Zain sighed, "You do this every night."

"Please"

A short pause came from the boys before Zain spoke up, "Mommy was nice to us...she loved us."

"When will she come back?" Ant asked.

"...Never."

Ant's heartbeat skipped, "W-what? B-but you said-"

"I know, but Mommy is dead and so is Grandpa. They'll never come back."

A small sniffle came from Ant and I'm sure Zain is comforting him. "Mommy would always play hide and seek with us, remember? You'd always hide under her bed, that was such a rookie's move." Zain chuckled.

Ant gasped, "I remember that! I'd always win because Mommy could never find me."

Zain scoffed, "Oh no, she knew where you were, she just acted like she couldn't find you so you could win." He laughed out.

"Nuh uh, I was good at hiding." Ant sassily said, taking what Zain said as an insult.

"Sure you were." Zain sarcastically said.

Ant groaned angrily, "Don't say it like that, I know you aren't being honest. Brunet said always be honest."

"Whatever, go to sleep. We have school tomorrow."

"Wait wait, I have a question." Ant said, trying to keep Zain awake.

"What is it?" He asked

"Is the guy is the picture you have our dad? You never talk about our dad." Ant said

Zain's didn't respond, instead he remained quiet. I could tell Ant was annoyed since an abrupt shift in movement was heard. He must've turned away from Zain.

What picture do they have of me? I wanna see it.

~

In the morning, I watched the children get ready for school. Brunet left an hour before they awoke so Zain was in charge of getting them up and out of the house.

He was able to get them to cooperate smoothly throughout the whole morning. They all even walked in a calm manner to school, though there was one interaction that caught my attention.

As I followed them to school, a guy approached Zain. He looked well over the age of a middle schooler, he was in the age group of 16-19.

He had small braids down to his shoulders, a red polo shirt and khaki pants, and his petite body made me question if he was eating at home.

"Hey Silent, you rolling with the gang tonight? We're gonna jump a snitch."

Shit! Did my baby get himself involved with a gang?!!!!

"Did your mom tell you to do that?" I heard Zain ask.

The guy rolled his eyes and sucked his teeth, "She'll be ok with-"

"Then I'm not going." Zain said, cutting his rant off.

The guy was dumbfounded, "Yo, lil nigga, you don't gotta be a lap dog for my ma. It's ok to do stuff that you know will be good for her."

Zain shook his head no, "Your ma is the head, a body can't operate without the head. So, if she didn't order the hit then I'm not moving." He said.

The guy rolled his eyes before leaving Zain alone.

How did Zain get himself into this mess? He was a sweet child with a big heart, is it my fault that he's like this?

I detached myself from following my children and decided to follow after that guy. The young man walked down the street and stood at the corner.

He waited for a couple of minutes before a car pulled up before him. The window to the car rolled down and a woman, seeming to be around my age group was shown.

She had on big square shades, covering her eyes, and a bold red lip stick to compliment her dark skin tone. Her short body curls were flipped to the side creating a natural side part.

She looked at the young man, "What did he say?" She asked the young man.

The guy smiled, "You're right, he's loyal ma. The lil nigga not gonna do anything until he's told to do so."

Those little bitches, playing with my son is something I'm not fond of others to do.

The lady smiled softly, "Good, we can move to officially get him initiate into the Red Skins." She said before driving off.

Red Skins, the same exact gang that the Jacksons were associated with. The Red Skins may be about loyalty, love, family, etc... but they're still a gang.

I won't affiliate myself nor my kids with gangs or mafias ever again.

Times have changed and i'm sure that the Red Skins have changed as well. That lady being in charge signs off that the Red Skins are no longer following old rules.

Back then they only wanted the men in charge, I wonder what else changed within them.

I have to talk to her and get her to leave Zain alone.

Slowly, I approached the guy. He was calmly smoking a blunt as he leaned back on a store's wall. My head hung low, having my locs hang off my face.

"Yo, you good?" He asked me after puffing a lung filled smoke out of his mouth.

"Send a message for me." I said.

The guy scoffed before taking another hit of his blunt. "Listen crackhead, I'm not a dealer, get-"

I abruptly grabbed his hand, stopping him from talking. Looking up at him, I let my eyes connect with his. "Tell your boss to leave that little boy alone."

He snatched his arm from my grasped and blew smoke onto my face. "You're fucking with the wrong-"

His eyes turned white before he started to gasp. The feeling of his internal organs becoming rock hard put a huge toll on him, resulting to blood pouring out of his mouth.

The little pain he feels now isn't no where near the full amount I can bestow upon him. Closing my eyes, I put a stop to his stoning process.

"You will deliver my message or else you and all your loved ones will feel what you just felt...times 10." I said to him before leaving him to fall onto the ground.

~

I went back to the school that Zain was walking towards this morning, and sat in the coffee shop across the street from it. I had a direct view of the school from where I sat.

There were children playing in the playground out front of the school; it was recess time. The school was a K-8 center, so all three of the kids go to the same school.

My eyes skimmed through vast groups of kids before I caught Zain. He was sitting alone on the grass with a book in his hand. He likes books mainly the mystery ones.

I watched him peacefully read his book until a girl approached him, "Hi, Zain!" She sweetly said to him.

She had on a pink dress and white shoes. Her black curly hair was tied back into a ponytail, and her afro face features made her mesmerizing.

Zain ignored her and continued to read his book. This was unusual behavior coming from him. He was never one to ignore people, instead he was always the one to make people feel noticed. 

The girl moved to sit next to him, "Whatcha reading?" She asked him.

I heard him groan in annoyance as he threw his head back. "Ariya, you're bothering me." He said to her.

The girl smiled, "Then I'll keep bothering you until you come play with me."She said happily.

Zain finally gave her a look, earning a bigger smile from her. "Listen-"

"Zay! Zay!!"

Ant came running to Zain with tears trailing down his cheeks. Zain stood up and opened his arms for his brother to hug him.

"What's wrong?" Zain anxiously asked his brother. Ant sniffled and pointed at a group of boys a little older than Zain.

"T-they took my toys...a-and they hit me in front of all my friends." He cried out.

Zain abruptly pulled Ant's arms off of him and hastily walked towards the group of teenage boys.

This won't be good.