TOO ICY

💎 SIX /ALWAYS BE FAMILY

Chapter 6
Always be family

"Telephone, tel-tel-aphone." The group of children sang and clapped in the circle, swaying their hips to the beat they created, "Yo Lita!"

"Yo!" Salita shouted.

"The phone!"

"Who is it?"

"The doctor!"

Salita placed her hands on her hips, "I know what he wants, he wants to check me out, check-check-me out!" She rocked them back and forth.

"Ouuu, you fresh!" Isis giggled, "I'm telling Yo momma!"

"What momma?" Salita laughed back, "Your turn Isis!"

Isis rolled her eyes into her head with a grin attached to her face, getting into position to begin the song all over. It was a sunny day in August, the heat casting over Philly that sent the city into a heat wave. However the young girls didn't care, as any second they had the chance to enjoy under the sun was a blessing.

Mr. Marco kept a tight leash on them, because he knew girls at their age had the urge to run. Isis definitely. She had tried multiple times to escape his grasp, but he had outsmarted her time and time again.
She was a wild one, but worth the fight; Her pretty exotic features among the group of young girls stood out, proving that beauty was indeed a curse.

"Girls, it's time to come in!" Mr. Marco shouted from his window, checking his watch as he realized that the sun would be going down soon.

"Just ten more minutes, please!" Krystal pleaded from the sidewalk, "It's still light out Mr. M!"

"Now, I don't need you girls out here when it gets dark. It's dangerous." He refused.

The girls groaned and began to gather all of their toys, all except Isis who stayed put.

"Isis, come on. You don't want to get in trouble." Salita mumbled, gesturing to the front door of the group home that resembled the gates of hell for Isis.

Isis poked her nose into the air, "I'm staying outside, he's not my daddy. And I didn't get my turn on telephone yet."

"We can just play in the house sissy." Salita told her best friend, who she knew could be hard headed. "You know how he is when he gets upset."

Being hard headed was an easy way to get punished, and Salita didn't want to see her friend go through that.

Isis sighed, knowing that Salita was right. She gathered up her jump rope, following behind the other girls that poured into the home.

"Isis, may I see you please?" Mr. Marco requested from the top floor, his voice looming down.

Isis gulped harshly.

Salita's eyes widened, but she knew that it was too late and there wasn't anything she could possibly do. She squeezed her friend's hand, her eyes speaking for her.

Isis climbed the steps slowly, cursing herself in her head at the fact that she always had to be rebellious. She couldn't help it, she hated her life. How come the other little kids got to stay out later? How come God had blessed them with a family but taken away hers? She didn't understand it. Now here she was, living with the devil himself. It was as if God had hand delivered her. Her young mind couldn't wrap her head around it.

The hallway leading up to Mr. Marco's room became even longer with each step Isis took. Her heart beat accelerated, and she didn't understand her nervousness when she had taken this walk a dozen times before; But it never got any easier.