Page 59 of My Brother's Keeper
I didn’t want anyone to be involved in my shit. This was my time to rectify the situation. “Nah, nigga me and you two miles and back.”
Symphony ran over to me. “Mison—”
“Nah, babe. I have to do this. They’re here because of me anyway.”
She slowly nodded as she backed up. I pulled my keys from my pocket. I had just gotten a new bike from Zu’s lot. What better way to break it in than to race? I walked over to my bike when Beans came over to me. “Don’t do no fancy shit. Just ride this bitch and bring your ass back. I don’t trust they ass.”
“I got this. Nigga I taught you how to ride.” I winked.
I grabbed my helmet and slid it on my head. I revved up my bike. We moved into the middle of the street. Monfua stood between us as his hand went up. When I nodded, his hand came down, and we both took off. I hadn’t raced in so long, the shit felt good, and my spirit felt free. I turned to look back as everyone was cheering me on. When my head turned to gain sight of the street, all I saw was headlights, then darkness.
SYMPHONY
I hadn’t slept in days. I felt like I had lost count at this point. Somehow, I felt like my life was taken back to that night everything happened with my father. When Mison decided to race, something in my gut told me it was a bad decision. Now here we were lying in the hospital because he had gotten hit.
I watched from a distance as the impact sent him flying almost a block away from his bike. The way his brothers cried, the way the Zoo tried to make sure he was okay, broke me.
Every day, I watched him struggle to wrap his mind around what happened, and it broke my heart. However, the worst part of it all was that he wouldn’t be able to walk again. They had tried extensive surgeries, but even after that, he couldn’t feel anything in his legs. I feared that it would lead him down a path where he would start drinking again.
All the guys from the Zoo and all of my friends stood in the room as Mison woke up from a nap after having to be given pain meds for the pain in other parts of his body. When he saw them, all standing there, he didn’t know what to think. “They said a nigga can’t walk, not that I’m dying,” he grumbled.
He tried to make a joke of it, but I knew it was killing him inside. The one thing he loved, which was riding, he could no longer do. Hell, he could no longer do many things that we all took for granted. Chevy came forward, “I know shit has changed for you, Mali, we all know and—”
“Get to it, Chev.”
I could see the hurt in Chevy’s eyes. The hurt in his brothers’ eyes made me cry. I quickly wiped my tears. “Listen to them, baby,” I mumbled.
Mison’s lips trembled.
“We know we cannot change what happened and we know that this is going to be a long journey for you. No words can describe what we all feel, but we want you to know from the orange and the blue that we got you. We will cover everything, and I mean everything. We want you to focus on healing, your sobriety, and your family.”
The sound of Jalen punching the wall caused me to jump, then rush over to him. He sobbed loudly while Xavier’s shoulders bounced up and down. “I love you, bro. Don’t let this change shit,” he cried.
I glanced at Mison, who stared at the ceiling as his lips shook, and tears rolled down his face. Chevy moved closer. “God always chooses the ones with the most heart to go through the greater storm. You are a soldier. We love you, Mali.”
Bishop came over to me, “Whatever you need, we've got you, Symph. I don’t give a fuck what it is. We've got you,” he said to me.
I glanced back to see Bleek and Pierre nodding at me. This was the support I needed when all that happened years ago, but today I was happy to have it all. I knew Mison would be different once he got out, but the one thing he didn’t have to worry about was me leaving his side.
SCOOTER
My throat tingled and my head spun. I glanced down at my phone as I mumbled the lyrics I had come up with over the last couple of days. I had a lot riding on this session. I knew Beans was a part of them Zoo niggas, but I needed to win him over. Not because Clark asked, but because this was my chance to enter fame or at least to get a taste of it.
I looked beyond the studio’s glass window as I watched Beans sit there and puff on his blunt. I had been begging him to come to the studio for days, and he kept blowing me off. I’m surprised that he finally made today the day. I knew he was probably stressed. Keith told me that Mison had been hit while racing. It’s fucked up, the nigga was paralyzed because of it. I wanted to check on him, but I knew neither Symphony nor he wanted me around, and I had no choice but to respect it.
That nigga Beans seemed so unbothered, so unfazed that no matter what kind of bars I spit, he wouldn’t give a shit anyway. I wanted to invite my brother to join a session, but I knew he didn’t fuck with these cats. However, tonight’s session wasn’t about him; it was about the come-up. It was about peeling the old nigga back while birthing a new nigga. Kareem was dead, and Scooter was emerging.
Beans leaned forward and then clicked on the mic. “Nigga time is ticking, and you still not ready? I don’t play about my studio or time.”
I sucked my teeth. “I’m ready.”
Click off.
I slid the headphones on and rocked to the song's intro. I waited for the beat to drop, and when it did, I opened my mouth. “I came from a,” I paused. “I fucked up, let a nigga start again,” I said into the mic.
Click on.
Beans shook his head. “Nigga you trash, lucky, I’m doing this for a friend. Chop, chop.”
