CAUGHT OFF GAURD

CAUGHT OFF GUARD: CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

MAIN CHARACTER 👆🏾

KHALIL💕

When I walked in the house and up the stairs Suddenly, Mom's face was inches from mine. She came out of the bathroom in a rush, brush and Comet in gloved hands."Khalil! What are you doing home so... My God! What happened to you?!"

"Uh, nothing, mom. I just wanna go to bed."

"What do you mean, nothing? Did you get in a fight? Are you ok? What happened?" She fired the questions like bullets, boring into my eyes and my eyes weren't ready for them.

"Mom. We'll talk about it later, ok? I just gotta go to sleep right now." I pushed gently past her and angled into my bedroom, shutting the door.

Naturally, she was concerned, and wasn't going to let it rest that easily. She opened the door and came on into my bedroom, where I stood lost in the middle of the vast floor. She touched my shirt as if to see if she could believe her eyes that it was ripped, and inspected my face, to see if I had bruises, I suppose. She pulled off the yellow gloves and sat the Comet and brush down on my desk.

Her tone softened to comforting concern, "Khalil, what happened? Did you and your new friend get in a fight?"I turned away from her and rolled my eyes. I new I had to give her something to go on now, or she wouldn't let it go.

"Yeah. We had a fight, kinda. Don't worry, Mom, it wasn't a fist fight or nothin' like that."

"Then how did your shirt get ripped, and dirt get on the back?"

"Um, I was... Cole... I don't remember how the shirt..." I trailed off, sinking fast. I thought, 'I just can't do this right now, at this moment.' My shoulders felt so heavy.

"Khalil, I want to know what happened. The first time you spend the night-- two nights-- at a friend's house and you come home like this? What happened?" She moved around in front of me and felt my forehead, mainly to get me to look at her.

"It... I can't, Mom." I was on the verge of crying, fighting it with all my might. "I can't."

"Khalil, you'll feel better if you talk about it to me. Remember how we used to talk? We can tell each other anything. Tell me what happened, please."

"I can't talk about it, Mom. I'm sorry. I just can't tell-- I just can't talk about it, ok? I'm sorry."

"About your friend? Khalil, you need to talk about it. I'll understand. Please, Khalil,"
She moved us toward my bed and sat us down, her arm around my shoulder, her hand on my knee.

"What did this boy do to upset you so badly?"

"NOTHING MOM!" I struggled free of her grasp, and laid half on the bed, face down. "Not now, please. I can't talk about it now, I just can't. I'm so tired."

She laid her hand on my arm, gently squeezing, "Ok, Khalil, get some rest. We can talk about it later." She stood up, leaned down and kissed my cheek. I heard her retreat, and the door shutting quietly. I got my shoes off, but didn't even have the energy to get undressed.