Living Silently

Menace

"Noel"

I walked out of my final, Ian moving in tandem with his little star wars robot in his hand and his lunch box in the other. I was sure I aced the test because I studied hard for it and knew a good portion of the material from personal interest studies. Now I had two weeks to myself since the hospital told me to take the time to unwind before the fall semester started which was nice of them. I really had been trying to see all the people in my life who genuinely cared and I could now think of about twenty people in the hospital who seemed to care how I was doing.

"Hey little man nice toy," a voice I've never heard yet sounded slightly familiar appeared in front of us. I was looking down so I had to look up and noticed a clean but heavily worn pair of Jordans attached to long skinny legs that went all the way up to the face of a light-skinned black guy with hair that had obviously been sponged to death.

"Who are you," I asked pulling Ian close to me. He held onto my pants leg while looking up at the tall man.

"I'm sorry man let me introduce myself. I'm Maxwell Robinson, your brother in law to be I hear," he said gesturing to my engagement ring.

"Oh," I said grabbing for Ian's hand and began to turn in the other direction wanting to avoid any sort of confrontation.

"Yo wait up," he said jogging next to me which didn't really need to happen since I was walking as quickly as Ian's legs would allow him to move.

"Austin said he wanted nothing to do with you and it's not appropriate for you to be here. Also, how did you know where I go to school," I asked not really looking for an answer since my main focus was on making it to my car. I could see above that the clouds were getting thicker and grayer and knew that rain would soon pour down.

"Look we need to get in touch with Austin could you at least give him our phone number or give his number to me," Maxwell asked.

"I don't think he would appreciate me giving you his number and he'd probably throw away anything you gave me with your number on it and I don't want to waste paper and kill trees unnecessary," I said opting for picking Ian up and carrying him to the parking lot where my car was while Maxwell kept trying to get my attention.

"Yo come on do you follow everything he tells you to do. You seem like the type to be a good little bitch, he tells you to get on your knees I bet you do it without thinking twice," Maxwell said as I made it to my car. His voice was aggressive and I felt a bit of fear. I defiantly unlocked my car and put Ian in the back seat he climbed in his booster seat and clicked the seat belt in place. He looked scared and had his hands in his mouth which he did to cope with stressful situations. I closed his door and moved to open the driver's side door ignoring the irate taller man. As I opened the door Maxwell's hand shot out and he closed it back.

"Look here my nigga you're going to take this number and have my brother call me or I'm going to beat your ass in front of your son," he said his face a few inches from mine. I tightened the keys in my hand and pressed it to his inner thigh

"My key is sitting over your femoral artery. If I dig deep enough I can cut it and you will bleed out quickly. Trust me I'm a nurse studying to be a doctor so I'm well trained in anatomy and physiology. If you don't back away I will cut you. I don't want to because you're going to bleed out all over me new vans that Austin bought me and I like these shoes. Also, Ian is too young to play fighting games let alone see some die in front of him but if I have to I'm willing to pay for the therapy to get him back on track," I said in a shakey yet serious voice. I wasn't used to standing up for myself but he called me a bitch in front of my son and threatened me so I had to show Ian that I would protect him no matter how scared I was myself. Maxwell smirked at me, "Guess you aren't that big of a bitch," he said as I pressed the key into his leg knowing that the key was too dull to draw blood. He pulled away from me and smiled as I quickly got in my car my heart pumping with adrenaline.