𝑊𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑃𝑢𝑟𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒

XVII

~Flashback ~

"Mommy, c'mon!" A young and naive little Zuri screamed at her mothers cold and still body as she laid flat in the kitchen of their home, foaming at the mouth.

Zuri's small hands gently punched against her mothers chest with much force.

"Mo- mommy, get up! I not wanna play no more." A game of peak- a- boo turned into a mystery of "what happened," when her mom calasped onto her own daughter who at first thought she was just adding a twist to the game but soon came to the realization she wasn't faking.

"Zuri, why is that bike sitting on the sidewalk. I told you—" Hearing her dads voice as the front door opened and closed. She looked up with tears in her eyes seeing him standing in the doorway of the kitchen with shock and worry written all over his face.

Maybe the only and last time she'd seen those two expressions on her dads face.

Zuri didn't know what was supposed to happen but seeing as her be stricken dad just stood in one spot not moving a muscle, she figured she could just calm down but his face told a different story.

Only being 3, she knew a lot about a lot, but sometimes it all got confusing when signs were being seen differently.

Finally Jerome made his way over to his wife and daughter with a cold expression. Zuri thought the first thing he would do was call 911, but instead he walked to her, picked her up, whispered something to himself while staring at the nearly dead woman and walked out the house with Zuri screaming for her mother.

Which is the last thing she remembered before her mother was strapped in a wheelchair with brain damage until she was pronounced dead a few years later.

~Flashback over~

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𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟵, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟬
𝗧𝘂𝗲𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝟭:𝟱𝟴 𝗽.𝗺.
𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗬𝗼𝗿𝗸, 🅽🅴🆆 🆈🅾︎🆁🅺

~"𝚃𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗' 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗' 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗'𝚒𝚜 𝙶𝙾𝙳'𝚂 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗' 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚐𝚐𝚕𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔"~
-𝙽𝙰𝚂
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A father who sold drugs and a mother who abused them. Zuri's life was no fairytale and saying that stretches a long way.

Since the age of three she'd hated the world. The people who were supposed to love her and show her there was love out there simply didn't. So many questions she asked herself growing up. None of them were answered.

Anxiety, depression, and a mentally abusive parent. Not one good thing came out of that. No turn arounds, no second chances. No what if's. There was no room nor time to think about an alternative reality.

"Show no emotions." She was starting to realize emotions are what make humans...authentically human.

"Hard demeanor. Always let it be known and shown." That was a tactic used to push people away before they even had a chance to think about growing a relationship with her.