I Won't Last a Day Without You
by DaveTheWordsmith
Disclaimer: Boondocks is owned by Sony Pictures Digital Inc. and Aaron McGruder. All the copyrights associated with Boondocks belong to them. Only the ideas contained within this story are the property of the author. No profit is being earned by the writer of this story.
. . .
A 12 year old girl met her male counterpart at the top of the hill, languid beneath the oak tree. She bowed over to kiss him on the forehead. As he envisioned, she sat right next to him and inclined on him, her head on his chest. He already discerned the waterworks were imminent. And they did, sprinkling his midnight blue pull-over. As he coursed his hand through her voluminous, apricot tresses, he imagined how she reacted when she received his message to come as soon as possible.
"Don't leave us," she spoke with a noticeable tremble in her speech.
"I have to," he said, his tone full of pride, yet resolute.
Huey Freeman witnessed the swarthy red-orange sun initiate its descent beneath the horizon. High in the sky, a flock of blackbirds flew under the low, fluffy clouds tinted with hues of yellow, orange and red spraying outward from their centers. Underneath the tree on the climax of the hill, he could observe everything without being observed. For a very rigid and conventional centered location, the demeanor of Woodcrest just before twilight could force a cold hearted man into shedding a tear or two. The warm bluster that arrived and departed in recurring cycles evoked the absolutely perfect mood. Most people would not yearn this part of the day to end. But to Huey, he felt pleased the day was almost over.
While Jazmine Dubois nestled the side of her face in his right side, he situated his arm around her in acknowledgment and lethargically liberated oxygen through his parted lips, one of the many mechanisms he used to clear any antagonism. Early in the morning, he would be hundreds, possibly thousands, of miles away from his first and only love. He could tell the last thing she needed him to do was to leave.
But he had to. He had no other alternative.
Huey fidgeted a little due to Jazmine's clamors. They stopped for a second. He knew they would come back. She coughed and sniffed, then continued her cries. Right on schedule, he thought with a deep breath.
He could sense her eyes on him, but he couldn't regard into her tear-filled jade spheres. Her voice fought as hard as it could to defeat her bawls, but to no avail. "Why? Why are you leaving?"
"I just can't stay here anymore, Jazmine," he said.
He placed a fist over his mouth before he cleared his throat. He couldn't tell her the complete reality. He couldn't elucidate how so many agents, assassins and informants were after him and his radical organizations. The fact Jazmine could also be in danger was the last thing he wanted involved in her life.
"Is this…for forever?" she asked.
"It may be. Once I leave, I don't know if I can ever come back."
"Then it's settled. I'm leaving with you."
Huey almost chomped down on his tongue. Is Jazmine serious? He asked himself. He bowed his head, sighing. "No. No way."
He was primed for Jazmine to spring out of his arms, glower at him, propel a barrage of disaccords and then finish with improvised pleading for him to consider his decision. Instead, she sat up in his lap, the two of them eye to eye. She placed a finger on the side of his face, outlining it down the side of his cheek toward his chin. "Yes way, Huey Percy Freeman, and you won't stop me, even if you have to kill me first."
Huey took hold of her light tawny hand and set it in her lap. She certainly had changed so much after two years. He chalked it up to his rubbing off on her. "You don't understand. It's too risky. Even you being here right now is putting you in danger."
Jazmine let out a small laugh. "What? What do you mean?"
"What I mean is this," Huey said. He turned his head left, then right, and then restored eye contact with Jazmine. "I'm considered a big terrorist threat."
Jazmine mouthed "Oh my god". Out of anyone else in his circle, Huey had faith she could believe him. "So that's why you disappeared for so long."
Huey nodded in return. He recognized that if he informed anyone else about this, particularly his brother Riley, they would chuckle in his face and call him paranoid or think he had lost his marbles. But he had to escape. They were after him.
Jazmine gasped. Her eyes perked up, her eyebrows higher than usual. "But I thought the President expunged that from your record?"
"He did. But now with this new administration, they want to eliminate any potential threats to the government and the country, even ones that were cleared of being a threat two years ago," Huey said. "It's like this, Jazmine. Americans always fall for anything that deeply affects their emotions.
"Electing a president, a crazy woman at that, who doesn't have the majority of us in mind, arguing she would get eliminate these terrorist actions, and in the process impeaching the former President who I knew from the beginning wouldn't immediately solve our problems of racism, the recession and anything else that only a wizard or supernatural being could successfully carry out.
"I'll admit, we had our share of beefs in the past, but at least he had the right motives, whether they were done passive aggressively or not. So I said all that to say this. Because of the recent laws passed by Miss Hockey Mom, who took over for the old revered patriot who wanted to keep the country fighting overseas for a 100 years, I'm endangering not only Woodcrest but our families, too."
"Oh God," Jazmine said. She leaned back, shock taking over her face. "What does this mean?"
"It means the inevitable, Jazmine. This has been set-up since the very beginning, only it's remarkable how unbelievably easy it was for the powers that be to do it so soon. It was originally thought the plan would take at least two or three generations to fall in effect. It's almost like a baby that's born premature but came at the right time and had with no flaws."
"Wow," Jazmine said. She left her mouth open in what Huey thought to be complete, genuine awe. Her expression abruptly shifted to disclose a straight face. "So, when do we leave?"
Huey glared at her. "You mean 'me'. Not 'we'."
Before he could move, his head turned to face Jazmine's, her warm hands grasping his cheeks. She took hold of them without a warning. "Yes. We," she said. Her lips flexed into a small smile. "I don't have anything to lose. I'm practically living by myself. Mommy and daddy are out all day because of work and other events they go to. If we're going to another country, I'll learn another language. I'll do anything it takes to stay with you."
Huey grimaced as Jazmine sucked him into a giant hug. "You sure sound serious about this," he said. He relaxed when Jazmine let him go. "Don't you know what you'll lose once we leave?"
"No, and I don't care," Jazmine said. "I may lose my family and friends, but I'll have you, which is worth more than anything I'd leave here. I won't last a day without you."
Huey gasped for air. He retained his breath during Jazmine's talking, entirely blown away by what came out of her mouth.
He nodded. There was no talking her out of it, he thought. If she regrets this, it's her problem.
"The private plane leaves in about 10 hours," he said. "I'll send you the information to you through e-mail. But you must delete it after you read it."
Jazmine grinned. "Got it."
"Good. Let's go."
Huey rose to his feet. He extended his hand toward an unaware Jazmine who a few seconds later caught sight of his appendage, ready for her to take. She got up with his assistance, and followed Huey, nuzzling him in his shoulder as they started on the trail down the hill to the city, not knowing whether they would ever see the United States of America ever again.
. . .
The End.