"Yo, Kev!" Kevin turned around to find a figure beckoning him to wait. As the person drew closer he recognized the person. It was his childhood friend Ace. His name was actually henry, but nobody called him that.

They had met at the sorry excuse for a playground the neighborhood had. Ace had met Kevin crying by himself a swing. They had been together since then or at least till high school. Ace had dropped out from high school as a freshman to dedicate more of his time to "music career". They did their customary special handshake that led to a bro hug.

"What's up bro. I hardly see you anymore nowadays." That was true. Back before he used to drop and he would and Ace would hang out. But partly it wasn't his fault. He was so busy nowadays and David wasn't going to make anything easier. In fact he suspected it would only get worse from here.

"Sorry man, I've just been up to my neck in work."

"Understandable. So Tink's got a party this Saturday, everyone's coming. He's even inviting some DJ from Cal. Totally overkill if you ask me." He wanted to say yes he really did, but he knew that if he said yes and didn't come Ace would be disappointed. Very disappointed.

"Sorry man. I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to make it." He saw disappointment in Ace's face and something else. Ace had expected this and yet he had still gone through.

"Well... I guess I'll see you around."Ace patted his back and walked away.

"Yo. Have you seen Andre around?"

"I saw him around the basketball court with Don and his guys. His getting a bit too friendly with them if you ask me." Kevin nodded his head and walked away. Cocaine had made it's way to Idaho and it was Don's and his guys job to make sure it reached anybody in the buckets who had cash to buy.

Andre had started bringing home a lot money recently. At first nobody had questioned him. Money was scarce and they had to do whatever they could to make ends meet. Their elder sister who had practically raised them up since their mom died. Their dad was in prison on life sentence for some charge that no body remembered. Even when he had been something of an on and off parent. Going off for weeks and appearing for only a short while, but still he had tried in his own way. When their mother had died he had stuck around more until the day the police came. Since then it had been him, andre, Debra and grandma Charlotte. And Mike. Kevin didn't like Mike, nobody did.

He went up the stairs and into their apartment. Grandma Charlotte was busy watching reruns of some cheesy soapy operas.

"How was Your day?"

"Good. Haven't You already seen that show before?"

"Oh, I have? I don't think so. If I had I would have remembered." She looked confused. She really believed that she hadn't seen this show before. Well in reality she binged through all three seasons of it everyday.

Grandma Charlotte was eighty six years and actually their Great grandmother. While she was doing physically well for someone her age. Her mind on the other hand was getting worse. On some days it got so bad that she hardly remembered her name. She thought Andre was her long dead son and some days she would cry and scream that she wanted her bolt. What that was nobody knew.

Kevin went to his room undressed and slid into bed. Hours later the thumping sounds woke him up. It was the sound of flesh hitting flesh. Each thump was followed by a Yelp of pain. There was nothing sexual about the sound, he knew what it meant. Mike had come back drunk and was beating Debra up. It was a sound everyone knew well even Grandma Charlotte. They had heard it long before mike even came by. 

It had been a few months after their dad was convicted and Debra's new boyfriend moved in. It had happened in the living room. What they had been arguing about had long since faded into memory, But he still how he had back handed her. He had slid his belt off and wiped Debra with it. Andre and Kevin had just sat there too petrified to do anything. Andre was just six then and Kevin nine. At that time they were in the same room .Andre had nightmares about his belt turning into a slithery monster. He still didn't wear belts till today.

Two years later It was a new boyfriend but the same situation. The only difference was that this one preferred his fists to his belt. Kevin and Andre had thought up a plan. The plan involved stopping Debra's then boyfriend from beating her anymore. How they would do that. Their childish minds hadn't thought about that yet and they didn't bother. It hadn't worked out so well. They had tried to stop him and he had decided that maybe he had enough of Debra, beating women wasn't good and indeed "unbecoming" (it was a new word Kevin had learned that day) of a man. So he decided to take out his frustration on the two little meddling kids instead. As Kevin was being beaten up for the first time in his life he looked at his sister. She was angry, but she wasn't angry at her cowardly boyfriend. She was angry at the boys for interrupting. Andre hadn't seen the look but he was still angry in his own childish way at his sister for not saving them. 

It was then the nightmares had started. It changed every night but he still woke up sweating. Andre had moved into his own room. As they grew older their childish anger was replaced by guilt. It was their fault that Debra had to date scumbags like Mike and the others. It was their fault that their father had been involved in a gang shoot out down at Atlanta. Kevin got two jobs, Andre sold coke and pills for Don. Everybody did what they had to. Like an unwritten agreement they both avoided home as much as possible, like a criminal avoiding the crime scene.

As Kevin lay there in his dark room, on his creaking bed, listening to the sounds of his sister Being beaten in the next room. He laughed and said.

"One day I'm going to snap. At what or who I don't know, but I'mma snap."

Author's Note: I'm sorry for the length but this is the second part of chapter eleven that o had to cut out because of their character limit