Toxic

Chapter 7

"I'm apologizing while I still have the opportunity to. I know this won't even begin to heal the wounds I gave you, but I hope that one day it brings you the peace you deserve."

Semaj was over it, he hadn't planned on being apart of his father making amends. It had been so many years ago, he was way pass wanting an apology, he just wanted to keep it in the past. Bringing up his troubled past somehow made him think of Denver. She knew nothing about his parents, and if he had it his way, she would never know. The only person she had met was Maria, and that was truly the only mother he ever acknowledged. He would never let Denver be in the presence of pervert 1 & 2, he wanted them as far away as possible from her. 

When he found out they had found their way to Atlanta, he was beyond pissed. He wanted those secrets to stay just that. Janet and Roland had both been to counseling to work out their fucked up characteristics as parents, and Roland had been in some intense rehab to kick his bad habits. And although he'd been to counseling and rehab, he still had yet to say out loud just what he did to his son for months. In Janet's eyes, that meant he never actually worked through the problem, but she had did her fair share of shit so she couldn't worry herself about Roland's skeletons. Janet's counseling had really help her understand her condition, her excessive need to spend money was at an all time high after Semaj ran away. 

Roland was the first to receive treatment. His brother had come over on one afternoon to visit the couple after the news of Semaj disappearing spread like wildfire. He came over unannounced yes, but nothing could have prepared him for what he walked in on. Roland was high out of his mind, and there was shit all over the house. Boxes of shoes, clothes, appliances, anything you could think of covered the foyer of their house. Janet had ordered so much shit, she ran out of spaces to hide it in.

"What the fuck" Jamaal said

With the sound of a voice that wasn't his wife's, Roland's head popped up from the coffee table where he was preparing to snort another line. Seeing his brother standing in the flesh, he was more than sure the shit he was snorting was nothing but the purest. He hadn't seen Jamaal in years, and it was probably based on the fact that Roman wouldn't let the past go. Yes, they had a set of fucked up parents, so what? Jamaal had eventually became the parent for the both of them. Jamaal was a very stern big brother, he was always on Roland's ass, he just wanted his little brother to make it out just like he planned to. As time went on, their relationship became strained. Jamaal wanted Roland to get over wanting love from their parents, and all Roland wanted was his parents to see what a good child he could be. Jamaal left a few years after, becoming successful in the cyber security field.

"J what's up man" Roland smiled as he rose up from his seat

Jamaal looked over his brother and he was seriously shocked, there was no other word that came to mind when he looked at Roland. His face was sunken in, melanin lacked the glow he was used to seeing, and he just looked thrown away. Jamaal also noticed how much weight he'd lost, his brother was never a skinny dude, Roland had that teddy bear-like structure.

From then on, Jamaal knew he had to get him better. Over the years, it took 4 times for rehab to take, each time chipping away at Jamaal's heart. The money didn't matter to him, he just wanted his brother to get better, no matter what they'd went through in the past. After Roland finally cleaned himself up, kicked his habits alone with his pervert friends to the curb, he went back to work. He also made sure he got his wife the help she deserved, it was the least he could do.

Now Roland and Jamaal's relationship was stronger than ever, which made the hurt that much stronger. He'd just gotten his brother back a few years ago, now the cancer was taking him away, and this time for good.