went looking with the kids and Montana for an hour but they couldn't find him anywhere. I called around and nobody knew shit. When I called Darius, he was crying talking about how Noble called talking about he was about to kill himself and he said he thought he heard a gunshot.

I'm so scared. I was so mad earlier, I snapped but I didn't mean that shit. If anything, I wish my sons loved me but they don't care. I don't reget them at all. I didn't mean it. I cursed myself out and cried the whole ride to a hotel after I left the house. I wanted to run back in there and apologize for that but I knew they were too hurt to even hear what I had to say at the moment.

This isn't the first time Noble tried to  kill himself. The first time was when he was nine. He took the lighter Jessica used to light candles with back then and locked himself in his closet while everybody was sleep. He locked his door and his window then he set the closet on fire while he was in there. He was in the hospital for a month because he inhaled too much smoke and couldn't really breathe on his own. He still to this day got an ugly burn mark on his shoulder, which I was planning on letting him cover with a tattoo this year because it bothers him. He barely even lived. The doctors thought he was gonna die too.

The next time, he tried to jump off the top Vonte's house but ended up tripping and busting his ass on the ground instead. He just ended up with a broken leg and finger. I pray to God this was all a misunderstanding and he didn't really hurt himself.

Noble took after me a lot, but probably worse. He has a depression issue that's serious because he tries to hurt himself at the most random times. I feel so bad for doing Jessica like I did. I know it hurt Noble more than anybody because of how he is. He has a dependent personality disorder, which is why he clings so close to Jessica. He really  can't function without her being with him in some type of way. At school, he is allowed to text  her all day and call during every class period. He can't help it, he'll throw a fit and try to kill somebody if he can't talk to her.

"Jessica, I'm sorry." I say, hugging her as she cries. "Why couldn't he just talk to me? All I want is my baby!" she screams and cries in my chest. "He was laying on me crying. He said he didn't wanna leave me but he was tired and had to use the bathroom. I didn't think this is what he meant when he said he didn't want to leave me. What if he's somewhere dead? It's your fault!" Jessica screams, punching on me.

"I know, I know. We gone find him, Jessica." I mumble, trying not to break down and cry as a couple of tears roll down  my face. My niggas, Montana's niggas, some of my cousins, and a few of the kids' friends are some of everywhere looking for him with us.

Majesty walks over to us holding his flash light. "I feel like I'm dying. Like, I know something ain't right with my brother. I can't lose my twin, ma, that's my other half. I can't." Majesty breaks down crying, shaking his head. He walks over to us then lays his head on me. "Daddy, I'm sorry for being disrespectful. Ain't it my fault? He never would've did this if he wasn't trying to defend me when I disrespected you in the first place." he breaks down crying. I hug him. "Majesty, I promise  to god I forgive you and I didn't mean a word that came out my mouth. This shit ain't your fault. If it's anybody's, it's mine. Majesty, I swear." I say, blinking out tears as I hold him and Jessica in my arms.

He nods his head. "Okay." he mumbles. Nathan walks over to me. "Son, somebody lying around here. One of these kids know where that boy at. Somebody need to start talking." Nathan says, stroking the gray hairs in his beard.

I sigh. "Reign, come here." I say. She walks over to me with some lil nigga. "This is Jah. He's Noble's friend and he was texting Noble to see if he'd respond." she mumbles. Majesty narrows his eyes at Jah. "Didn't I say don't talk to my sister?" Majesty snaps. "It ain't like that, she too young. I ain't worried about her. Noble is my nigga, I wanna make sure he good." Jah says, looking stressed.

"Get out my daughter face." I demand. He shakes his head then walks over to where Montana is going off on one of his brothers. "Oh, now I'm your daughter." Reign sarcastically says.

"Cut it out, now!" Jessica demands. "Now ain't the time. If you know anything tell us right now. You extremely calm so I know you hiding something." I say. "I'm calm because I don't want to believe anything is wrong. I know Noble has his mental problems and everything but I don't want to think of the most terrible things possible like yall are." she answers.

"Wait... I think I know where he might be." Majesty says. Everybody stop and look at him, waiting on him to continue. "Ma, I know you'll be mad but me and Majesty skip school and get high a lot. We get weed from uncle Vonte's house because he has so much so he never notices it's missing when we steal some of his weed. We leave then go to this abandoned house. I don't really know where it is but I can direct yall to it from my school. We go there and get high cause nobody ever comes around there except an old crackhead lady we'd give money to sometimes. He's probably there if he isn't dead." he mumbles, wiping his eyes.

"Let's go." Jessica demands, dragging me to my truck by my hand. "I'm gonna get in the back seat. Majesty, I want you to get in the passenger seat and show your daddy where this house is." Jessica says. "Yall gotta take me to my school first. That's the only way I'll know how to get there." Majesty says. "That'll work. Ant, do what he said." she demands, getting in the back.

I pull off, mentally asking God to help me calm down before I crash my truck and kill myself, my son, and my wife on accident. I'm so scared right now, I can't even think straight.

JESSICA

"Now what?" Ant asks Majesty as we pull up to his high school. "Make a left from here, go straight down, and then make a right. It's a long narrow street, then you make another right. You park right there then walk through the woods and back there it's this old abandoned, wooden house or whatever it is." Majesty says. "Slow down. Tell him step by step." I say, trying to call Majesty's phone.

It goes straight to voice mail. I scream in frustration. "Damn, where the fuck is he?" I scream, then break down crying in my hands. "Ant, I failed as a parent." I say. "No, I did." he says. "Nobody failed. Stop." Majesty says, wiping his eyes.

I don't say anything as Ant drives. "Okay, park here." he says, pointing at a dumpster. Ant parks. I grab my gun out my purse. Ant grabs his. My phone starts ringing. It's Montana. I answer it then put it to my ear. "You found anything?" I ask. "No. Where yall go? Diamond got the kids and took em to her and Darius' house. Jessie in the car with Vonte. You got Majesty?" he asks. "Yeah. He's showing us where Noble might be. I'll call you back." I say, then hang up without giving him time to speak.

Ant and I get out. Majesty turns his flashlight on so we can see our way through the dark woods, then starts walking through with Ant by his side holding his gun and me behind them.  "That's the house." Majesty says, pointing at a raggedy, wooden house type thing. There's a walking trail out here too.

"You want me to go in?" Ant asks. "We going in together." I say. He nods his head, then grabs my hand. Majesty walks ahead of us, then picks up a piece of wood that's supposed to be the door. He moves it out the way then walks in. My eyes widen in fear. It's fresh blood all over the place. Ant wipes his eyes as we continue to walk on the squeaky wood.

"Fuck!" Ant yells, then punches the wooden wall. I break down crying along with Majesty. I can't believe this shit.

Ant's gun that was in his drawer is lying on the floor in here with blood covering it and the floors. The shirt Majesty was wearing is on the floor with a hole in the chest area and it's soaked in blood. "He shot himself, Ant." I say, crying my eyes out in his chest. He breaks down crying, holding me and Majesty close to him.

I hear something move. I pull away. "You hear that?" I ask Ant. He doesn't say anything as he pulls his gun out. An old crackhead black lady walks out the back of the old house holding a Sprite can, then screams. "Where the fuck he at?" Ant snaps, putting the gun to her head.

Majesty grabs Ant's arm. "Stop, daddy. It's alright." Majesty says. He hugs the woman. "What I do?" she cries to him. I stare at Majesty in confusion as he talks to the woman. "This is Ms. Murtle, the lady I told you we give money to. Ms. Murtle, this is my mom and dad." he calmly says. She weakly points at Majesty. "Other one." she says, then points at the blood on the floor. "Pow pow." she says, pointing at the gun in my hand.

I raise my eyebrow, trying to figure out what she said. "Other one?" Ant asks. She points at Majesty then shakes her head no. "Other one." she says. "My twin?" Majesty asks. She quickly nods her head yes while violently  scratching her arms.

"My twin shot himself?" Majesty asks. She nods her head then pokes the right side of Majesty's chest. "Here. Pow pow." she says in a child like voice. "My twin shot himself in his chest?" Majesty asks. She quickly nods her head yes.

"Where did he go? Do you know where he went?" I ask her. She quickly nods her head yes. "He walk slow and him crying. Him hurt." she says. "He was walking slowly while crying because he was hurting?" Ant asks. She nods her head yes.

"Can you tell us where he went if you know?" I ask. She looks at Majesty in fear. "It's okay, Ms. Murtle. We not here to hurt you. We don't know where my brother  is and if he's okay or not. If he told you or showed you anything, you gotta talk, Ms. Murtle, please." Majesty begs her. "One dollar." she says, holding her hand out. "You'll show us for a dollar?" I ask, reaching in my pocket for the two dollars I have in there. She nods her head. I put the money in her hand. She looks at Majesty. "Green stuff." she says. His face turns red in embarrassment. "I don't have any weed right now but I promise I'll get you some." Majesty says. "Bitch better have my weed." she mumbles, scratching her neck.

Majesty gives me the chill out look. I take a deep breath. I don't like how she called my son out his name but we need her so I'm gonna keep my mouth closed.

We follow her out the house. She leads us out of the woods. "We have a truck. Do we have to walk there or are you okay with driving?" Ant asks. "Walk." she answers. He nods his head then grabs my hand.

We've been walking for about eight minutes now. "I followed him." she says, pointing at a house at the end of the street. "Majesty, you know who's house that is?" I ask. He shakes his head no. Ant takes his gun off safety. "We bout to find out then, shit." Ant says, walking to the front door. I thank the woman, then follow Majesty and Ant. I plan on giving her more than two dollars when this dies down.

NOBLE

"You have to go home, Noble. Your parents are probably worried sick. Your chest will be fine because it was a graze. Thank God the bullet didn't go in.  You just have to take care of the stitches. Thankfully, the gun you were using wasn't as powerful. You would've probably been dead."  Ms. Avon, my school nurse says. I remembered her house because I saw her here one day and when I was skipping so this is the first place I went when I shot myself.

I was scared as fuck. She gave me stitches. The scar isn't that bad. "I don't want to go home. They probably happy without me. Knowing them, they didn't come looking." I say, watching her put lotion on her brown skin. This is the finest school nurse on earth, especially because she resembles Meagan Good a lot.

"He's an attention seeker. I don't know why you let a stranger in here. Send him home." her daughter says, walking in the extra bedroom I'm laying on the bed in. I know for a fact she goes to my school because Reign pushed her down the bleachers last year when she was talking shit to me.

She's in my grade and I think I take Algebra 2 with that bitch but I'm not sure. She's brown skinned with some big ass eyes. She is kinda cute, I'll admit. Her eyes are big but that's what makes her look good.

"Shut your damn mouth. This is our company and you are about to be respectful, Dakota." Ms. Avon says. I never even knew the bitch's name until now.

"I'll be back with you something to eat and my phone so you can call your parents." she adds, then walks out. "What you got against me? You don't know me, bitch, so don't call me an attention seeker!" I instantly snap on Dakota.

"Shut up, I ain't no bitch." she says. "You really are. Trust me. You are a bitch." I assure her. She rolls her eyes. "Call your parents so you can get out. I'm telling everybody you tried to kill yourself at school tomorrow. Suicide is dumb." she says. "Bitch, what? Suicide ain't dumb, it's serious as fuck. I advise you shut the fuck up. You don't know a fucking thing about me, my reason for it, or what the hell I go through." I say.

"And? I don't care to know neither." she says. "Since you like using your mouth so much, how bout you use it to suck my dıck instead of talking shit?" I ask. "Never in a million years." she says.

Her momma walks back in with my parents and Majesty behind her. My eyes widen. "Noble!" my mom exclaims, hugging me tight and crying on me. "Ouch, mommy, my chest hurting. How did yall find me?" I ask. "I'm sorry." she says, looking at my scar. "Don't worry bout how you got found, you need to thank God you alive." my dad says.

I don't say anything as he stares at the scar on my chest. "Gotdamnit, Noble." he mumbles, picking me up. "I'm taking you to the hospital so they can make sure you really alright. Thank you for helping him." he says to Ms. Avon.

"You have a twin?" Dakota asks, staring at Majesty. "Obviously, he does." Majesty dryly says, then walks out. "When we get home, we're having a long family discussion because I don't want or need anything like this happening again. Everybody need to learn how to express feelings without being violent and hateful, including me." my mom says as my dad totes me out of there.

"Yeah." I mumble. I don't even have anything to say to my dad right now. I don't think a family discussion is the best idea because me cussing my dad out is bound to happen tonight.

REIGN

"Is he okay?" I ask Majesty over the phone. "Yeah. He fine. We just taking him to the hospital to make sure everything is goof though." he answers. I sigh in relief then pick my baby brother, Amari up off uncle Darius' bed. "Okay." I say. "I wanna talk." Amari says, laughing without a care in the world. If only he knew we almost lost our brother to suicide.

I put the phone to his ear. "Hey bitch." Amari says, laughing. I lightly hit his leg. "Don't say that." I say. "Sorry, Majesty." he says, then starts counting his toes. "He live." Jah says. I roll my eyes at him. "Exactly why are you at my uncle's house and bothering me? Go home." I demand, then kiss Amari's stomach to make him laugh.

"You wasn't saying that when you were all up on me earlier." he says. "I wasn't all up on you. My freaking brother came up missing and tried to kill himself because of something going on in my house. All I needed was somebody to cry on, it just happened to be you. But I definitely wasn't all up on you." I say.

"Yeah, right, Reign. Why you acting like you wasn't sneaking and texting me from your brother's phone then deleting the messages while he was sleep the other day?" he asks. "I was bored." I answer. He chuckles. "I got your bored. Whatever though, I'm finna go wait on the bus so I can go home." he says, pulling a few dollars for bus money out his gym shorts pocket.

I sigh, then stand and pick my brother up. "Jah, just wait. I can get my uncle to take you home. It's too late to be waiting for a bus plus it's late. It isn't coming no time soon." I say. "Why you concerned, mane? I'm straight." he says. I hold Amari in my right arm then grab his arm with my left hand. "Please, just wait on my uncle." I beg. He narrows his eyes at me.

I immediately snatch my hand away from his shoulder as auntie Diamond walks in here. She raises her eyebrow. "Reign in here acting grown, auntie baby?" she asks Amari, taking him out my arms.

He starts laughing and playing with her earring. Jah's eyes trail directly to my aunt's butt. She is really pretty, her waist is thin, and she has a large butt. "Damn, Reign, I see you didn't take after your auntie." he jokes, staring at her ass.

"Shut the fuck up." I mumble. I know my butt is decent. It's not too big or too little. People always compare my butt to my aunt's for some reason. "Boy, I'm a grown ass woman and you ain't about to disrespect me in my house. How old are you?" she asks. "Seventeen." he answers. "See, you don't have no business worrying about my niece's ass anyway, she jail bait. My man is on his way home so he can take you home. Go wait in the living room, ain't no puppy love going on in this damn house." she says, embarrassing me.

"Reign know wassup." he says, then walks to the living room. "Girl, where did yall find him? He a lil too bold." she says. "He lives by Montana and he's my brothers' friend. His name is Jah." I answer, rolling my eyes. She slightly smiles. "What?" I ask. "How long have you known him?" she asks. "Three days." I answer. "I know you'll like boys. All teenage girls do unless they got a thing for the cat. But don't get caught up. I can look at that boy and tell he's been through some shit. I don't want you messing around and getting hurt or pregnant. You know you can tell me and ask me anything because I don't expect you to be perfect. I know you'll make mistakes as you grow up, but stay innocent, Reign. Keep your virginity as long as you can. Don't let anybody pressure you into a gotdamn thing, that's your body. You understand?" auntie Diamond says.

I nod my head. It seems like everybody knows something about him that I don't. Nobody wants me close to Jah. I don't want to be close to him but that's not the point.

"Thank you, Auntie." I say. "You welcome. Where's your baby brothers bag with his Pajamas in it? Your momma texted me and said her and Ant needed time alone to talk so you, Amari, Tae, and LaLa staying here tonight. I need to give Mari a bath." she says. "His pajamas and his sensitive baby soap my mom uses on him is in his Elmo backpack I put in the kitchen." I answer. She nods her head. "Go run him a bath." she says. I nod my head, then walk into her and my uncle's big bathroom. My mind drifts off to my brother. I hope he'll be okay.

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Dakota in the media.