Winston Hills University : House of Trauma

Travis-6

As night approached, I knew it was time for me to go and meet with Melvin and Marcus. After leaving Efren with Jay to prepare for the party, I quickly snuck away and went over to the meetup spot, an old house they used for gatherings. When I got there, I realized that no one was there yet, so I decided to go down to the basement where Alex was being kept locked up. I stared at him, making sure he wasn't doing anything suspicious, then turned around and began to walk back up the steps.

"Wait!" he called after me. I turned around and came back down, walking toward him. His legs and arms were chained, so he couldn't move much. "What do you want?" I asked. "Efren, how is he?" he inquired. "Why do you even care? You beat the shit out of him and left him afraid! Now I have to stay by his side all the time because he's too afraid to be left alone, fearing he might run into you again!" I retorted.

Alex remained silent for a bit and then spoke. "I'm sorry for what I did to him. I was just feeling lots of different emotions because I thought they were going to kill me for being robbed. You've seen what they made us do, can you really blame me for what I did?" I laughed and then spat in his face. "Yeah, I can blame you because even if he was planning on breaking up with you, he still cared enough to see what was going on with you. That's just the type of person he is. He's one of the good ones," I said.

"Does this mean he approves of what you've been doing?" asked Alex. I looked up and glared at him. "Shut up! You had a choice! You could have chosen to wait until you were 18 to get a proper job, but instead, you chose this! Me? I have no choice because even if I can't stand any of these people, they're still my family! I'm trapped! Like I've always been!" I said with tears nearly coming from my eyes.

"Well, for me, Efren was my only family, and I did whatever I had to do to look out for him, even if it meant getting involved in this. I do agree that he is too good for this kind of life, but I also think he's too good for you. We may have only talked now since our fight, but I've seen you in here watching your cousins beat the shit out of people that owe them money. You like watching that shit. You have a darkness in you, and this allows you to embrace that darkness. Efren is a bright shining light; don't put out that light," said Alex.

I wiped my eyes and then laughed. "As much as I'd like to disagree with you, you're probably right. Neither of us deserves him, but I'm going to do my best to protect him from my darkness, and if a day comes when I'm unable to do so, unlike you, I'll be able to let him go!" I said right in front of his face. The basement doors opened, and then came my cousins with some druggie who most likely owed them money.

"Who is this guy?" I asked. "His name is Isaiah; this guy owes us thousands of dollars after we helped him out of a tight spot earlier this year. However, he's 8 months late, and when Marcus decided to go and stop by his house to collect, we learned that he moved away from there 7 months ago. He thought he could get away, but we tracked his ass down, and now we're gonna have to collect our payment another way," said Melvin.

"L-Look, I promise I c-can get you the money," said Isaiah. Melvin shook his head and then punched Isaiah in the face. Isaiah was knocked back into Marcus, who then kicked Isaiah hard in the leg, causing him to fall to his knees. Melvin then turned to me. "Time for you to prove yourself. Finish the job and beat his ass," said Melvin.

I walked over to Isaiah and could see that he was scared for his life, instantly reminding me of the fear I used to have from Jordan and my previous stepdad whenever one of them was beating on me. I began to feel myself getting angry, remembering everything from back then, and then I punched Isaiah in the face. I punched him again and again until that sad image of myself finally vanished from my sight. Eventually, Melvin had to grab me and stop me. "Yo, calm down. We don't need you killing him. Anyways, go and get yourself cleaned up. Take the next couple of days off," said Melvin. I took one last look at Alex, who watched the entire time in horror, and then I left.