CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE:
51: ~Darnell's Pov~
He held my gaze like he was begging for my help.
My body shook when he was jabbed with a knife the first time. Then the second. And the third.
Blood bubbled out of his mouth as he laid in the pool of his own blood.
If only I could have stopped his attacker.
If only I intervened.
But I was scared.
I remained in the shadows till the deed was done, only coming out to close the dilated eyes of my dead friend.
"Am I dying?" He had asked me with a bitter laugh that displayed bloodied teeth as I crouched beside him, shaking and holding his hand.
Then he sighed and gave up.
That was the end.
I would never get to hear his hysteric laughter when he did his skateboard tricks.
That was the last time I cried and became numb to feelings.
Shaking out of the dreaded trance, I dropped the pallette and paint brush on the easel. Painting was therapeutic for me but right now I didn't need therapy, I needed an escape. I looked back at what I was painting... A couple sitting on the hood of a car and staring at the night sky. I sighed and raked my fingers through my big brown curls.
Opening my table drawer, my searching eyes landed on a pack of cigarettes. My lips tipped at the memory but I ignored the cigarettes and went for molly instead.
Immediately I doused the pills into my mouth, the drugs slapped and kicked in. I didn't want to remember this memory but it always kept coming back. I decided to dwell my mind on brighter things: exams were over and we had qualified for regionals, February was going to be lit.
The atmosphere in my room was unhealthy and distressing so I went to Danica's instead. Her door was slightly ajar and I could hear a cool R&B beat booming in the background, she was probably making music again. I strolled in without knocking.
Danica groaned loudly and pulled her headset off her ears. "Ugh, what do you wannnntttt?" She asked, stressing the last word to make a point.
I soaked in the purple and pink walls and accessories of her room. Her tween bed was by the window, her vanity was poised at one end of the room close to her bathroom door, then her working area was to the right hand side of her room door. Her working area had a desktop computer set up with two medium size speakers on the ground by the purple table with her CPU laying between them, while two smaller speakers were attached to the wall above, one at the left and another at the right side. She also had LED lights that went round the four corners of her ceiling.
"Someone to talk too." I shrugged, sitting on her bed and toying with her acoustic guitar.
"God, Darnell! You're like an intrusive thought and since when do I look like your therapist? Look make it quick, I'm kinda busy." She gushed, swinging around on her chair and looking impatient as she gestured to the desktop screen. "Just to be clear you're only getting this chance because of the three point shot you made at the qualifiers."
