Room 137

 Room 137

 

7:09 am. Monday. Los Angeles, CA

 

            Today was like any other. Zoey woke up and rolled up as X rolled over. They had been living with each other for about 4 months, on and off for a couple years. I know what you thinking, typical n***a s**t. As Kodak Black’s “Flockin” blasted on the old Samsung speaker, Zoey grabbed the last of her backwoods and packed the rest of the OG kush in as she licked and tucked tightly to form the perfect blunt. “Wake ya a*s up and pass me the lighter”, she said to X. X slowly reached over to the cherry wooden nightstand that was home to a set of BMW keys (you know n****s buy a nice car before they buy a house lol), a couple blue raspberry jolly ranchers, a Percocet (yea, you guessed it, X’s favorite rapper is Future), an unopened pack of magnums and a red bic lighter. X grabbed the lighter, got up and went into the kitchen to prepare his normal breakfast, chicken ramen noodles and orange juice. As X sits at the table eating, Zoey grabs an old Nike air max 95 shoe box from the top shelf of the closet. She went into the kitchen and emptied the shoebox. On the table fell 3 stacks of hundred dollars bills folded neatly and secured by multicolored rubber bands.        “14,030” Zoey said as she took a deep breath. Zoey and X was saving money to move to a better neighborhood, but we all know west coast living isn’t cheap. “ We getting there”, X said. Zoey put the money up and prepared for school. She was a photography student at USC and very fluent in her craft. Zoey was a fly young jawn. Her outfit of choice today was distressed Levi jeans; a yellow, vintage cropped Calvin Klein hoodie and a pair of white high top chucks. On her wrist was a silver Movado watch that accented her Tiffany’s diamond earrings. “ I’m gone babe”, Zoey yelled to X as she rushed out the door.

            As X finished up in the bathroom, he heads to the living room and get a sudden knock on the door. “ I know this ain’t Ms. Jackson thirsty a*s,” X thought to himself. Ms. Jackson was X and Zoey’s neighbor. She had a thing for X and she would always come over in skimpy a*s clothes asking for dumb s**t like sugar. As X looked thru the peephole he cracked a smirk. Through the peephole stood a 6feet tall n***a with curly brown hair and a red bandanna around his head. It was Brenden, X’s best friend since 3^rd grade. The duo began getting ready for work . . . . . on the corner. Yea, you guessed it. They sold dope. X and Brenden got their things together to leave for the day.

            Back at USC, Zoey was leaving class. She had an hour and a half until her next class. In between classes, she would go around the city and take pictures, using her surroundings as inspiration. As she headed back to class, she got a phone call. “ B Money” flashed on the screen of Zoey’s rose gold iPhone. It was Brenden. “ Boy what you want”, she answered playfully. “ Zoe, X passed out. I’m behind the ambulance. We’re headed to St. Francis.” Zoe hung up immediately and headed to the hospital. She knew by the tone of Brenden’s voice that he was scared. Zoey, Brenden, and Brenden’s girl, Monica sat in the waiting area for the doctor to come and give them updates. Meanwhile Zoey’s phone was blowing up with texts and calls from her “Cousin”. “Cousin” was Tee’s name in Zoey’s phone. Tee is a random guy Zoey met at a bar a little over a month ago. They got drunk and left together so you know how that went down. That was the same night Zoey and X got into a huge argument about X cheating on her a year ago. * Rolls eyes. You know females love bringing up old s**t. Zoey felt bad, but she felt like they were even. Zoey hadn’t heard from Tee since that night so she was confused as to why he was blowing her up. She couldn’t focus on anything but X right now.

            The doctor came in the waiting room and said only Zoey could go back to see X. “We’ll be here” Brenden said as Zoey walked away. On their way down the hall Zoey got two more texts from Tee. “Call me ASAP”, “We need to talk” read the texts. Zoey ignored them. “Room 137” Zoey mumbled to herself. She wanted to remember the room number so she could tell Brenden and anyone else that wanted to see X if he had to stay in the hospital overnight. As she walked in, she saw X in the bed in tears. Zoey never saw X cry. The room was silent as the doctor looked at his records. Zoey’s phone vibrated again. She knew it was another text from Tee but as the doctor looked up Zoey looked down at her phone. “I’m HIV positive” read Tee’s message.

 

Author’s Note:

I feel that this generation has a bad habit of acting off emotions, especially when it comes to relationships. It’s important to think about all of the possible consequences of your decisions. Don’t ever feel invincible. One bad choice can change your life forever. A night of fun can costs you a lifetime of pain. Be smart.

 

- RB