Blood Brothers

Prologue

Domonique "Ace" Kalvin Young

December 31st, 2010

"Dom, I'm hungry." Six-year-old Aaliyah whined to her older brother Domonique

Domonique put down his Nintendo 3ds that his mother got him for his 12th birthday this year and gave his little sister his full attention as she stood in the doorway of his room staring at him.

"Make you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich Liyah."

"We ain't got no more bread, or jelly." She quickly shot back

Domonique shook his head; his mother took care of him and his sister by herself with no help from nobody. She didn't graduate high school, so she didn't have a good paying job. She worked at a waffle house not too far from the section 8 apartment that they were staying in and she was making just enough for them to get by.

"Well, fix you some cereal." He thought of the next best thing

"We ain't got no milk Dom!" Aaliyah started to whine calling him by his nickname

Domonique ran his hand over his face before sighing loudly and getting up from his bed.

"Alright girl, calm down." He walked to his room door "Lemme see what I can find" He walks down the hallway with his little sister following right behind him

When he entered the small kitchen, he cut on the lights which took a second to flicker on and opened the refrigerator. Just like Aaliyah said, there was no milk let alone anything else in the fridge except for some week-old spaghetti leftovers and a pack of hot dogs. He opened the freezer to see that it was completely empty.

"Damnit" He cussed silently to himself

He looked through the cabinets and only found one pack of ramen noodles left.

"This will have to do." He said to himself as he pulled out a small pot and filled it with water

"When is mama coming home?" Aaliyah asked him as he put the pot on the stove, so the water could start boiling

"I don't know Liyah, she may be working a double tonight. It is New Year's Eve." Domonique answered

Aaliyah just nodded her head and sat down at the small table that sat in the corner of the kitchen. Domonique decided to cut up two hot dogs and fry them to go with the noodles for Aaliyah.

Within ten minutes the simple meal was finished, and he placed the hot bowl of noodles and hot dogs in front of his sister

"Say grace and eat up." He told her as he sat down in the chair across from her

Aaliyah did as she was told, and Domonique just watched her eat. He was hungry too, but he rather his little sister ate before he did. Domonique was very protective over Aaliyah, he would give his life so that she could live hers. He hated seeing his mother struggle to make ends meet for them, he felt like since he was the man of the house, he should be pulling some type of weight. At least have a job so he could help out with bills or at least put some groceries in the fridge, but who would hire a twelve-year-old?

Domonique's thoughts were interrupted when his mother Gina entered their small 2-bedroom apartment.

"Mommmmy!" Aaliyah yelled in excitement at the sight of her mother

"Hi my babies!" Gina smiled as she took off her coat and threw her purse on the run-down couch that sat in the living room

She walked into the kitchen and gave Aliyah a kiss on the cheek and Domonique a kiss on the forehead