Make It Out

One

Five years later...

"...This right here is the magazine, it's the part of the gun that holds the bullets. This specific gun holds thirteen bullets in the chamber. That's thirteen chances but those thirteen chances can you by quick if you're not ready... you think you ready Lorenzo? You ready?"

"Yo you ready Lorenzo? Nigga over here fuckin daydreamin." The CO's voice snapped him out of the daze he was in. Ignoring the question, he grabbed the knapsack that held his belongings from the counter. He been ready.

Walking out the wrought iron gates of Attica Correctional Facility felt like a dream after five years, feeling like a newborn who just opened his eyes for the first time. He was in a state of euphoria having a new appreciation for the simplest things that he used to take for granted.

His face was lit up with a smile seeing his friends and family holding "Welcome home" and "Happy Birthday" balloons, both events occurring concurrently. Everyone from his grandmother to his little sisters pulled up on him, showing him mad love. Shit like that was enough to make him cry, but he wasn't about to have anybody thinking he was pussy.

"Turn me up nephew!" His uncle Marv shouted, his hand cuffed around his mouth amplifying his words. "Happy fuckin birthday."

They pulled each other into a brotherly embrace before Loco went around showing love to everyone who came out.

"Happy birthday baby, welcome home." His mother said with teary eyes, planting a kiss on his forehead.

"Thank you mommy, love you." He said, wiping her tears with the pads of his fingers before kissing her cheek. He hated seeing his mother cry, it always broke his heart. 

"Happy birthday my heart! Shitten me." He heard Smoke say as they approached each other.

"Love you for free gang." He said as they gave each other a brotherly hug. Loco didn't call too many niggas his friends, if you were in his circle you were family. And that's exactly how he regarded Smoke, his brother like his mother's kid.

After speaking to his set he finally made his way over to his baby sister Britney.

"Saved the best for last, shitten me." He chuckled, seeing the mug she had plastered on her face as he approached her.

"Should of came over to me first." She mumbled, punching his arm as he pulled her into a tight hug.

"I missed you so much, lil brat." He chuckled, planting a kiss on her forehead as she hugged him back tighter.

"I missed you too, happy birthday."

Pilling into the big body the family rented for the day, Loco got comfortable in the back seat with his sisters seated on either side of him. He zoned in and out of casual conversations his family had as his father drove them through the appropriate security channels, staring out the window watching all the other cars pile out.

All that time spent locked up away from the noise made him realize how much time waited for no man; it was up to him to get his shit together and get in tune. That was all the motivation he needed to get back to the grind in hustle. He was a true believer in the fact that no matter the circumstance he was gonna make something out of nothing, always.

————

It didn't take long for Loco to adjust to being back home, leaned back on the couch inside a rented out spacious sprawling property, a huge smile on his face as two shapely brown skinned girls danced on his lap. When niggas told him they were throwing a little getty to welcome him coming home he underestimated how much people were gonna pop out.