Growing Up

Chapter 3

When his aunt began to yell, her voice sounded different, like something was wrong. Caleb went running up to his aunt's door, only to see her with the phone on the table and his aunt crying and asking God to save DJ. Caleb turned and looked at his uncle. DJ was what his mom and Derek were planning on naming the baby when he was born. "Uncle Darren, what's wrong with DJ?" Caleb didn't want to think something had happened, his mom had lost a baby about a year ago, but they didn't know what it was since it was too small to tell. It ripped his mom apart, and she drank a lot until she found out she was having DJ.

Darren put his hand on Caleb's shoulder. "Your mom had DJ, but there were a couple problems. Your mom lost a lot of blood, and DJ is having a really hard time breathing. He was blue when he came out." Caleb hit his knees in the middle of his aunt's living room. Caleb was ready to not be the youngest anymore, and he was excited to be a big brother. He had been begging Chris for something to do to make some money so he could buy DJ a stuffed animal.

"No, he's gotta be ok. He has to!" Caleb yelled. His aunt came out "Caleb, honey. Get up." Caleb turned to his aunt and started crying "Why?" His aunt pulled away so she could see his face "Be honest, why are you upset?" Caleb looked at his aunt and was mad that she had asked such a question. "I was excited! I wanted a little brother, I've been trying to find some odd jobs because I wanted to get him this stuffed Mickey Mouse at the thrift store. I don't want to be the youngest anymore!"

Caleb's aunt held him tight. "Caleb, me and your uncle were talking about you and DJ coming to live with us. I know that you didn't grab the wrong shirt, and I know that this is just the first little bit of what's going on." Caleb looked at his aunt and thought that whoever or whatever controlled this world had finally heard him.

"Really?" Caleb began wiping tears from his eyes. "Yes, baby. If it meant going to court, I would. Don't tell your brothers, but you've kinda always been my favorite." She smiled and kissed his cheek as she wiped the tears from his eyes. "Would you be okay with that?" Caleb smiled "Yea, I would." "Good, I can't have you move in until I talk to your mom, ok? And if we go to court, you have to tell 100% of the truth, no hiding anything." Caleb agreed "100%."

Caleb's brothers arrived 15 minutes later, and Marcell grabbed Caleb by his shirt and lifted him off the couch. "Crying? What a little bitch." Darren grabbed Marcell by the back of his hoodie and lifted him off the ground as Caleb slumped back onto the couch. "Leave him alone, Marcell. Your aunt needs to have a talk with you three." Jamal and Ryan looked at each other, then around the room. "Where's mom at?" Jamal asked. "Probably in an alley somewhere with her crack pipe." Ryan scoffed. All the brothers knew their mom had a crack problem, but it wasn't brought up since she got pregnant.

Jamal punched Ryan so hard one of his brackets went flying off his tooth. "Shut the fuck up, you ungrateful bastard. She's doing the best she can." Jamal and Ryan began to argue about their mom, and Caleb blacked out. He would black out in this reality and go wander in some other universe that was much different than his. He saw an older woman standing before him holding a baby.

She began to speak to him. "Caleb? Is that you, baby?" Caleb had been in this place multiple times, but had never seen this woman "Who are you? I've never seen you before." "Did your mom ever show you baby pictures with me holding you?" Caleb looked at the woman, who was in the same outfit his grandma was wearing in the only baby picture his mom had. "Grandma?"

The woman slowly approached Caleb. "Goodness, you are growing up." She held the baby out towards him. "Here, meet your brother." Caleb looked down and was confused, he only ever saw dead people here before. "I- is he dead, Grandma?" His grandma wiped her tears and nodded "He is safer here, though. Listen, rough things are going to happen. But it will all work out. I've seen everything in the next couple months and it is going to get really hard. Please, whatever you do, man up to what you gotta do."

Caleb stood for a minute, what else could happen? How could things get any worse? "Grandma, what else could happen?." His grandma looked down at DJ and smiled "I can't tell you, baby. Just please, be strong." Caleb snapped back into reality at the sound he knew all too well, a fist going through the wall. He looked up and saw Marcell's hand completely in his aunt's living room wall. "Why did she do all this? DJ was just a baby, he didn't do shit. Her stupid ass killed him." "Marcell James!" Their aunt yelled.

"Your mom needs help. Do not call her stupid ever again, you hear me?". Marcell began to mumble under his breath and stormed out of the house. Ryan came out of the back bedroom with a cigarette and went on the front porch to smoke. Jamal looked at Caleb with tears in his eyes "Bro, I know. I think you were most excited. I kinda was too, even though I knew one of us would be stuck babysitting." 

Caleb stood up and fell in Jamal's arms. "Hey, watch it!" Jamal backed up and noticed the blood on his light grey wife beater. "Shit. Auntie, you got any plastic wrap and tape?". He took his shirt off and revealed a tattoo that had the words "Family Over All" in big cursive letters. "My bad, Jamal." Jamal looked down at the tattoo "It's all good. The ink isn't bleeding out, no big deal." Caleb looked at the tattoo again "Where'd you get that tattoo at?" "These guys that work at the chop shop behind the corner store do tattoos. One of them had the design."

Caleb drew that design when he was 10, and the guys at the chop shop must've been who stole his sketchbook "Oh, nice. Looks good." Jamal smirked "Thanks bro. They said they just found the sketchbook on the side of the road. Whoever lost it has real skill." Caleb nodded his head "They sure do." Caleb was always called gay for drawing in his sketchbook, so he didn't want to admit the book they had was truly his.

Jamal covered his tattoo and left, while Caleb still sat on his Aunt's couch still wrapping his head around everything. DJ was light skinned and had green eyes when he saw him, both Derek and their mom had darker skin and brown eyes. He couldn't have been Derek's son. Alicia sat down next to Caleb and wrapped her arm around him.

"Nephew, it will be ok. I know you were excited to be a big brother. I wish I had known what your mom was doing, Caleb. I know she made you promise not to tell, but you can trust me with anything. Got it?" Caleb looked at her and saw the pain in her eyes. His aunt was the one that took him and his brothers after they got out of foster care until their mom got clean. "I'm not sure why she would do this again. This is what happened with you. She was so torn that they took all 4 of you from her. It doesn't make sense."

Caleb shrugged "Auntie, she's lost 4 babies since my 10th birthday. I tried not to get excited, but she got really far this time." Caleb stood up to leave. "I love you Auntie. Thanks for dinner." His aunt stood up and hugged him "Caleb, please be safe. I know it's hard around here, but please stay out of trouble." Caleb smiled "Will do."