Little Black Book

"31st January 2018 Dear Diary,

Today was a really long day! We ran away together. That was the only place David has ever called home. I feel so horrible, He's only 9. At least he still smiles on occasion, when I see him grin from ear to ear it warms my heart. Its so cold where we are now. I cant show any weakness though, I have to be strong for him. I saw a poster that said something about winning $20,000. I wish I had $20,000. God knows me & David could use it."

***

The cold wind crept up his back and slithered upon his skin, this sent chills up his spine as he clenched his drawstrings. Pulling them down to tighten the hood around his head. "This food better be warm when I get home" he whispers. Several buildings extended upwards surpassing the tree line of the local park, Rising high above the mob of well-dressed men and women headed in his direction trying to make it home from a hard day's work. "Excuse me", he says politely while squeezing through the crowd.

Heading from My Favorite Foods his and David's favorite restaurant, with dinner for his young brother as he did often. He was an adolescent boy dressed in Distressed jeans ripped at the knee that shaped his slim legs well, A baggy yellow hoodie with the word NASA on the chest and the US flag on the forehead of the hood. Glancing towards the right of the road his street name caught his attention Bliss Blvd. "That's funny, living on Bliss Blvd with a life full of misery," He says sarcastically "That's a good one, Misery," he says as he continues to spell it out "M-I-S-E-R-Y" " I want to enter a spelling bee but dad says spelling is for little boys that want to be little girls" he says sadly with a sigh.

He continues to walk arriving at their apartment building's door, As he walks in he notices the clock says 6:19 "I hope Mom's home she rarely is" he says as he arrives in front of the elevator. He presses the up arrow and waits patiently, standing there he hears a soft voice shout "Elevators Broke" from behind. "Ugh I can't catch a break, Thank you ma'am," he says as he walks towards the steps and pulls the door open towards him. Taking a long walk up the metal spiral stairs listening to the thud of each step eco off the walls in the silence until he reaches the 11th floor. He pushes the heavy door open trying not to spill the food as he walks the hall and arrives at his door.

As he enters he notices that his dad is heavily intoxicated listening to music, dancing with his liquor bottle and his mother isn't home. "Great he's drunk as usual and Mom's not home" he whispers. "Hey boy," his dad says "Hey Dad," he says as he walks towards his young brother David's room to give him his food. "Manny you're home!," David says excitedly as he jumps up from his computer and runs towards him to give him a big hug. "what we got to eat?" he says smiling so bright. "Hey kiddo, we got some turkey wings tonight with mashed potatoes and broccoli," Solomon says as he takes the platters out of the bag and sets it up for David to eat. "Mmm smells good. I can't wait I'm so hungry" David says " Here," Solomon says handing him a cold cherry pop. "You're the best, I love you, " David says still smiling. "Yea, I know" Solomon giggles "I love you too, now eat it while it's still sorta hot," He says laughing exiting David's room heading towards his.

When he arrives at his door he enters and walks towards his computer desk. when he gets there he sets up his food and starts to eat, then spots his flashcards. He picks up the card on top of his deck and the word conscious is written "Conscious" he says sternly "C-O-N-S-C-I-O-U-S" He spells out then flips the card to view the correct spelling, He spelled it correctly. "Yes! I struggled with that one befo-". He gets cut off by aggressive muffled voices. "Moms home!" he says surprisingly and turns to glance at the time on the bottom right of his laptop, its 6:54 "Finally," he says refreshingly as he gets up to see what the commotion is about.

As he walks out into the hall the muffled screams get louder and he spots David watching the altercation with a frightened look on his face. He goes to comfort him.

"You're never home so what do you care!" his dad says slightly slurring his speech. "I'm never home because you're always drunk! Get you're act together and maybe you can have a wife again!" his mom says furiously "Oh, Screw you" says the dad as he walks back into the living room and turns the music back up on the radio. "I'm not doing this with you anymore. I found a man who can love me better, I have to go," she says with a shaky voice. She glances over at her boys standing beside each other watching. She walks over to David and plants a soft kiss on his forehead "Mommy has to go okay" she says softly "Of course you do, you always do" Says David with teary eyes as he runs away. She watches his little legs dash into his room and the door slams behind. "Oh poor thing," she says sadly as she gestures towards Solomon. "Solomon you're 17 now. that means you're the man of this house. I need you to watch over your brother while I'm away" she says while holding his shoulders and staring deeply into his big brown eyes" Solomon gets a sinking feeling in his stomach as he wipes the tear that attempted to fall down his right cheek. "I know mom, that's what I've been doing and I promise I won't stop," He says then kisses her cheek gently "Be safe where you're going, I love you," he says as he turns around fighting tears walking in the direction of his room. He hears his mom's voice from behind "I love you too" as he enters his room and closes the door.

Now alone in the privacy of his room, Solomon couldn't bear the sunken feeling in his stomach any longer. He took two steps towards his bed and his first tear broke free, He raised his hand in an upward motion to wipe it away but the rest began to flow down his face. He dropped to his knees as his legs began to weaken, Grabbing his stomach he began to cry with a force of a person vomiting. His sorrow was then interrupted by the scream of his little brother David. "STOP IT DAD!", The distraught scream of his brother brought him to his feet. He sniffled and wiped his tears away running out of his room and into David's. When he arrives in the room he hears his dad chewing loudly and sees Broccoli and mashed potatoes all over David's desk and floor. "What are you doing? What's going on!?" Solomon says fumingly " Dad ate my food," said David "I barely ate any Manny, I'm still hungry. Then he smacked it all over when I told him to stop" David said broken-heartedly " You got a problem boy?" said the dad with a grin still eating the turkey wing and gulping down the bottle "Come here David," said Solomon. David runs from near his desk to behind Solomon, As Solomon and their dad stares each other down. "You think you better than me boy? Huh?" Says the dad as he begins to walk closer to Solomon. "No," says Solomon " Yeah you do. Working that job and coming in here every night with platters of food. Well now I'm hungry where my food boy? Huh? You never bring nothin' for me," said the dad now 2 steps away from Solomon's face. "You're supposed to feed us, not the other way around!" Solomon said angrily "It's not my fault you waste your day drunk instead of making mone-" Before he could finish his sentence He felt a vibration of pain move across his face and a ringing in his ear . The dad's hand stung from the impact as Solomon clutched his cheek in shock and pain, the crack of skin-contacting skin echoed off the walls. He stared at his dad with wide eyes that began to water. " You slapped me!," said Solomon with a shaky tone similar to the one of his mom's earlier that night. "Disrespect me again and it won't be the last," said the dad. When Solomon heard that he ran into his room with David's hand in his and notices the clock says 10:10. He grabs his backpack and says to David "We're leaving, we can't stay here anymore" David agrees and Solomon storms out of his room headed towards the front door with David not far behind. Their dad is in the living room passed out on the couch with a bottle in hand. "That was fast," says Solomon "Lucky for us" says David as they exit their apartment and down the hall to the stairway.

Racing down the stairs meeting the door at the bottom Solomon pushed threw it with such energy the heavy metal door swung open and smacked the wall behind it. "Hurry David" he said storming towards the exit, David stayed silent as he ran out the exit meeting Solomon outside. They began to walk down the street. "where are we going?" asked David "To find better, We deserve better" replied Solomon "Where is better?" asked David " I don't know, but its not here" replied Solomon.

Walking down the street they eventually meet a crossroad, One staying in the city and the other heading out. " Lets go this way", Solomon says as he turns towards the right deciding to leave everything they knew behind. Walking down a road to the unknown with David beside him he reaches down and grabs his hand. They continue to walk in the biting cold in silence until a gust of wind pierced Solomon's body and made his teeth rattle. "You cold kiddo?" he asked while looking down at David. "A little" David replied as Solomon watched a plastic bag gracefully dance in the wind in a distance. "We'll find some shelter soon" Solomon says noticing a Poster pinned up on a tree that reads

RAFFLE CONTEST! ENTER & WIN GRAND PRIZE $20,000 !!! 2nd & 3rd place prizes available $5 Tickets $40 For 30 Tickets

While looking at the poster he hears David gasp and say "Wow, a deer" Before he could react David lets his hand go and disappears into the forest. "Stop" says Solomon as he chases behind. When he catches up he sees David playing with a chest by a river. "Look Manny" says David "What you got?" Solomon asked as David opened it. inside was an amulet, a little black book and a pen, David put the amulet on and it started to glow. "wow" they both said in unison then Solomon reached in to pick up the book and pen, "Great! now I can journal" he said happily as he saw a shack in the middle of the woods. They both head inside to get warm, Once inside Solomon begins his journaling, after writing his first page he closes the book. The amulet on David's neck began to glow again as well as the gem stones on the chest and cover of the book. They both began to walk towards the chest with the amulet still glowing around David's neck. As they opened it their eyes lit up as they saw two stacks of money with mustard colored bands. It was the $20.000 that Solomon had just wished for.