"Don't leave me," Constance whined, as I got out of the bed to use the bathroom.
"You so damn spoiled." I kissed her forehead, before walking into the bathroom to do my business and washed my hands. I headed back into the room to stare at Constance who was looking at me with tons of admiration.
She reminded me of a cartoon. Ponytails, Penny Proud with the big head and droopy eyes. Her multiple moles and freckles was adorable, her body was bangin' and she still kept up with herself. I liked everything about her, from her pointy lips to her small nose and her eyes. I couldn't believe she was my girlfriend, unbelievable.
"What you want to do now? It's later." I asked, sitting down next to her.
She somehow made it on top of me, and bit her lip. "Let's talk.. about you and your family."
"Why me?" I played with her lips, and sucked on the bottom one.
"Because everything about you is interesting to me." She replied.
Damn.
"Well.. I'll tell how we found Lamont and everything that happened after he came into our lives." I told her.
"Great! I heard bits and pieces." She nodded.
"Okay, I was only thirteen years old at the time of this.." I started. "For starters my parents are the people that see the good in everyone. Whenever they found Lamont on the side of the road, they stopped their car and saw him laying down with no expression on his face. Once they approached him, he got up and had the scariest look in his eyes. At the time, he ran from his people home and they really didn't seem to search for him like that."
"Did they mistreat him?" Constance asked.
"Yeah, I think they did. He already had his issues but they had to add on to it. I don't know if they abused him but they didn't seem to care about him getting adopted by our parents." I answered. "But Lamont didn't react right away, I don't know why he agreed maybe he saw the good in them because he came home that day."
Constance laid beside me as she gave me her undivided attention.
"Uh.. first they called the police to let them know. It was a long process that went down. Had to call multiple orphanages, adoption places and more just to get a answer how to get the rights. Whenever he finally showed up, he went crazy. It was unexpected, and out of nowhere. He got battling things in his head, he was guilty, angry and sad about his his parents died that it hurt him inside. Then to include his people not caring was sad."
I was starting to get emotional explaining the story, because it was like I can picture that day all over again. Not knowing what was wrong with him, and getting scared. I felt like he was abused from his family's people which also caused him to go crazy. Yeah, he dealt with his parents' death hard but that had to be added with it all.
"So we finally had the rights, my parents went over a judge. Did everything they could to make sure Lamont could stay with us. I had no problem with this because I always wanted a brother. So they took him to the hospital, and doctors to find out what was wrong with him, they found out he had a major depression disorder." I couldn't help but to feel tears in my eyes. "Bruh my brother had a hard life. He's good now, he has family and plenty of support over here but it was bad."
Constance rubbed my back, as she wiped her eyes. "I didn't know it was that bad."
"It was, I don't know if the pills helped because he's a whole lot better." I admitted, as tears just dropped.
"You're a great big brother Darius, Lamont is lucky to have you and I'm lucky to have you as my boyfriend." Constance smiled small before wiping my falling tears. "And I'm glad that you trust me to cry, because showing your emotions to me makes me feel good. This is new to me but I like this."
I kissed her. "I like it too."
It was nice to be able to enjoy the silence. It wasn't a bad silence but comfortable. She entwined my hands with hers and I picked it up to kiss her hands.
Suddenly, a knock was heard on the door. I quickly got up from the bed and went to open up the door, and once I did I noticed a scared Dahlia with tears rolling down her cheeks.
"What's wrong?" I asked, seeing her crying made me go into a big brother mode immediately.
Constance came from the bed, and stood next to me.
"It's Lamont..." She cried.
My heart suddenly dropped, "What's wrong?" I could feel my eyes getting watery, this couldn't be good.
"H–e w–went ballistic, I–I n–never s–saw h–him l-like t–that ever." She stuttered, as I ignored her and ran to Lamont's room.
I went to his room, and tried to open the door but it was locked.
"OPEN UP THE DOOR!" I shouted, banging on the door as tears just poured from my eyes. "I'LL BREAK THIS DAMN DOOR!"
Constance ran over to me, and got in front of me."Lamont, open up the door!"
"NOO!" Lamont yelled, from behind the door. "I'M TIRED OF THIS SHIT! I CAN'T BE HERE NO MORE!"
I kept turning the knob to try to get it to open, but it was no use. The shit was locked. "MAN, I'M COUNTING TO THREE, LAMONT OPEN UP THIS F–CKIN' DOOR!"
I tried to kick it but I didn't want to damage the door. Constance tried hard to calm me down but I wasn't even listening to her at this point.
"Dahlia, what happened?" Constance asked Dahlia who still had tears in her eyes.
"At first, we were talking about him enjoying basketball again," Dahlia looked so terrified. "T-then h–e started to blame himself for his parents dying and got so angry! He started throwing stuff, damaging the walls, just breaking everything.. I didn't know what to do! It made me cry and I was so scared. I tried to help him but he didn't budge, he just went ballistic and broke down into tears. Saying stuff like I don't want to be here.."
I tried to kick the door open, and everyone started to come out of their rooms but I didn't even care.
"Somebody call 911." I heard a voice say.
Tears just continued pouring, I didn't know that it was this bad. I thought it working.
"Go get Ms. Erika!" Jacqueline yelled!
I kicked the door even harder, and it opened as I saw Lamont on the floor with pills in his hands.
"Lamont, put the bottle down." I told him.
"I C–CAN'T DO THIS SHIT BRO!" Lamont cried. "EVERYDAY I THINK I'M GETTING BETTER WITH THIS BUT IT'S NOT HELPING! MY PARENTS DEAD BRO, I DON'T BELONG HERE!"
"Lamont, it's Constance." Constance crawled over to him, grabbing hold of his hand. "Hand me the bottle, please."
She tried to take it out of his hands, but he didn't want to drop it, until she kept speaking calmly to him and he ended up handing her the pills and breaking down in her lap.
"WHY DID MY PARENTS DIE?!" Lamont screamed. "IT'S MY FAULT!"
"It's not your fault at all, Monty." Constance told him.
I shut down, and didn't feel anything at this moment.
Ms. Erika soon walked inside of his room, and her eyes widened in shock before she stared at me. "I had no choice but to call 911. I'm sorry that I didn't know it was this serious but he has no choice but to go the hospital, Darius. He not only broke things in the room, but tried harming himself."
I nodded my head, not being against it. I honestly thought that I could help him which made me feel bad.
"Can we go with him to check on him?" Constance asked her.
She noticed that I wasn't talking, and decided to be there for me.
"We'll try, the ambulance are on the way." Ms. Erika told her. "I'm sorry."
"I didn't know it was that bad. I'm sorry bro," Braylon offered his condolences. "If you need me for anything then I'll be right here for you."
Everyone gave me their love and support, as Constance walked over to me and held me close. "I love you."
I didn't reply, as tears just fell. I wanted to tell her something so bad but I couldn't. I felt like my mouth was zipped shut. I just pulled her close to me and she rubbed my back, giving me a kiss.
The kiss deepened, as I stopped and got up. I didn't want to do anything since my brother was on his way to the hospital. Constance understood which made me feel a little better as I felt the need to be alone.
A hour later
We all made it to the hospital, right after the ambulance picked up Lamont. I wanted to be right with him but decided against it as Ms. Erika chose instead since I couldn't calm down. She had to call our parents – I couldn't even talk. I felt mute, numb and in a daze.
Constance stayed beside me, her hands never left mine and I couldn't help but to feel grateful to have her.
My parents rushed into the hospital, and they looked all over until they found me. I couldn't even get up to speak as they ran over to me.
"What happened? What's wrong with our baby Darius?" They asked a million questions. "Is he okay? Has he taken the pills? Is it something else? What's going on?"
I couldn't speak.
"I'm sorry," Constance got up. "Lamont had a episode and it caused Darius to be silent every since."
My parents looked away from her then back at me then back at her. "Is that little Constance?"
Constance gave them a small smile, as they pulled her into a hug. "Yes, it's me."
"We haven't seen your face in forever." My mom told her. "You grew up to be a gorgeous young lady."
I hoped they accepted her about being my girl.
"Thank you. Lamont told me about his illness but I didn't know it was that bad." Constance admitted. "I'm so sorry that this happened. I've tried so hard to be there for him and with Darius, I'm being supportive."
My dad, Darius the first sighed. "We've known Lamont to have a few episodes."
My mom nodded. "Yeah, he blames himself for his parents death which would be hard to get over. He has guilt that it's his fault for them getting in a car accident on the way to his basketball game but it's not his fault at all, and we tried so hard to get him to understand. It's okay sweetie." Then she started to blink. "With Darius?"
I wanted to crack a smile.
"Well.. Darius asked me to be his girlfriend." Constance told them shyly.
My mom stared at me, that seemed to be a improving look. "If only you can tell me this, but I'm proud of you Darius. Constance is a well respected young lady, you did a great job choosing her."
"Well done, son." My dad agreed.
It was almost as if I was staring into a mirror. I was the younger version of my dad. From pictures back in the day, I was his twin. From our height, to our size to the same tiny mole on our face. It was crazy how it worked. I know whenever I become older I'll look just like him but more fit.
"W–where's Layla?" I finally asked.
Their eyes widened. "She's at your grandparents, I definitely didn't want her worried." My dad stated.
I nodded, as Constance stared at me with tears in her eyes. I picked up her hand and gave it a kiss. "I love you too." I whispered.
She blushed on impact, and nodded.
I meant it. It was weird how fast it happened, but I definitely had a lot of love for Constance. Love didn't hold age, and didn't hold time. I knew what love was and that's what I felt for Constance.
After a few minutes, the doctor finally comes to speak to us. "I'm sorry," He started. "Lamont is not well off. He's admitted to being suicidal which means he has to stay and will be sent off to a mental hospital tomorrow morning, again I'm sorry this happened."
I broke down again, and this time hard. My dad held me up, as he cried with me. My mom grabbed hold of Constance who both cried. It was just a bunch of people crying in the room. Everyone was in the room, Jacqueline, Sienna, Raquel, Dahlia, Tatiana, Bianca. Braylon, Eugene, Antonio, even Dante and Desmond.
This was the hardest thing ever. I definitely wanted my brother to get help. He needed it, and I couldn't wait to see him healthy mentally, and physically.
"Can we see him doc?" My mom questioned, wiping her face.
"Only family." He responded.
"We're all his family." Jacqueline told him, then she looked at me. "But his immediate family should see him."
The doctor gave us a small smile, and I sighed turning towards Constance.
"Can you come with me?" I asked her. "I need you."
Constance nodded, and grabbed hold of my hand. "Okay."
So I followed behind my parents with Constance with me. Besides, Constance was Lamont's family too. He loved her like a sister regardless of blood, he would want her to be there.
First, my parents walked into the room and I waited a few minutes until going in.
I walked into the hospital room, almost breaking down again seeing my brother with a bunch of machines plugged, and tubes all over but Constance held me up. He didn't look good at all and not the same Lamont that I knew he could be.
His eyes followed our parents, as tears stained his face. "Momma, daddy...I'm sorry!"
My parents held their tears, before my mom spoke. "It's okay baby, I know how you feel and we need you to get help okay! I'm sorry for sticking pills on you, thinking that would help but it didn't."
"I'm sorry Lamont, I love you son." Our dad told him, getting closer to the bed. "If there was a way to let you know how I felt hearing this, it broke my heart. I'm truly grateful to have another son and I want you to be healthy mentally and physically."
Lamont nodded, until he glanced at Constance.
Constance eyes held tears, but she didn't want to drop them. "Hey bro! I love you so much. You're literally my brother, that I've always wanted and never knew I needed. We've grown closer and I'll never ever replace you. I can't wait to see you strong again, remember that if you need to talk to someone out there, call me and I'll answer!"
Lamont tried to smile.
I wanted to cry hard, but I wanted him to see me being strong for him. "Man, I love you so much bro!" I started to say, holding my fist to my mouth, in case I was about to break down again. "I tried so hard to be your bodyguard, and I feel like I disappointed you. I tried to be Superman, a leader to try to help you but I can't. You're going to be a survivor bro! I'm here always and forever, regardless of blood it couldn't make us any less closer. I just want you to fight, and actually listen to the people bro. We need you to be better, but you have to want it for yourself. Again, I love you."
"I–I love you too bro." Lamont sighed. "I love y'all and I'll try my best to get help."
"You want to see the rest of your friends?" My mom asked him, she had to keep taking deep breaths to calm her nerves. So I knew she hated seeing him this way which is why she excused herself.
Lamont nodded his head slowly.
I was about to get out but Lamont asked me and Constance to stay in the room.
"I–I t–tried to hold the pain in," He stammered, as tears just fell from his eyes each type he spoke. "I–I t–tried to be normal."
"You don't have to tell us," Constance moved close to the bed, rubbing his hand as she gave him a soft smile that I knew was hard for her to do. "We understand how you feel, and we love you more than ever. Don't ever forget that!"
"I love you too sis." He replied then turned his head slowly to glance at me. "D–Darius y–you better keep my sis happy."
I stared at my beautiful girlfriend, and kissed her forehead. "That's a promise."
Suddenly, the entire crew made it into the hospital room. Everyone was quiet until Dahlia broke the silence.
"Lamont in such as short amount of time I gotten to know you, you made me feel something." Dahlia smiled. "I really really like you and I can't wait to see you strong."
"C–can I g–get a kiss?" Lamont asked.
It made the room chuckle, leave it to him to be silly knowing it was serious but Dahlia didn't hesitate to walk over to him and peck his lips slowly.
"We're rooting for you bro." Braylon stated. "It ain't The South Circle crew without you."
"Yeah, we love you Mont." Jacqueline agreed.
"Yeah, I'm rooting for you brother in law." Desmond replied.
After everyone gave him love, it was now time for us to leave, from the request of the doctor and nurses.
I stayed behind a little bit to give my brother a hug, and a kiss on his forehead. "Always holding you down bro. See you soon!"
"I love you bro." Lamont replied, and I hated too see him look scared.
"I love you too." I walked out of the hospital room, and let go of the tears that I tried so hard to hold in.
"He'll be okay Darius." My mom rubbed my arms, and held on to me. It was like she was about to faint, but she kept this closed up face expression. "Are you heading back to the camp or coming home?"
I stared at Constance who said with a soft voice, "You should be with your parents, they need you."
"It's okay to stay with your friends Darius." My dad told me, as he seemed calm but I think he wanted to look strong for my mom.
I didn't want to leave my friends, or even Constance but my parents meant everything to me and needed my support.
"I'll be back tomorrow, I promise." I kissed Constance long and hard. "I love you."
"I love you too, text me when you make it home safe." She hugged me tightly, and sniffed.
I nodded, and gave all my friends a salute before walking out of the hospital with my parents. I needed to be back home after a day like today.
But in the morning, I'll be back and underneath my girl.