Chapter 9: Work

Onika is now 19 years old. Fresh out of high school. Her mother couldn’t afford to send her off to college, so Onika had to work. She didn’t mind it though; it made her feel more independent. She currently works at Red Lobster in the Bronx and earns well over $500 dollars a week. She had her eyes on this white BMW that she wanted so she was saving up for it. Sadly Onika attitude problem which led to her discourteousness to customers. She kept losing her job because of that.

Onika’s P.O.V.

This is my 3rd week working at this Red Lobster joint in the Bronx. Everything is just the usual, but there was something about today that made me feel abit uncomfortable.

Towards our closing hour which was 11.00 p.m., there were only 3 tables left. The first had a family of 4, the second was a couple and the third was a party of 8. Moral of the situation, I was in for a big tip. I was extra friendly towards them, even though the family table was getting on my last nerve.

As I was waiting on their food, they kept calling me over and over just to refill their basket with garlic bread. It irritated me but I kept a fake smile on. Once I was back in the kitchen I rolled my eyes and opened my notebook which was filled with raps. My glasses were getting foggy due to the heat in here. I took them off and began to read one of the raps I’ve recently written. I was about to fix one of the lines, when I received a tap on the shoulder. I looked up irritated to come face to face with another waitress.

“Your tables are waiting.” She said with a smirk. I returned that same smirk and took up the plates and took them to the tables.

About 45 minutes all the tables were finished eating.  I cleared them and asked if they wanted dessert. Only the table of 8 wanted. The others just paid and left. I earned $10 from one and $20 from the other. I put the $30 along with the $50 I already earned today.

I got the dessert for the table of 8 from the kitchen. My glasses fogged once more and I couldn’t really see where the table was. Luckily I made it and was able to give them the dessert. I then took off the glasses and one of the guys’s winked at me while biting his lip. I can’t lie, he was kind of cute but not for me.

When they left, I was literally skipping to the table to see how big of a tip they left me. I saw none. But I did find 2 notes written on a paper towel. They said.

“You’re cute.” “Lose the glasses tho.” Ouch. That stung abit. Then it upset me. I worked extra hard, and was extra nice for this. Heck no. I angrily cleaned up the table before checking out and going home.

____________________________________
sorry that it's so short.. It was basically a filler, but i'm still writing so yahh .. you'll be satisfied .. i'm srry it took so long *runs from you and hides behind a wall* '

~Chelle-M

Chapter 8: I Adhear To The Nonesense

Onika's P.O.V.

I'm here at home, well my new home now. We moved again because dad was getting abit rowdy again and mom didn't want that around her. Jelani isn't speaking o me still and it has been 2 weeks sinds the 'thing'. My mother supports we and tries to convince me that I asn't ready to have a baby yet. I adhear to all that nonsense but never let it sink in. I wanted the baby, it as mine. It was mines to take care of, to love, to feed, and to have. I didn't really care what Andrew did. Speaking of him, a flashback hit's me right then.

I walked up to him while he was talking down this Asian whore-looking chick. She was blushing at whatever it was he was saying to her. He was working his charms on her. I smirked on inside remembering how I used to fall as a block for all of that. I tapped his shoulder, and he turned smiling before looking abit shocked at me.

"Uh.. H-hey"

"Hi Andrew"

"What's up, haven't seen you in a while."

"Oh funny, I’ve been seeing tons of you." I said with anger dripping from my voice.

"Look Onika, I feel that what we had was special. But I’m too young to have kids."

"Yeah I know, me too. But I would've loved to keep it." I say with a single tear running down my cheek. I was holding my now flat, empty stomach. He looked at it, and I see a wash of relief washing over him. "Your f-cking happy about this aren't you?!? I said with my voice rising.

"No, no. Not at all." he said quickly.

"Babe, I’m hungry. Can we leave?" his, I assume, new girlfriend, says to him, disrupting our 
conversation.

"Nah, just hall your a**, don't you see us talking." I spat at her. She just watched me shocked before huffing off. Andrew sighed and put his hands on top his head.

"Listen Onika, we are over. I don't want to see you no more." He says to me. That cut me.

“Yeah I know nigguh. I just wanted to tell you that your a punk. Your always running from your problems. I hope that all your future girls have a womb that produces twins or more!" i yelled at him before walking off. He jus stood there baffled.

I sighed. I was so stupid to believe him. I was stupid to kiss and hug him. I was stupid to be seen with him. And most of all, I was stupid for letting him have all of me, when he didn't even deserve it at all. I lost my virginity to a dirt bag. What a waste.

I cried silently once again, I couldn't do this. I rub my stomach thinking that there is still something in there.

"I'm so sorry... Mommy loves you very much and hope that you are fine." I whisper to my stomach while rubbing it. My eyes stared to water once again. This was going to be difficult.

Jelani’s P.O.V.

I’m so disappointed in my baby sister. I thought she was better than this. Getting pregnant by one of the biggest players of our area. I could tell she was out of it lately, but what is a 14-year-old to do with a baby? I shook my head. She should’ve told me at least. I cried that night after dad said it at dinner. I could tell she was scared when she realized what he was talking about. I want to comfort her, but I still want to just ring her one for doing it in the first place.

I walked into a quiet house. Mother is at work. She’s a nurse. School’s supposed to start soon. Nika’s going to LaGuardia. I’m happy for her. My little sister, an actress. That made me smile. As I’m walking up the stairs, I could hear my sister crying once again. She’s been in this depressed state for the past 2 weeks. It always broke my heart to see her sad, so imagine how I felt about her crying. I sighed. “Why lord?” I ask myself. I walk up to her door and knock. She doesn’t answer but I still go in.

“Hey…” I say. She just stays in the same position, which is with her face in her pillow and sitting in a corner in her room.

“’Nika, I’m so sorry.” I say and my voice cracked. I could feel the tears form in my eyes. She just cried harder. I walk up to her and pick her up, hugging her as we cried together. She just continued sobbing into my shirt. She wasn’t herself that was clear to see. Her room was filled with tissues and her clothes. Her bed was not made, and she just looked like a hot mess. Her hair was all over the place. Her eyes were almost swollen shut. She looked paler and even abit skinnier. I was shocked; I didn’t know it was this bad for her.

“N-nika, please… let’s go eat something.” I said to her while slowly letting her go. She just flopped down on her bed with tiny sniffles still sounding. She felt around for something then just stopped moving. “C’mon, Nika please… for me?”

“N-no…no I have nothing else to live for. If I can’t have my baby, then I don’t deserve to live!” she
screamed at me and pulled out a small pocket knife from under her pillow.

“Nika, don’t do this please.” I said with my hands up in surrender. I didn’t want her to do this.

“No Lani, I let everyone down. I killed my baby. I have nothing.” She sobbed with the knife pointed to herself.

“Nika, I know. I really do. But look, I’m not angry with you. I know how you feel. I love you Nika, I don’t want you to do this. I know your hurting, but please just put the knife down.” I said while I inched towards her. She just sobbed. I doubt she was even stable. She was shaking. I slowly took the knife out of her hand. She gave it up without a fight.

“L-lani, what am I gonna do ?” she says to me. I sighed and looked her deep in her eyes. I took a moment to formulate my sentence.

“Move on Nika.” I say to her while cupping her face in my hands. Her eyes widened. Her tears stopped. “Besides, you look like the wife of frankenstein.” I said grinning. She cracked a small smile while moving the hair out her face.

“Whatever, you doof.” She said then threw a pillow at me. It missed me by a meter. I laughed and she did too. We wrestled for a while before cleaning up her room and getting her to eat. I think she’ll be just fine.

________________________________________________________________________________

Author's Note

If you guys know anything that happened to Nicki between the ages of 15-18 please inbox me it. I dnt want to go to a next chapter knowing that i missed something.

~'Chelle-M

Chapter 7: Mixed Situation

Onika is now 14 years old. School’s out for the summer and she super happy that it indeed is. Her mom’s been trying to get her to go to a performing arts school and she just might do it. She loves to act and sing so why not? She’s about to run into a terrible problem right before school begins. What will she do?

Onika’s P.O.V.

I’m here infront of this massive school building once again. This time to go to High School. Mom says it’s a performing arts school and so I guess that’s what we both want me to do later in life. I take a deep breath. Wait, I have no voice… how am I going to sing?

“Mom!” I croaked loudly. She looked at me startled then smiled.

“Yes honey.”

“How am I going to perform with no voice?!?”  I  tried yelling. The tears were prickling my eyes.  My throat hurt. I really didn’t want to go anymore.

“Mommy, I don’t want to go any more.” I say to her with tears in my eyes. “ I don’t want to embarrass myself.” She just held me in a tight hug.

“Baby, remember you have 2 auditions. 1 for singing and 1 for acting. Your great at both so don’t worry about 1. Okay?” she says looking me in the eyes.

I sighed. “Okay, let’s go.”

End P.O.V.

Onika did her first audition which was singing. She failed miserably. It really did hurt her. She just wanted to leave right then, but her mother wouldn’t let her. She then went in to do her acting audition.  When she was about 2 minutes into the audition, she relaxed and let her acting skills do the job. The judges really liked her performance. It seemed so realistic in their eyes. They gave her a standing ovation.

“Lovely, dahh-ling” said the 1^st judge. It was a british male.

“I’d really love to see you again little one.” Said the 2^nd while the 3^rd just continued clapping.

Onika was beaming. She thanked them and ran out of the the room. She ran straight into her mother’s arms.

“I did it.” She croaked.

“Yes baby, I saw you.”

“You think I got in?”

“Hmmm.. I think so you know.” Her mother tells her. Onika just beamed. She just might be going to a performing arts school

That afternoon, she went into the ice cream parlor.  She was gonna meet her boyfriend Andrew and tell him about today.

Onika’s P.O.V.

I’m here at the ice-cream parlor waiting on Andrew. That’s my boyfriend. Yes, I know what is a 14 year old doing with a boyfriend? Well, there’s not much to come home to. Mom’s always letting me be and dad is just another case by himself. I can’t really tell Jelani anything because it’ll just upset him. How can he get upset if he isn’t even isn’t really being himself and acting all moody? Anyways, back to Andrew.

He’s 16 years old. He’s really cute and very humorous. He promised me that we’ll stay together forever and that we were meant to be. He always says that 1 day; he’d want to have kids with me. He’s just so dreamy. Pretty eyes that were a mixture of green and hazel. And very plump lips. Almost every girl on the block wants him but he always turns them down. I was so surprised when he asked me to go out with him. 

Ofcourse I said yes, I mean who would turn down a guy like him. Nique tells me he’s a player and breaks up with girls and even got some pregnant. I didn’t really listen to her because he told me those relationships were like up 2 3 weeks and we’re already by 3 months.

I think I see Andrew walk in. He looks around for abit and then notices me. He had a maroon beanie on over his clean cut that he must’ve gotten that morning. He kisses my cheek and sits down.

“So, how was it babe?” he asks me.

“It was great… well one of them.” I croaked. He looked at me funny.

“Babe, what’s up with your voice?”

“I lost it sinds last night.” I said sadly. He got up and sat next to me. He put his arm around me and I inhaled 

his cologne. He smells so good.

“Don’t worry babygirl, it’ll be back soon.” He says while he kisses my forehead. “So tell me about the auditions.”

I told him everything. He looked me straight in the eyes when I told him. He smiled at the end.

“So babygirl’s gonna be an actress then?” he said while smirking and cocking up one eyebrow. I swear to God, he’s so handsome. I giggled and kissed him. We were kissing for a good 10 minutes before he just stopped.

“Let’s go back to my place. I have a gift for you.” He says with a look in his eyes that I’ve never seen before. It was lust. He wanted me. I could tell. I want him too, but I don’t know. Ah well, let’s go. I nodded at him and we left the parlor.

His house is about 20 minutes from mines. His parents weren’t home so we had the house to ourselves. He was putting music on the stereo while I looked around. He looked like neither of his parents. I wondered about that.

End P.O.V.

While she was looking around, he looked at her from the corner of his eyes. If only she knew what he was planning. He was happy that he finally got her and now he might be lucky.

 Andrew walked up behind her and started kissing her neck. Onika started to feel a way. A feeling she never felt before. She felt like laughing and screaming at the same time. It tickled and felt really good. She turned her head to him and they kissed some more. It grew heated very fast and Andrew moved them to him bed.

As she lay under him, all Onika could think about was how good he is with her. So she basically let her have her. Andrew pulled away from her to get a condom and got right to work. Onika screamed out in pain. There was a little bit of blood on the bed. She had lost her virginity. As they were getting busy she was moaning out his name and scratching up his back.  It hurt so much, so he stopped and tried again later. They were going so fast that the condom ripped and he busted inside her. She didn’t know what would happen but he did. He looked at her abit shocked before kissing her and getting up to go shower.

Onika just laid there, her legs were really weak from it all. She really wasn’t expecting it to be so much pain yet it felt so good at the same time. She stumbled across the room looking for her clothes and put them on. She looked at the time. It read 8 p.m.

“Shit!” she said with eyes wide. She swiftly moved around the house, ignoring the pain between her legs. She made herself look presentable before looking around for Andrew. He was still in the shower. She shrugged and left.

Carol’s P.O.V.

I’m here waiting for Onika. I haven’t seen her sinds the auditions. I wanted to take her out and have a nice dinner to show her how happy I am for her.

She walked in around 8:30 p.m. She saw me and tried walking away but I called her back. She had this funny limp while walking. I shook my head and wiped my face with my palms.

“Where were you?”

“At a friend’s.” she said to me. I knew she was lying. I didn’t want to pressure her. I already knew that my little girl was no longer a virgin. I just wanted her to tell me.

“Okay, sinds you’re just coming from by a friend, why are you walking like that?” I said with one eyebrow cocked up. Her eyes widened as if she was caught.

“I-I hit my knee on t-the coffee table while we were playing hide and seek.”

“Onika… When you’re ready to tell me what really happened let me know, but for now, you’re on punishment. Goodnight.” I say to her with a stern voice. She hung her head low and pouted. I saw a tear escape her beautiful eyes. I just wanted her to tell me and stop hiding things like this away from me.

“G’night ma.” She whispered.

-Three months after-

I heard Onika throwing up once again. She keeps telling me that it’s nothing. Sometimes I want to hold her and shake her and scream at her. I already knew what had happened. She’s pregnant. My little baby, pregnant by the lord knows who.  

I wanted to take her to the doctor but she refuses. Lord, what have I done wrong?

 End P.O.V.

Onika went over to Nique’s house that morning after trying to eat breakfast. Nique opened the door and frowned when she saw how her friend was looking. Nique knew what her friend was here for. Onika had asked her to get a pregnancy test for her. Onika didn’t get her period for the last 3 months and she was worried. Andrew stopped picking up her calls and she didn’t know what to think.

 They went straight into Nique’s bathroom and Onika took the test… As they waited, they played with Nique’s recording stuff. They rapped a little but you clearly tell that both of them were scared.

Onika went back into the bathroom and read the test slowly. She screamed out which caused Nique to go in the bathroom. She read the test as well and then went and hugged Onika, who was on her bathroom floor crying. The test read pregnant. They were both shocked. What is a 14 year old to do with a baby?

-That Night-

Onika’s P.O.V.

I tried eating dinner, but my stomach wouldn’t let me. I rested my hand on my stomach and just sighed. Jelani and mom where watching me the entire time. I had put the pregnancy test in one of my pants upstairs. I was still in shock. There was a little life growing inside of me.

While we were eating, somebody was knocking on the door. Mom got up and went to answer it. You could hear her yelling at someone and that person yelling back. It was the face of someone I swore that I’d never want to see again in my life. It was my dad.

“Where that little girl at?!?” he yelled at her while trying to move past my mother. I was scared. He was here for me. Oh God.

“Who’s is it?” he yelled at me. I just fiddled with my hands. “Onika I am speaking to you!”  I began sobbing. “Fine don’t tell me, but one thing for sure, you are going down to the clinic to schedule an abortion. I am not having no child of mines raise a baby in this household.”

“No!” I yelled at him while holding my stomach. “I’m not aborting my baby!”  I said with tears running down my cheeks. Jelani looked at me shocked before angrily going up to his room. Mother just stood there with tears in her eyes.  I couldn’t believe it.  How did my father know? Who could’ve told him?

I was thinking so much that at a certain point everything became blurry. I blacked out.

End P.O.V.

Onika’s father scheduled the abortion for her while she was in the hospital. She had absolutely no say in this situation. She had given up her baby. She wasn’t happy. Andrew was cheating on her. Her brother wasn’t speaking to her and her father was again nowhere to be seen. Even her mother seemed to be abit different around her. The thing that sat heavily on her mind was her baby, she actually wanted to keep it. This wasn’t fair at all.

               

Chapter 6: Fire !

Onika’s father is still acting weird. He won’t really speak to anyone and sometimes when Onika, her mother or brother came home, they would see that something was missing. Her mother thought it was a robber until she realized the person took furniture too. It had her thinking that her husband was doing it. Things were slowly clicking into place.

Onika’s P.O.V.

It’s night time. I think around 10 p.m. I’m supposed to be sleeping but I keep tossing and turning. One of my favorite gold hoops were missing. I miss them. I haven’t told my mother because I know it would hurt her. I got those from my grandmother. I sighed and turned again. I wish they would just pop up or something.

I’ve made friends with a few kids that lived about 5 blocks from the house. They’re my age and just like me. Shy but loud. And also not afraid to speak their mind. They always ask about my parents and I lie to them, time and time again. Same story at school. I have a feeling that she knows what’s going on, but wouldn’t ask me anything. I rather it like this as well. I don’t want to talk about this to anyone.  As you can see, there’s just too much happening right now for me to really sleep well at night.

My thoughts are disrupted by a someone calling my name.

“Onika, it’s me.” Nicki says to me with a smile.

“Hi Nicki, I can’t sleep again.”

“Ah, I know the feeling babygirl.” She then says to me with an understanding pout.

“Yeah… will you sing to me again please?”

“Shure thing. Anything for you princess.” She said then giggled. Her voice was so soothing for me. I fell asleep almost immediately. But not before hearing the front door slam… once again.

~End P.O.V.~

Carol Maraj was downstairs on the living room couch, reading the bible. She jumped abit when she heard the door slam shut once again. She was waiting on her husband to reach home. She sat up and waited for him to come out of the kitchen with his plate of food and his beer.

“Robert, we need to talk.” She said while he put his beer down on the coffee table.

“Carol, I jus reach home, leave me be.” Robert answered her harshly before reaching for the TV control on the coffee table.

“Robert, dey ain’t much times that meh call yuh name eh, so ama tell yuh again. Robert we need to… now!” she said with her Trinidadian accent thick as ever.

He looked at her funny before sighing and taking up his plate of food and placing it on his lap.

“Speak woman.”

Carol sighed before answered. She was calming herself this way.

“Robert, what I’m about to ask you, I want you to tell me the truth…” she said and paused. “Are you stealing from us and why are you doing it.”

He looked at her as if he were guilty for a few seconds before his expression turned into rage.

“Yes and so what?!?” he said harshly. He was acting funny and his eyes were red.

“Robert, we both work so why do you do that?!? You have us worried sick that someone’s coming into our house every day, stealing things that are very important to us.” Carol said with tears brimming her eyes. “I can’t believe you would do such a thing. Why?”

Robert took a sip of his beer before answering.

“Because Carol, I have no job and I owed a few buddies so I took from you all to pay them. Simple.” He said coldly. It took every fiber of Carol’s being not to reach over and smack him. Her hands were literally shaking. She had a feeling that he didn’t have a job but how long has it been and what does he do over day then?

“Robert how long has it been?” she asked. Her voice was very soft which scared Robert abit. He didn’t want her to do anything other than yell at him. He brushed off his shoulders before answering his wife that was now standing infront of him.

“Ever since the kids came.” He said and looked Carol in the eyes. She looked at him with disbelief. She had her hand to her mouth and tears rolling slowly down her cheeks.

“Okay, well I’m going to bed.” She said before turning to grab her bible and walk out of the living room. She went up to the room their shared. She went and showered before putting on her night gown and tying her hair up. She went in bed and put on her night light before reaching for her bible and reading a scripture about not giving up. There was one that really stood out to her. It says:

Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you. Deuteronomy 31:6

She smiled before putting her bible away and clasping her hands together in prayer. She said a silent prayer about her family before doing her nightly prayer. She turned off the night light and turned on her side. As she was falling asleep, she heard the bedroom door open and close. A few seconds later she felt the bed shift and a pair of hands wrap around her waist. The arms were to tiny to be Robert’s own so she turned over to see her son looking at her straight in the eyes.

“I love you mommy. No matter what happens.” He whispered while still hugging on to her body.

Carol smiled at him and played with his hair abit. “I love you too mama’s boy.”

They fell asleep soon after.

Meanwhile Robert was downstairs still. In all that little time that just passed, he has drunk 3 beers and still something was missing. He reached into his back pocket and revealed a small clear baggy which contained crack. He smiled. As he was about to start the whole process, he remembered where he was. He stood up and got his coat. After he placed it over his shoulders, he walked out the door. This time he closed it softly.

Over a period of a few days, things went normal. Robert never came home and they noticed that nothing was missing anymore. Jelani’s attitude was getting better but Onika was still abit off in her own world.

Carol couldn’t really blame her daughter. Her surroundings was molding her abit to be this way. Shure, her daughter would still be her sassy little self and acted like different things a lot, but there was still something missing in her daughter. That was another thing; her daughter had a thing for acting. She looked to believable and realistic that Carol couldn’t help but wonder.  Should she send Onika to a creative arts school?

Carol’s P.O.V.

I woke up this Friday morning feeling abit uneasy. Like I felt that something was coming. I didn’t know what exactly but I hope it isn’t something bad. I got the kids ready for school and sent them on their way. Hopefully I didn’t have to go to Onika’s middle school to hear that she fought again.

I shook my head at the thought. There was a time that she literally ripped open a girl’s top while clawing her hands over her skin. It left terrible marks and I confronted Onika about it. After I scolded her, she kept looking at me as if she were waiting for me to do something before turning away and going to her room.

-That Evening-

While I sat with my kids at the dinner table, Onika abruptly stopped eating and looked at her brother. He stopped eating too and looked at her. I cleared my throat to catch their attention. They both immediately turned back to their plates before finally confronting me.

“Mom, is it alright that me and Onika sleep over by a friend that lives a few blocks away?” Jelani asks me.

“Shure, you can go but Onika is staying.” I said while looking at her.

She pouted. Her lower lip was slowly trembling while her eyes opened abit wide. I hated when she did this. It could easily make me give in.

“But, why?” she asks me.

“Because, you fighting in school will not be tolerated.”

Onika sighed loudly before stomping off to her room. She slammed the door. Jelani was just staring at me.

“But ma, it does not gonna be any fun without her.”

“I know, but she needs to learn that violence isn’t the answer."

Onika came back downstairs with a paper in her hand. She handed it to me and folded her arms while waiting for my reaction.

I sighed and read it over. It was reasons why she should go.

“I see… No. Now go to bed.”

She looked at me abit sad before running off. Tears were brimming her eyes.

END P.O.V.

That night Carol had a dream. It was different from all other dreams that she has had. There was a fire in the house. She couldn’t reach her children in time and them all dead. Robert was laughing at them.

“That’s for doing this all to me… I hope you all burn in hell.” He yelled at her.

Carol woke up that night dripping of her sweat. She ran to the kitchen to get a drink of water before returning to her bedroom and calling up her children’s friend’s mother. She asked her to take the kids for the weekend. She knows she told Onika no but she felt that she had to do it.

It’s Saturday night now. Onika and Jelani are by their friend. Onika was happy that her mom let her go but still found it odd that she didn’t stick to her word in the beginning.

Onika and Jelani were sleeping in the guest room when at 3 am, their friend’s mother woke them up.

“Hey, you guys need to get up. There’s something going on at your house.” She said.

They woke up quickly and put on a robe over their night clothes. Also they placed their slippers on their feet. Sinds it was a few blocks down they walked it. As they were getting closer they could see smoke. As they saw this, they began to run.

Onika’s P.O.V.

I ran as fast as my little legs could take me. I was scared. Was mommy okay? What happened?

As my house came into view I could see the fire truck and an ambulance.  I saw my mother on the stretcher. I ran towards her.

“Mommy, Mommy!!” I yelled with tears rolling down my cheeks. I couldn't bare to see her looking so helpless. She had a mask over her mouth that was helping her breathe. I was upset. Why did this happen to her.

Jelani just started beating a nearby tree, cursing obsinities while one of the paramedics tried to calm him down. He was crying as well. I walked up to him and just held him. He immediately stopped beating the tree and turned to me. We cried together. Never in our lives did we expect something like this to happen.

I could just imagine that all my dolls and clothes were gone. Things that meant most to me, were no longer there. And what scared me the most was that my father was nowhere to be seen.

“I think he did this.” Jelani says to me. It was almost as if he heard what I was thinking.

I sighed. I just wanted to see my mother. The neighbor took us back to her house and told us that she would keep us until our mom was better and we had somewhere to stay.

I must say I was very grateful for that because, honestly I was just in shock. I think that this could easily mark the worst day of my life. All my things gone and my mother in the hospital because of my father. I literally hated the man more now.  He has pulled the last straw for me. I have had it with him.

-End P.O.V.-

Chapter 5: Dark Cloud over Fairy Tale Castle

Onika is now 10-11 years old. Things aren’t going as good as she wanted. Her fairy tale thoughts were being interrupted by a dark cloud over her castle. Her dad was getting more and more violent and also came home very late. Onika over the years has created a sort of brick wall to try and ignore her surroundings at home. Jelani was also affected by his dad’s behavior and stayed away from home until late in the night. This had their mother worried about both of her children. She had to do something and FAST!

It’s now evening. Jelani is nowhere in sight. Onika was in her room playing with her dolls humming a Mariah Carey song.

Carol Maraj P.O.V.

I was busy cooking chicken pasta. I was hearing Onika’s little voice singing Hero from Mariah Carey. It only now dawned onto me how good she sounded. I started humming along with her. My thoughts were racing while I hummed and cooked. What was going on with my family? Why is Robert acting so strange? Why was he so upset? Why is Onika being so distant and quiet? And where in the living world is Jelani?

Just then I heard the front door slam. I cringed because I knew what that meant. Robert was home.

“Carol!”

“Yes?”

“Where mah food?”

I sighed softly. I knew what was coming if I would tell him that I was still busy. I didn’t want him to put hands on me again. I looked over my bruises on my arms. They were slowly fading.

“CAROL, DON’T YOU HEAR MEH ASKIN YUH SOMETHING?!?”

I jumped abit. The tears were slowly forming around the brim of my eyes. I slowly inched into the living room where Robert was. He looked at me dead in the eyes.

“Where mah plate ah food?!” he asked me again. I closed my eyes.

“I’m still busy cooking.” I whispered. “I didn’t know you would be home so soon.” He glared at me. I could clearly see the blood pumping through the veins on his neck. I was so scared right about now.

“Carol.. You should know that I come home round now!” He yelled at me. “ Don’t play with me woman!!”

All I felt after that was when his hand striked my face twice.

I yelped and held my face. He was yelling something while turning over pots and pans in the kitchen. I basically muted it all out.

After some time, he left. Not without slamming the door shut ofcourse. I slowly got up. I said a small prayer before I went back into the kitchen to see what destruction he did to the kitchen.

Onika’s P.O.V.

I could clearly hear what was going on downstairs and honestly I was too scared to go down this time. Jelani wasn’t home and that scared me abit. What was he doing? Is he safe?

I here sitting on my bed and playing with my hair. Just then I imagined a giggle.

“Hi pretty ladybug.” Said my conscience.

“Hi…” I muttered.

“What’s wrong?” it asked me abit sad.

“Nothing.” I was on the verge of tears.

“It’s okay you have to tell me but don’t let the fights between your mother and father get to you. Try to think of something pleasant and I will come.”

“Okay, I’ll try.” I said. It had me thinking abit in my daydream. “But how can help my mom because I don’t really understand why she doesn’t stand up to my dad.” I said abit upset and confused.

“I can’t really answer that.” It said to me abit unsure. “Call my name if you need me because I have to go right now. My name is Nicki.” She said to me before disappearing from my thoughts.

I sighed and started humming a tune. Maybe I should go by the neighbor. I decided to and got up and got my sweater and sneakers. I slowly tiptoed downstairs and saw my mother cleaning up the floor which had my favorite meal all over it; boneless chicken stew.  I sighed. Why was daddy doing this to my mother? It wasn’t fair. I slowly approached my mom.

“Mommy?”

“Yes baby.” She said abit scared. I guess she didn’t hear me walk in. I saw that her cheeks were glowing which meant that dad hit her again. And also her eyes were red and puffy. It made my eyes brim with tears. I really hated this.

“M-may I go o-over to the neighbor’s house for a little?” I asked abit unsure to leave her alone in the house.

“Okay, but be home by 7:30.” She said softly before sighing and turning to get a new pot out of the cupboard.

I speed-walked out of the house. I saw my neighbor outside listening to some rap song that was playing nearby. She seemed really interested in that. I must admit some of the songs were really good. She saw me and smiled.

“Hey Nika!” she said to me.

“Hi Nique.” I said softly and smiled. Her eyebrows crinkled abit before she returned to her normal grinning state.

“What’s up babygirl. Your abit too quiet for me.” She stated. I just shrugged and sat next to her on the bench. We listened to a few songs before she suggested to go inside and go up to her room. I saw this weird rectangular thing sitting on her desk.

“What’s that Nique?”

“Oh, that my new little recording equipment.” She said with this huge grin on her face. “You can hook up a mic to it and just rap or song or whatever noise you wanna make.”

“Oh cool.” I said with eyes of admiration. I ran my hand over it and picked up the mic. I giggled abit before thinking of something to say into the mic. It was a very indescribable moment for me because I’ve seen singers on TV with a mic singing.   

“Hello my name is Onika and today I’m going to sing vision of love.” I said with a slight accent.

Nique giggled. I started singing. I thought personally that I was Mariah Carey at that moment. I was singing with my eyes close. When I stopped to ask Nique to sing along with me, her mouth was wide open and her eyes wide like she was in some kind of shock.

“What?!?” I asked abit scared that I sounded really bad because the only person to ever really critique my singing was my mother. She just blinked a couple times before closing her mouth and swallowed her spit.

“Eww Nique, that’s nasty go get some water.” I said abit disgusted. She walked out of the room. I sighed. Did I really sound so bad?

After a couple of minutes she came back. This girl really scared me at times. The room went silent before she finally spoke.

“Nika, sinds when can you sing like that?” she asked me. I looked at her abit confused.

“What do you mean like that? I’ve always sounded like that.” I said abit sad because I still felt as if it was really bad.

“Oh Nika you should continue!” she screamed. I beamed instantly. This girl just had me thinking that I made something die or so. Oh god.

“Haha, Nique don’t ever scare me like that again.” I said abit with seriousness.

“Alright Nika.” She said.

We did a little more of singing before she wanted to rap.

“Nika, have you ever written a rap?”

“No, I don’t even know how to make one.”

“It’s very simple. You make sentences whereby the last word of each sentence rhymes.” She explained.

“Oh, okay I think I can do that.”

We both wrote a tiny rap in 10 minutes. She took my paper and read it. She bursted out laughing which made me laugh.

“Nika this is too funny. Why would you rap about cookies and lollipops?” she asked between giggles.

“I don’t know. It just came to mind.” I shrugged while blushing.

"'Cookie's the name, chocolate chip is the flavor. Suck up my style like a cherry Life Saver." Nique read and laughed out loud.“I gotta show err’body on the block this. This is really good and very funny.” She stated before running out the door with my rap in her hand. I was right on her heel. I wanted to grab it out of her hand because I didn’t want anyone to read it. I was really embarrassed. While she ran to get the rest I sat and waited. After a few minutes I saw a few of the other kids walking with her.  They all wanted to me to repeat my rap over and over.

The time flew so I had to go back home. Mom seemed abit happier now. It made me smile. I walked up to her and gave her a random hug.

“I love you mommy.” I said into her shirt.

“I love you too baby. Let’s go eat.” She said before taking my hand and sitting at the table with me. Jelani walks in right about then and doesn’t even acknowledge us. I shrugged it off before silently praying to God to bless the food.

“Jelani where were you?” mother asked him. He just shrugged and then washed his hands. Mother sighed and continued eating. Jelani comes back a few moments later and sat down to eat with us.

“I heard about the little rap thing you did.” He says to me. I smiled abit. “ Nique was telling my boys about it.”

“Yeah, I had a feeling you’d hear ‘bout it ‘cus she told err’body I think.” I say.

“Mmm cool.” He says and smiles at me before quickly finishing up his food and going up to his room.

I stayed behind with mother to clean up. We were singing emotions from Mariah Carey which so happened to be playing on the radio. We sang to each other and had a good time. I had to get ready for bed so I kissed her cheek before going up to my room to get ready for bed.