Game Recognize Game

38. Getting it Right

Nikko

     The sun was shining bright, but they had a nice breeze that kept everyone from being too hot. Ebony and I had parked on the side of the park where the lake was, rather than parking by the playground. Since i wanted to talk to her, I wanted as much quiet as possible. It took me a while to accept that Ebony meant something to me even though the feelings were always there. First i wanted to apologize for giving her such a hard time, but that was after i found out... what caused her to be a set up girl. After getting to know her these past few months, I could tell she wasn't even that type of woman. Even after what Jyrell told me, I knew she couldn't hold a grudge or do something like rob someone of her own accord. 

     She walked slowly next to me, her eyes fixed on the ice cream. She'd been so out of it lately that i knew something was bothering her. Usually she'd be talking, asking questions, or something. I smiled to myself at how her personality just bull dozed my wall down. This girl was special, someone who was like no one else I'd ever met. 

           "Nikko, I've got something I have to tell you," Ebony spoke softly. 

      I nodded as we kept walking, but didn't look at her. I knew whatever she'd been thinking about was finally about to be revealed. Knowing Ebony, she was nervous enough without having me stare in her face. Besides, i'd begun to know her so well that i knew her voice raised a bit when she was lying. I didn't even have to look at her face anymore.

     "I know I've told you some things, and other things you've figured out; like me being raped, and my parents death, and me working for a strip club. I want you to know none of those things makes me a bad person. My father sent my mother, brother, and I here to America so we could be safe and live in peace. There was so much gang violence and poverty where we were. My father thought this would be a better life for us, but when we heard of his death from my mother's brother we struggled for a while. Without my mom having a green card, she couldn't work and one day a pimp found her in an alley with us. He promised her green cards and an education for us, as long as she agreed to work for him." 

    When she paused i looked down at her for the first time, but I hoped my face didn't show how sad and horrible i thought her life was. I felt so much pity for her and I thought i had it rough. For a second i thought i'd have to ask her what happened after that but she exhaled heavily and began to speak again. I could hear tears in her voice this time.

     "Anyways she agreed, of course. She must've known that she'd never be able to escape though... that's why she stole as much as she could from Davey and then made us run away. It was on my eighth birthday too. Then it was just me and Kollins for years, and he wasn't always the way he is now," she chuckled weakly. All i could do was scoff. That bitch ass nigga still had it coming.

       "He wasn't," she giggled, playfully nudging me. Crazy how she was still playful though her voice was filled with sadness.

       "He used to sell drugs out in California where we lived for a while. He used to make sure i didn't need for a thing and never had a moment to miss my mom or dad. He used to be all i needed until he met a woman who introduced him to the drugs he pushed. That's when he changed. He'd come home high off his rocker and yell at me that everything was our fault. That if we were never born our parents wouldn't be dead and would still be alive and happy. I was so glad one day when he didn't come home for a week, but then i found out he'd been arrested and to save his own ass he became an informant against his partner. After the trial was up he relocated, so the police couldn't use him anymore and so the drug boys wouldn't find him or me."