One Wing

Blink Of An Eye

Keyonis pulled off from the hospital. "Damn that was dumb" he thought to hisself. He wasn't the type to care for a female, let alone go the extra mile to show his affection. But it was something about her that had him intrigued. He called his cousin Hassie and told him he was on his way. Keyonis began to wonder if this trip would be the last of this city. He had to many ghost there. He rode in silence for a minute until his mind drifted back.

Keyonis sat at his grandmas house in the kitchen. It was 8 O' clock on the dot and every morning his granny woke him up for breakfast. Sausage, eggs, biscuits, bacon, fried potatoes, and grits was on the menu. He smiled. Nobody fed him better than his grandma. It was a ritual.  Breakfast at eight, lunch at twelve, dinner at five, and a snack in between. He love his granny marie, nobody compared to her.

"Keyonis" his granny marie said sweetly "you wanna come live with ya granny?" "You know I'm getting old, and could use your company". "Yes mam' I wanna live with u granny." "I'll take out the trash and I'll rub your feet when they hurt" Keyonis replied happily. Granny Marie laughed at her grandson's gesture. She loved him dearly and she knew he felt the same. "Okay baby you with ya granny now, imma take care of you" Marie said sincerly. She was determined to save her grandson from the streets.

Keyonis mother Jazmine was a street girl. Although she never was addicted to drugs, she was addicted to the streets. She didn't have time for a child right now. Keyonis dad had been murdered while Jaz was pregnant so she had to always provide for him. Even though she loved her son she knew the life she lived would be an endangerment to him. She was a stick up girl, a hustler. Anything you could think of Jas would do for the almighty dollar. She took care of her son financially and her mother nurtured him physically. Her mother allowed her to see her son anytime she pleased, and for that jaz was thankful. She went to see Keyonis almost everyday and showered him with gifts. She wasn't the best mother, but she loved her son. She just hoped one day her karma didn't come back to him.

Jaz was on another mission. She was going to Miami for the weekend to strip at the "King Of Diamonds" club. It was spring break and the city would be bringing in millions this weekend, and Jaz wanted the piece of the pie, little did she know she would never make it there.

Jaz pulled up at her mother's house. She wanted to leave her mother some money and give her son some affection before she left. Jaz walked into the house and Keyonis and marie greeted her with a smile and loving hugs. They sat and laughed for a while. Jaz had pit Keyonis is the tub and tucked him into bed. "Goodnight Onis" Jaz spoke to her son "say your prayers". "Okay mom" Keyonis began "now I lay me down to sleep." "I pray the lord my soul to keep." "if I should die before I wake. " "I pray the lord my soul to take, amen" Keyonis said with a bowed head. Jaz smiled. She had taught her son how to pray and that made her proud. "Give me a kiss boo" she said lightly. No matter how many times she left she always got emotional when it was time to leave her son. Jaz smiled at her handsome son, tucked him in the bed, and kissed her baby again. "I love you keyonis, goodnight" Jaz told her son. "I love you too" Keyonis said.

Jaz went out to her mother's room. "Here ma, put this up for me" Jaz instructed her mom. Marie took the money and put it in her usual safe spot. Although marie could take whatever she wanted if she needed to she never did. That was her daughters money, and she wanted her to be okay on a rainy day. Jaz had almost saved seventy thousand dollars. Thirty more thousand and she was done. She had recently started college pursuing a career in criminal justice to become a probation officer. She figured she had done enough crime and never got caught, who was she to condemn and judge? She was tired of the street life and every time she left her son her heart hurt, but she had to do what she had to do.

"Alright ma, I'll call you when I make it" Jaz said to her mother as she gave her a kiss goodbye. "Alright baby, I love you and be safe" Marie told her only daughter.

Jaz walked to her Tahoe. She threw her duffle bag in the truck. She started the ignition and cut on her Tupac Me Against The World tape. She put on her lip gloss when a knock on the door and startled her. Jaz looked up at a boy probably around 13 or 14. She started at his face tryna to quickly gather her thoughts and see who it was. "Times Up" the boy said before his 45 made a loud "Pop Pop". The noise echoed in the quiet, dark night, leaving Jaz taking her last breathes seeing darkness.

Keyonis woke up early that morning. He walked into the bathroom and peed. He look outside towards the window... "Beep Beep" the car behind Keyonis honked and knocked him out of his trance. He jumped from being surprised and looked up at the light, it was green. He pulled off and made a right on linval. Keyonis pulled up in front of a brick duplex. Keyonis walked towards the door of the house and put his key in the door. He stepped inside and the scent of strong marijuana lingered into his nostrils. "Yo Has" Keyonis Spoke. "I'm in the back cuz" Hassie yelled. Keyonis walked to the back and greeted his cousin with a handshake and a smile. "What's sup fam how you been?" Hassie said grinning. He hadn't saw his cousin Keyonis in about a year and a half and they were well over due on catching up. "Nothing much bro, man just tryna get use to the scenery" Keyonis replied. "Yea yea it's alright, how granny been?" Hassie Asked. "She the same granny, still smiling and cooking" they both laughed at the thought.

Hassie and Keyonis were second cousins but growing up as close as they did, they were more like brothers. After Hassie mother's fight with cancer ended Hassie came to live with his aunt Marie, but over the years he had began to call her granny too. They were inseparable and having no other siblings they became each others backbone. "What took you so long nigga?" "Almost had me come out and look for your ass" Hassie said. "Man I got caught up in a lil something, nothing major." "But we can talk about that later, you look into that for me?" Keyonis asked his cousin. "Yea, yea I looked into it." "I got the nigga name and his release date." "Supposed to be coming home off a appeal in a couple weeks" Hassie said. Keyonis eyes grew tight with hate as he thought about Lil Durt. He had waited long and patiently for this moment. He had to do this right, he had to much to lose at stake. Being a senior in college and one of the top of his class, Keyonis was working on a bachelor degree in child development. He was going to work his way all the way up the latter and open his own youth home. He had dreams and he was going to make his grandma proud. He just had one more chapter of his past to close. "All I really need to do is be patient, and wait for the perfect time." Keyonis said calmly. "Pretty much fam, and until then let me catch up with my big bro and show you my city nigga" Hassie said playfully. "Strip club it is!" They said in unison. They caught up on all of the time missed with each other. Keyonis smiled, it had been a while since he had been with his partner in crime.