𝗘𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗲𝗺, 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗬𝗼𝗿𝗸
𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗔𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘂 𝗖𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀

I sat in the passenger seat of the car as I played with my fingers. We were on the way to East Hampton to get Afeni back. I knew my father took Afeni away with him, I just knew he did.

Mahleek wouldn't talk to me. He didn't even wanna have a conversation about anything. It was so awkward and weird in this car like I just wanted him to stop with this attitude. Like, watch this.

"I'm hungry." I said looking up from my phone.

He kept driving and didn't say anything. Like literally, he said nothing. Didn't even show any type of emotion on his face, I smacked my lips.

"Mahleek," I whined before looking at him. "I'm hungry. Can you feed me?" I asked with a small pout.

He stayed quiet as I looked at him.

"Hello, what the fuck?" I said mugging him. "Can you respond to what I'm saying? Or you gonna keep ignoring me?" I asked.

"Can you make sure your brother good before you be a fat ass?" He asked, I mugged him.

"Bi- y'know what. Lemme just shut up." I said sitting back and looking out the window.

"Thank you." He said.

"But just know you doing allat for nothing. I did not know this was gonna happen! I sent him with our father! I didn't expect for him to kidnap him." I expressed, he didn't reply.

"Can we atleast get food?" I asked. "I'm hungry."

"Yo, Parish shut the fuck up." He said as he drove. "Word to, just sit back and shut the fuck up."

"Fuck you." I replied folding my arms.

"We already did that." He said. "It wasn't allat anyway." He added, I chuckled.

I hate a nigga who try to fake stunt. "But you was moaning more than I was?" I said rolling my neck.

"You worried bout that and you need to worry bout coming up with a plan to get your brother back." He said as he drove, I shrugged.

"Ima walk in. Curse my daddy out and take Afeni."

He blew out a breathe. "That shit ain't gonna work not even inna slightest." He said before glancing over at me. "What the fuck is wrong with you? Real shit." He said looking at me in disbelief.

"Nothing is wrong with me Mahleek!" I said. "Stop fucking asking me that shit cause you don't see me asking why you fucking your neighbors or why you think it's ok to talk shit to me."

"Parish why you so focused on who I'm fucking?" He asked. "We talking about getting Afeni back. You worried about me fucking who I'm fucking. You worried about the wrong shit."

"I don't care." I said. "I'm just saying, don't try to check me talking about what the fuck wrong with me and shit when you have a problem too!"

"Yo." He said before sighing hard. "Let's just focus on how the fuck we gonna get Afeni back."

"Ok." I said rolling my eyes.

"So what you gon do Parish?" He asked, I smacked my lips and looked at him.

"I just told you! I'm going in there. I'm going to grab Afeni, curse my daddy AND his wife out, and then leave with my brother. Simple." I said.

"The fact you really think that dumb ass shit gonna work shows how immature you is." He replied.

I didn't understand why he was saying allis fucked up shit to me now like I did something to HIM. I didn't do shit. I made a mistake, yes but I didn't do anything to him. I take care of Afeni and he should be able to spend time with our father without me worrying about him being snatched away.

I should be able to do that. Right?

"I'm immature?" I asked touching my chest in confusion. "A girl came to your door telling you that she was pregnant by you and the first thing that came to your mind was an abortion."

"You didn't even ask if she was ok or anything and you were intimate with her. I can clearly see that you are a heartless ass nigga when it comes to sex and it's all for nothing." I finished before looking out the window and shaking my head.

Tears threatened to fall but I refused to cry. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction to see me down and out again because clearly he doesn't give a fuck about me.

I didn't understand why I thought he was going to treat me any different than he does all his other girls after we had sex. I hoped he didn't act like this but it is what it is, I need to focus on getting Afeni back.

I was worried about Afeni because he's never been alone with them. He's never even met my dads wife and our siblings but he knew who our dad was.

I trusted my dad with him. I trusted him to be honest and pure and some people just can't be that. But you don't snatch somebody baby away. You don't do no fucked up shit like that.

"You better hope we can get him back." Mahleek spoke up breaking me away from my thoughts, I looked over at him and squinted my eyes.

"I'm going to and after that, don't speak to me about shit else." I replied before turning my head to look out the window. I needed to focus.

———————

As we slowly pulled up, I snatched my seatbelt off. Mahleek parked the car and I hopped out before he could even turn the car off. My father lived in a nice neighborhood. The neighborhood had security surveillance and needed a name to get in.

My father worked as a architect and his wife was a lawyer. I heard something about her trying to be the District Attorney in Harlem so I guess she's into politics. I didn't know much about Lena but I did know that Daddy was in deep with her.

I didn't know if it was love or business but I knew it would be a lot of shit even if he tried to leave her for anybody else. Lena was a crazy ass woman.

I remember the time I read my mother's diary and she went into descriptions about how she would call my mother just screaming in the phone. She wouldn't say anything. She would just scream to the top of her lungs and then hang up.

I know my mommy was scared. She probably laughed at her after though. Mommy always laughed things off whenever things got hard. I loved that about her.

I started banging on the door as I looked around. I didn't want to make a huge scene out here but when I got inside, it was up.

"Who is it?" I heard my little sister, Franky. Her voice was always soft whenever I spoke to her. She was only 12 years old with a baby voice, it shocked me.

"Parish," I said. "Open the door."

The door swung open and she ran up to me and wrapped her arms around my waist. "Parish!" She squealed with a smile. "I missed you so much!"

"Wassup?" I said rubbing her back. "Where Afeni?"

"Daddy took him out with him." She said. "He said something about having to do something for work. He even got Afeni a little suit and everything."

I sighed in aggravation. I didn't want to be mean to Franky because she never treated me bad. She really wanted to be close to me because Jatavia, her older sister was always mean to her.

I didn't know why but I knew Jatavia was just a mad bitch for no reason. We never got along just because she wanted to be me and hate me. Like you can't have both, and that's why I whooped that ass.

"Mommy's here though, Come in." She said. I walked into the house and she closed the door as I looked around in shock.

They renovated this whole house. They did renovations. Daddy paid for renovations knowing we living off of scraps back home. What the fuck?

"Y'all renovated this bitch?" I asked looking at Franky who was walking in front of me.

"Yeah," She said. "We're actually about to move. Daddy just built a big house that he doesn't want to sell so now we have to pack up and move."

"Where y'all moving to?" I asked curiously as I followed her into the living room that everybody watched television in.

"Colorado."

I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at her.

"Mom, Parish is here!" Franky yelled catching Lena's attention who was focused on a file. She looked up at me and started to smile widely.

"Ah! Parish!" She said getting up and walking over to me. If she wanna fight then we can get it popping right now. I'll mop the floor with this bitch.

She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a hug. I stood there and blinked as she rubbed my back. "You look so pretty," She said. "That beautiful darkskin is glowing girl!"

Bitch?

"It's so good to see you." She said. "What did we do to get rewarded this gift?" I squinted my eyes.

"Y'all took Afeni, don't play with me." I said.

Lena eyes got wide before looking over at Franky who was standing there looking at us. "Franky, go finish your homework in your mom."

"Why?" Franky asked, Lena gave her a eye.

"Do it, now." She said, Franky groaned. I watched as she grabbed a folded with her papers in it and started walking out the room. She turned around and waved at me before running up the steps.

I looked at Lena who was back on the couch. "Fuck y'all doing taking him for?" I asked walking further into the living room. I stood in front of her trying my hardest not to slap the shit out of her. "He's mine."

"To my understanding, he is your fathers son. Your father left him with you for you to raise and that was not right so now we are taking him in with us and if you would like to come live here with us as well, you can." She said.

"I don't know why your father didn't tell me before this but now that I know. Things will change."

"I ain't moving here." I said shaking my head. "Y'all took my baby brother that I been taking care of BY MYSELF without talking to me. Y'all planning to take him to Colorado with y'all and it ain't happening. He coming home with me." I asked.

"Well, he's not." She said shaking her head. "We are keeping him and according to the law, a child can't take care of another child so if you do try to take him we will call the police and have you arrested for kidnapping."

"Why you tryna call the boys? You playing police games about this situation and I really don't care Lena! He is mine! I took care of him! Your not going to take him from me." I said shaking my head.

"I am not taking him. Me and your father are pushing for you to move in with us and if you don't then you don't. You can go back to Harlem but we're keeping Afeni." She said.

"He don't even wanna stay here with y'all." I argued. "Daddy don't have no say in his life or mine! Do you know he left us for dead for 5 months with nothing! No money, no food, no thing and I had to get off my ass and find a way for us to make it!"

She didn't reply. Instead she sat there and just looked at me with her head tilted. "We had no heat, no water, and no food! You don't have no say in his life and neither do daddy! Afeni is MY son!"

"Regardless if he came from my womb or not and you're not going to push yourself into this situation and take him from me!"

"He is staying with us." She said. "There is nothing you can do because legally, there is no way a judge will give him to you. You're 17 with no job, no house, nothing to your name."

Before I could say anything else, my father walked in. "MAAAAA!" I heard, Afeni ran up to me and I dropped down and wrapped my arms around him.

It didn't hit how much I missed him until I got him in my arms. He meant so much to me and I didn't even know what to do without him.

"I mist you." He said holding onto me, I sniffed.

"I missed you too Feni," I said pulling away.

"No cy Ma," He said wiping my face. "You ugee cy!"

I laughed a little. "You ugly cry." I replied.

"Parish." I heard, I looked up and noticed Lena and Daddy was looking at us both. "Who is that boy outside of my house?"

"He's been taking care of us since you've abandoned us." I replied standing up and wiping my eyes. "And I don't know what the fuck you and Lena got going on but y'all crazy as hell if you think I'm leaving without Afeni."

He shrugged. "To my understanding, Lena offered you a room here to stay and you declined so you're going to have to leave without him." He said.

"No Im not." I said shaking my head.

"Yes you are. Afeni is staying here with me. I am his father and I have full custody of him so therefore he will be here with me." He said, I sniffed.

"Yo!" I heard indicating Mahleek decided to come inside. My father looked down the hallway and then looked at me with anger in his eyes.

I watched as Mahleek made his way into the living room and looked around the room. His eyes landed on mine as his eyebrows furrowed. "You good?"

I shook my head. "They aren't trying to let me take Afeni." I said with a sniff, Mahleek looked at my Dad and Lena.

"And you aren't going to. It's either you stay or you go but you aren't taking him from me."

"NOBODY IS TAKING HIM FROM YOU! YOU LEFT US IN HARLEM! YOU LEFT HIM FOR ME TO TAKE CARE OF! YOU DIDN'T EVEN TELL HER ABOUT AFENI! YOU MADE ME KEEP IT A SECRET AND NOW YOU WANNA TAKE HIM AWAY? NOW YOU WANNA STEP UP?" I yelled nearing him.

I felt the anger boil in my body as I looked at the two. I just hoped that I didn't do anything I would regret because who knows what happens when I'm mad. Anything could happen.

"Parish, who are you talking to like that?" He asked with his head tilted. Flashbacks of his aggressive screaming and beating flooded my mind as I looked at him. The look in his eyes was too familiar.

"YOU!" I yelled. "I HATE YOU! I SWEAR ALL YOU CARE ABOUT IS YOURSELF! NOW YOU WANT AFENI BECAUSE THIS MAYO ROACH WANTS HIM? NO! FUCK YOU AND FUCK HER!"

"Excuse me!" Lena jumped in my face. "This is why you're never invited over here. You're extremely disrespectful and that's why nobody wants you!"

I reached my hand back and punched her dead in the face. I kept swinging as Mahleek pulled my way. I screamed, kicked, and swung as he carried me down the hallway.

"MAAA!" Afeni cried. I opened my eyes and noticed him trying to fight my dad off so he could come with me but he was holding him back as he cried and screamed. "MAAAAA!"

Mahleek pulled me out the house as I cried. He carried me over to the car and put me inside before closing the door and hurrying to the other side and driving off.

I couldn't help but weep. This hurts too bad.

———————

We ended up at a hotel room because Mahleek didn't want to drive back. I appreciated that because I wasn't done. I was going to get Afeni back. Whether they liked it or not.

I hated how Lena tried to play a police game with me. She knew there was nothing I could do to get him back legally and if I ran off with him I would go to jail for kidnapping.

Why did she do that? Why is she trying to take Afeni from me? What is going on?

"You hungry?" Mahleek asked looking over at me as I stared at the ceiling while I laid on my back.

"No." I said softly before sniffing.

"Stop crying yo," He said wiping my eyes. "You gonna get him back. Stop allat."

"They're moving to Colorado." I revealed before looking over at him. "They're trying to take him to Colorado Mahleek."

"Aint she tryna be the DA in New York?" He asked.

"Yeah," I said sitting up some. "How did you know that?"

"Don't worry bout it," He said shaking his head. "How she gonna live in Colorado and be the DA?"

I shrugged. "I don't know."

"We gon get him back so just chill out. Ima order us something to eat." He said grabbing his phone, I nodded before sighing.

"Afeni has to come back." I said. "I just can't be away from him. I can't." I started thinking long and hard. I didn't want to move in with my father but if I had to so I could stay with Afeni then I would.

"Maybe I should move in with them." I said.

"What?"

"He's not gonna let me take Afeni. They will call the police if I take him and my life home isn't all that good so I might as well just move in with them." I said with a shrug. "I wanna be with Afeni."

Mahleek went quiet as I looked at him scroll on his phone. He jaw was clenched and I could tell that I had aggravated him, again.

"What do you think about it?" I asked. I was nervous to hear his answer because I didn't know if he was going to be nice about it or say some shit that's gonna start an argument between us.

"Do you." He said with a shrug. Do me? The hell?

"So you don't care?" I asked, he licked his lips.

"I didn't say I ain't care," He replied.

"So what are you tryna say? Like be real."

"I can't stop you from doing what you wanna do so if you wanna move alla way out here then do you. That just mean whatever we got going on can't happen." He explained, I frowned.

"Why not?"

"You 2 hours away from me. Who boutta do alla det just to come see you?" He asked looking at me.

"If you was serious about wanting to be something then you would." I replied rolling my eyes.

"If you was, then you wouldn't move away."

"I wanna be with Afeni." I expressed.

"Ok." He said with a shrug. "I ain't saying shit about that. I understand that clearly but it ain't no point in us trying to be something if you this far away. That's all I'm saying Parish."

"Ok." I said nodding my head.

"Ight then.."

———————

They really taking Afeni 🥺

I don't remember if I told y'all but yeah Lena is white so that means her sisters are mixed.

Who ready to meet the sisters? Cause I know I am.

Thoughts on Mahleek? He a lil salty about this whole situation. It's kind of funny.

Anyway, Bye ❤️

She look weird right here but what do I know?