Aliyah

Chapter 9

BOOM BOOM BOOM

Aliyah jumped off the couch and heard the banging on the door. She grabbed the step stool and looked through the peephole to see Dominique and Mark knocking on the door. She grunted and opened the door.

"Why aren't you dressed" Dominique asked her. Mark walked in and then Dominique followed him.
"Where's your parents" Mark asked her. She shut the door and locked it ignoring the fact that they walked in uninvited.

"I was sleeping and I don't know" Aliyah responded.
"Cool no parents" Mark yelled.
"Shut up before your wake my sister and brother up" She spat.
"My bad" Mark responded she ignored him and looked at Dominique.
"I wanna see Key and Bean" Dominique said sitting on the couch.
"They'll be up soon" She responded and smiled.
"Are you going to school today" Mark asked her. Aliyah thought about it then shook her head she knew she was going to be late and didn't feel like being asked about it. "Well I'm not going either then" Dominique said taking off his coat then Mark copied.

Aliyah walked out of the room and took a quick shower and put her clothes on and saw the boys flipping though the channels. She made herself breakfast and sat on the couch with them.
"What do you guys wanna-" she was cut off by her siblings running up to Dominique and hugging him. He smiled and watched spongebob with them.

"Who's he" The twins asked in unison.
"That's Mark" Aliyah said walking into the kitchen and making their plates.

The boys looked at her weird she was acting like an adult with actual kids. After she finished with their plates she laid on the couch and smiled at them then laid back down and drifted off. Dominique laid next to her and slept.

Mark stayed up and turned the T.V. on. The twins ran back into the room and smiled at Mark. He looked at them and then back on the T.V.

"Mark play with us" They said pulling out a game of connect four. He looked at them and sucked his teeth he was terrible at connect four every time he played with his siblings he would loose. But since they were Aliyah's family he played with them until his best friend woke up.

Aliyah finally woke up and checked the time.

"Y'all hungry" She asked looking at everyone. They nodded and she walked into the kitchen and started making grilled cheese sandwiches for everyone and some kool-aid. Mark helped with the plates while Dominique put the cups on the table and Mark set the plates down and felt like he was in a actual family who cared about him.

Aliyah sat down and looked at the time.
"What do you think they learning right now" She asked smiling at them.
"Probably some stupid science lesson" Mark responded stretching out on the couch.
"Shut up science ain't stupid " She responded Dominique knew his two friends were about to go at it like cats and dogs.
"Yeah it is ain't nothing useful about it" he told her.
"it shows us how the world works dummy" She said looking at him.  Mark got quiet he couldn't think of a come back so he dropped the conversation all together. Aliyah smiled knowing she won and put on some movies.

The kids had a movie marathon until they noticed how dark it was and they did their little handshake and left the house. She walked into the kitchen and cooked dinner for her siblings and washed the dishes along the way just like her mother used to do. She placed the food on the table and gave the bowls to her siblings and they ate quietly after she ate she washed her siblings and got them ready for bed. After she finished she laid on the couch and cried herself to sleep again wishing for her father to get back home.

Travis walked into the house around one with groceries. He put them away quietly and started packing his clothes. He was leaving his family for good no one would hire him because of how depressed he was. He always ruined his job interviews by his attitude. The home brought back too many memories for him and he hated being there it made him feel worse.

He kissed his children for the last time and wrote a letter and put it under Aliyah's pillow and set an alarm clock next to her set to wake her and he siblings up on time for school. He vowed to himself to pay their bill so they wouldn't end up homeless and he was going to send money every month for groceries.