After a shower, the two girls sat on the twin sized bed they shared in their bedroom, watching an episode of Tom & Jerry on the small 20' inch TV. They both sat against the wall with Iris' head resting on Cilia's shoulder. They were quiet as they watched the cat chase the mouse through the kitchen on the TV screen. Both girls were glad they made it home before their foster mother Ms. Pat got there. If she knew they were outside she would have locked the door and made them sleep outside like she always did.
"Cil," Iris said raising her head to look at her sister.
"Huh?" Cilia answered subconsciously, staring at the screen like she hadn't seen the same episode over twenty times.
"Are you okay?"
Cilia stared at the screen with her mouth hung open. It took her a few seconds to turn away from the screen, but when she did she furrowed her eyebrows with a questioning look on her face as she stared at her sister. "Yeah what do you mean?"
"I mean about the park thing. The fight with that boy and the argument you had with that other boy."
"Yeah Iris I'm fine. Why you keep asking me that. I don't care about that little fat ugly polar bear looking nigga. Or that other ugly one with the braids either, he lucky I didn't smack him." Cilia sassed.
Iris gave her sister a small smile. "Okay the boy that fought for us is not ugly. Don't lie."
Cilia looked her sister up and down. "I'm not lying. That boy look like an empty soda can."
Iris giggled, putting a hand over her mouth. "What? How can somebody look like an empty soda can?"
Before Cilia could say something the front door in the living room opened signaling someone was home. Both girls looked at each other, their hearts skipping a beat at the same time.
"Who do you think it is?" Iris whispered, wide eyed.
Cilia narrowed her eyes, staring at the ground as she listened to the person drop their keys on the small table out front as heavy footsteps sounded throughout the apartment. She looked at Iris after eight seconds. "It's Tom." She said. His footsteps were heavy and kind of vibrated the place a little so she recognized when it was him or Ms. Pat that came in.
Iris instantly frowned, bringing her knees to her chest.
Cilia hated to see her sister get sad like this. She leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, rubbing her back. "C'mon don't cry, it's okay. He probably brought us dinner, so you know the drill right."
Iris nodded her head.
"Okay, make sure your clothes are off before I get back to the room so it's faster for us to switch okay?"
Iris nodded again but said nothing.
As if on cue their room door opened and Tom, the boyfriend to their foster mother Ms. Pat stood in the doorway of their room. He tossed a brown bag onto the bed that had french fries in it. "Who's up first?" He asked.
Cilia got off the bed and walked out the room. Tom looked at Iris who kept her head straight on the TV. "You up next lil' bitch."
The door slammed behind him causing Iris to jump. Sadly, she took the bag of small fries and began to eat her portion of dinner. Almost two minutes later she could hear the bed from next door knocking against the wall. Iris's lips trembled and tears cascaded down her cheeks. Her sister went through this almost everyday. Tom had been raping her since she was nine.
It was suppose to be both of them, since Tom always took Cilia first and then came for Iris. But he never knew Cilia would rush back to their bedroom and put her clothes on, so Tom would think she was her, never knowing it was the same girl.
The headboard banged against the wall constantly and all Iris could do was try to ignore it and stuff her hungry mouth with semi-cold fries. She thought about that boy from the park and what he would do if he was here. Iris thought about the way he beat Marvin up and knew he would do the same to help them again.
Six minutes later the bedroom swung open showing Cilia who's clothes were tattered on her body and hair wild all over her head. Cilia closed the door back, quickly motioning Iris off the bed. Iris got off the bed and quickly stripped down to her underwear, handing Cilia her clothes while taking Cilia's clothes. When both girls successfully switched into the other's outfit, Iris then pulled the rubber band out of her own hair and tried to make it messy like Cilia's and Cilia fixed her hair up as neatly as she could so it would look like Iris.
On cue the door busted open and Tom stood there. His eyes scanned the two girls for a second and he motioned to the one with the pink dress on. The one with the pink dress he assumed he hadn't touched yet.
"Let's go." Tom said to the little girl, unaware it was still Cilia. The girls made eye contact and Cilia followed out the door behind Tom, as it slammed behind him again for a second time.
•••
Allele listened to everyone in the basement screaming as he and De'marcus faced off. Allele was scared to fight him. They called him "Wolf" and he knew it wasn't just to name him that. Allele saw De'marcus fight before and he was no joke. His own name was the Terminator but he had no confidence in it right now. Just staring at De'marcus he could see the eyes of a wolf, forreal. This kid held no fear in his heart and looked like he'd been doing this all his life.
Allele gulped, trying to get rid of the gulf sized lump in his throat that went nowhere. De'marcus just stood there, as stiff as a board, watching him like a Hawk. His confidence was scaring Allele. There was hardly anyone he was scared to fight but Wolf had a resume that was deadly. Allele heard of him breaking arms, legs, noses, and even killing a boy once.
"Ya'll get ready!" The landlord, Carlton Greene said, snapping Allele out of his thoughts. Allele nervously got in his fighting stance while De'marcus still stood there, never even flinching.
Since he was six, Allele's mother Tamika had been forcing him into illegal child fights. It was just like illegal dog fighting but with underaged kids. Kids who usually aged from ages as early as five to sixteen. They were trained to fist fight each other and money would be placed on them. The fights were always set up in secluded areas to keep it secret. It was basically like an organization. This fight was happening in the basement floor of his apartment building.
The fights worked based on the kids fighting background. Depending on how many people the kid fought, who they fought or how many fights they won, determined their status. Since Allele had fought fifty-six people over the years and won majority of his fights, he was a top tier. Which is why he was placed with other kids of his caliber. De'marcus was also the same way, he was a beast and had to be paired with someone who would be a good fight. A lot of money was riding on this fight and both boys knew they couldn't lose.
"Three...two...one...fight!" Carlton roared.
Like a Cheetah Allele pounced on De'marcus. He grabbed his head trying to get him into a headlock. De'marcus just as quick as him, easily slipped out and threw a punch at Allele that drew blood from his nose with the first punch.
The adults went crazy. Allele could hear his mom in the background, cursing him out. Before Allele could regroup De'marcus came in swinging causing Allele to quickly put his hands up to block his face. He knew if he made it out of this alive his arms were going to be fucked up for a few days.
"Come on Terminator, whoop his ass!"
"Ooooo dat lil' nigga savage!"
"Wolf don't play no games!"
Both boys could hear people cheering the other on and cheering them on. Allele looked into the boy's eyes and as light brown as they were, they were dead. He couldn't figure out why this wasn't bothering him. Allele had been doing this for four years, but he could never get use to this. Beating somebody until they couldn't move or their face was disfigured. It wasn't him.
Allele ducked De'marcus last punch and threw a body shot straight to his stomach. Without wasting time, Allele picked him up around the legs and slammed him on the hard, concrete ground of the basement.
"Oooooo!" Everyone went off in unison.
"That's what the fuck I'm talking about!"
De'marcus was just a little bigger than Allele, by only five pounds or so. But Allele's hits were just as hard and they held the same speed which is what made them good matches for each other. Allele rained punches down on De'marcus' face like it was second nature. He hated doing this but money was riding on this and it was either he won, or Tamika killed him.
"Get him baby!" Tamika screamed.
Tamika was a young mother who was on welfare by the government. The father of her child, Tevin, was never around. The money he would occasionally drop off every once a year he decided to show his face wasn't enough. Tamika never wanted this for her son, but she got desperate around the time Allele turned six. She heard about these fights were kids were forced to fight each other and people would bet money on them. Tamika didn't want to do it at all, but she was desperate so she had too. So she got him into it when he was six, and it started off with one fight, slowly followed by another, and then another. After a while it just became regular and Tamika got over it. She was glad she did because Allele earned her thousands of dollars over the years. And this one was a $500 dollar fight where twenty people were betting on Wolf. So if her son beat Wolf. She got to collect $10,000 dollars. These fights literally made people hood rich.
Still on top of him, Allele caught De'marcus in the face good but he wasn't bleeding. Wolf was known not to bleed easily. It's what contributed to his name.
"That's my baby! That's right Al!" Tamika shouted.
Hearing the chants for Allele angered De'marcus. Allele was suddenly flipped over, putting De'marcus on top. Allele usually came out unscathed in these fights, especially since sometimes he would end up fighting a kid he fought before, so he would know their moves; but he never fought De'marcus and it was obvious this kid was another story.
De'marcus got up and started stomping Allele.
"Oh shit!" The landlord screamed, jumping up and down in excitement.
Allele balled up as tears came to his eyes. He could feel his skin breaking on contact. The material under De'marcus' boot were rough and his stomps were heavy. Allele's life literally flashed before his eyes. He knew he was about to pass out. Then he thought about Tamika. If he ended up in the hospital, he knew she wouldn't care. It was about her money and if he made her lose her money, she'd make sure he was in the hospital way longer than he needed to be.
De'marcus brought his foot up getting ready to stomp on Allele again, but Allele grabbed his ankle and yanked it making De'marcus fall on his back. De'marcus hopped up with a quickness, sensing he was about to be pounced on. He swung and Allele dodged, with adrenaline coursing through his veins, the ten year old stooped down just a little bit and picked up his eleven year old opponent, his entire body in the air. With his hands wrapped around De'marcus waist, Allele jumped up and slamming him down.
De'marcus landed on his head followed by a 'pop.' The entire basement was silent. It felt like the world had stopped. But that moment was quickly over when someone whispered harshly.
"Oh shit he dead! He dead!"
Allele looked down and saw De'marcus laying there with his neck bent back in an awkward position. Even his hands were positioned weirdly, almost like they were still holding onto him before he got slammed. His eyes were still open and his face looked like he was in pain.
Immediately the adults began to run around, panicking. Arguing with each other to shut up while others ran around trying to figure out what to do.
"Oh my God my baby!"
Allele looked to see a woman around his mother's age rush over to the boy who was now bent like a pretzel. She screamed and cried, rocking a dead De'marcus in her arms. Allele's eyes teared up, he was so shocked all he could do was stare. He just killed a boy...
"Somebody shut that bitch up!" One of the men in the basement hissed. Everyone crowded around De'marcus' mother Brandy, trying to get her to shut up.
Allele was wondering why they couldn't just let her cry. It wasn't like they would be found out by anybody. Ninety five percent of the building had a part in this illegal kids fighting thing, so of course none of them could actually snitch.
Tamika snatched Allele with a big cheesy grin on her face. She rubbed her hands together, smiling down at her son. "You won the fight baby. Ha ha! Lil' boy couldn't take the Terminator could he?" She whispered, allowing the ignorance to seep out her mouth.
Allele knew his reputation was about to soar. Not only did he beat Wolf—he killed him. Now he was about to get put higher on the list and fight even tougher people, but none of that mattered to him. He was numb right now.
Allele looked away from his mother and back at scene. He watched Brandy crying and holding onto De'marcus while one of the men threw a raggedy looking blue towel over him while the others tried dragging Brandy away from his body. Allele could feel the blood flowing to his head. It was like he could see everything but he couldn't hear anymore. It was now sinking in. I killed a boy. He thought.
Allele watched the landlord Carlton, holding open a big heavy duty black garbage bag as two of the men picked De'marcus up and threw him in the bag like trash. Allele instantly began crying feeling terrible for what he did. His chest felt heavy. He covered his mouth with one of his hands and used the other to hug his mother's leg for support. He hated himself and he hated these stupid fights.
Tamika popped Allele in the back of the head so hard he fell forward on his knees. Still crying, he held the back of his head and looked up at her with a tear stained face. Tamika stared back down with disgust. "Boy shut the fuck up! Always tryna play the victim with your lil' ugly ass! You won the fight so what the fuck are you crying about? You ain't the dead one are you? So shut up!" Tamika hissed.
Allele had to put a hand over his mouth in order to keep himself quiet. He forced himself to turn away from the scene, closing his eyes shut.
All he wanted to do was go back upstairs to his apartment. He opened his eyes and caught eye contact with a boy. The boy was around the same age as him. He was a skinny brown skin kid with a head full of curls. Allele saw him around his building a few times. It was De'marcus' little brother. The boy stood there staring at him with tears in his eyes.
Allele's heart wrenched. He just killed this boy's brother. Both of them stood there, staring but not saying anything. The amount of hurt Allele saw in his eyes killed him. His lips trembled and tears raced down his cheeks. Before he could even utter a 'sorry' his mother Tamika grabbed his arm and began to rush him out.
"Come on we gotta go! Lokie coming over later and I have to get ready." She said. She turned around to everyone else in the basement, "And all of ya'll, I expect my damn money later! From all of ya'll who betted against my baby saying he would lose! We all live in the same building so I'll track all ya'll asses down!"
"Bitch shut the fuck up!" Brandy screeched, being consoled by another woman. "I just lost my son! Who cares about your money!"
"Girl please, fuck you and your son." Tamika said, dragging Allele along. "Just make sure you have my money too."