Jhream

~25~

Kyree's POV

Jhream sat on the edge of the bed, crying her eyes out. It was going on 3 am, and the sounds of her sniffles had shot me from my sleep. Since I couldn't make out what she was crying for, I just caressed her arm & tugged her head into my chest.

"I'm sorry I'm being such a fucking punk right now" she giggled. I smiled and shook my head no. "Nah ma, you straight" I replied. I could tell she was starting to gather herself, which meant she could finally tell me what was going on.

"Maybe this boy in my stomach is making me emotional.... But lately I've been feeling a rollercoaster of new emotions.. things that I've bottled up for years" she started.

Both Jhream and I were the "suck it up and never speak on what hurt you" type of people, so it interested me that she somehow got the urge to vent to me.

I didn't say a word. I locked in, focusing and listening to everything she would next say from her mouth.

"When I was born, my mother put me up for adoption. With no trace of her, or no reason as to why she didn't want me.. I was adopted by the people who raised me" she wiped some tears from under her eyes.

"At first, they loved me. They signed me up for every sport through elementary to the beginning of middle school. I had all the new clothes, the only thing I would say my adoptive parents struggled with was my culture. My hair, the way I eventually wanted to dress as my own & that was my downfall"

"Once I became my own person, my African American blood line started to show. No matter how bad they tried to take it from me I had it. I wanted the long weave, I loved rap music, I liked dressing in a certain aesthetic. It was the happiest I had ever been" she smiled through her sentences. I smiled with her, noticing she was so passionate speaking of her younger self.

"Eventually, she started to become crazy. She flipped a switch. They would call me degrading, racist names, make fun of my hair, my style, they even blamed it on my school and began homeschooling me" I raised my eyebrows in shock.

"Once they realized even that didn't work, they started to become abusive. More so verbally, but here and there physically too. Once I reached rock bottom, at the age of 17 they kicked me out" she sighed & rolled her eyes before looking at me.

"And that's where Adonis came in. I loved him....i thought he loved me. I was groomed, I needed love, I needed support, I needed someone to let me be me. & he did it all. Once he got me pregnant and built me up, it's as if he started to tear me down. Brick by brick to make me hate myself, & it worked" her eyes began to water once more & the tears began flowing shortly after.

"I'm not one to question God, but sometimes I wonder why" she sobbed, throwing her face into my chest. Speechless, I understood more than ever why Jhream was once so vulnerable to that man. I've cheated and played a few girls in my time, I can't lie.

But someone as precious as Jhream? I could never.

"don't cry. You've been good since you met me. Am I right?" I asked. She pulled her head from my chest and began to speak 10 times faster than usual.

"Yes because that's why I'm so confused on my emotions. I believe everything happens for a reason. Your family is the only family who hasn't given up on me & now I've started my own" she said. I smiled and nodded my head up and down.