In Due Time...

||The Past||

Nia
How could this happen? We were just strolling through the Nickerson Gardens this morning, laughing and smiling, now I'm staring at Damien in the backseat of a LAPD cruiser with tears filled in my eyes and the moon beaming down on us.

There was a crowd formed around the scene, but the unruly sound was faint to the sound of my heart pounding in my chest. All I could do was lock eyes with Damien for what seemed like forever. His eyes looked as if they were saying "Help me", but what could I do? What could I say? How could I help him? I wanted too, but how?

The cruiser began to move and so did I. Taking off, I tried to chase the cruiser till my legs gave out and all I could do was sob in the middle of the street helplessly.

Earlier That Morning
Nia

I woke up to the sound of knocking on my window pane. I look over to see Damien at my window motioning me to open it. I roll my eyes at him and rolled back over as if I'm going back to sleep when he began to knock louder. I sprung myself out of bed towards the window while mouthing 'SHUT UP'. I opened the window and watched his tall self crawl through fully dressed and thought he probably came straight here from his house. " Good mornin'" he said while plopping himself onto my bed with an obnoxious smile on his face, I picked up my phone to check the time " D it's 3 a.m., Why are you here? School don't start until 7." His face slowly began to lose the smile " Uh it's my mom sh-" I cut him off " Never mind you don't have to tell me if you don't want too." He looked at me and gave me a innocent smile. I laid next to him and rested my head on his chest and we sat in a comfortable silence.

Damien's mom has always been a touchy subject for as long as I've known him. When we were in elementary school when I first encountered her. We were walking from the corner store with our candies in hand when we heard punching sounds coming from an alleyway. Any other day we would've ignored it, but Damien began sprinting towards the woman being beaten while screaming "MOM!" I was in shock, but followed after him. I remember Damien grabbing hold of the mans leg trying to take him down but couldn't, the man laid a blow to the side of his head causing him to fall to the ground. I rushed to Damien side asking if he was ok while the women who once laid lifeless began to plead "Please don't hit my son Tre! I-I just need my fixin' and I'll be on my way, J-just a lil' bit PLEASE!". Since that day I knew why he never wanted to go home, but it wasn't an uncommon tale for people like us.

My alarm started going off, though I never actually went back to sleep. I looked up to see Damien sleeping peacefully unbothered by the alarm. I stared at him for a while admiring his face. He was light skinned, with pale pink lips, his hair was jet black in waves he been working on for months, he had these thick eyebrows that I had always thought were pretty. " D, wake up we gotta go." His eyes fluttered open and he began to stretch. I rolled out of bed and into the bathroom to do my daily routine. When I had finished, I took my hair out of the bun and re-straightened some of it, I figured I'd let my natural brown complexion show today instead  of wearing make up and go with a simple clear gloss. Afterwards I put on my red and white champion shirt, with blue jeans, and my red and white checkered vans. When I came out the bathroom Damien was no where to be found. I walked out my room and heard laughing and talking in the living room, and there Damien was watching Cheaters with my mom while eating egos. No matter what my mom loved Damien as one of her own. "Hey baby! Why didn't you tell me Baby D was here?" She asked. I noticed my mom had looked tired and figured she must have just gotten in from her second job "I just didn't want to bother you momma, sorry I should've said something." I replied while walking over to hug her "Aw it's no big deal, y'all have a good day at school now."  She said. Damien gave her a kiss on the cheek and we made our way towards Animo College Preparatory Academy.