I threw down the bike as I got to Grove Street, running up to the house I grew up in. As I opened the door, I half expected to see my mom cooking in the kitchen. I half expected to give her a hug, or see my brother on the couch watching TV.
But I didn't. All I saw was an empty home. Sure, it had a TV, pictures, furniture...but it was empty.

"Stop it!" shouted a female voice from the kitchen. "What are you doing? Carl, Brian! Stop it!"
"Quit it!" I said, my voice still pre-pubescent. "Moms'll hear!"
"Mom!" yelled my sister. "They're up to something!"

I was jerked back into reality when I tripped and fell into a chair.
"YOU PICKED THE WRONG HOUSE, FOO'!" yelled a large man, jumping out from behind a wall in the kitchen, wielding a baseball bat.
"Smoke!" I yelled. "It's me! It's Carl!"
"CJ, my dawg!" said Big Smoke, throwing down the baseball bat. "What's up?" I stood up and we hugged. "You okay, man?"
"Nah, man," I said, an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach. "It's my moms, homie..."
"Hey," said Smoke, breaking the hug. "I don't know why this had to happen, but I promise you I'ma find out who killed your moms." He wiped his forehead. "The streets is cold, dawg. Like it says in the book, we are blessed and cursed."
I was quiet.
"Come on," said Smoke. "We got business to take care of. Let's go visit your brother at the cemetery."
"A'ight," I said, following him out the door. Smoke walked up to a blue car. "Nice car, man."
"Thanks," he said. "You wanna drive?"
"Sure," I said, and he passed me the keys.

It was a quiet ride down to the cemetery and once we got there, everybody was already waiting for us.
"I've missed you these five years, man," said Smoke, "and they're gonna be real happy to see you, too."
"What's up, y'all?" I said, seeing everybody waiting for us.
"Hey, Carl," said my sister, Kendl. "Good to see you."
"I can't believe she's gone, man," I said, looking at the ground.
"That's another funeral you ran away from, fool," spat my brother, Sweet. "Just like Brian's."
"Hey," I said. "She was my mom, too."
"Not for the past five years she wasn't, nigga," Sweet said spitefully. Kendl started to walk away. "And where the fuck do you think you're going?"
"What?" she said, turning back. "Get out of my face. I'm going to see Cesar."
"The hell you are, girl!" he yelled. "You ain't messin' with them esès - you know we beefin'!"
"Look," she said. "I love him. And what the fuck are you?"
"At least I got principals," Sweet spat.
"Oh," she said. "And I guess that makes you an upstanding American? Carl, tell him."
"Carl," said Sweet, "don't you tell me shit, bitch."
"As long as he treats her right," I said. "Disrespect you and he's dead."
Sweet turned to me. "How the hell you gonna say that? Like it's any business of yours."
"Fuck you, Sweet," said Kendl and she left.
"Oh, shit," I said. "Here we go again."
"This shit's real fucked up," said Sweet. "Everything!"
"What, apart from your mother being dead?" said Sweet. "Here, let me show you, Running Man." He pointed to a grave. "Tony's buried over there." He pointed to another. "Little Devil over there." He pointed right beside that one. "Big Devil over there. Man, it's just crazy! Everybody blasts on fools first and asks questions later."
Me, Big Smoke, Sweet, and our life-long homie Ryder went to get into Smoke's car, but we saw a Balla car driving down the road, slowly.
"Ballas!" yelled Sweet, pulled me to the ground. "Drive-by! Everybody down!"
The bullets missed us, but Smoke's car weren't so lucky.
"Shit!" yelled Smoke, looking at the car. "This thing ain't goin' nowhere!"
Luckily, there were some kids visiting the grave yard, all five with bikes.
"Sorry, kids," I yelled, grabbing a bike and motioning for the others to come on. "But we got places to be!"

Somehow, we got separated while we were riding home, but we all managed to get there at relatively the same time.
"I got them motherfuckers!" said Ryder, jumping off and letting his bike ghost ride. "I showed them niggas who's gangsta! Ryder, nigga!"
Sweet pulled up next to me. "So, when you leavin'?"
"I don't know," I said. "I was thinkin' I might stay. Things is fucked up."
"Well," said Sweet, "the last thing we need is your help."
"Yo, dawg," I said, "I won't let y'all down. I swear.
"Yo, we gon' call up some 'hood rats and chill the fuck out," said Sweet. "You want some?"
"I'm fuckin' tired," I said. "I'ma go inside and go to sleep."
"Hey, yo," said Smoke as I was walking toward mom's old house. "Just drop in. We all hangin' out."
"A'ight," I said, opening the door and going inside.
"Yeah, and get yourself some colors, foo'!" I heard Ryder say as I was closing the door. "And a haircut!"
I chuckled to myself and fell asleep on the couch.