A Girl Named Hope

Kofi

Kofi shuts the door behind him carefully. He walks slowly into his bedroom, so he won’t wake up his parents. He takes off his plaid blue pull-over, leaving him shirtless. He pulls out a white tank-top from his drawer and places it on his end table. He reaches his phone inside his pocket.

He pulls it out quickly and dials Amandla’s number. The phone rang loudly in his ear. “Hey baby.” Amandla says happily.

“Hey.” He says back. “Did you get in trouble?” He asks quietly.

“Yeah, but I didn’t get punished.” Amandla confirms.

“Really? Your sister would be up this late?” Kofi asks surprised.

“Yep.” Amandla chuckles. “She really cares.” Amandla says wailing into the phone. “Ever since my parents got killed in that accident, she did everything she could to take care of me.”

“Don’t cry.” Kofi says comforting. “I know i’m not there with you right now, but I don’t think your parents would want you cry about their death.”

“There nothing else I can do.” Amandla cries.

“Now don’t be like that.” Kofi sighs. “Promise me that you won’t feel sorry for yourself.” Kofi commands.

“I promise.” Amandla says softly.

“It’s not going to help you, ever.” He admits. “I used to do that alot when my biological parents died.” He takes a deep breath. “That’s what the cops told me. I don’t know if that was a lie or not.” he admits. “It was really hard for me and my siblings,” He pauses. Kofi looks down at his knees and continues. “We were on the streets for a while, because we didn’t want to be adopted. But one day, we found a shelter and stayed there.” Kofi takes another deep breath. “It turns out, that it wasn’t a shelter. It was an adoption center.” Kofi confesses. “Then my siblings and I got adopted by Omarr and Latricia. It took some getting used to though.”

“I can’t believe this,” Amandla says shocked. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought you wouldn’t care.” Kofi divulges.

“I do care. I always have.”

Kofi smiles. “Don’t beat yourself up Amandla.” Kofi checks the time on his phone. “Dang, it’s 11:57.” Kofi exclaims. “You should be getting some rest. I heard you have an exam tomorrow.”

“You should be going to school tomorrow too.” Amandla says in a caring tone. “You know I love you boy.”

“I know how much you do.”

“Come to school then.”

“Alright,” Kofi sighs. “Who’s going to hang up first?”

“If you don’t go to school tomorrow, i’ll be the one to hang up every call.” Amandla threatens.

“Okay, fine!” Kofi says reluctantly.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Bye.” They both say in unison

Kofi hangs up the phone and places it on the end table with his tank-top. Kofi throws the cover off his bed and lays on his white bed sheet. Kofi picks the cover up again and wraps himself in. He grabs the remote to the TV from the floor and turns it on. He changes the channel to BET and falls asleep.