Submission {UNFIN}

Chapter Five.

***Important*** I changed the end of the last chapter. If you haven't gone back to that and read the new ending it would be highly beneficial to you if you did that, because it is important.

5:21 p.m., Brooklyn, New York.

I rested on the smooth leather of my mother's couch that I'd bought for her and swiped my hands over my jeans. The smell of smoke inhabited my nostrils, causing me to form my lips into a severe scowl. My mother wobbled her way over the tiles of her kitchen and to the living room which, besides the few pieces of furniture I'd acquired for her, was covered in shabby decor that I remembered from the lively existence of my childhood.

"How are you, baby?" she asked, easing herself onto the stained, battered cushion of her chair. The window provided a bit of the waning sunlight, allowing us to see each other. My head proceeded to throb as the intoxicating smell of weed worked it's way into the crevices of my lungs and nauseated me.

"I should be asking you that," I replied, my demeanor increasingly jarring, and though she was my mother I felt I had the right to speak to her in that manner in acknowledgment of the reason for my tone. Her body cowered smaller into its position on the chair as I balled my hand into a solid fist.

"Shawn, everything is fine." This only surged further fuel to my ire, and I sat up more alert on the couch. My eyes darted from the innocent, weak features of my mother to the unkempt, dingy apartment that I grew up in and often times paid the rent for.

"No it's not. You think I'm going to sit here and let this little ungrateful, inconsiderate, ignorant nigga run you down? Momma, you are 57 years old, and I refuse to keep you in this situation just because you're watching out for that young punk."

Trent was the nineteen year old that my mother had taken in about thirteen years ago, when the boy was roughly six. Never had I possessed the ability to understand why, but she had taken a strong liking to Trent, and so she moved him into my old room and raised him, never actually adopting him. I hadn't known much about the kid, since he moved in when I was twenty five, and I'd finally graduated from school and no longer found myself a slave to the dealing of drugs in order to support my family. He was my mother's responsibility, but he was often in the way of plans and things I wanted to do for my mom. Not only this, but he constantly brought danger near my mother just by being around. Trent was in some shady business that he had no right to bring into my mother's household.

"Shawn, how many times do I have to tell you not to call him those names?" Her voice was that soothing, placid one I'd rarely heard for a while. Most recently, my mother and I were more likely to clamor all night long rather than speak in a rational tone. Trent had driven a divide so wide between my mother and I that I often thought the space to be a chasm.

"Momma, it's time for you to open your eyes. The boy is grown. You put him through high school and raised him up past eighteen, which wasn't even your responsibility. He clearly has no intentions of going to college, so it's time for him to act like a man, get a real job, get his own place, and get you out of danger."

"Aye, ain't nobody in danger, 'aight?" I knew that voice. I sighed heavily and waited until he walked into sight. He reeked of weed, had tattoos all over his bony chest, a chain hung proudly on his neck, his pants slouching down to the floor, exposing his cheap underwear, and a snapback sat backwards on top of his poorly functioning head. Simply allowing my eyes to wander over his appearance made me feel ashamed that I hadn't fixed him into better dressing, especially with where I worked. "Shawn," he nodded in my direction.

"Trent." My mother smiled, seemingly elated that Trent had even shown his face. "Look Momma, I'm 'bout to dip anyway. I'll call you later."

"Shawn, baby don't leave. Stay! I was going to make my famous Chicago-style chili that I know you love." It wasn't that I hadn't wished to stay in the warm comfort of my mother and converse with her whilst she prepared my favorite dish, but Trent's presence was an elephant in the room that I didn't care to tolerate.