August's Flame {Mature}

Six: Trying to Return to Normal (edited)

Desire

I sat in the dance studio, facing my students. Although this was a hip hop class, I wasn't in the mood for it today, so we we're going to do ballet basics. I watched as they worked on their moves individually or with partners, and turned on Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. I remained seated on the couch, trying not to cry. I sipped my tea as one of my students, Tony, came and sat by me. "Aye Desire, you okay?" I looked at him and shrugged. "My brother died yesterday, his funeral is tomorrow. You think I'm okay?" I looked over at him and wiped a tear. He put his arm around me, and sighed. "My brother shot my boyfriend and punctured a lung." I added, trying to keep from crying. He then turned off the music and addressed the class. "Y'all, class is over early." Everybody quickly grabbed their things and left, except Tony. 

I continued to cry in his arms until a knock on the door came. "Des, Aug told me to come check-" Travis stopped talking, and raised his eyebrows at what he saw. "No no, it's not what you think Trav." I whispered, sniffling in the process. "I was just leaving," Tony stuttered, grabbing his things and exiting. "You ain't taking this well are you?" Travis asked, replacing  Tony's seat on the couch. I kept crying as he rubbed my arm. "My brother shot my boyfriend. And then shot himself. How could I take this well?" I sniffled and took a sip of my tea. "You can start by not blaming yourself. You couldn't control Dennis." I nodded at his words, just taking it all in. "He had a scholarship, to duke." I began to bawl. "He could've been something more than just a drug dealer. He could've been the next Stephen Curry." I couldn't stop crying at this point. I lost my brother, my best friend. My lifeline.

Erica Campbell (Desire's Mom)

"So I have lung cancer, but I don't know how to tell my daughter, especially with my son dying yesterday." I spoke, setting the cup of tea back on the table. "Well, Ms. Campbell," "You can call me Erica." "Erica, you can get radiation treatments." I sat back on the couch, and began to fidget with my fingers. "I can't afford it. Especially with Dennis' income cut off." Dr. Raymond licked his lips and stood up. "Well, Erica, we can find a way to work around that, can't we?" I shivered at the sudden change of tone he had. "I have insurance, if that's what your gesturing to." I folded my arms, and stood up, so the conversation wouldn't seem as if he were talking down to me. "Meet me for dinner, tomorrow, and we'll discuss this. I'm being called back to the hospital." I felt uneasy, but agreed. "Oh, and don't tell Desire." He chuckled, as he pulled in for a hug from my handshake. He then let himself out of my house, and I proceeded to lock the doors behind me. 

I finished my cup of tea, and walked upstairs, past Desire's old room, to Dennis'. I opened the door, and glanced in, trying to decide what I would pack up. His room was virtually untouched. Bloodstain by the window, gun left ajar and loaded on the floor. Bed slept in, car keys on the dresser. Clothes in a huge pile right by the dirty clothes bin. I smiled to myself as I looked at the picture from Desire's graduation. Then I frowned at the picture of Amber on his dresser, but decided to leave it there. "Dennis, why'd you have to go and cause us this pain?" I cried hysterically, and sat on his bed. "Mommy's got cancer, and cancer can be fixed. Guess you were right about them cigarettes baby." I ran my hands over his comforter, and inhaled his scent, driving me to tears. I truly missed my son. "But you gave mama a broken heart. This can't be fixed."

August

Travis hasn't texted me back, letting me know if Desire was okay. This morning I asked her to come to physical therapy with me, but she quickly rejected and went to the dance studio. I was sitting at Flame, thinking about her, obviously. I was so distracted, I couldn't even type up a flyer. I was honestly worried about baby girl's mental health. A whole lot of shit has happened in the past two days, and it has got to be overwhelming for Desire. That's why I've decided to take my baby on vacation, and put Travis in charge of Flame for a couple of weeks. She needed to get out of town, and so did I.

My phone rang, signalling that Travis was calling. "Aye man, she okay?" I asked, anticipating his answer. "Nah man, she keep saying it's all her fault and she wanna die so she don't cause no more pain.""Y'all in the car?" I almost shouted, turning off my computer. "Yea, she told me to take her home. " "I'll be there soon. Don't leave her alone." Beep beep beep. I wheeled myself out of my office, and locked he door behind me.  I called an uber, and sure enough the guy popped up and took me home. Due to me being in this wheelchair, I couldn't move around like I wanted to, or drive. I sat in the back of the uber car as he drove up to the gates of my house. I thanked the guy as he set my wheelchair on the ground and helped me into it. I paid him with a nice tip, and wheeled myself into the house. I got comfortable and began drifting off to sleep, until I heard Desire screaming. "Let me go Travis! I will kill you! Let me go!" I looked up and saw Trav had her over his shoulder as she kicked and screamed. He threw her on the couch, and she snapped back into reality, breaking into tears. "All this is my fault Auggie. All of it is." She cried as she snuggled into me. "Desire baybeh you know that ain't true." I wiped the tears streaming down her face and tried to calm her down. "Auggie, I need to tell you something," She sniffled and scooted away from me. "I have a severe case of depression, and sometimes it leads me to have multiple personality disorder. That's kind of why my eyes change color and things, because I'm truly not myself." I pulled her closer and kissed her. "I love you and your crazy ass Des. All of you."

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I know, I'm late asf, and this is short asf, but I needed a filler! Writer's block was up my ass. -_- 

Only One thousand One hundred and nine words :/

-Ky