forever and always♥

Forgiving but Not Forgetting

Maliyah sighed into the receiver. "Are you sure you haven't heard from him?" She asked Marcus's sister Marcyelle.

"Positive," the woman replied. "What have you done to him now?"

"Hey now! I didn't do anything. We got into this stupid fight -six weeks ago mind you- and he's barely been home since. When he's here, he's gone before I'm awake or if I wake up and he's there, he mysteriously disappears before I can even get a word out."

"Well what was the fight about?" Marcyelle wondered. She wanted to help get to the bottom of the problem her half brother was having with one of her best friends.

"It was probably about kids again Marcy, you know he wants her to settle down with him," Jakarta added in. She'd grown up being the only true friend Maliyah was allowed to have, Marcus only agreeing because his main best friend practically grown up like his brother, Joshua was her husband and they'd had a similar story to his with Maliyah.

Maliyah sighed, retelling them of the events that occurred. "I didn't expect him to hold it against me for so long! We've had this fight before. It's like he's dropped off the face of the earth just to be away from me."

"Where all have you looked for him?" Marcyelle wondered.

"You've gotta look at it from the 'where's the last place he'd be' perspective," Jakarta added.

Maliyah sat for a second thinking aloud about all the places he'd go, just to get away. She knew he couldn't have been getting much sleep, he was probably extremely snappy, and he was going to flip once he found out his mother was out of rehab again.

"His mom, she wants to stay here for a while and I just want to make sure he's okay with it. I've left messages, called, texted. I just want him back."

"Don't cry over it," Jakarta told her as she began sobbing.

"I can't help it," Maliyah sighed in despair. "I'm already overly emotional about him; lately it's like it's gotten worse. I don't want him to hate me."

"Have you been up and down like a roller coaster?" Marcyelle asked.

"Yeah?"

"Experiencing fatigue? I've noticed you keep yawning," Jakarta added.

"These last few days, all I do is sleep," Maliyah said annoyed. Almost as if on cue, she yawned again.

"Weirdly curved appetite?" Marcyelle asked.

"I'm sure that's due to my stress."

"Nausea?" Jakarta asked knowingly.

"Every once and a while. What the hell is with the questions?"

"Looks like Marcus isn't gonna hate you much longer," they both mumbled.

A scream sounded through the house. "Shit, I'll call you back." She hung up before they could reply and rushed into the living room. Shanialey was tugging against Anita's hold on her arm. "Miss Anita! What the hell you doing?! Let her go."

"Momma, please help me!" Shanialey was crying, face red and fear in her eyes.

Maliyah forced her to let go, the grip she had on the older woman's wrist becoming too tight. "Let me go! That's my daughter and she gonna listen to me! Get over here Shania!!"

"Look, ion know how you got in my house, but you need to leave. You're not going to come in here tryin' to control and hurt my children. She's been fine without you, they all have so don't come in here like you run shit because this isn't your show," Maliyah told her calmly.