Chanel's Story

Chapter 8: Old Ways

My dad quickly got out of the house to go the hospital while Emyriah and I sat on the floor. She was crying and I was still in disbelief. I couldn't cry. What would that do?

After a few minutes, Denise came over and calmed us down. "Do y'all wanna go up to the hospital?" she asked us.

All we did was get up and run outside to her car. I sat in the backseat with Emyriah to keep her calm. She was still upset.

We made it to the emergency room in 10 minutes. Emyriah was stable enough to walk on her own and we made our way in. We found my dad sitting with some other guys I recognized and Will's mother. As soon as his mom saw Emyriah, she got up to give her a big hug.

"Everything is gonna be just fine baby. My boy got the Lord favor and he'll never put more on us than we can bear," she told her.

We sat in the emergency room for about a half hour before we saw Malik's mother come inside.

"Where is my son?! Where is Malik!" she yelled.

I ran over to her, "Calm down. We know nothing yet. They should be out on a couple of minutes to tell us what's going on."

"Did he give you a check this month for me. I never got it and my rent is due in the morning," she said.

"Excuse me," I said.

"I came to see if there was a check with him when this all happened. Was there? Excuse me nurse," she said as a pretty nurse walked by. "Malik Davis is my son and can you see if there is a check or any money that he had on him. If so, I can take it."

"Leave," I told her.

"Shut up lil girl. That's my son and I want what he had."

"Had? You talking about Malik like he dead.  You are a real sad excuse for a mother. If you knew the type of person that your son was you'd want to know the condition of hours health and not the condition of his wallet."

"Don't play with me l-," she said before I cut her off.

I reached into my purse and pulled out a roll of money and reached it to her.

"That's 1000 dollars. Now do me and Malik a favor and just don't come back. Don't bring your broke ass to this hospital and don't bring your fake ass back into his life," I said quiet enough for no one else to hear.

"I always did like you Renel. Tell my son I said that next month's rent is an extra hundred and I'm gonna need my money," she said walking out of the hospital door.

I swung my fist to hit her in the back but a hand grabbed my arm and turned me around. It was my dad. By now tears were falling from my eyes.

"It's alright baby," he said holding me.

"No one deserves to have a mother like that. She needs him for his money and that's it. She doesn't love him at all," I said.

"I know. She's always been like that. But don't you feel lucky that your mother isn't like that?" he asked me.

"Dad you know what happened. You know what she said."

"She only said that cause she love you. I do too," he said before two doctors came from behind the door.

"I'm Doctor Hobbes and I'm here for the family of Malik Davis and this is Doctor Truman for the family of William Jacobson," the taller one said pointing to the shorter one.

My dad, Denise, and myself were there for Malik while Emyriah and Will's mother were there for him.

We went over to Doctor Hobbes.