JAHANI.
I didn't stroll into the apartment until around two, completely drained and yet still wired with rage from the altercations that took place. I locked the door behind me and ran my hands down my face, reaching for the light in the kitchen for the lights to not even flicker. Trina had forgot to pay the bills yet again. Exhaling sharply as the moonlight shone guided me around the pitch black kitchen, grabbing a cup and allowing the water from the faucet to fill it to the brim. I gulped it down within seconds, rolling down my chin and neck as I wiped it away with the back of my hand. Sighing heavily and walking into the kitchen where light snores were heard, it was Aoki. Because he also hummed in his sleep and now he was mumbling something I could hardly make out.
"C'mon man, lets go to the room." I spoke groggily, tapping his bare shoulder as he flipped over. "Ducky." He loudly groaned causing me to suck on my teeth, pulling a sheet that was sitting on a nearby laundry basket and covering him with it.
I walked down the hallway, at the end of the hall was soft playing music. Ben E. King' Stand By Me to be particular, it was a song that Trina often blared when she was had company. Making my way towards the room at the end of the hall where the door had already been cracked, slipping in the room I found the stereo playing the music with an unconscious Trina in bed. It wasn't anything new in particular but my heart sank when I seen the emptied bottle of pills and a few short boys sitting on the nightstand table. Her left wrist had been slit.
"Shit!" I rushed over to her body barely aware of the actions I was making because my head was so cloudy. Scooping her into my arms and rushing into the bathroom where I sat with her in the tub, the shower head beating down on us as she was lifeless in my arms, "come on dammit!" My voice cracked while I gripped her jaw to pry open her mouth.
"Jah-" Aoki cut himself short, standing in the doorway looking between both Trina and I. "Mommy?"
"Call an ambulance, Ducky." I mustered out while he continued to stare before finally moving front the doorway.
"Come on, come on." I sniffled while sticking my fingers down her throat until she gagged, throwing up. She began to violently cough and vomit. Grimacing at her as she shook, I moved out of the shower grabbing a towel for her to wrap herself in. She was disoriented.
Leaving her sitting on the toilet staring at the linoleum while going to check on Ducky in the living room crying, "Is mommy dead?" I shook my head, bringing him into my arms.
"No, man."
"I'm sorry, Jah."
"For what, kid?" I sat on the carpet in front of him.
"For letting her do that to herself. She told me to get the freak out! I didn't wanna make her mad and she hit me, I'm sorry. I should've called you."
"It's not your fault, Ducky. It'll never be your fault. It had nothing to do with you." I kissed his forehead. "Hey, you wanna go to Ms. Diane house for the night? Get some rest?"
"Her house smells nasty. Can I go to Ms. Gina house instead?"
"Sure."
•••
"They say anything new?" Slim plopped in the seat beside me, coffee in hand. Through everything he was there.
I furrowed my eyebrows, ignoring his question. "Since when did you start drinking coffee?" I asked while he gingerly sipped on it like a kid with cough syrup.
"Just now, tastes like liquid ashtray," He coughed and spit back in the small styrofoam cup. I shook my head, "She took everything."
"Took everything of what?"
"All of the money that I had saved up," I spat bitterly, clenching my jaw.
"You serious?"
"Yo, I'm sorry, if you need anything you know I got you, bro." Nodding as a tear jerked down my cheek.
"So what you going to do now?" Slim glanced my face over. Give up. It was a powerful instinct; but it was no longer just me I had Ducky to provide for too. I'd be damned if he went through the same shit I did. He didn't deserve it so I wasn't going to put him through it, it was all worth him smiling and being happy. "Figure shit out." A lady greeted by the doctor who'd admitted Trina came over, she'd been in a charcoal dress suit with her thin hair tightly pulled back, freshly tweezed eyebrows and cheap lipstick cracking against her lips that mimicked an open wound.
"Which one of you is Jahani Graham?" Slim and I exchanged blank stares before looking back at the woman,"You're not in trouble, I just need to speak with you briefly." A smile pulled at the corners of her lips revealing the lipstick along her teeth.
"About?" I spoke up first, raising from the chair to untentionally hover her 5'1 frame. The lady took a lunge back with an anxious giggle,"I'm Sarah Winston from the state, we got a call last week concerning your younger brother, I'm assuming, Aoki Graham."
"Who made the call?" I knitted my eyebrows.
"Uh, I'm afraid that I cannot disclose that information." She inhaled sharply. "If you wouldn't mind, I just want to take a few questions and information to go further in the case. Preferably privately." She shot a look towards Slim.
"Case? What case?"
"Of his custody, seeing that the guardian, Trina Graham isn't able to care for the ten year old. It's our job to make sure that he's placed in an environment safe for a child."
"So y'all just going to come down here and try to take my little brother from me?"
"Well, actions will be taken place, yes. But it looks like his other potential guardian is his father, Sekou Graham...it's possible for him to get placed there or with any other relating relatives."
"It's just us."
"No extended family? Or family friends, perhaps?" I bit the inside of my cheek.
"What about me? I'm eligible to take care of him, the woman at-"
"It'd take a lot of paperwork and an awfully good lawyer, Mr. Graham, but I'll be coming by to the home for a home visit as well as his school-that he hasn't been attending the past..." She flipped over some sheets. "Two weeks. And it's never an easy transition for a sibling to become a guardian, not unattainable, it'll take proof that you have steady income, a home and are up to actually be a full time parent."
The social worker dug out of her purse wit her glossy red nails, "Feel free to reach me at either my office or personal cell, if you have any questions or concerns."
