And when Q and Noah met up, it was going to be a brawl.
Since Noah told me about his disease, I decided to stay behind while Kathy went on home. It wasn't permanent that I was staying in Cali, but I wanted to make sure that everyone was alright. So while I stayed in the rental home that Q and the others purchased for me a month back, Q picked up me, Stacey, Carlos, and Isaiah and headed down the block. When we asked him where we were going, he told us that it was a surprise.
Next thing you know, we seen a gang of niggas waiting in an alley.
"Da hell?" Stacey said, scrunching his eyebrows and drawing his gun.
"Nah nah nah, Stace. Cool out." Q said, putting his hand out. "They here fo' us."
"To do what, nigga?" Carlos asked, drawing his gun too. "Kill us."
"Get y'all scary asses out of the car." Q barked as he slid the door open, jumping out of the van.
As we got out, I watched Isaiah and the others smile and give everyone on the side handshakes. Me on the other hand, I had no clue who these people were. I wasn't "Schaefer bound", so I was like the 5th wheel. Suddenly, we heard a car screech into the alley. Q grinned at the car and balled up his fists, waiting for the person to step out.
It was Noah.
He had on some black jeans along with a black hoodie that covered his wig on his head. Noah placed his hands in his pockets, pacing up to Q.
"Oh hoh hoh? Well well well!" Q smiled. "You actually showed up?"
Out of the blue, Noah snatched his left hand out of his pocket and punched Q in the face, watching him stumble and fall back onto the ground.
"What the hell?" Isaiah gasped as everyone around him chanted 'ooohhh'.
"Come on! Get the fuck up!" Noah barked. "I thought that you wanted to fight?"
"Noah Noah Noah!" Isaiah scoffed as he grabbed his shoulders and snatched him to the side. "What the hell is you doin'?"
"Fighting, that's what I'm doing." Noah growled. "I'm sick of these Schaefer niggas thinking that they can punk me out. It ain't gonna work."
"Noah, you can't fight for shit!" Isaiah chuckled. "Q is gonna hand you yo' own balls!"
"We'll see." Noah growled as he made his way back over to him.
"Wait wait wait, man!" A big husky man said, placing his hand out in front of Noah.
The fat man plugged his iPod into the small speakers he brought with him and plugged into the local alley plug. He pressed play and let the music ride out in the background. What song was it?
Oh Boy - Eastside Chedda Boys. It was a famous local song in Detroit.
"Can't start the fight without a lil background music." The fat man smiled as everyone stood aside. "Go 'head."
As the chorus started to ride in, Q balled up his fists and struck Noah in his nose. As Noah stepped back and leaned to the side, Q punched him again and watched him fall onto the ground. As everyone ran over to them, Q straddled him and kept on punching Noah in the face. As Noah grabbed onto his shirt, Q grabbed his wrist with his right hand and punched Noah two more times with his left. As Noah lay dazed on the ground, Q glanced at his wrist.
There, he could see that Noah carved the word 'alone' in the small part of his arm.
"Oh everybody look!" Q smiled as he raised Noah's arm up. "The boy cuts himself. Daaaawwww!"
As everyone on the block started laughing, Isaiah barked something out loud. Me or Isaiah had no clue that Noah cut himself after all.
"Ayo Q cut it out!" Isaiah barked. "You doin' too much personal shit..."
"N-noh..." Noah whispered, dizzy as blood from his nose dripped onto his lips. "I got it Isaiah...."
"Oh do you?" Q laughed, smiling in his face.
Eyes half open, Noah spat some of the blood that was in his mouth into Q's face. Outraged, Q lifted him up by his collar and slammed his face into the wheel of the car. At that point, Isaiah ran in and snatched Q off of Noah.
"Cut that shit out, Q!" Isaiah snapped. "You gone kill him!"
"I'm done anyway." Q laughed as he got off of Noah. "Let's bail."
As everyone started to leave, Noah managed to creak his eyes open. Dizzy and damn near unconscious, me and Isaiah rushed to his side to clean him up.
"Are you alright, cousin?" I asked.
Then, Q chanted one thing that made Noah furious.
"You gone learn to stop putting yo' hands on Asha you punk ass trick!" Q barked. "That's my woman now!"
"Let's go get that health kit out the van, bruh." Isaiah sighed as we got up.
Noah wiped the blood off of his nose, struggling onto his feet. As he gave Q a possessive and very dark look, he stormed behind Q, grabbed his collar, then threw him against the wall. Noah clenched his fists as right as he could and started punching him in his face over and over. Isaiah rushed back over to him and tried to snatch Noah off of him, but Noah was pissed. This was his perfect time to release any anger he had built up inside of him. As Noah started to throw his 4th blow, Q grabbed his fists and kneed Noah in his nuts.
This was the most painful spot because that's where his cancer was.
The wind was knocked out of Noah's lungs as he crouched down, holding his nuts and his stomach. As Noah gasped for as much air as he could get, Q grabbed his collar and punched him in his face again, knocking him down onto the ground.
"You tried to sneak me foo'!" Q scoffed, spitting his blood out. "Try again!"
Noah got up and wrapped his arms around his waist, pulling Q over and knocking him down onto the ground. Noah punched him over, and over, and over, and over. Noah was punching him so hard to the point where we seen blood forming on the knuckles of his hands.
At this point, we all decided that we needed to stop.
"Aye aye aye y'all cool out cool out!" Carlos chanted as we all broke them apart. "Break it up! Break it up!"
As we tugged Noah away, Q tried to lift up when Noah kicked him in his face, knocking him back down. Noah spit his blood out onto the cement and stumbled around, preparing to walk back to his car. Suddenly, Noah jolted forward and started coughing up a tremendous amount of blood combined with a mix of throw up.
The kick to the balls was what really done it to him.
"Noah. Noah!" Asha called out, running from around the corner. "What the hell is going o-"
"You think you fuckin...."
Noah stopped talking, stumbling to the side of the van and clutching his stomach. Noah knew that he had cancer, so he knew that he wasn't supposed to be fighting. He coughed up some more pink blood, unable to breath for a few seconds. Tears of pain fell out of his eyes as he looked up, giving Asha an evil look.
"You think you fuckin' slick sending Q over to......fight me...?" Noah strained.
"What are you talking about?"
"So Q's your man now, huh?!" Noah yelled at Asha, startling her.
Asha thought that Noah was referring to the kiss she gave him, so that's what she figured what was going on.
"Noah, I....."
"You're getting the hell out of my house." Noah coughed. "Tonight."
Asha's eyes widened, giving him a shocked look.
"So that's what you're gonna do? Just kick me and Lily off into the fucking streets-"
"I didn't say Lily, I said you!" Noah growled as more blood trickled out of the corner of his mouth. "You're getting the fuck out!"
"Lily is not staying with you!" Asha barked. "She's going wherever I go!"
"So you're willing to take Lily out in the streets with you?"
Asha started to tear up, waiting for Noah to show the slightest sign that he cared. She didn't see a single look in his eyes that he did.
"Exactly." Noah growled as he got into his car. "Get your shit out or I will."
Wow. Everything was unfolding and everything was going horrible. It seemed like everybody was tearing apart in their own way. Me with Kathy, Noah with his battle with cancer, Asha with her relationships, and Isaiah with his inner self.
Maybe I should've left like I planned.
The next day, Noah doctored himself up and got prepared to take another shift at the hospital. He already started his medicine, so he was getting ready to start chemo in a few days. There were bruises all over his face and there were cuts on his nose, but he managed to cover a little bit of it up with makeup. When he arrived into the room, he seen the same man that he laughed at who had prostate cancer.
"I remember you." Noah said, cracking a small smile. "Hello."
"Hi." The man said in an agitated tone.
As Noah sat down, he listened to everything the man had to say. This time, he was all ears.
"Well uh.......the cancer seems to be going away." The man groaned. "It seems like the medicine is doing well, but I'm not surely confident about it yet."
"Well why not?"
"I still can't perform for my wife."
Noah gave him a serious look, watching the man look away.
"I know, man." The man groaned. "Go ahead and laugh. I know you want to....."
Noah stared blankly at the man, then removed his wig and hat. The mans eyes widened as Noah cracked a small smile.
"Tada." Noah snickered.
"Wha.........what happened to your hair?" The man gasped. "It used to be all silky and brown?"
Noah sighed, placing his wig back on.
"I have prostate cancer as well." Noah sighed. "I just found out 2 weeks ago."
The man listened to Noah as Noah teared up, placing his hand in a prayer sign and leaning forward.
"I guess this is God's way of Karma." Noah nodded. "I don't know......"
As tears ran down Noah's eyes, he leaned up and looked back up at the man.
"This, is the scariest obstacle of my life. I've never been put in a situation where I'm waiting to die. I had to get rid of my best feature for my survival." Noah said in a shaky tone. "I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. I wouldn't wish it on anyone."
"Hey man. It's alright." The man said, rubbing his shoulder. "Gods grace can get us through anything."
"I just wanted to apologize for the way I laughed at and disrespected you. I don't know why you didn't punch me in the face for it but.....this ain't no laughing matter." Noah said, shaking his head. "This isn't something that I should be laughing about. This shit is terrifying. It's scary."
"I accept your apology." The man smiled. "It's very sincere."
As the man handed Noah some tissues, he turned away and glanced out of the window.
"What's the survival rate for cancer in your family since it can only be carried through genes?" The man asked.
Noah paused, staring off into space.
"Out of all of the people in my family who had cancer, no one survived it." Noah nodded. "That's what's the most terrifying."
"Hey, if you expect the worst, that's what's gonna happen." The man nodded. "You gotta have faith. That's all you need."
After working his shift, Noah headed back home to Lily. Since Tracy was off work, he decided to ask her to watch her until his shift was over. When he arrived, he seen Lily sprawled out on his couch, asleep. Noah shook his head, looking at Tracy.
"She's always awake early then she's asleep." Noah sighed.
"Well she ate a good garlic bread, ravioli, apples, and kool-aid dinner." Tracy smiled. "She should be set."
Noah smiled at Tracy, taking off his wig.
"Thanks, Trace." Noah nodded. "You're the only friend that's here for me as of now."
Tracy gave Noah a hug, then headed out the door. After Tracy left, Noah sat down on the couch. He noticed that a lot of Asha's things were gone, so he knew that she left. Wondering if she was alright, he decided to call and check up on her.
"Hello?" Asha answered.
"Hey Ash."
"The fuck do you want?" Asha growled. "You kicked me to the fucking curb!"
"I just wanted to make sure that you were somewhere safe." Noah sighed. "That's all."
"She over Q house you punk ass nigga!"
That was Stacey in the background. I was there. I shook my head as we all sat in Q's living room.
"Come on, Stace." I sighed, placing my hand on his shoulder.
"The fuck you callin' her fo'?" Q laughed as he leaned into the phone. "She on our turf now like she been the first time!"
"Ccuuuuutttttterrrrrrrrr." Carlos chanted in the back.
"Oh he is a cutter, ain't he?" Stacey laughed. "Cuuuuttttteerrrrrrrrr."
"Aye y'all cool out, bruh." Isaiah groaned.
"Cuuuutttttttteeeeerrrrrrrrrrrr!" Everyone, including Asha chanted.
"Cuuuuuttttteeeeeerrrrrrrrrr!"
"Cuuuuutttteeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrr!"
"Cuuuuutttteeeeerrrrrrrrrrrr!"
Noah listened with his mouth opened as everyone made fun of him for being a cutter. Asha laughed and hung up on him, leaving him to sit there. Noah was embarrassed. He was at his wits end. Noah got up and slumped upstairs, looking for anything he could use as a rope. He used a belt from his drawer, tying it to the hook at the top of the door. He scooted a stool behind it as he hung onto the handmade noose he made. As he placed his head through, Lily walked up the stairs and looked up at Noah, smiling.
"Daddy, wats dat?" Lily asked, pointing at the noose.
Noah froze, staring off into space.
"She called me daddy......" He thought.
Meanwhile, everyone at the house was laughing at the fact that they'd humiliated Noah. Me and Isaiah shook our heads, ignoring their ignorant behavior. Q laughed and placed his arm around Asha, cutting on the TV.
"He ain't gone hurt you again, Ash." Q smiled. "Let me cut on this TV."
"Haha. He said "cut" on the TV." Stacey snickered.
As they all started laughing, I realized that I was getting more pissed than ever. At this point, I couldn't hold it in anymore.
"Noah has cancer, assholes!" I barked.
I watched everyone's laughs and smiles flush all down their faces once I said that. Everyone's faces went blank as Isaiah gave me a shocked look, lifting up.
"My brother got........cancer?" Isaiah gasped.
"Are you.....serious?" Asha gasped.
"Y'all would know if y'all wasn't busy making fun of his bald spot." I barked again, storming out of my seat and barging out the door. "So yeah, let that soak in."
I knew that I wasn't supposed to say anything, but they were really pissing me off. I'm not saying that Noah was innocent, but it seemed like nobody wanted to hear him out for anything. And the fact that Isaiah were still hanging with these cats after what they were doing to him pissed me off even more.
I just hope that Noah would forgive me for letting out his secret.