Acrimony: Until Death

Man Down

"You're going to college like all of us have." "Brenda-" "No I'm not. You know I'm not good at this school life. Maybe I'll just settle down and get married. Stand by my man like mama did with daddy," Melinda suggested. Brenda and June shared a questioning look. "Mama stayed by daddy's side, never earning a single dime in her name and now look at what she's doing after daddy's death. Working day and night to take care of this house and you. That is not what you want," Brenda pointed out. "You don't know what I want. I don't even know what I want." Sad to say this but she was right. I didn't want that but I was too young and dumb to realize that.

"Why do you feel that your sisters were right?" Because they were. I remember the talk I had with my mom that night. We were so close. So damn close. Later that night Melinda knocked on her mother's door, peeking her head inside to see if she was still awake. "What you doing girl?" Beverly questioned, putting her notebook down. "Nothing. I just wanted to talk to you about something." Beverly waved her over laughing at Melinda bouncing onto the bed. "Do you regret not having your own career?" Melinda blurted out. Looking down at her daughter, Beverly thought about the question. "No. I didn't regret it because I had your father. Who was loving and kind. He was a hard worker. Not everyone is lucky enough to be able to stay home without worrying."

Melinda sighed as she laid in her mother's lap. "Why do you ask?" "I told Brenda that it's okay if I wanted to just be a house wife. I don't know why she gets so upset about me not choosing college off the bat." Beverly chuckled to herself. Her girls were always trying to control Mel's life. "I been trying to get your sister to understand that the only life she needs to worry about is her own for years. But I also don't want you to settle. There's a whole world out here and you should take the opportunity to explore it. College could be the way for you to do that. If not then that's okay too baby." She massaged Mel's scalp, seeing her relax. "But since we're talking about settling, what's this I hear about a boyfriend of yours?"

"Ma!" "Mmhmm don't be trynna hide now. Your sisters run they mouth too much for you to be hiding a boyfriend. And I'm hurt. I thought you would've told me before they got a chance to." Melinda buried her face in the comforter, hiding her embarrassment. "Am I in trouble?" She asked in a muffled voice. "If you don't bring this boy to meet me then you are. I need to make sure my baby is safe out here. It's some crazy people in the world. There's some abusive people in this world too not just physically either. Invite him for dinner. Then I'll determine what punishment you get." Mel picked up her head, saying yes ma'am before giving her mother a kiss goodnight.

"Do you feel that your relationship with your mother plays a role in your relationship with Robert?" The therapist interrupted. "You wanted to know about my life from the first time I met Robert. Of course my relationship with my mama plays a role in that. She was everything to me. She was the reason I was ready to be a helpful, at home wife. I looked up to her. I realized that as the school year progressed," Mel zoned out. "So tell me about the next time you had an encounter with Robert." Sighing, Melinda thought back to the following week in class. "I ignored him and sat next to Derrick for the rest of the week out of respect for Devon. But the way he grabbed my attention that next Monday......."

She walked into class spotting a card on her desk with her name on it. She looked at Derrick who was frantically writing down some random thoughts he had about the lesson from the class before. "Did you leave this on my desk?" She asked him as she sat down. Derrick looked at her with soft eyes and shook his head. "Does Derrick hold some type of significance to you?" Derrick is the man that I was with when Robert decided to destroy my entire life. Robert had always been jealous of Derrick. Even back then. "Hmmm maybe Devon snuck in here....." she voiced as she began to read the note. Derrick watched on silently, his hazel green eyes sparkling as he drank in her smooth mocha skin.

Dearest Melinda, I apologize for the terrible first impression. I confess that my social skills are not the best. I won't bore you with the stories of my life but just know that I'll never come at you that way ever again. Please forgive me,

Robert V. Gayle

You wanna know the crazy part about this encounter. I didn't even see him. He didn't come back into class before or after the bell rang. Probably found some hussy to suck his little weedwacker. But my dumb self didn't think that. I don't know why but I felt like he needed some help. What kind of help? I'm not sure. But I thought about him periodically. "Even with a boyfriend?" What can I say? I was drawn to his danger. His fire was addicting, no matter how deadly it was. When you're in denial about someone being crazy, you tend to develop a hint of crazy your own self. Wouldn't you say so?

TBC
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