Moving Forward

Fourteen

Tasha 

I took a deep breath and began the story...

I stood on the street corner, staring at a man who had to have been at least three years older than me. He eyed me hungrily, his eyes running up and down my body. I might've been 14, but I was one of those women that developed early. It didn't take long for him to approach me. At first, I was hesitant but after a few conversations, he managed to get me to go home with him.

Everything initially seemed perfect. He held me when I slept, kissed me, cooked for me, and showed me off to his friends. After a few months, he started drinking and getting more violent. He began beating me and raping me, threatening to kill me every time I threatened to run away.

 

The first few times he raped me was how I got pregnant with Roc. I was only 15, and I was about to have a baby, but Angelo straightened up. He stopped drinking, and helped out with the baby. He went back to being loving, so I told myself that he didn't mean it when he used to hit me; he was just going through some things.

 

It wasn't until Roc was a year old that he started beating me again. He blamed me for everything that went wrong, and I turned to drugs to cope. At first it was weed, then ecstasy, and finally heroin. Then I got pregnant with Aaliyah. After she was born, Angelo got worse. He said he didn't want kids, and he started to beat them. I couldn't let my babies get hurt, but when I tried to stop him; he just beat me.

I waited until he passed out to take the kids. I was handing Aaliyah to Roc when he found me. I told him to go the foster home and say that he was lost. I was so scared to say goodbye to my babies, but I couldn't keep them, not when their father was so bad.

When I finished talking, Chresanto looked at me with tears in his eyes. He bit his lip, and I smiled sadly at him.

 "I'm sorry, mom," he whispered. His arms wrapped around me, and I sat there in shock. "I'm sorry for all that shit I said."

 Aaliyah hugged me as well, tears rolling down her face. "We're so sorry!"

____

 Roc

"That's the last of it," Aaliyah announced, slamming the trunk shut. She huffed, brushing her hair out of her face.

I guess you could say we are turning over a new leaf. After our mother had confessed what really happened, she decided to adopt us. So that makes us officially a family again. Things were starting to look up for us again.

 "I can't believe she is letting you drive her Benz," Prince gasped, shaking his head in awe. "If I were her, I would know better than to let your black ass drive my car."

 "Don't sound so jealous, Prince," I laughed, punching him in the shoulder.

"Man, It's not gonna be the same around here without you two," He frowned, running his hand over his afro. Prince wasn't the mushy type, but I knew he hated to see us go.

 "Imma miss you too," I smiled, dapping him up.

 We said our goodbyes, then we prepared for our long trip through the New York traffic. I pulled up to the building, frowning at the ambulance that was hogging up most of the street.

 "What now?" I groaned, already frustrated from the long ride through traffic.

 I glanced over at Aaliyah, but she was already getting out the car. I followed her into the lobby, and it was like we had walked into the Twilight Zone. There was chaos everywhere. Broken glass and bullet casings were everywhere. There were officers and EMTs everywhere.

 Aaliyah reached for the nearest person. "What happened here?" She asked, but the guy ignored her.

 "We should go find mom," I began, scanning the crowd when I heard Aaliyah scream.

 "Mom!" She screamed, running over to my mother, who was being carried away on a stretcher.

 "I'm sorry, but we need to get her to the hospital," the EMT guy was saying, but I couldn't take my eyes off of all the blood.