In the middle of it all

July 19 '52

The next day, Denzel, Kelvin, Tanisha, Keshawn, Tyrell and I went back to Silver's crib. 

"Does everyone live in this house ?" asked Keshawn as we got there. Tanisha and Tyrell walked outside while we stayed inside with Draco and Cix.

 I also wondered about that. Sure the house was big but not big enough to foster all of these people.

"Nah, barely anyone lives here besides Izzy, Ray and sometimes Nate and Cash. JJ and Red live together. Blu and Wave share an apartment but we all squat here from time to time. It's Skylar's place. Ace bought this home but he lives with his girlfriend." answered Denzel.

"He has a girlfriend ?"

"Yeah. Lana." replies Kelvin. "They also have a daughter, Delilah, she was born two months ago." continues Kelvin before getting himself interrupted by Denzel.

"Belladonna, can you go check on Rayan ?" I stare at him in pure confusion as I follow him through the hallway. He stops in front of a door and looks back at me.

 "Ray. Can you tell her that we're ready to leave?" 

I discreetly enter the room as asked and see JJ laying one of the lower bunk beds. "I'll call you later, Evelyn." utters JJ before ending her phone call. She gets off the bed smiling at me. 

"Denzel, we're coming !" she shouts as she walks out the room, closing the door behind her.

"Why are you so dressed up ?" I ask Rayan. She's sitting in front of a large mirror, holding a lip liner between her index and middle finger and lip gloss between her thumb and index. Her hair is down unlike yesterday, making her long wavy weave visible.

"Belladonna if I'm not mistaken ?" she asks while applying her lip gloss. I nod. "I'm going on a date with Keemo. How do I look ?" She puts down her cosmetics and stands in front of me. She was gorgeous. So gorgeous I could become jealous of her beauty. All I could do was look at her with wide eyes. She gave me a warm smile acknowledging my response.

"Who's Keemo ?" I ask.

"Oh, right, you don't know our real name yet. My real name is Rayan but I get called Ray. Keemo is Wave. He might look a bit cold but he's a sweetheart."

"Why do you have other names ?"

"Nicknames are the best way to introduce yourself to someone without them knowing who you really are. They'll think they know you, when they only know what you want them to know." She guides me out of the room and we meet the others at the entrance of the house.

"We're out." exclaims Denzel as he leaves the crib with JJ, Rayan and Keemo.

"Where are they going ?" asks Keshawn.

"They're going on a double date.." mumbled Cix. I looked at him with a grin. "You don't have a date ?"

"It's complicated Donna." He walks out to the back of the house and naturally Shawn and I follow his steps. Tanisha, Tyrell, Izzy, Nate, Blu, Cash and Sky are all outside.

"They left ?" asks Tanisha, walking towards us with Nate.

"Wave is definitely gon' ask her out today. He was mumbling about it in his sleep last night." chuckles Blu. "You two, come here." he signals Keshawn and I and as ordered we come over.

"What's y'all story ?" he asks.

"Our story ?" I repeat.

"We all have a story that brought us here." elaborates Sky.

"I can start." proposes Tanisha. "A few years ago, before Tyrell was born, mum was struggling with money. Denzel tried to help her but with the resources he had all he could do was sell drugs until he got caught by Ace. Ace showed him a different path and helped our mum find a good paying job."

"I've been friends with Draco since forever so my story is similar to his." adds Kelvin.

"I used to be a professional hitman. One day I found Nate in the streets. I didn't judge myself as responsible enough to take care of another being other than me so I tried to get rid of him. I found Sky, gave her the package and left. I then came back for him and that's basically how I joined the gang." explained Cash. All eyes go back to me.

"What's your story ?" asks Blu.

"We..We come from an orphanage. We grew up there but we didn't feel at home so we escaped." I answer.

"How long were you guys alone before Draco found you ?"

" Around eight days..." replies Keshawn before continuing. "The main reason we were able to survive was thanks to Renee. She really took care of us..." Sky and Cash glance at each other.

"Who's Renee ?" asks Tanisha. That's right. We never mentioned her before. It has been three days and we have no idea where she is or if she's still alive. She could be in the streets starving or looking for us. We abandoned someone who put us before her even in difficult situations.

"Renee is the other person who left the orphanage with us. She's like an older sister to us." replies Keshawn. I nod my head acknowledging his words.

"We should look for her.." informed Blu. "What does she look like ?" We give him her description and he walks out the place followed by Cash, Sky and Cix.