Youngblood

Chapter 4

That night…

Sarah-

            I am twenty-nine-year-old Sarah Carpenter.  I live in my three-bedroom house in Los Angeles with my girlfriend, Kimora Sanders.  With us also lived my twelve-year-old daughter, Jivona, Kimora’s thirteen-year-old daughter, Kliannah and eleven-year-old Tasha.  The three of them were the best of friends.  I stood in the doorway of Kliannah’s room watching them dance and play around.  I couldn’t help but smile at them in their own world.  I glanced at Tasha who was flipping through the videos on the TV.

            My girls all went to the same school together since they started school.  I always picked them up and dropped them off.  I went to drop Tasha off at Cameron’s mom’s house one afternoon and discovered she was gone.  Her neighbor told me she went back to New York. That was two years ago, and Tasha has been with me ever since.

            “I know y’all are not still up shaking your asses when you should be snoring right now.”  Kimora said passing by with an arm full of laundry.  I smiled at her as she disappeared into the laundry room. 

I had been with Kimora since I was seventeen years old.  She was twenty and I was seventeen.  I hadn’t come out yet and she and Cameron were the only two people who knew I was gay.  Cameron and I were best friends growing up.  I got into a lot of fights with his girlfriends because they thought we were messing around with each other, which we never did.  One of his girlfriends in particular was Camil Sablan.  She was a b***h of all bitches. 

She and Cameron dated in middle school and halfway through high school.  They broke up when they were in high school because she found out he was cheating on her.  She thought it would make him miss her even more and he would stop cheating on her.  She assumed it was me he was cheating with.  She began dating Jeremy and ended up getting pregnant by him.  That made Cameron push her away forever.  This infuriated her. 

Before her family relocated her back to Puerto Rico, they made her get an abortion.  She also took the time to set me up to be r***d. 

I was walking home from school and Jivona’s father attacked and r***d me behind the corner store near my house.  He is currently serving a life sentence.  My family gave me the choice of keeping the baby or aborting her.  I chose my baby and they have not talked to me since then.  Kimora and I met at a single mother’s group when I was twenty weeks pregnant and we became each other’s family.

            We all stopped and looked at each other as the doorbell went off.  I walked to the door and opened it.  My mouth dropped open as I stood there staring at Cameron.  “I know I got finer.”  He said as he stepped into me hugging me.  I couldn’t help but laugh and hug him back.  “When did you get out?”  I asked shaking my shock away.  “Today.”  “CAMERON!”  Tasha screamed running into his arms.  “There’s my baby!”  I stood back as they hugged and kissed.

We laughed as Tasha held onto him as we walked towards the kitchen.  “Are you hungry?”  I asked making him look at me.   “Sarah, you know I’m hungry.”  We laughed.  “Stop playing and tell me where the food at.”  I led him into the kitchen and fixed him some leftovers.

After he ate, we sat there at the table catching up for a moment.  “Have you heard from my mom?”  He asked gulping down the soda.  “Yeah, she is not doing too well.”  “What do you mean?”  He asked looking at me.  “I talked to your Aunt and she said her Alzheimer’s is getting worse.”  “Alzheimer’s?  When did that start?”   He asked.  “Two years ago.”  “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”  “I just found out a couple of months ago.”  He stared at me a moment.  “What else did you find out?”  I took a deep breath before responding.   “She’s in a home.”  I watched the rage and hate fill in his face.  All he had was his family on his mom’s side of the family and they basically disowned him when he went to prison.  “Where is she?”  He growled.   “New York.”