Growing Up

Chapter 9

"Are you excited, Sabrina?" Lydia asked as she sat on the edge of the bed "Yea, I am. Caleb is really good to me. He's gonna make sure we're taken care of." Lydia nodded "I've known Caleb since you two were in Kindergarten. I know he will watch out for you guys. Gotta go, call me if you need anything. Even if it's just questions." Sabrina nodded and Lydia left.

Jamal came back to the room once he got home. "Hey, sleep well?" Sabrina giggled and nodded "Yea, thanks." Jamal handed Caleb a grocery bag "Here, gatorade and 2 ice trays. Freeze it, she'll keep it down." Caleb nodded his head and smiled "Thanks bro." Jamal smiled "Anytime. They don't tell anyone this, but I felt helpless knowing Cassie's feeling shitty was my fault." Sabrina hugged Caleb and started giggling "What are you giggling about, love?"

"It's like butterflies." Jamal looked at both of them "How far along are you?" Sabrina looked at Caleb "10 weeks." Jamal nodded "Cassie felt butterflies for a while, then like two weeks ago she woke me up out of a good ass nap because she felt the baby actually kick." Sabrina smiled "Wait, so that's the baby?" Jamal shrugged "Might be, might be puppy love. Dunno. Cassie was like 12 weeks when she started feeling that. She's like 18 weeks now."

Caleb looked at Jamal "Was Aunt Alicia mad when you told her?" "Nah, she was cool. But, I graduated already so I'm like an official adult. But, she said some shit last night about Sabrina being sick so I think she has an idea." Caleb nodded "I'll probably tell her tonight. When's mom's next visitation?" "Uhh, Saturday. Cassie and I are going up there if you want to go." "Does she know Cassie's pregnant?" Jamal hung his head "Yea.." Caleb grew concerned "What's wrong?"

Jamal sat on the corner of the bed "She said some off color things about how I saw the hell she went through so why would I want that. I'm not a bum like her, so it pissed me off. I've worked since I was 14. And was All A's and B's in high school. Shit, was working 2 jobs cause Cassie was pregnant when we were 16 and I wanted us to be set. I will NEVER let my family live off the system."

"Wait, you guys have a kid?" Jamal sighed "Nah. Her brother beat her ass when he found out. So, she lost the baby. It killed me, think that's why I'm nervous that she's there." Caleb nodded "You meet her family?" Jamal shrugged "Some of them. Was gonna drive up there Friday to bring her back. She rode with her mom and they might not be back until Monday." "Well, be safe bro." "Definitely, get her something bland for dinner. Nothing greasy."

There was a knock at the door, and Jamal started yelling for Caleb "Leave your girl in there, but come out front." Caleb got up and went outside where Marcell stood in the yard, and Chris stood outside the gate. The voices started shouting "Kill him! He's gonna kill you if you don't get him!" Caleb's vision turned red, everything went blurry. He walked up to Marcell and slugged him, and wouldn't stop. He tore out half of Marcell's braids, knocked out 3 of his teeth and broke his eye socket. Jamal finally grabbed Caleb off.

"Hey! Bro, come on. You're gonna kill him." Caleb yelled, fighting to break free "No! He let Derek do things to me when no one else was home, let me go!" Caleb elbowed Jamal in the ribs, which caused him to let go. The last thing he remembered was Jamal falling to the ground and whispering "Fuck, Marcell. Why did you cause this?" Caleb wandered off like he did when DJ was born, this time to a place that looked like hell. Flames, darkness, it was scary..

He came back to when Jamal and Chris were pulling him and Jamal's watch cut Caleb's neck in a headlock. "Bro, come on. Stop." Caleb looked up and Marcell was almost dead. There was blood everywhere. Caleb's knife was across the yard, covered in blood. "Oh my God, did I kill him?" Caleb began to cry and panic "I killed him... No, I can't go to jail... Sabrina, the baby..... Fuck...." Jamal pulled Caleb up and hugged him "He's not dead. I need to know, how many times did Derek touch you? And what happened with mom burning you? I've never heard of that." Caleb broke down and told him about how Derek would lock him in the bathroom and molest him, then how their mom would heat her metal tongs on the stove and burn him since he was barely old enough to walk.

Jamal sat down in the grass "I'm sorry. I'm the oldest, I was supposed to protect you. I got caught up in this when I was like 7." He looked over to Caleb, who was still shaking "Hey, no one's calling the cops. You aren't going to jail. Chris is going to have Lydia handle Marcell. Ok? Caleb looked up "7? What were you doing?" Jamal shook his head "Same shit I do now. I looked about 12 so I was able to. Fuck, I am going to kill mom. Her and her bum ass dude."

Caleb came in and fell onto the bed, crying. Sabrina woke up and sat up quickly "Papi, what's wrong?" She gasped "Babe, your neck is bleeding." Caleb sat up "I beat Marcell's ass. I'm scared, I am so sorry Sabrina." She looked at him and pulled him close to her "Why are you telling me sorry? You didn't hurt me. I'm not sure what you did was wrong, either."

Caleb looked around to make sure no one could hear him "I don't remember the fight, all I could see was this dark place with flames and these dark looking creatures. I do this a lot, go somewhere else." Sabrina shook her head and hugged him. "Dios mio, es el diablo." Caleb pulled back and looked at her with widened eyes "What?" She kissed his cheek "Marcell, he's the devil. He made you go there. That was Hell."

Caleb raised an eyebrow "What do you mean? I go to different places whenever I get in a panic. That was the first scary place.." Sabrina hugged him and cried "Papi, don't worry. I know you wouldn't hurt us, I'm not mad." He ran his fingers through her hair "I am so sorry, love. I don't want you to be afraid." She squeezed him tight "I'm not! If anything, I know you will keep us safe. Speaking of, my cousin Carlos is selling a house and said he would work out a deal with you for payments or whatever until you turn 18. What do you think? It sounds awesome, it's actually a nice place."

Caleb smiled "Yea, that would be cool. Do whatever we want to it. Really make it ours." Sabrina laid her head on Caleb's chest and started playing with his hair. "Sabrina?" "Yea, papi?" Caleb sighed and started crying a little bit "I think I wanna see my mom this weekend." Sabrina nodded "That's fine. Why are you crying, though?" Caleb sighed "Nothing I ever did was good enough for her. I don't want to tell her about us, I just wanna understand what Jamal meant by different."

Sabrina kissed Caleb "Babe, I will support you in whatever you feel needs to be done. I know you are going through a lot." Caleb smiled "God, how did I get you?" Sabrina giggled "Well, I really don't like bad boys. You put on a show so you don't get beat. You and Jamal are the same like that. Big softies." Caleb playfully pulled her ponytail "Hey, don't say that too loud." Caleb began to fall asleep when he heard the front door slam. "Hey, baby let me up. Sounds like my aunt has groceries." Caleb went to the living room and saw a pile of bags on the floor. He began taking them to the kitchen so his aunt could put them away.

"Hey nephew, how are you?" Caleb smiled "Good auntie, you?" "I'm alright. Hey, what's going on with Sabrina? I ain't easily fooled." Caleb chuckled "I know you aren't auntie. I just didn't want to say anything until things were certain." She looked at Caleb and raised one eyebrow "So? What's going on?" "She's pregnant. I hope it's ok if she stays here for a few days, it's really hot at her sister's place. I'll give you more money." His aunt shook her head "Caleb Maurice, you are fifteen. You understand kids take a lot, right?" Caleb nodded "I know, auntie." "Caleb, how much do you love this girl?" Caleb smiled "A hell of a lot. She's amazing."

His aunt smirked "Mhmm, I know. I work with her sister, you didn't know? I'm not mad cause that ain't doing shit. Just make sure you keep y'all straight." Caleb hugged his aunt "I will. How much do you need?" "Caleb, I have no idea where you are getting this money..." Caleb pulled $20 out of his pocket "Please, don't worry about it. You let me stay here, so I can help." His aunt sighed "Fine. I don't care if she stays here. This heat is terrible, ER's been full of heat stroke for a week. Is she here now?" Caleb nodded "You can come in if you want."