THE BRONX

Hood

"Jamie" Mrs Clarke screamed as she ran up the stairs,heading towards her son's room,
'Yo mom the hell is going on'Jamie shouted back from his room,

She finally climbed to the top and kicked the door wide open
Jamie felt disgusted at the fact that his mom wasn't respecting his privacy,"OMG,mom am not with my pants on"Jamie screamed at her ,

"Get your silly a** down here fore I come rip your limbs off" Mrs Clarke said loudly as she walked into her sons room.
"Damn!I'm an adult,you have to respect that I'm one now" he said as he picked up his shirt to cover his naked body.

"You gon be late for school boy,get hasty and come have your breakfast.
And I know you had a girl sleep over yesterday" Mrs Clarke said giving her son a cold stare
Jamie walked into the bathroom,he wasn't ready to argue with his mom,so he had to hurry up and get the hell out of the house....
James grew up alone,raised by a single mother who loved him so much and struggled to make sure he never lacked anything.He could remember the cold nights his mom spent in the busy streets of New York,working herself off for 18hours a day,coming home to fix him dinner and help him with some school work.
She wasn't the type to neglect a child,she cared for him,she was his best friend and also his girlfriend,the last 18yrs have been quite tough and somewhat lonely, but Jamie wasn't ready to live the Hood which he grew up in.He had no one else to go meet outside new York, he had no relatives,,just his mom and the Hood guys,

Living in the hood was like another world entirely,to the rich kids and the successful businessmen who owned the city's finest houses and cars,,they were just scums who bothered the city and littered new York with their filthy homes in the Hood .The Government didn't give a f*ck about people living in the Hood 'cos they were mostly blacks and no one cared about 'THE BLACKS' .most people survived the Hood by doing menial jobs,working for hours,some gamble,some kill for a living,some do drugs and some are just there to live on what they lay their hands on.
So generally the 'Hood' was a place for different people and Jamie is one of them,
Now 18,he's left with an option to decide if he's gonna take his goals outta the hood,in search of greener pastures in the city or just take on the usual business around,
His friends Abram,Dave,and Maze were all doing the usual stuffs now,and it made him feel like he had no levels with them 'cos he was still being pampered by his mom

Jamie had breakfast in no time,kissed his mom goodbye and left through the door."my sweetboy"Mrs Clarke said as she watched her son leave.She smiled and looked at her fingers,they were wrinkled due to much washing and scrubbing,her once  beautiful hands were now looking so wrinkled and ugly................

Jamie had to trek to the outer parts of the Hood where the school coach was waiting to pick  him up.As he approached the alley that led to the main street,two guys blocked his path,they both had mask on to hide their faces Jamie wasn't startled by these two cos he knew them,they were none other than Dave and Abram
They both had knives in their hands swinging it as they came towards Jamie
"Yo son how u doing" Dave said while still approaching Jamie."Good bruh,just the usual"he answered and kept moving towards them,,,,,,,,,

Jamie knew they came to convince him to drop out of school like they did,so he wasn't ready to listen.when they got close he passed like they had nothing to say
"Cmon man,you just gon pass without chatting" Abram said with complete irritation in his voice "ain't nothing we can talk 'bout Bram ,I gotta go man,when I get back we gon talk it out" Jamie said as he jogged off  walking with his back turned to the main street and facing his friends

Bram, as he was often called by everyone who lived in the hood  kept the knife back in his boots and said to Dave
'That nigga ain't doing no shii with us,he scared man and ion think he could run the kilos way you and maze thinks he can' .        
Dave smiled and patted him on the shoulder and said 'look Bram,Jamie ain't just nobody,he's a real man and he's got wisdom,if he sides with us to sell dope,we gon become so rich".
He forcefully grabbed Bram by the neck and dragged him into the passage on the left side of the alley,,they both chuckled as he did that ,,,,,,,,,

........................................................
Inside the bus,Jamie had his headphones on and played some mad jam from the iPod he kept in his pocket,all he could think of was the offer his friends had brought to him. He knew is mom was sick despite her efforts to conceal it from him,he found out from a lousy friend of hers Mrs Mollie..

Soon the school bus arrived the premises of the school,Jamie was first to reach the door so he got out fast..he had no close friends in school,the ones he rolled with had dropped out,so he was all alone now. All he had was his school locker,headphones,and iPod he wasn't a fan of studying hard but he got high grades during most tests and came out best in his class. Jamie walked to the classroom placed his books on a desk in front of him and went back outside,he wasn't getting himself so he decided to leave the school premises before lectures commenced .

"The f*ck am I thinking about" he muttered to himself as he rushed past some group of students standing at the entrance. He just ran not minding if he knew where he was heading to,deep inside,something played in his head,he used to get nervous like this before but today was exceptional,cos he felt a strange mindset in his brain.

He had almost gotten back to the Hood when he regained himself,,he was surprised that he ran  a mile down here...
He didn't hesitate fore he jogged towards his side of the neighborhood, 'the slums apartment'

"Damn" he thought"something must have happened here,,,,"

There was unusual quietness in the entire vicinity, he couldn't figure out what happened.
He stood there,right in front of the building and watched and object dangle from the balcony of his apartment in the building,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

"Definitely,something went down here,,THE HOOD had been silenced" he said to himself as beads of perspiration formed on his mustache line and dropped towards his chin