𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐑

01'

Don't Be A Ghost Reader

Chicago, IL

Teyanna Crystal Wilmore

Here I am , at a place i thought i'd never be , for my bestfriend for my other half , my brother Tyreek.

He was taken from Us at 18, shot and killed. The hardest part was knowing that in a month, I should have been sending him off to college instead of seeing him in a casket. I had been so excited to see him achieve his goals

most stories end with someone important dying; crazy that's exactly how ours started.

"Tryna' take a walk?" My older cousin Ja'shawn asked, a knowing grin on his face, hinting at the fact we weren't going to just be walking

i turn my attention from a childhood photo that portrayed me and my brother at our purest , to Ja'shawn

Tall and muscular at around 6'3, with a red hoodie bearing the phrase "trust no one" his black dreads were pulled into a high ponytail. His arms bore a full sleeve of tattoos that connected to his chest aswell.

i didn't really have friends for real besides my brother and my cousin. all three of us used to chill together everyday.

"uhh.." I hesitated as I looked behind him to see three other people seeming to be waiting on him. one boy had on a hat making it hard to see his face , he stayed on his phone not looking at anyone.

as soon as i looked at the other boy he put a goofy grin on his face , i furrowed my eyebrows slowly looking away from him.

then there was kasani right next to him , i've always seen her around at family events but , I honestly don't think we're really related. i found her really pretty we just never spoke.

"aight' i guess." i shrugged putting my hands into one of my brother's old hoodies, pocket then following behind the group of people

"surprised to see you ain't actin' antisocial." Ja'shawn joked but i only shrugged in response

we all began walking down a familiar street, me and my people had so many memorable moments from over here when we were younger , i guess that's why my dad picked this church to hold the funeral.

"people be weird , ion' see why i gotta talk to anybody" i replied giving him a late response as i watch the guy with the hat in front of us, light up the blunt taking a puff

after awhile we ended up walking to a nearby park and sitting on some of the playground equipment while the rotation of the blunt continued

i put my hood on and popped in my headphones , i wasn't going to listen to no music for real. it's just a way of telling niggas Ian' here to talk and won't talk.
it always worked like a charm but not when..

"Hey, Teyanna.." Ja'Shawn see's right through it. I reluctantly lift my head, waiting for him to continue.

he hands me the blunt before speaking "I'm sorry man , I cant even imagine what you going through right now." I quickly look away from him signaling i was no longer listening

One thing i hated from all this was the sorry looks and sorrow from others. I didn't need no pity parties. "i'm cool" i assured him

"I love you, Tey" it felt so strange hearing that come out his mouth. it's not like i thought he was lying, it was just one of those things that was known but was kept unsaid

"you being weird javo" i deflected as i passed the blunt to kasani.

he let out a breathy chuckle and shook his head "Man , i ain't never tell tyreek i loved him cause i thought that shit was lowkey gay. Now I regret every little dumbass fight we had" he looked to the sky as if inviting my brother to the conversation

"One time it got so bad , we went a month without talking. guess how we made up? This nigga texted me 'I know your ass ain't on 2K without me'" he chuckles looking back down at his shoes "shit was stupid." he recalled with a sigh

I felt a little bad about not saying it back now "I love you too bro"

Ja'shawn gave me a playful slap on the back of my head, laughing, "Your ass weird"

"nigga you started it , don't do that." i chuckled slapping his neck in return

"here shorty." i felt a tap on my back
i was a little confused at first because my cousin was the one passing me the blunt meaning the rotation had changed

i turn around to face them , it was the boy with the hat. i furrowed my eyebrows in confusion "he said he done" he explained

his eyes finally met mine letting me get a clear view of his face , boy was he fine.

i look over to the boy he said was done smoking. he was layed out staring at the sky. definitely high as hell. i turned back to the guy grabbing the blunt. I watched as his eyes went from mine and slowly traveled down my body and back to my eyes again.
i slightly shivered at the sight and looked away.

we were probably looking at eachother for a long time, which i assume Ja'shawn noticed cause he coughed and said "you gon' hit that or.."

i chuckled and nodded, knowing that Ja'shawn was known for always wanting to smoke and often out-smoking everyone around. He'd probably claim to be sober in 30 minutes and ready to smoke again while we were all checked out.

"You so ready to smoke everybody shit up." kasani said laughing getting a chuckle out of me

"on god." the boy said as he adjusted his hat on his head so his face was no longer visible

I watched as javo looked him up and down with a frown on his face "kee yo ass want to be mysterious so bad" he slapped his hat off his head causing it to hit the other boy in his face

"gahh damnnn the fuck going on mannn." the boy flipped his dreads out of his face probably waking up from a nap

"javo ass play too much foe." kee said grabbing his hat putting it back on his head

"y'all so slow.." kasani said looking over gaining a smile from me

after we finished the blunt we headed back to the funeral to see everyone already packing up getting ready to leave

javo decided to just host a slight hangout at his house after the funeral
I thought it could've been due to the fact he didn't want me alone in my room because he knew how my thoughts effected me since tyreek died , i appreciated it either way.

Me and the boy who got hit with the hat caught a ride with javo , where as kasani and kee found their own way

"Turn this bitch up!" the boy turned up the music to a blasting volume and began bouncing around in his seat causing the car to slightly move

Javo quickly turn down the music and bucked his head at him "Quintrell im finna slap the shit out yo goofy ass." Javo said turning back to the road

I chuckled as Quintrell slumped back down into the seat "the government is insane." he mumbled , he then turned around to face me

"yoo, what's your name?" he said propping his elbow up on the rest between him and javo putting his head on his hands

Javo pushed his elbow causing his head to jerk forward , he then mugged javo as javo smiled to himself

"I'm teyanna , i go by yanna though." i tell him and he nods

"Type shit, you know my name already" he says side eyeing javo "Call me Q though." i nod sending him a slight smile

"aye hollon shorty , who car that is."
we all look to see a all black hellcat with tinted windows

"The fuck..?"