PTSD.

FIVE.

(remember this is a short story so everything moves fast. It's a memory in Hue's head.)

"I knew I loved you then but you'd never know. Cause I played it cool when I was scared of letting go."

AMIR TURNER.

PAIN. An everlasting, agonizing feeling. We feel it so strongly but still have no sense of it. Why does it hurt so bad? Why do some of us feel it more than others? In the physical or mental. Even the things that we thought would make us whole, broke us with pain. Pain. Find your purpose. Make your pain worth it. The more comfortable you become in your pain, the more you'll be able to deal with it. Don't ever let anyone tell you that pain doesn't last forever. It's in you, we're human but my advice is just don't let it define you.

Amir laid in bed staring at the window as Ouni rambled on about last nights events. "Hue?" Amir became fully aware of the conversation all of a sudden.

Ouni bit her tongue as she let his name slip from her mouth. "I didn't say Hue. I said Juni, my love."

"Don't insult my intelligence. I know what I heard!" Amir snapped. She could hear perfectly fine. "Hue did what? You're saying Hue drugged me? To get me out of the club?"

"What? No. I said that Hue has had Vince watching you all theses years." She corrected.

Amir bit down on her bottom lip. She bit so hard that she would soon draw blood if she did it any harder. "You get him on the phone, now. I don't care how. Now."

"Amir."

"He doesn't get to do this, Dyouni." She cried out. "He left me. I didn't leave him. He doesn't get to- it's not fair. He didn't care enough to come see about me by himself, he sent Vince. He doesn't get to keep tabs on me. He'd know exactly how I was doing if he would've just stayed in my life!"

Amir was livid. No one may understand why she's so frustrated but she did. Hue was her puppet master for years. She didn't know it then but she knows it now. He controlled every emotion that she had. Her world revolved around him. She was doing so much better once she gained control of her feelings. "Vince is here somewhere. I'm gonna find him and I will beat Hue's address out of him if I have to."

"I told Hue-"

"Girl you think he gives a damn? Are you dumb? Vince is still here and he isn't leaving until I leave this hospital room. The only way he wouldn't be here is if Hue himself were here. And he's too much of a coward to show his face." Her tone was harsh and she was unknowingly snapping at Ouni.

Ouni tried not to take it to heart but she was so so sensitive.

"Well I'm sorry Amir. I tried to get him to leave you alone but fuck my efforts." She shook her head and sat on the chair in the corner. Amir's face and tone softened once she noticed the look on Ouni's face.

"I'm mad and I'm taking it out on you. I'm sorry. I know that you always go to bat for me. I just... all of a sudden want to see him and that's making me mad. He left me when I was falling apart. Why would I ever wanna see him again?"

"Because you're human and a damn good one. You love him. You've always loved him. You haven't seen him in five years. It's only human that you want to know what's going on with him. Don't you ever feel wrong for that."

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HERBERT "HUE" WRIGHT.

Hue watched through the window shield as Rylie's dramatic ass cried from the front porch. He just turned his music up then backed out of the driveway. He had a long trip and didn't have time for her bullshit.

An hour into his drive, his phone started to ring. "What the word is?"

"Amir wants to see you."

Hue sat silent on the phone for a while while gathering his thoughts. "I'm on my way to her city now. Put her on the phone."

It was a few minutes and all Hue could hear was shuffling on the other side of the phone. "I'm going to beat every bit of gangsta out of you. You gon be a whole bitch when I'm done with you. Are you serious? How could you just leave me without a trace? Not only that instead of coming to see how I'm doing, you send Vince? Out of ALL your homeboys? I hate him the most..." Hue just let her ramble on. He knew what type of person Amir was and her being mad wouldn't last long.

"Herbert Wright! I am talking to you!" She snapped making him remember that she was on the phone.

"I'm almost in your city. I'll come see you and I'll explain it all to you. All my other homies dead. Vince all I got."

"That's suppose to make me feel bad? They dead cause they dumb asses and pussies." She said while hanging up the phone. There was that mouth he hated.

Hue shook his head as his music started playing again.

I stayed up the longest when my nigga died

I poured up some more so I can stop from cryin'

Relapse after quittin' like my second time. But I know I just wanna numb the pain that's inside

I know I just wanna clear the rage in my mind

My younger days will I still feel the same all the time?

Growin', granny used to yell my name all the time

Like the same is if I'm on the stage yellin' lines

And I might surprise you, but I never tell you lies.

If you knew what I knew, just be thankful you alive.

His voice. On a track. Hue thought he'd never see the day. It was a dream of his since he was a kid but he thought the streets would take him before he was able to show how talented he was.

Rylie really pushed him. Then she gave him Kunahi and he knew he had to be better. Not only for him but for them. It wasn't just about him anymore. He meant something to someone. How would he ever be so selfish to purposely putting himself in positions where they could lose him forever?

He was so deep in his thoughts, he forgot he was even driving. By the time he looked down, he was thirty minutes out from the address that Amir had sent him. He stopped to get gas and filled up the tank. He checked over his shoulder constantly, continually watching his surroundings.

Finally Hue had made it to Amir's house. His palms were seating and he felt sick to his stomach. He was about to see her in person for the first time in five years. He prepared himself for whatever was to come and got out of the car. He knocked on her door and stuffed his hands into the pocket of his black Amiri jeans. His heart pounded as the locks clicked then the door started to open.

And there she was. Amir Turner.