Killafornia

XXVIII.

Killafornia

CJ

Creeping inside the house, I didn't want to wake Vanity up. The light on the oven clock said it was nearly four thirty in the morning- wait, I'm not quite sure. The number is a little too blurry but I know it's early morning.

The heater was on so the house was toasty warm. Sipping off my sweatshirt and t shirt underneath, I was ready to just climb into bed like this. Between the drinks with the two alcoholics, being soaked from walking in the rain and then having to hear Mickey's side of the story, I was just exhausted and wanted some sleep.

Entering my room, I tossed the pieces of drenched clothing into the empty basket that sat beside my dresser. I'll deal with them when I wake up. I pulled out a pair of sweats and threw them on before reaching the comfort of my bed.

Vanity began to stir around prompting me that she still wasn't asleep, despite her back being towards me, I knew she was awake so I reached over to the small lamp on the nightstand. Turning it on to the lowest level of brightness, I tried to peer over her shoulder but her face remained hidden behind all her hair.

"I know you're up." I said pulling back the hair from her face. "Why have you been crying?" I saw the redness to her nose and the puffiness to her eyelids to instantly know she had been crying not too long ago. "V, talk to me."

"I wasn't crying, it's just allergies-"

"You don't have allergies. Try again."

"I'm fine." The lie I hear from her the most and the one that pisses me off the most.

"No you're not. You've been crying and I can tell, so what's going on? Are you stressed? Worried? Upset? Tell me."

"I'm fine." You know what? Whatever. Be that way, I'm not gonna sit here and beg you to tell me what the problem is. I reached back over to the lamp and turned it off, laying on my side so my back was to her and just closed my eyes, hopefully the coffee won't keep me up for too long.

***

The fact the blinds were not closed all the way last night was what also pissed me off because the suns rays were beaming down on my face. Cracking open my eyes, Vanity was no longer next to me and the time on my phone- oh that's right, Chastity lost both my phones during her drinkathon with her drug dealer. I need to stop surrounding myself with people like that, talk about a shame that everyone I'm close with resorts to drugs or alcohol all the time. Then again, I need to man the fuck up and just say no to what they offer and stop giving into those temptations like I do. Once again it all reverts back to my fault but I can at least take the blame for what it is.

Sitting up completely, I gave my eyes a good rub and slid my legs off the bed, getting up to go to the bathroom and wake myself up a bit. I'm expecting to see Vanity in the kitchen or living room. Making my way down the hall, she wasn't in the living room for the kitchen... the house was completely silent and the keys to the Rover were not in their spot like usual. Walking out of the hall, I went to the window to see if the Rover was still in the driveway, pulling the curtains back to find it empty. 

"Great, she's out somewhere." I said to myself as I opened the curtain completely to add some light into the house. On the coffee table was an envelope that I don't recall placing? I picked it up and saw it was from the Juvenile Correction Center. I figured it would be some legal documents regarding Imani now being in their system and these were just more papers to add to the filing cabinet. 

"It's too early for this." I said opening it. Taking a quick glance at the oven it was about eight thirty and I could feel my headache starting to form at the front most part of my head and gradually spreading out. I pulled out the paper and saw it was a hand written note from Imani. I know it's her because I recognize her handwriting and she's the only person I know who dots her I's with a diamond shape.