One Hell Of A Life

chapter twenty one: weston-super-mare.

Em POV:

The ride from home to Parson Street Station took two hours, so by the time we arrived at Ziko's after we met Deji, the time was 11:30am.

"Any of you vlogging today?" Idris asked. His hairstyle resembled that of XXXTentacion's blue dreadlocks, along with similar facial features, bar the tattoos.
"I'm not." I raised my hand.
"Me neither." Deji seconded.

We turned to JJ.

"Nah, not today." He told us.
"Good. I look like shi-"
"Idris! Joy is literally just here. No swearing, please, dude." Ziko shook her head, rolling her eyes.

Ziko was wearing her hair in its natural afro state, a black bodysuit and a nude sleeveless jacket that went down to her ankles. Her navy ripped skinny jeans were rolled up, revealing black leather chelsea boots.

"I look terrible, then." Idris rephrased, earning a warm nod from his elder sister.
"You didn't need to tell them that." Melody cocked an eyebrow. She wore a mustard jumper dress, pairing it with checkered slip-on Vans. Her box braids were pushed away from her face with a black, inch-wide hairband.

"The sass is turned on already and I've barely been here five minutes. Great." Idris huffed, causing Deji to let out a light laugh.
"Auntie Em?" Joy padded over to me, her curls bouncing around her shoulders, the front section of her hair tied up in a topknot.
"Yes, chicken?" I replied, lifting her onto the sofa by my side.
"Will you go on the bumper cars with me?" She asked, her eyes shining with hope.
"If that's okay with your mum, then sure." I nodded, a smile on my face.

"Mum? Can I go on the bumper cars with Auntie Em?" Joy turned to her mother.
"Of course you can, baby." Ziko replied softly.

Ziko and JJ are the same age - both 25 at this point in the year - and she used to be incredibly like him. If you saw us six cousins together, you'd think that Idris, Melody and I were siblings, and that JJ and Deji were Ziko's brothers purely due to how outgoing they were as kids. Idris and I were the quiet ones, and as an infant Melody clung to her brother.

Anyways - when she was around the ages of seventeen and eighteen, Ziko went a little, y'know, off the rails. She became depressed and stressed due to her college work, and eventually gave up trying with the homework that she was set.

Swapping revision for drinking, Ziko couldn't resist the taste of alcohol. She loved what it did to her - it left all traces of stress behind. This led to spending her time with bad influences in clubs, doing shot after shot, injecting every drug under the sun into her bloodstream. Her mother didn't know, didn't have a clue what she was doing, but let her "sleep at a friend's", "go to revision club", and "get help with homework" almost every day.

Somehow, Ziko managed to keep the secret for two years.

One night, she accidentally overdosed on heroin.

Rushed into hospital by a sober passer-by, Ziko made it through. But only just. The doctors told her that if she'd had just one more needle of the drug, then she'd have been dead.

Because of this scare, Ziko, Idris, Melody and their parents decided to move from London (where they originally lived) to Bristol, leaving everything behind them and starting fresh.

My eldest cousin found it hard to adjust to life without drugs and alcohol. But when she was blessed with a boyfriend and then a pregnancy when she was nineteen, she knew that she had to pull herself together for the sake of her child. Even though they mutually broke up after Joy was born, they respect one another and let their daughter see the other parent.

Joy brought Ziko back. Hence her name - she brought her happiness, hope, and healed her.

"Are we gunna go, then?" JJ asked no one in particular.
"Sure. Let's head back to the station." I picked up Joy, causing her to giggle uncontrollably, however soon calmed down when I passed her to Ziko.
"Mel? Do me a favour and lock up." She threw her sister the keys to the house as she followed JJ, Idris, Deji and Joy out the door.
"No problem." Melody pressed the button to activate the burglar alarm on her way out.