When Strength Cries

My Introduction

        I've always had a natural beauty. Or so I've heard. My mom says that the very first thing i heard on this Earth was my aunt's voice saying "Sheryl, she's beautiful!" the only problem is that I don't see it. My stubborn little Family Dollar mirror wont let me find anything but flaws. I don't have a model's body nor a picture perfect face. To me, my hazel eyes are crooked looking the way they point upwards on the outside like a little China Doll. My long, thick copper streaked hair doesn't match my smooth yet awkward brown shaded skin. And worst of all my thickened hips spread too far apart adding on a dreaded 10 - 15 lbs to what i work so hard to rid myself of.

          I'm sorry, where are my manners? I'm Dasani. Yes, just like the water. My mother thought the name was unique, hence my middle name, Iamunique. I was the "accident" child. My mom already had a boy and a girl, with no hopes for another. My sister, Tiara, was the perfect one. She's the perky cheerleader with the brains to match her pretty face. Tiara has dark smooth skin with a coke bottle shape. The eldest sibling is Kannan; the only boy. Though he wasn't the same school expert as my sister was, he's widely known as he's on his way to fame. He makes music and has a local recording studio he rents out for other underground artists on the same mission. He's a tall and thin caramel skinned guy, with dreads. So all the ladies want him.

        My mother was a single mom with three kids. Needless to say we don't live in the best neighborhood. There are always dope dealers with their female company outside our complex, trying to promote their "line of work". It's sickening trying to ignore the whistles and cat calls coming from their direction as i walk to my 2006 Impala. My baby was a sweet sixteen gift from my dad, or Keith to be more adequate.  He was never really there for my siblings and I. He doesn't have much time between being an 'on call' doctor and supporting his wife and step daughter. I guess he wanted to make up for leaving ten years earlier.

       Kannan and Tiara say that I'm his favorite, they've never seen the way he treats La'Shay. She's not even his biological child but she could have the stars in the sky if he could reach up and grab them himself. There has to be some type of special bond between him and I... after all he's the one that begged my mom not to abort me. It broke my six year old heart when he left, and I'm the only child that wishes he never had.