Til' The End (Revising)

Chapter 1

Aniyah

"Look, you need to stop dealing with this shit and leave Michael's ass. He ain't been doing you no good, Niyah." My homegirl, Nikki, said to me with such sympathy in her eyes.

I let out a long lasting sigh and shook my head. "I can't, Nikki," She scoffed and rolled her eyes in return. "He'll probably hurt me even worse than before if I try to leave him." I explained as she carefully place a bag of ice on my eye. It was swollen shut from Michael's attack on me not too long ago. Just thinking about it gave me chills....in the worst way. Now here I am, at my private home with my girls filling them in with the tea of the night and boy, were they not happy.

"What made you wait so long into telling us this?" Nikki questions me. "Finding out about this is still fucking with me, I'm sorry. For years this man has been putting his hands on you, and you couldn't even let us know. You didn't think that this was important enough to tell us?"

I drop my head down while fiddling with my hands, ashamed to even look her in the eyes because I know she was right. I'm aware that I was wrong for not informing my girls, or anyone I'm close with about what's been going on in my relationship these past few years, but the truth is, I didn't because I was afraid. Afraid of what Michael would do to me if anyone was to know about this side of him. His image is what matters most to him and I would dare not try to sabotage that, which can result in me falling victim to his wrath more than I already have.

"Of course I wanted to tell y'all the first time it happened, but he promised me that he wouldn't do it again and then apologized. Like a dummy, I believed him." Nikki sucked her teeth as she mumbles something underneath her breath that I couldn't quite make out. "But of course, he didn't live up to his promises and that's when I grew scared. Then just recently, he had landed this major opportunity with these big time Cartel bosses. He threatened to kill me if I was stupid enough to even bring light into the situation. I couldn't take that chance 'cause knowing Michael...he would."

There was a brief silence that took over the room. With the information I just shared, I knew that it was unsettling with Nikki. I could just imagine the many thoughts running through her mind at the moment. Probably wanting to put Michael in a casket right about now.

Right beside me, I felt Janae, my other best friend, tensed up. The whole time, she sat there just staring ahead while rocking herself back and forth like a mad woman. The anger that was radiating from off of her body was definitely intense, so I know for sure she's having some homicidal thoughts. "I am so sick of that nigga! I knew there was a reason why I never liked him," She explodes as she finally looks my way. "I swear to God Niyah, if you end up in the hospi-" Before Janae had the chance to finish her sentence, I felt the need to cut her off.

"You guys, look...I appreciate y'all for being here for me right now. I really do, but..." I took a brief look over to the clock noticing that the time was pushing close to 4 AM, "...I really gotta get some sleep for work in a couple more hours." I said as I got up from off the couch. I didn't want to continue on with this conversation about Michael. I mean I was getting a headache by just the mentioning of his name.

My girls both looked at me like I had two heads. "The hell you are! Are you crazy? Not with that bruise on your face, girl!" Janae stated out as she points to my bruised eye.

"I'll be fine." I said waving her off. I know she means well, but I don't want her to stress too much over it. "It's okay."

Nikki stood up along with me while crossing her arms. "Nae's right and no it's not OK. You need to go to the poli-"

"I said I'm fine!" My voice boomed while cutting Nikki off. They were both taken aback by my sudden outburst and I immediately felt bad. "I'm sorry y'all I didn't mean to yell, I ju- I just don't want to talk about it anymore," I took a long deep breath before speaking again, "It hurts thinking about him."