"My ZimBoy"

Chapter 3 "Trying To Adapt" Reginald

It's been damn near two years since Zimboy's rape charge. I can't believe that Mansen went to the extremes to put Zimboy away. Dev and I went on a search for Dani only to find out that her whole family was placed in a witness protection program. They were all well aware of how popular Zimboy was and I even put out a partition so that we could form a riot, but every flame has to go out sometime.

'ZimBoy's' is still up and running due to Dev and I effortlessly working to try and keep things in order. It was very depressing to walk past Zimboy's office and see that the V.P Mr. Darryl Walker had taken over it. It seemed as though every day I came into work I had to tell myself that I couldn't just walk in and tell jokes and laugh with the man I grew up with. I've been knowing Zimboy my whole entire life and for him to be accused of raping someone was not his character. Dana and Mansen was going to have their time in hell to burn and I was going to make sure of that.

To make things seem a little normal Dev and I went out every other Friday to have drinks at a bar. We just talked and shared stories about high school and the good times us three used to have. It was the only normality that Dev and I shared amongst each other.

I had only bumped into Royal once since Zimboy's disappearance and boy did she look raggedy! She was walking to the liquor store. I had never seen Royal so down and upset and part of me didn't want to believe it was her, so I followed.

When she stopped she walked to the neighborhood park and pulled out a big ass bottle of Bourbon and was downing the bottle like a pro. It was around 8 p.m. and she was the only one in the park just drinking and looking miserable. I was about to take off and leave until she burst out crying. I mean yo' that girl looked like a total wreck.

She was wearing a long dirty sky blue t-shirt and some big ole' basketball shorts, it looked like she was wearing Zimboy's workout and basketball clothes. I wasn't a big fan of Royal's but I couldn't leave her like that. I felt like an ass because not once did Dev and I go by Zimboy's home to try and see how she was handling the situation.

Apparently worse than we were. I made my way over to her and slowly took the empty seat on the bench.

"Hey Royce."

I glanced at her as she just stared straight ahead.

"I see you picked up a nasty habit, never looked at you as the type who would put so much poison in their body."

She turned the bottle upside down as she took a long drink, she still didn't even acknowledge my presence. I took a deep breath and exhaled loudly,

"I guess we're all dealing with Zimboy's disappearance differently... and in a sense seeing you so down and broken would kill him."

Still no response. I looked down to the ground and glanced back at Royal as I touched her hand,

"You take care of yourself."

I was getting up when she finally spoke,

"You know I love him... don't you?"

I froze while standing as I turned to look back at her but I didn't say anything. As I slowly sat back down she continued to talk but stared blankly ahead.

"I never knew that my father could be so cold and heartless."

Tears streamed down her face as her chest heaved up and down from a pending cry.

"This is all my fault."

I turned slightly on the bench to face her as I spoke,

"Naw man you can't play into that guilty conscience. It's not your fault, mine or Dev's, it's Dani's and Mr. Mansen's fault. What people fail to understand is that with money comes power and with power comes destruction. It's a white man's world Royce and we black folk ain't nothing but pawns being set up for the next move."