Chasers

Autumn

I sat there staring at the casket as the preacher asked us all to bow our heads . Aniya grabbed my hand and squeezed it lightly trying to get my attention, most likely to tell me bow my head like everyone else , but I didn't even bother to look over at her . I felt strange . My uncle , the closet thing I had to a parent , was laying lifeless in a casket in front me and I haven't shed a tear. I wasn't sad or upset at all. My uncles death wasn't unexpected, in fact we knew this day was coming for years. He had been battling cancer for 4years and now he's finally free. All the time in the world couldn't prepare me for this day.
My uncle was a very wealthy man. He started hustling when he was 14. He sold weed by the gram just like anybody else trying to survive in Beachwood. When he was about 16 my grandma found a ounce of marijuana under his bed and kicked him out and he's been on his own ever since. His supplier took him in and moved him from selling weed by the gram to selling it by the pound . By the time he was 23 he had already seen his first million. Of course he showed love to my grandma even though she had kicked him out . He moved her up in this big house in Florida along with my mother . By this time she was 23 and married with a two year old son.
My mother is a beautiful tall, darkskin women . She's thick with curves in all the right places and I heard she has an attitude out of this world. I wouldn't know because I've never met her . Awhile after she had my brother she had an affair and ended up getting pregnant with me. My grandma refused to allow her to ruin her marriage and she surely didn't want her first granddaughter to be a bastard baby. They reached out to my uncle for money for my mother to get an abortion but he refused . He didn't believe in killing a innocent child for mistakes made by adults. When my uncle refused my mother and grandma was pissed . They showed their true colors towards my uncle and they haven't been cool since. I guess he knew my mother was going to come up with the money to get the abortion with or without him , but it didn't sit right with him knowing she was going to end my life before it had even started. He offered to pay her $30000 dollars to carry me until I was born and he would take me and become my legal guardian. I don't know what lie she told her husband or how she worked out carrying me for 9months , but she did. After she had delivered me and I was able to be released from the hospital he paid her the money and haven't talked to either of them since.
"Amen" the church said in unison finally making me look away from the casket .
The service was now over and it was time to proceed to the graveyard for the burial of my uncle. I stood to my feet along with everyone else and maneuvered my way through the crowd out of the church . My uncle was a well known respected man , so there were plenty of people here to give their condolences. I wasn't in the mood to hear "I'm so sorry for your lost ." or "he's resting now , it'll all get better from here" over and over again from different people.
When I made it out of the church I walked over to the side and sat down on a little bench they had . My uncles death wasn't bothering me , it was the responsibility that he left that scared me the most. I didn't want to let him down . When he found out he had cancer he told me and my sisters immediately. He also told us he wanted to keep his business thriving and hopefully expand it. He worked hard to get to where he was and now it's our job to keep it going .
I lived with my uncle until I was about 5, then he got caught up in some trouble that I really didn't know the details of. I was young at the time and all I knew was my uncle was being taken away from me . He went to jail and they gave him 6years . The state took me and put me into foster care, where I met Dayza and Kehlani . They looked out for me , they had been in foster care all their life. We ended up getting close, I found myself telling them things that I'd never even said out loud before. Friends was an understatement of our relationship.
By the time I made 11 my uncle was released from prison and the first thing he did was come back for me. Of course the state gave him a hassle, but he refused to loose me to the system. When the day finally came and he was able to regain custody of me , I refused to go. I couldn't just leave Dayza and Kehlani to continue to be mistreated and stuck in the system. My uncle saw the love I had for them and that I cared about them, so he adopted them both as well. It was the best day of our lives. Kehlani cried for hours , she was so happy .
A smile crept across my face remembering the day we became a family. My uncle treated us just as he would his own children. Even though he was busy a lot he still found a way to make time for us. Every after school pageant , practice, or recital he was there. One thing he reminded us of everyday that blood doesn't make you family , loyalty does. The children at school would look at us like we had 8 heads when we would say that we were sisters. We looked nothing alike and didn't even share the same skin color.
Kehlani is light skin with naturally curly thick hair . Dayza is actually Mexican and black with long thick hair . While I took the skin color of my mother. I have dark brown skin probably just one shade lighter than hers . When I wear my real hair , it's a thick curly bush that sits on top of my head like an Afro. When I was young my uncle would just pull it up into a curly puff on top of my head . He would always joke about how he'd cut up his fingers by just putting it in a ponytail.
"Reminiscing?" A voice spoke breaking me from my thoughts . The smile I once wore on my face faded quickly.
"No. Just thinking." I responded before standing to my feet. It was the pastor from the church .
"Autumn I just wanted to let you know if you or your sisters need anything that you could always come to me."
"Thank you."
"Seriously Autumn, don't hesitate to call me." he said sincerely. I gave a small polite smile and walked past him to find my sisters and head over to the graveyard .