The BoyZ

Menelik

I wake up to the house empty, I assume Mom and Dad are at work so I go into the kitchen to eat but all the injera is gone. I don't remember my parents eating all of it. I found a paper on the counter that said "Hey Shekor we have a business trip we had to take most of the food sorry wedey but take care we left money for you and we'll keep on sending more. Don't wait for us, we will be on this trip for a month or two" They always do this. I go back to my bedroom and cry myself to sleep. I'll skip school for a few weeks.

-------------------

When the alarm rings I get ready as fast as I can, eat himbasha (Ethiopian bread) with shahi (Tea), and rush out the door. I'm not excited to go to school but today is the day my sister died and I don't think I can stay home for a minute longer especially when my parents are gone.

I see Hakim and Jewels at the front gates and I wave at them, "Hey"

"Yo, where were you? You've been gone for a long ass time," Hakim scoffs.

"Hey Menelik, we were worried for you" Jewels hugs me. His gesture surprises me and I stumble back.

"My bad I just had family problems" and my family problems are also the reason I showed up today.

"After school meet us here and please don't be a pussy and ditch us" Hakim walks away.

"I'm so sorry about him" Jewels and I follow Hakim.

"It's alright"

----------------

At their hang-out spot, it was pretty dirty and ghetto but I didn't mind it in a way I found it cool. The boy at the park and some other kid beside him which I assume is Diego were already there when we arrived. "Yo, you came today," Ayumu says, smiling.

"Yeah," I give a nervous chuckle.

At first glance, they just seemed like a bunch of kids hanging out but when Diego introduced himself I got this panicked feeling which for a bit kinda excited me.

"Yo, I'm Diego" he daps me up.

"Menelik" he looks a lot like his mom but has a different energy to him. 

"Let's do something wicked" Diego grins. Which again excites me.

"Like what?" Jewels asked.

"Let's go rob someone?" Hakim suggested.

"I'm down, but are y'all?" Ayumu looked at me and Jewels.

"yeah, that's finna be lit" Jewels smirks.

"Sure I'm down" I smile. Here right now, I felt like I belonged. Like I was seen. I'm not sure why.

When they said rob I didn't think they meant rob a fucking purse. Yet I do it anyway. Hakim and Jewels distracted the woman with a Louis Vuitton purse, when she was distracted enough I snatched the purse. At the perfect moment Hakim and Jewels run she calls out security. He comes at us but I pass it to Ayumu and dodge the security, Ayumu passes to Hakim then Hakim passes to Jewels, and Jewels passes to me we keep doing that. Good thing security was slow as fuck and ran out of breath after running for like 5 minutes or less when we get far enough Diego comes running at us he was the one who hacked into security so we wouldn't get caught how he did it, no idea but I won't question him. Jewels takes out the money and Hakim burns the purse. "Why would you burn the purse we could've sold it?" I say.

"What? Oh shit, I didn't know you needed the money" Hakim backs away.

"No, I don't but still could've sold it"

Apparently, no one even wanted anything in the purse, not even the cash. Fuck we didn't even want the purse, yet we did all that. Hakim throws away the ashes of the purse, the way Hakim and Diego planned everything out made it seem like they did this for a living.

"I ain't gonna lie that was fun as fuck" Ayumu smirks, "but why did we do all that if no one wanted the cash"

We gave the money to Diego so that not everything would be for nothing.

"So she can suffer" Hakim's eyes light up. He really hates rich motherfuckers even though he's rich himself.

"Is there anything else you want to do?" I asked them.

"Go home, I got stuff to do," Ayumu avoids eye contact.

Everyone agrees with him, leaving just me. That familiar feeling crawls back to me. I know if I go home today I'll lose it. So I go to the graveyard where I see Hakim not far from my sister's grave.   I try going in another direction so he wouldn't see me but I fail. He says my name, I look at him and start walking towards him. "Hey" I try to smile but I fail.

He doesn't respond, he just stares at me. Which scares me, he feels so distant but he's here. he motions for me to sit and I sit by him. My shoulder brushes against him and he jumps a little "Sorry I didn't realize you were in front of me" he shakes his head.

"It's chill, what are you doing here?" stupid question but I didn't know what else to say.

He points at the grave beside him "Mom's grave" then he points at the grave beside me "Dad's grave. Why are you here?" He has a distant and raspy voice.

"My sister's grave isn't far from here"

"Okay," he mumbles. He wraps his hands around his knees and moves forward and backward. Like a rocking chair.

I wanted to ask more, talk to him more but I didn't. It was clear he wanted to be alone. 

Instead, I went to my sister's grave and talked to her. I look around my environment to find anything to distract me but I can't see anything. Everything is blurry and all I can feel are my tears. I wipe the tears off and see a flashback of blood, I immediately stop looking around and focus on talking to my sister. 

By the time I decide to get home, Hakim's already gone. When I do get home I want to run but I remind myself it's 12:35 a.m. The day's over and I'm okay. I slowly walk to my porch and my leg feels tingly. I want to run but I hold myself back. I open the door, shut the door, and run to my room. I grab a blanket and throw it on top of me including my head and cuddle with my pillow. I received a notification but I didn't look at it. I'm too scared to move.