Madhouse

4

Chris

"No, not right now I'm tired." I lied to Mrs. Trent who was trying to have sex. I wasn't tired at all though actually, I was just tired of her vagina.

"Alright Chris, just let me know." She kissed me on my cheek then left out my room, when she was leaving out Shakur came strolling in.

"Bro guess who's back!?" He exclaimed.

"Who?"

"Josiah!"

I jumped up out of the bed. "You're lying."

"I swear to god he's in the lobby. "

I ran past Shakur, all the way into the lobby and there he was, my nigga Jojo. That was like my brother man. He was my brother. He taught me everything I know now. "My nigga!" I ran to give him the biggest hug .

"Chris!" He hugged back. "I thought you would've been gone now nigga fuck you still doing here?"

"I should be asking you that question. "

"We'll talk later, I got a lot of catching up to do with you. " He said, then Mrs. Trent took him to find his room.

Sayra.

"Who's that? " I asked Jessie as we were passing Mrs. Trent and a boy she was holding by the arm.

"That's Josiah. I can't believe he's back." She answered.

"What do you mean back?"

"He left a few months ago, now he's back. That's Christopher's best friend, fuck with him and he'll kill your ass. "

"Forreal?"

"Yes."

We made our way into the rec-room and there was a girl hugged up on August I've never seen before. I looked at Jessie cause I was under the impression that he was her "boo-thang."

"Umm." I said, referring to August and the girl."

"That's Cali."

"Okay so what the hell is Cali doing on your man?"

"He's not my man Sayra. That's Cali's man. She lost her virginity to him, they've been on and off since I've been here."

"So that doesn't mean he doesn't want you. "

She sighed deeply. "True but I'm not gonna fuck with him, Cali doesn't like me and I'm trying to avoid any drama. "

I scoffed. "She doesn't own the nigga, if you wanna flirt then flirt, what the fuck is that trick gonna do? I wish she would try something, I'll beat her ass.

"I love you." Jessie laughed.

"I love you too." I smiled. "I got your back, and ain't nothing wrong with giving out a little ass whooping from time to time you know."

"know but like I said I'm trying to avoid all drama."

"Okay, fair enough."

We sat down on top of the pool table and moments later Chris, Josiah and Shakur came strolling in, walking over to Jessie and I.

"Bro this is Sayra, and Sayra this is my bro, Josiah." He introduced.

"I know." I smiled. "Nice to meet you."

"How you know?" Chris and Josiah said in sync. I looked at Jessie.

"Figures. You can call me JoJo though." He smiled, revealing his pearly white teeth."

▴

"Sayra wake up." Chris was whispering in my ear. I didn't even bother to open my eyes, I turned the other way and put the blanket over my head. "Sayra." He pulled the covers from over me.

"I'm trying to sleep do you see the time?" I pointed at the clock which read 2 AM.

"Come on, I got something to show you." He pulled me out of bed.

"I swear on everything if you're playing with me I will kill you."

"I'm not." He peeked out of my door to make sure the coast was clear . We snuck into Mrs. Trent's office, he moved the large book case out of the way which revealed a huge hole. He went in first because of how dark it was, he turned on the flashlight then held my hand to help me through.

"Scared?" He smirked, his hand still holding onto mine.

"Tuh, no. What is there to be scared of?" I was clearly lying. I was shitting bricks, I have the worst fear of the dark.

"It's alright to be scared, I'll protect you."

Suddenly, he switched on the light and art work after art work was revealed. Not to mention the graffiti all over the walls. "What's this place?"

He sat down on one of the couches there was, making himself comfortable. "I come here to free myself, when I want to get away from everybody." He pointed to a sketchbook lying on the table.

"You draw?"

"Yeah. I love it, it takes me away from reality. If that makes sense. Kind of like a substitute."

"Substitute for what?" I sat down on the couch next to him getting closer, but he didn't answer my question instead he looked down. I had a feeling what he was talking about, so I revealed my scars.

"Substitute for that." He glanced at my wrists, then looked away.

I put my hand on his chin moving his face to look at me. "Listen, I know we didn't get off to a good start but I just want you to know that I'm here for you Christopher, I am. Screw those therapists, they try to get inside your head and they wanna know things, they play with your head. You can talk to me about everything and anything cause look at me, who am I to judge?"

He smiled at me. "Thank you Sayra. I really appreciate that."

"Aye, anytime."