Are You Hearing Voices?

P. 54

Penn Wood High School. That will be the school that I will be attending. I've only been there a couple of times, some of our home Football games were held there. The principal is Mrs. Mickens, a short thick half white half black woman. Mrs. Mickens is BAD! But she's married, that means nothing to me. I've got four years to get her and she will be mines! I tried to go to sleep early, since it's the night before the first day of school, but I couldn't. Idk if it was because my body was not tired or if it was because of my anxiety about the first day of school tomorrow. I shut my eyes tight and tried to drift away to sleep, but I was not successful. I finally decided to get off the bed and do some push-ups. I figured maybe if I wear my body out then it would be easier to go to sleep. I did a total of 200 push-ups and fell back on the bed, then I threw the covers over me and shut my eyes tight and relaxed my body. Still, to no avail, I was unsuccessful. For some reason I just couldn't go to sleep. I figured maybe it was because I was hungry or needed to eat. So I got off the bed and went downstairs to the kitchen.

I opened the refrigerator door to find something to eat. There were no edibles in there. All the food that was there had to be cooked in order to be eaten. There was a half eaten tuna sandwich in there but I didn't know as to who it belonged to. And I didn't just want to take it and eat it, that would be rude. There was also some cassava leaf from when my dad cooked earlier, but I wasn't in the mood for African food. I finally decided to take the half eaten tuna sandwich in there, I bit and indulged upon it. Afterwards, I was still hungry, but I didn't know what else to eat.

I closed the refrigerator door and went up the stairs. I started to walk down to her room. The door was closed but I could hear the TV playing, she was watching Bad Girls Club again. I gently opened the door and took a step inside.

"What is it Jason?" She asked.

"I just wanted to say hi to my most favoritest person in the whole entire world." I said.

Cecilia looked at me and smiled, then she raised an eyebrow up. She then got off her bed and walked over to the closet in her room, she pulled out a small white bin. She dug her fingers into it and pulled out two Oreo packets. As soon as I saw the Oreos a wide smile spread across my face. I ran over to her and picked her up, as I hugged and kissed her on the cheek. Then I snatched the Oreo packs from her hand. I opened them and threw two pieces in my mouth and began to chew.

Cecilia turned around and walked back to her bed and laid down.

"I know you stole my Oreos from last time." She said.

I looked at her and quickly shook my head from side to side.

"No I didn't." I said as I continued to chew.

She didn't say nothing, she turned her head towards the TV and continued watching. I turned around and began walking out of her room.

"Jason..." She said.

I turned my head towards her, my mouth was still full of food.

"Jason. I like Jerry... A lot!" She said.

"Okay... Idc. Why are you telling me?" I said.

"Because I want you to help me with something." She said.

"With what?" I asked her.

She turned her gaze away from me and slowly dropped her head. I knew that she was contemplating on what to say.

"What is it?" I asked her.

She lifted her gaze. "Jerry smokes too much."

"I like everything about him but I don't like the fact that he's a pothead, and he drinks too. Can you please talk to him for me and tell him to stop. I'll forgive you for the Oreos you stole from me last time." She said.

Cecilia gave me an earnest look. She really wanted for me to do this for her.

"I'll talk to him tomorrow in school." I said. Then I walked out of her room and closed the door gently.

I walked to my room and slowly opened the door, then I walked to the bed and fell down on it. I wrapped the covers over my body and shut my eyes gently. Immediately I fell asleep.

I had to wake up early for the obligatory Fajr morning prayer, which is the morning prayer before sunrise. It comes at about an hour and thirty minutes before the sun rises. I have an app on my phone which plays the Adhan for when the prayer time comes in. I remember Abdul telling me that the Fajr prayer is the most important prayer of the day, so I can't miss that. After I performed Ablution and prayed, I laid back down on the bed. I looked at my phone, 5:55am. I still have about a hour and a half before I have to start getting ready for school. I reached in my bag to look for it, and there it was, on the side pocket. It was a half roach, not a real roach. A half blunt from the last time when I was at Jerry's house. His mother, Alvita gave it to me. As I held it up and analyzed it I saw it for what it was, it was a FATASS ROACH! Everybody in the house was still sleeping so I knew that this was the perfect time to blow it. I got off the bed and put my slippers on, I exited my room and crept down the stairs. I opened the back door and sat on the steps. Then I took out my white lighter from my pocket and lit the roach. I lifted it up to my mouth and took one drag, I was FRIED!

For some reason, the roaches are far more potent and stronger than the regular blunts. John appeared next to me on the steps, he looked up at me.

"You're a hypocrite bro. How is you gon just pray Fajr and then smoke?" He said.

"Allah is Affuw. He is Raheem." I replied.

After I was done smoking I went back up to my room and started to get dressed. My bus stop was down the street from my block at a nearby gas station. I began to walk down it. As I got halfway down a man approached me. He had a long black trench coat and a gray winter cap, though it wasn't cold. He reached into the side of his trench coat pocket and pulled out a Newport pack. He then pulled out a single and handed it to me. I looked at it.

"Who are you?" I asked him.

The man then vanished into thin air. I was left standing there with the Luci in my hand, I looked at it. I wanted to throw it away. I've always been told that cigarettes are bad and that they are the leading cause of many illnesses. Though I wanted to toss it, I just couldn't for some reason. After a few seconds, John appeared. He took the cigarette from my hand and lit it, then he handed it back to me and vanished into thin air, the same way that the man with the trench coat vanished. I looked at the lit cigarette in my hand, then I lifted it up to my mouth and took a drag.