The Colours of August MxM (Staten Krown)

8

There is a knock on the door. At first I think it's the boys. I have been pacing back and forth wondering what went down at that party. I knew Beau was mad. I knew that he was beyond heated and I knew he was going to do something radical. I just wasn't sure what that was yet.

When I open the door I'm shocked by who it is.

"Lena?"

My sister is standing there. Lena looks different. She always kept her hair cut short when she lived down south with us. Now her hair was long. It was long and flowed down in a permed hairstyle. She had on some tapered leg trousers.

"Hey Steve," she says.

Lena is the only one in the world that calls me Steve instead of Stevey. It's awkward as we stand there looking at one another. I don't know why. Neither of my sisters had ever been too big on emotion. Momma used to say they were two men trapped in the bodies of pretty girls. She takes me in silently until I finally break the awkwardness and embrace her. I hug her fully, allowing my hands to wrap around her.

She pats me down slowly and awkwardly but smiles none-the-less, as best she could.

"Well damn, I guess pigs do fly. How you been, girl?"

"Better," she smiles, "You in here alone?"

"Yeah why?"

There is a pause. Lena looks nervous for some reason. I don't really get it. It doesn't really click to me what would be making Lena nervous.

Lena is acting real suspicious. She was the type of girl who scared easily. You can see the expressions off of her. She's looking at this house as though this is a nightmare that she was trying to forget.

I'm confused even more, "What are you doing down here?"

Lena called every now and then. She sent us some money every now and then too. She had supposedly been married to this big shot up north. She had a house that was real nice too. I never thought she'd step foot back in Birmingham, Alabama, that's for sure.

"Sissy called," she whispers softly.

All of a sudden I'm very well aware of why she's down here.

"Sissy out here being dramatic Lena."

I walk into the house. I can feel Lena hot on my tail as we make it to the small little living room. It's no wonder she didn't arrive at the door with no bags. It's no wonder that I can almost still see the lights from her car outside shining past the curtains.

"We think it's about time you moved up North with me," she tells me, "So go 'head now. Pack a bag. Take what you need. I'm here to bring you back."

I felt as though this was an ambush. That's the best way to describe it. If it was a year ago I would have done it. I would have felt pressured from my sister to do what they said. Hell, maybe even a month ago I would have done it. Right now though I just didn't know. Something was keeping me here and I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"I'm not going."

"What's that?"

"Lena, Sissy needs me down here."

"Sissy is stronger than you," she states, "You done got yourself involved with Shug and those boys raping a white girl. Do you know what that means?"

"They didn't rape no white girl."

"From what I hear you weren't even there," Lena states.

"They didn't rape no white girl."

"You willing to put your life on that?" she asks me, "You willing to hang for that? Because when they come they going to come for everybody. You hear me? Every—dam—-body..."