Life, Love & Other Short Stories

:black out:

It was darker outside than any of us really expected it to be. Darker than Rachel's skin, even. Darker than Stephen's eyes or my favorite hoodie. Darker than me. Like everything else on the block. It was black out. You couldn't see stars this far in the city anyway, but now there was a black-out. The streets felt louder in the dark too. Everything felt louder. Too loud, too dark, too black. Rachel would smack the black off of me if I'd have told her that.
The lights covering more than the whole block were out so we'd all come to sit out on our steps and be dark in the dark. We were all hoping that nobody came strolling through who didn't live here, cause we probably would've gave them a heart attack. The guilt would have been too loud.

"Devon," Rachel said, pulling me to my feet, I'd left my shoes upstairs, we weren't going farther than the stoop. "C'mon walk roun' the block with me."

"Ain't got no shoes on," I said with a shrug, sitting back down. "Walk by yourself."

She wanted to walk to show off to the other girls on the block that we were together, but most of the people in my building were my cousins on my mama's side and the other girls further down had enough kids to run a school between the five of them. Walk around the block, and for what? It was dark enough here. Enough black out here. Just sitting together should have been enough.
She sat next to me, leaning against my shoulder, her head tilted to the sky. Her arms were wrapped around my waist as she started talking softly.

"My mama's down at Ms. Keisha's place, you can come over before the lights come back on."

Her shirt was cut lower than the stoop and I shook my head. Her stoop was even lower than mine. My stoop was fine and sturdy and I'd already told her I ain't have my shoes on.

"Lights'll be on in a lil bit; gotta help my mama cook."

"You too grown to be a Mama's Boy, Dev."

"And you too dark to be out this late, but here we are."

She huffed a laugh and pushed at my shoulder.

I smiled at her and it was like watching her blink into existence when I glanced over. I watched in awe as the streetlights started to blink down at us too. They blinked slowly, making their way down the street until we could all see each other. They were shining brighter as we moved back into the house. Brighter than me and my mama. Brighter than Matt's shoes. Brighter than some of our futures had any right to be back then. Not as bright as my pops though. No one on the block was. He came to the door to call me back in, but unlike the rest of the block, he was quiet. Everyone was moving back into the house, so the block was quiet now too. Too bright, too quiet.

"Walk me to school later?" asked Rachel, standing when her mama walked by my stoop.

"Yeah. Okay." I was looking down at my feet with my eyes shut tight trying to bring back the dark. "Night, Rachel."

She tapped a nail to her phone screen with a small laugh as she started to make her way back home to her own stoop. Up to the room she used to share with her older sister, with the bright walls and the quiet snores.

"Morning, Devon."