Locust Lane

Chapter 3

I walked down the stairs very slowely. I'm extremely nervous about my first day working. I really hope that I'm not clumsy and mess everything up.

"SARAJI!" I heard mama yell my name right at the same time that I put both feet on the living room floor. There I see her standing by the door with Dominique laying in her carseat beside her on the floor.

"That's all you gonna put on? You know it's thirty degree temperature in that place, right?"

One day she says she'll knock my ass out, the next day she shows concern. Why care now?

"Yeah mama. I have on three long sleeve shirts under my jacket and I have three pairs of pants on."

"You don't even deserve to call me that anymore." She mumbled before turning towards the door.

I am so tired of her attitude towards me. I'm so sick of her acting like she has never done any wrong in her entire life. There was a time when her attitude was worse than it is now. She had a severe mean streak in her. She loved us so much and treated us so well, but there was something off about her at one point. She wouldn't give my siblings and I whoopings, they were more like beatings. But see, we forgave her once she apologized to us and worked on herself.

When she admitted to us why she was acting like that, it hurt my heart. She was so angry because she was cursed with a serious blood disorder. Like I stated, we forgave her then moved on from that. When she knew everything would be okay, she went back to her loving, but slightly mean, self. Things were so great between us at one point.

"I'm not going to keep on putting up with this. I've tried and tried to apologize to you and all you do is make me feel worse about myself. To be real, it's not like y'all put out a missing person's report for me. Dad found me through who was my friend at the time. I was underaged. If you really cared that much, you would have got me back home. And don't act like you've never done any wrong in your perfect life. Y-"

Within seconds she managed to slap me then push me towards the stairs. Luckily I caught myself before I could hit my head on a step. I covered my face then leaned my head against the wall. She effortlessly snatched my body up and forced me to look at her.

"YOU WILL PUT UP WITH WHATEVER THE FUCK I DO IN MY HOME." Her grip got even stronger on my arms. "I am tired Saraji. I can't even work through my day normally without something going wrong. I almost fainted at work today, that's why I got here so early. I am dying inside knowing that I may possibly have to quit my career. My passion."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I cried as I tried to wiggle my wrists free. For her to be so weak she's about to squeeze all the nerve out my wrists.

"Your ass will be sorry if you don't calm that attitude down. Don't say shit else to me unless you're spoken to."

I did as she told me to. She grabbed Dominique's carseat then we left out the house. No words were spoken on my way to work. My crying was muffled with loud music.

By the time I got to work, I calmed down as best as I could. Usually I'm stronger than this; I don't know what made me break down so much. I guess it's because I'm only human.

I was about to mess up and say bye to her, but I kissed my baby girl then got out her car. As soon as I shut the door she speeded off.

I walked up the parking lot and to the turnstile. Since this is my first day, I obviously don't have a key card to get in. I had to wait a few minutes before I seen a dreadhead walking down the sidewalk. He was gathering his dreads and putting them in a low ponytail as he walked.

"Excuse me, could you help me get in?"

He didn't even bother to look at me, just got his badge out his pocket and scanned it.