"But I don't get it." Leala put her hair into a ponytail. "How could a male African American teenager with no weapons be a threat to a police officer who's armed?"
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Harmony's older brother was found dead, and the cop who killed him wasn't charge...
1: Calo was beaten up and murdered and there was a note left threatening Harmony
2: Harmony finally went to the news about her protests/what she felt abt the whole Khalil case
3: Harmony is more motivated to finish the job than she ever was
That's pretty much it, I think
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I smoothened my black short-sleeved dress.
"You look good, Honey." Mom rubbed my arm in a comforting way.
"Just ready for round two." I ripped my arm out of her touch.
This was going to be the second funeral I had to attend. Before any of this shit happened, I never had to bury someone I cared about—it was always either some very distant cousin or a great great great great grandmother I knew nothing about. Those things only affected my parents, but now I'm thrown into all this grief, misery, and pain.
Calo's not here to give me motivational speeches that I whined about or read straight through me or apologize for how he pushed me too far. I used to miss him whenever we didn't talk and was all bubbly inside when he'd tell me to meet up. I was never going to experience that shit ever again.
Why do people take things for granted until it's gone? Why did I allow myself to do the same to Calo? Why am I beginning to question myself?
Ughhhhh.
Calo would tell me to stop overthinking. Calo would tell me to get out of my head. God, I wish he was here so fucking bad.
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"Wanna see the body," Dad asked softly.
Tears rolled out of my eyes before I could say anything; pain in my chest started to gradually build up as I slowly approached the casket. The voice in my head urged me to turn around and stop walking, but I overruled it. Calo would see my body if I died; so it'd only be fair if I did the same.
I squeezed my hands together as I whispered reassuring words to myself. Since Calo wasn't here to do it, I guessed this would have to become a thing I did nowadays.
I gasped once I saw his body. It was worse than I'd seen it before. The bruises were a greenish purple, and his body looked like a dry brown sponge; I feared if I tried to hold his hand it would break off.
I turned around and spotted his Mom, through my tears, walking down toward his body. I quickly shut the casket and guarded it with my arms. "No! Y-You can't see him." I looked around the church. "None of you can."
"He's my son." His mom was much closer to me now. "You were just some bitch he probably used to fuck. Who the hell do you think you are telling me I can't see my baby?"
Mom stepped in front of me while pointing her finger in Calo's mom's face. "And who the fuck do you think you are callin' my baby a bitch?"
"Um, excuse you." Calo's mom pushed my mom.
"Oh," Mom scoffed. "Honey, you ain't gonna—"
"Stop," I screamed. "I didn't want to start a fight! Look, Calo and I were good friends, and his body is. . . his body is fucked up, and I didn't want the rest of you to become scarred like I already am." I angrily wiped a tear off of my cheek. "He was beaten up and cut pretty badly to the point where you couldn't recognize him if you tried," I sobbed. "I'm just trying to protect you, all of you."
Everyone quietly went to their seats. The ceremony went by in a blur because of all the tears I shed. By the time we had to bury him, my head was pounding—along with my broken heart.
I knew I should've made a move on Calo before, but I was too scared to ruin what we had. Mom always told me that in opposite-sex friendships, one was bound to fall for the other. For some reason, I felt like Calo liked me too, but I was never too sure.
As they lowered his body to the ground, it took everything in me to not jump in with him. Why couldn't it have been me and not him? He would've handled my death much better than I was handling his right now.
If I wasn't too careful, I was going to be next.
"Mom, Dad; I got somethin' I needa tell y'all." I twiddled my thumbs as we sat silently in the car.
"What is it, Harmony?" Dad glanced in the rearview mirror to look at me.
"Um. . . so y'know how I found Calo's body?"
"Mhm." Mom nodded her head.
"Well. . ." I gulped. "T-There was a note." A chill went down my spine as the memory popped up in my brain.
