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Authors: Darrien Lee

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BOOK: Lying to Live
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Chapter Two
Denim tossed and turned in bed. She couldn't understand why she was having such a hard time falling asleep. She didn't have anything in particular on her mind. She had gotten a twenty-six on her ACT test, and her relationship with Dré had never been better. Things at work were good, so that couldn't be the source of her stress. She felt anxious, nervous, and she needed someone to talk to in order to calm her nerves, and who best to calm her nerves but the love of life? It was nearly midnight, but time didn't matter when they really needed to hear each other's voice. She picked up her cell phone and sent him a text message to see if he was awake. Within seconds her cell phone vibrated, alerting her to a phone call.
“Hello, babe,” he greeted her in a sleepy tone of voice.
“I'm sorry. Did I wake you?” she asked.
“Yeah, but it's cool,” he reassured her. “What's up?”
“I can't sleep,” she replied with a slight purr.
He yawned before answering. “What's got you so restless?”
She rolled over onto her back and said, “I don't know. For some reason I feel like it's the calm before the storm or something. It's hard to explain.”
Being a typical teenage boy, he asked, “Why don't I come over and give you my special sleeping pill? It's guaranteed to put you right to sleep.”
Denim giggled and said, “You might have a special sleeping pill, but my daddy has a special shotgun with your name written all over it.”
Dré laughed and said, “True that. Your dad doesn't play, but you're worth the risk.”
“That's sweet, Dré. You always know how to stop me from stressing. Thanks for making me smile.”
“You're welcome. Now do you feel better?” he asked with concern.
“Yes, but I would feel even better if I could get one of your hugs.”
“Don't tempt me, Cocoa Princess. You know it'll only take me about ten minutes to get to your house.”
Denim closed her eyes and envisioned herself in his arms. It was where she felt calm and secure.
“I love you, Dré,” she whispered.
“I love you too,” he whispered seductively back to her. “Listen, try to get some sleep. Just think happy thoughts, and you'll be asleep in no time. If it still doesn't work, call me back, and we'll talk until you feel sleepy.”
“Thanks, babe. I'm going to take your advice and think happy thoughts, but as soon as I see you in the morning, I need a big hug and a kiss with those luscious lips.”
“That's a date. Sweet dreams,” he said before hanging up the telephone.
Denim sat her cell phone on her nightstand and stared out the window at the full moon. It was a breezy night, and the branches from the tree outside her window gently scratched against her windowpane. Feeling a little more relaxed, she turned on her satellite radio and put it on an easy listening station. Within twenty minutes she was sound asleep.
Across town, sleep wasn't going to come easily for the Graham family anytime soon. By the time they felt safe enough to get off the ground, they quickly made their way inside the house. Only then did they realize the shots had been fired one street over from theirs. It had sounded so close, and for a moment they'd thought they were the target.
“That was close,” Mrs. Graham stated, nearly hyperventilating as she leaned against the wall in the family room.
“Yeah, too close,” Mr. Graham replied as he cautiously peeped out through the curtains.
“Where's Zakia?” Julius asked frantically. Zakia was his eight-year-old sister, who he adored.
“She's okay,” his mother revealed. “She's next door with Mr. and Mrs. Spence. They said they would keep her for the night.”
Mrs. Spence was a sixty-something-year-old retired nurse, and her husband, also retired, used to work in security.
“Mom, you didn't tell them what happened, did you?” Julius asked.
Mrs. Graham looked over at her husband for assistance. He was checking the windows and doors to make sure they were locked and secured.
“Julius, the Spences know, but you don't have to worry about them telling anyone anything. They're the one family in this neighborhood we can trust,” he said while peeping out the window. “Those shots sound like they were coming from down the block. I have got to get us out of this neighborhood before someone gets killed.”
“Dad, I don't feel right with Zakia not being here.”
He looked over at his son and said, “Your sister is fine. Besides, it's late, and I know she's asleep by now.”
Mr. Graham could see the worry on Julius's face, and it bothered him.
“Alecia, maybe you and the kids should stay with your mother until I can find another place to live.”
Mrs. Graham stared at her husband in disbelief. She understood he wanted to keep the family safe, but she couldn't leave her job, nor did she think it was wise to take Julius out of his school. “You're not going to split up our family.”
“I will if it'll keep you guys safe,” he responded as he folded his arms defensively.
Mrs. Graham hugged Julius before wishing him a good night. Once he was out of the room, she turned to Mr. Graham and said, “You're not splitting this family up, so you can forget that. Staying with my parents will add over an hour to my commute to work each day, and I can't afford to be late, putting my job at risk. We're barely hanging on now.”
“Don't you think I know that?” he yelled at her. “How do you think it makes me feel not to be able to provide for this family and keep you safe? Cut me some slack, Alecia. Damn! I'm doing the best I can!”
Emotions were running even higher in the Graham family, and it didn't take much to set either one of them off. Mr. Graham loved his family, and the last thing he wanted was for them to be without necessities. His family meant everything to him, and protecting them and providing for them were his main priorities.
Mrs. Graham walked over to her husband and wrapped her arms around his waist to comfort him.
“I'm sorry, Paul. I didn't mean to sound unappreciative,” she said in a soft, soothing voice as she massaged his back. “Baby, I know you're doing the best you can right now. So many people are out of work, and this is going to be an uphill battle for us, but we'll get through it. We always do. Our chances of finding somewhere safe to live with our budget and one income are going to be slim to none right now.”
“We'll work it out,” he replied as he kissed her on the lips. “I'm sorry I yelled at you. I know you're just as stressed about this situation as I am. We're family, and we're going to get through this as a family. I never in my wildest dreams would've thought in only ten years this neighborhood would go to hell like this. Tomorrow we'll sit down and work this out. Our children will not grow up in this environment. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” Mrs. Graham answered as she led him toward the stairs. “What about Julius? How are we going to handle the police? We can't afford an attorney right now.”
“You let me worry that. Those detectives are not going to pressure him into a corner. It's late, and you and Julius need to go to bed.”
“Aren't you coming to bed too?” she asked while caressing his hand.
“I will shortly. I need time to decompress from everything that's happened tonight, and I want to make sure things quiet down before I turn in. There's still a lot of sirens in the area and people on the streets.”
She leaned in and gave him a tender kiss on the lips. “Good night, sweetheart. Don't stay up too long, and look in on Julius before you come to bed.”
“I will. Good night.”
“Good night.”
Mr. Graham ended up watching TV until those boring infomercials came on.. He fell asleep on the sofa with his 9mm by his side. He had armed himself just in case there was trouble, and he would die before he let anyone hurt his family.
 
 
Over the next few nights Julius had trouble sleeping. He spent countless hours replaying the robbery over in his mind. No matter how hard he tried to forget, he could still smell the smoke from the gun, and his ears were still ringing from the loud blast. Each night he tried different methods to try to go to sleep. One night he worked out with his weights before bed. He figured if he wore himself out, he would crash, but it didn't work. The next night he took a hot bath and listened to tranquil music, but that didn't work, either.
He was stressing not only over the robbery but over his parents too. He'd heard them arguing a few nights ago, and he actually agreed with both of them. The best solution to their problem was his father finding another manager's job so they could get out of this crime-infested neighborhood, but unfortunately, it might take a while, since the recession had hit. In the meantime he decided he would do what he could to find a job to help out around the house. A lot of companies were willing to hire teens over adults because they were cheaper labor and most times they didn't have to provide benefits for them. The recession was making life hard on many people, which in turn made crime rise even higher. His mind was made up. A job would ease some of the financial strain his family was under, and no time was better than now for him to start searching. Since he couldn't sleep, anyway, Julius turned on his laptop and started searching the classifieds. The sooner he looked for a job, the sooner he'd find one.
“Julius, wake up,” Mrs. Graham whispered to her son, who had fallen asleep with his laptop.
Startled, he asked, “What's wrong?”
She smiled and said, “You fell asleep with your laptop. This is not the way to get some rest. Were you up most of the night on Facebook again?”
He sat the laptop on his nightstand and said, “No, ma'am, I was looking for a job.”
Mrs. Graham walked over to his window and opened the curtains to let the sun in.
“Sweetheart, your schoolwork is much more important to us than you working. Don't you want to go to college?”
He crawled out of bed and said, “But, Mom, I want to help. Since Dad can't find a job right now, maybe I can.”
She hugged her son and said, “It's sweet of you to want to help, but we'll be okay.”
Julius stepped out of his mother's embrace and asked, “When? We're stuck here until we can afford to move. If anyone finds out that I was in the store during the robbery, we're dead.”
Mrs. Graham could see the anxiety in her son's eyes, and she could feel his struggle between doing what was right and protecting the family. She sat down on the side of his bed and asked, “What do you want to do, son?”
“I want to feel safe, and I want us to live somewhere safe.”
She hugged his neck and said, “That's what we want too, son, but it might take a little longer than we planned. You just concentrate on your grades, and your father and I will work out everything else.”
“But, Mom . . .”
Mrs. Graham stood and said, “Julius, please. We got this. Now, get dressed so you can eat breakfast before you leave for school.”
“Yes, ma'am,” he answered as he made his way toward the bathroom, but before he could get there, Zakia ran into the room and jumped on his back.
“Zakia, get off your brother's back,” Mrs. Graham instructed her.
Julius twirled his sister around and said, “She's okay, Mom.”
Mrs. Graham grabbed his dirty clothes hamper and walked out into the hallway and said, “You two don't have long to play, or you're going to miss the bus.”
“We'll be ready, Mom,” Julius answered as he playfully tossed his sister on the bed and tickled her.
Zakia giggled and begged for him to stop. When he did, he looked into her beautiful brown eyes and said, “You know you're my favorite sister, right?”
BOOK: Lying to Live
11.4Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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