We Come Alive 5

Honor

Wednesday afternoon, while everyone in the school was heading home and all of his co-workers were going to either meetings or to their respective sports practices, Hurst looked up from his desk to see a long-haired young man at his door. Hurst stared at him for a few seconds, allowing for him to make the first move. Ricky walked calmly into the office and sat down in the chair across from Hurst. He didn't say anything at first, just let them fall into a comfortable silence that they weren't all too familiar with between them, but then spoke up with his hazel green eyes full of passion and determination.

"I'm starting practice in twenty minutes. Either you're there or not. I don't care if you show or not, but..." Ricky tapped his fingers against the side of the chair where his hand was resting, "we're winning that championship. You don't have to come along on this...journey, per se, but it'd be nice."

"Baylor's death hit me as hard as anyone else around here." Hurst snapped calmly. "I know emotions aren't your thing when they're not violent, but I care about these kids just as much as you do."

Ricky stared intensely at Hurst for a few moments, his hazel green eyes burning holes into Hurst's. Hurst could see Ricky's fist gripping onto the chair arm so tightly, he thought it break off into his fist. But just as quickly as he got worked up, he calmed.

"Baylor wanted a championship. I'm gonna give it to him, so let's go." Ricky spoke quickly, getting up and walking out of the room.

Hurst jumped up and followed the teenage boy. "I know for the longest time that you thought you wouldn't make it and you were one and the same, but he was a lot further deep than you thought."

Ricky stopped in his tracks and turned around. "I don't know if you've heard, but I had a very bad habit of breaking noses around here. Don't make me pick it up again."

Hurst stepped closer to Ricky, walking a step past him so their shoulders were touching. "Baylor had a warrant out for his arrest. He stole $300 worth of jewelry from a house two weeks ago. He pawned it. They got him on the surveillance cameras. He was a good kid, though. I heard he used the money to pay back a debt."

"And I stabbed a guy once and left him for dead," Ricky replied, looking Hurst in the eye. "And Mateo was a drug dealer and Danny had a physical relationship with an athlete. We're not all saints. Don't act like you're one either."

"I'm just saying," Hurst whispered back, "he wasn't you."

Ricky walked away, not looking back as he did. "We're still winning."

"He really hit a nerve inside of all of you didn't he?" Hurst called out, following behind him to the baseball field.

Ricky snickered to himself, playing with a lighter in his jeans pocket. "More than you'll ever know."

~**~

A few hours later after practice had let out, Clover fixed her hair with her fingers as she was trailing behind her mom, Trinity, out of the apartment.

"I'll be in the car!" Trinity called out to her youngest daughter, closing the apartment door behind her.

Clover took a few deep breaths as she stood in her bedroom. Anxiety was making her limbs shake and her mind race with a million thoughts about what may be about to happen.

She slowly walked out of her room and through the apartment. When she closed and locked the door, she could hear the many voices of the building stairwell and hallway consume her. Clover turned around and saw an old woman who lived in the apartment across from her's, putting her hand knitted blanket on the railing of the stairs. She allowed Clover to walk down the stairs first so she wasn't late.

Clover only got down a few steps before she saw something else that made her heart race. Her ex-fiancé sitting on the stairs reading a book. Clover tried to walk past him without him seeing, but it quickly failed.

"Hey." Dante's voice greeted softly.

Clover stopped and looked back at him, stopping on the small platform between the next series of stairs. "Hey. How are you?"

Dante nodded his head slowly. "Fine. Visiting Keon. The kids are too noisy, I couldn't focus. How are you?"

Clover just shrugged her shoulders, starting to walk away. "Living." She mumbled, going down the stairs.

The African American girl stopped mid-step when she heard his voice call out over the railing to her.

"I heard about your friend."

They made eye contact, his words soft and genuine.

"I know y'all were close. I'm sorry to hear. He seemed like a really great guy. I didn't believe what they said on the news. I know it wasn't gang related. He seemed better than that."

Clover returned a soft smile. "Thank you. He...he was."

Dante went back to his spot on the stairs while Clover made her way outside to her mom's awaiting car. Trinity just gave her daughter a reassuring smile but didn't say anything to her as they made their way to their destination. Clover sniffled as she looked out the window at the path she would take after school when she had to walk home.

"You know," Clover cried, "He would walk me home after school if the boys couldn't give me a ride. Wanted to know I got home safe."

Trinity reached over with her right hand and rubbed her daughter's back. "I know, sweetie. He seemed like a real nice boy. Especially when I came home late and he had stayed because he knew you didn't want to be home alone."

Clover cupped her hands over her face and cried into her hands. Her mom didn't stop the car as she knew it was best if Clover got out all her emotions now while she was alone. When she parked the car in the parking lot of the large building, Clover held onto her mom's hand all the way inside. Trinity spoke to the receptionist and even went as far to walk Clover to the elevators, squeezing her hand, knowing her daughter wouldn't go by herself without help to the fifth floor.

Clover took the lead out of the elevator, down the short hallway, and into the large room with loud talking and phones ringing. A woman spotted them and walked up to Clover. The woman was taller than the teenager. Her hair was brown, pulled back into a bun, and a gold badge attached to her hip.

"Hi, I'm Detective Gomez. Can I help you?"

Clover nodded slowly, her voice cracking as she spoke.

"Yes, I'd like to file a...complaint. Or talk to someone? I was sexually assaulted."