Magic City Mondays

chapter cuarenta y cinco

"Y'all wake up. I got food." I tell my nephews getting them up out of bed. "Go downstairs. Granddad cooked." The boys, Xariah, and I had spent the night at my parent's house. I didn't feel safe and I needed to be around people after what happened.

My heart still hurt after having my brother die in my arms. I hadn't spoken to anybody outside of this house and I didn't plan on it anytime soon. His funeral had already been scheduled for a couple days from today and I wasn't looking forward to it. I honestly couldn't believe he was gone.

I enter my room and close the door behind me. I break down crying again and I sit on my bed continuing to cry. Someone knocks on my door before opening it. "Please go away." I say not even bothering to look up. It hurts so bad. My other half is gone, for good.

The person sits next to me and I know it's my mom judging by the scent. She rubs her hand up and down my back and I cry on her shoulder. "Mommy, he's gone." I hiccup letting all the tears out. We sit like that for what feels like forever as I drain my eyes. Once I'm done, I wipe at my eyes which I know are puffy and red. My mom cried a lot too.

The boys didn't take it well at all and actually Stephen outdid all of us. "Come on. Let's go get some food." I follow behind her slowly as we go down the steps. I sit at the dining room table next to Stephen. Little tears drip down his face as he pushes his food around with a fork. I tear up a little seeing his pain.

I reach over and wipe at his face with a napkin. Matthew on the other hand isn't crying but does look sad. He eats slowly and I'm sure he's hurting too. My dad comes out of the kitchen with my plate and Xariah on his hip. "Thank you." I say and realize how dry my throat is. I pick my cup up and sip from it.

I pick over my food until the doorbell rings. I stand up from the silent filled table and walk to the door. I open it to see a biracial girl at the door with a little boy next to her. "Hey. How can we help you?" The girl gives me a warm smile. "My name is Kira, I'm a friend of Zaire's. Could we come in?"

I step to the side and let them in. "Mom! We have visitors." My mom comes to the living room to sit with us. "This is Kira. She said she's a friend of...his." My mom smiles at her, but I know it's forced. "Nice to meet you. Can I get you anything?" She shakes her head. "I just wanted to talk about something with you all."

I motion for her to continue. "This is my son Zai. His full name is Zaire Jr." My eyes widen as I look at the little boy. He's like a light skin version of Zaire with shoulder length curly hair. "When did this happen?" My mom asks immediately. "Well Zai is a year old now...so a year and nine months ago? Zaire knew about him and sent money and came to see him. I guess he didn't get around to telling you all before..."

"Can I see him?" I ask her. She nods and sends the little boy over to me. He looks at me and just stares. "Hi, I'm Zaree." He opens his arms to hug me. "Awe." I say bringing him close to me. I can feel myself tearing up even more. We have another part of him. Zai Jr. walks over to my mom to see her.

"He's adorable." I tell Kira. She smiles. "Thank you. I wanted to actually talk about custody of him." My mom looks intrigued and I decide not to respond. "Do you need help?" She asks. Kira looks for a moment before nodding. "I'm not exactly financially stable to take care of him and I've thought over this for a long time. I want you guys to have full custody of him and I just come see him whenever I can."

I nod. "I understand." I tell her remembering how I was feeling when I was pregnant. I leave my mom alone so she can talk to Kira some more as I head back up to my room. I power my phone on and see all the texts and missed calls. I can see my social media blowing up and the notifications are never ending.

I look at the weird unknown number that left me a voicemail. I press on it and it starts playing. "Hello, this is Detective Benson. I'm calling for Zaree Smith. I'm with the police department and we wanna get you down to the station for some questions about your brother. Give me a call back." I shake my head and start massaging my temple.