gone. - DISCONTINUED.

{6}

The next two weeks were work, as usual. Like Laylani said, I got used to doing the job pretty quickly, not even flinching when the hits were taken out and coming up with more snarky remarks without needing help from anybody. But off the job, I was still the same. Quiet, calm, reserved, I had just developed the language that everybody seemed to speak openly around me. Cursing was never really allowed at my house, with the exception of the night my mother threw me out, so I was sort of nervous cursing for the first few times, but like everything else, I got used to it.

"How can you still act so innocent?" Laylani asked, as me and her were up in the kitchen late. She was mixing ice cream with vodka, and I was just eating my ice cream plain. "I guess I'm still not used to things yet." I shrugged, scooping up another spoonful and sticking it in my mouth. "In two weeks I was already smoking weed like one of them." She stuck the ice cream back in the freezer, swirling her cup around and drinking it, smiling in satisfaction. "And I had already given it up." She emphasized, and I shook my head. "I'm def not ready for that." I laughed and she sighed. "To each's own, I guess. He never ask you about being someone's comfort girl yet?" She asked, leaning on the counter I was sitting on. "Nope. I never come out of my room except to go to work and go to yours, remember?" I said and she laughed, taking another sip of her mixture. "Good point. Only a matter of time, though." She spoke and I nodded in agreement as Rakim walked in with Cheyenne wrapped around him. She looked either drunk or high, grinning up at him and waving slowly, giggling every few seconds.

"Get your ass off the counters. And take that shit in one of the rooms or something." He mumbled, shoving me lightly by my back. I took the hint and hopped off the counter, following Laylani into her room. For the next few hours, we were in her room, watching movies on her laptop and eating from her food stash before crashing in her room. When I did wake up hours later, it was at least 4 in the morning, and I noticed that Laylani wasn't in her bed, and the light was on under her door, noises coming from outside. I got up off the floor, rubbing my eyes as I stood up, opening the door and making my way down the hallway. The noises got louder as I got closer to the main room, and I saw everybody awake, standing in the doorway. I made my way past Twelvy and Ant, seeing what everyone was looking at, and my breath caught in my throat.

I felt a hand on my arm, and I saw Laylani pulling me towards her, still watching what was happening in front of us. "What happened...?" I whispered. It seemed like no one could take their eyes off of it. "He caught her trying to steal from him. Take his money." She responded quietly. He threw things at her as she screamed, attempting to keep the rest of her clothes on. He kept hitting her, and she held her face, crying and apologizing numerous times. I jumped each time his hand collided with any part of her face, and her hair was messed up, mascara running down her face. He grabbed her roughly by the arm, ignoring her pleas and protests and dragging her towards the door, shoving her out and all of her bags and items in general. She dropped to her knees, begging. "PLEASE! It wasn't what it looked like, I swear, I-" She began but he simply slammed the door on her, breathing heavily before lighting a blunt, taking a few puffs. He turned around, ignoring our eyes as he moved past us back to his room. Without meaning to, he bumped roughly into my shoulder, nearly knocking me over since he towered over me and I slightly whimpered, keeping my eyes on the ground as I felt him staring at me.

"Go the fuck to bed. Everybody." He said calmly and we all obeyed, taking a while to shuffle back to our rooms and try to continue our nights as normal as possible, despite still hearing the wails of Cheyenne outside the door for about 30 minutes before it finally ceased. I went straight to my room instead of going back to Laylani's, finding myself having tears in my eyes as I shut the door quickly, taking short breaths as I tried registering what just went down in that room.

I cut off the lights, crawling into bed and leaving the covers over my face. By 5:30 I still wasn't asleep, but I heard the door creak as it opened. I closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep and still. I heard an audible sigh, as the door shut just as soon as it opened. I stayed still a few seconds after, pulling the covers off my eyes slowly as I stared at the closed door.