Igniting the Fyah | HRT1

Chapter 30

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::: February | Thursday :::

June hadn't seen Kellon much since Tuesday. He was as busy as a bee with the development of his housing scheme.

Though she missed being around him more than she cared to admit, she was also happy for the newfound free time. Yesterday was the last day of her contract. . .

ღ [flashback. . .] ღ

"Wa yaa go do wid yuself now?" Ashanti had asked.

June was well aware that Ashanti most likely did not care - for that woman never seemed to care about anything June had to say, unless it was mention of Leilani. Still, June had proudly said, "I'm going back to working as a nail tech." Her three months were up, it was time to move on. She appreciated Kellon very much for offering her a job when she was in need, and even though she loved cooking with and for him, it always felt weird to her being in romantic relations with her boss.

"Okay."

"Yu know, as much as me cudn stand yu at first, yu actually nuh so bad."

Ashanti had given June one of her rare smiles. It always made her look more approachable, less of the reclusive person she was. "Yea, I get that a lot."

They had fell quiet. June had cleared her throat and tapped her fingers atop the counter. Looking down at them, she had smiled at the thought of being able to wear long nails again.

"Heroine."

"Huh?"

Ashanti had glared at June, shook her head and looked away briefly. "I said heroine," she had restated. "Everyone associated with Mr. Cross always has a story and that is mine."

June had stared at the woman, unsure what it was that she should have said. 'Sorry?' . . . 'Glad you're doing better?' For, Ashanti surely looked like she was doing better. To June, at least.

"I was sixteen when I stopped. . ." Ashanti had appeared to be reminiscing out loud. "My birth mother left me in a box to die when I was a baby. A homeless woman- scratch dat. A crazy, fucking homeless woman found me and raised me.

"My brain is crazy. I can remember everything that has ever happened to me. I remember being in the box. . . Mi rass, mi still remember how Annie breath did a kick when she pick me up the night and bring me to a shack where she raise me fi the next twelve years.

"She was the one who introduced me to heroin. She started with small things first - weed, prescription pills. . . heroin. I still remember the first time she stuck a needle in my arm, the high. . . it was strange, but I grew to love it.

"I might not look or sound like an addict right now but I was the epitome of addict. Stop look pon me so, June, just listen. I don't need pity. Anyways - when me turn twelve, that was the first time she sold me to men for money. Annie deevn did buy food fi wi eat. Me nuh know why me did expect her to. . . One time, this one man was so violent I bled for three days. That a when me know I didn't want to live with my mother anymore. . . not that I ever did.

"I ran away, I have no idea how I survived on my own. But I did. The streets were all I knew. When me turn fourteen, mi meet Candace. She did work a backroad at the time, sixteen-years-old I think. Me nuh waa seh me love her at first sight, cause I hated her as much as I do just about everyone else. Still, she took care of me.