Sevyn's Story (urban fiction)

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Sevyn

Tears rolled down my face as I sat in front of my moms tombstone that read-

Rest in peace, Lisa Shakira Watkins. Loving woman, loving spirit and loving mom. You'll be missed forever.

Flashbacks played in my head of the day I got the call from the hospital and they told me my mamas body was rejecting chemotherapy. Nothing in this world meant more to me than my mother so when the doctors told me there was nothing else they could do for my mother, that broke me. I sat at the hospital with my mother for a month while they basically prepared her to die. It was all about making her comfortable because they weren't sure when the day would come for her to be called home, but they knew it was soon. Not knowing how much time I had left with my mom killed me everyday. That's when I picked up the habit of smoking weed. Nothing made me feel better than getting high and not having a care in the world at that point. I remember the last words my mother said to me before she passed. Take care of yourself for me, Sevyn. I love you and I'll always be with you. Get an education and make something of yourself so I can look down on you and be proud.

Just thinking about the pain she was in then made me break down uncontrollably. Tears began to fall on my mother's tombstone as I placed the flowers and the card I brought for her on her tombstone. It was her birthday, May 15th. "I love you so much mom. I miss you. Happy birthday." I wiped my eyes and collected myself, grabbing my coach bag off the ground beside me and walking out of the graveyard. This was still hard for me, considering my mother hasn't even been gone a year yet. I could never hold myself together when I went to see her but I tried my best.

I carefully crossed the street, heading back to my college campus. I was a junior at A&T. After high school, I wasn't sure if I wanted to attend college. I was always on the fence about going to college, not really knowing what to expect but my mom always wanted me to go to college and make something of myself and that's exactly what I was going to do, make her proud. I wished she was still here everyday but I had to keep pushing on for her. She was the reason I did this shit.

My mom stated in her will that she wanted me to have $25,000 that she had saved up for me for college in a savings account. I told myself I wouldn't touch it unless I really needed it though. It was there if I needed it but I wanted to do this on my own and make my mom proud, without it seeming like a handout. With the financial aid I was getting and my paycheck from my part time job, I didn't really need the money at the moment. I thought about buying a car with it, but I had public transit so being without a car right now wouldn't kill me. I just wanted one, but I wanted to buy my first car on my own. My mom has always had my back and been there when I needed her but I wanted to show her I could be there for myself. The money was still in the savings account and I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't touch it for any reason, unless it was an emergency.

I took a deep breath as I wiped the tears from my eyes with the back of my hand. This shit was weighing heavy today.

I approached my college campus after about 10 minutes of walking and headed to my dorm building. I reached my dorm building just as a girl was coming out, she held the door open for me and I grabbed it, "thank you." I mustered out as she said a "you're welcome" back and continued walking.

I made my way to my dorm room and used my key to unlock the door. My roommate was cooking on her hot plate. Considering the cafeteria only opened 3 times a day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.. we were forced to fend for ourselves when it came to eating after the cafe closed. Normally they opened at 6am-9am for breakfast 12pm-3pm for lunch and 4pm-7pm for dinner. Other than that, they were closed.

"Hey boo." Diamond sung as she saw me coming through the door.

Diamond was a pretty cool roommate, considering I never had to share a room with anyone before. She stayed on her side of the room and I stayed on my side. She was pretty neat and she was even nice enough to share her things with me sometimes. I didn't have any complaints when it came to her. We grew a bond and I actually considered her a friend.

"Hey boo, what you cooking girl?" I asked, putting my purse down on the shelf in our closest that we shared and I sat down on my bed.

"Girllll, some tacos. I'm fucking starving bitch. You want some?" Her southern accent came out.

I laughed, she was a character. "Hell yeah girl!"

"You know I gotchu boo."

A comfortable silence fell over the room as I focused on the tv. Love & Hip Hop was playing.

"Come make your plate love." Diamond finally said and I walked over as she began to take 2 paper plates out of the cabinet. She handed me one and she took one. "You want soft or hard shell girl?"

"I'll take hard shell girl, thank you."

Diamond walked over to the cabinet and pulled out the box of hard shells and handed them to me. "Here you go girl, it's cheese and some lettuce in the mini fridge. Girl you know one thing about me, imma eat."

We laughed and I thanked her. We both fixed our plates and sat back down on our beds to eat, both focusing on the tv again.

"Girl Kirk and them 2 earrings be getting on my fucking nerves." Diamond said, referring to someone on Love & Hip Hop. I didn't really watch it, only when she watched it but I didn't really mind honestly because I didn't really watch tv so most of the time I let her have the tv.

I just started laughing, "Girl you a mess."

The rest of the day consisted of us watching tv, and just vibing. I must admit Diamond helped me get my mind off the shit that was going on in my head.