Warning::: Mentions of death
Riley hated Woodcrest.
She hated how peaceful and clean it was. She hated the style of the homes that looked like Barbie's Dream House. She hated how everything smelled so fresh and looked so pristine.
She hated it, absolutely despised it.
And they hadn't even been there for a whole day.
"Dat's dat ol' bullshit," She sucked her teeth, glaring at the birds chirping as she walked around aimlessly with her brother, as their grandfather had basically kicked them out the house. "Man, I can't believe Granddad done moved us to sum' gay ass suburb." She glanced at her brother, who wore his ever present scowl on his face. "How you of all people ain't mad at this?"
"Just because I'm not bitching about it doesn't mean I'm not mad," He stated, his tone flat. Riley glared at the back of his stupid afro. "It's not productive. Just accept it Riley, what is done is done. We're pilgrims in an unholy land,"
"there you go again wit' yo' nerd talk," Huey rolled his eyes, but didn't dignify his sister with an answer. "Man, you smell that?" Riley sniffed as they walked through the woods. "The fuck is that? Febreeze?"
"It's fresh air, Riley." Huey stated. "You'll get used to it." The girl highly doubted that. She was born and raised in the midst of the big city. Who would've thought she'd miss the stench of piss and polution?
"I'm just saying...mom and dad ain't nevah woulda approve of dis shit." He felt her chest tighten at the mention on their parents, and she saw Huey's scowl twitch slightly. "Dis old nigga musta lost his damn mind."
"They're not here anymore, so we gotta settle with what we have." They sat down at a bench near the park. A few white kids were running around playing tag, their moms gossiping nearby. She huffed, wrapping her arms around her legs, matching her brother's scowl.
"Dis ain't fair," She mumbled, frowning at the ground.
"Most things in life aren't." Huey glanced at his sister once again. "But look at the bright side, at least you're the baddes bitch in town, since you don't have any competition," She seemed to miss the sarcasm dripping from his voice as her face brightened, her mouth parting into a smile.
"Shit, dat's it!" She shoved his back harder than she intended. "I am da baddest bitch up in hurr! Shit, put sum' respect on mah name fool!" Huey looked at her almost amusedly, shaking his head.
"Your ignorance never ceases to amaze me,"
"Shut up McHater," Huey rolled his eyes when Riley flipped him the finger.
"Whatever."
"Shoot, at least we ain't gotta sleep in da same room no mo'," This caught Huey's attention. "I'm done havin' to hear yo' snoring ass all night!"
"Well thank God!" Huey shot back. "At least I won't wake up to the smell of piss every morning!"
"Shut the fuck up!" She snapped, feeling her cheeks get hotter. "...It's not every morning..."
"Whatever you say, Riley." Huey smirked, seeing that he had hit a nerve. "At least we finally don't have to share a room..."
"Watchu mean we gotta share a room?!" Riley was livid, glaring at their grandfather as he watched his stories on the tv. Huey stood besides her, looking pissed himself. "there are three bedroom in this house Granddad!"
"I said y'all gon' share a room, so y'all gon' share a room." Robert said, not looking away from the tv. "Point, blank period. Now be quiet, I'm watching my stories!" Riley huffed and stood right in front of the tv, blocking it out. Robert groaned, already done with his granddaughter. "Girl-"
"Why tho?!" She challenged. "Like, gimme one good reason, just one!"
"The third room is for guests, now move!"
"We ain't nevah get no guests!" Riley whined. "You hate guests! Granddad c'mon, even you know that don't make no sense!"
Huey joined her in front of the tv as Robert glared at both of his grandchildren. "Granddad, I agree with Riley. Besides, we're both developing respectively into a young man and a young woman at a fast pace, and it might be inappropriate for us to still be sharing a room."
"What he said!"
"Girl," Granddad's nostrils flared open as he took a steadying breath, almost as if asking God to give him patience to deal with these bad ass kids. "If you ain't old enough to quit wetting yo' bed than you ain't old enough to have yo' own room." Huey saw Riley's cheeks darken slightly, but she still kept her composure. "Shoot, y'all should be thankful I ain't making you sleep in the same bed anymore."
"Granddad-" Huey started again but Robert cut him off.
"Hush up boy, I'm tired of hearing y'all. Now you two better move yo' narrow behinds now before I whoop some sense into you!" Riley huffed, stomping away from the television.
"I hate you! I hate this damn place! I wish we never had to live wit' you!" They heard her voice from up the stairs followed a loud slam. Robert glared up, trying to look unbothered, but Huey could see his expression falter.
He was also mad, but Riley had been unreasonable, as she often tended to get. He sighed, sitting besides his grandfather as he didn't really want to deal with his younger sister. "You...you understand why I'm doing this, don't you boy?" His grandfather broke the strained silence that had fallen between the two as commercial break rolled in, his voice lost its bass. "You're smart." Huey gave him a weird look before shaking his head.
"Not really..." Robert breathed out a heavy sigh before turning the TV off.
"You two done lost yo' parents not even a month ago," He said somberly. Huey felt a sharp twinge grip at his heart and a stinging sensation on his eyes from tears that begged to be spilled, and he tried his damnest to keep his composure. "Y'all need each other. More than you think, and if it means sharing a room then damnit, so be it."
Huey struggled to understand how sharing a room would make things any better for the both of them, if anything he thought it would just aggravate the animosity between the siblings, seeing that lately it seemed that if they even breathed in each other's direction they'd get into a fight, but he didn't feel like getting into another argument with Granddad.
The busy day was already getting to him, so he headed up the stairs, taking his time in the shower to ponder over everything. He warily made his way to the shared bedroom, really not having the energy to deal with a moody Riley, but when he got there he noticed the lights were turned off and the figure of his sister covered head to toe under the duvet. He knew she wasn't sleeping, but he just let her be, climbing on his bed.
He looked around at all the boxes that needed to be unpacked and sighed. He hoped that whatever was waiting for them on this new life wasn't as bad as he envisioned.
"Baby girl, wake up, it's time to school." He felt herself being stirred awake. School? Already? It was as though she had just fallen asleep. And that familiar voice...She hadn't heard that voice in so long, but at that moment it felt so right...
"Pops...I ain't wanna go to school," She hid herself under the thick blankets. Her father swiftly retrieved the blankest, a stern look falling upon his face as it often did.
"I don't wanna hear none of that Riley. Get yo' narrow behind up and going, your brother's already downstairs." When she didn't move he scowled, his eyebrows knitting together. "Riley..."
"Aight, aight, I'm up!" his scowl softened and he left the room. He looked so much like her brother...The same scowl, the same grumpy expression, but he was always softer on her.
She headed down the stairs where her mother was humming to some old school hip-hop while she cooked up something over the stove and her brother was eating breakfast on the kitchen table. "Morning Ri," She said with a smile, fixing her a plate. "Did you sleep well love?" She nodded, already tucking in to the plate of bacon, eggs and toast. Huey narrowed his eyes at her before shaking his head disapprovingly, tucking in to his bowl of cereal.
"Watcha staring at, nigga?" Riley said through a mouthful. Huey seemed about to retort but was cut off by his mother.
"Riley! We don't use this word in this house!"
"Ma, you and dad both said the word 'nigga' fourty six times yesterday," Huey said, his brows furrowed. "I counted!"
"Nigga hush!" Both parents said at the same time. They shared a look and started cackling a contagious laughter. Soon herself and her brother joined in, she hadn't seen Huey smile in so long that seeing him laugh was absurdly odd, but felt so right. Everything felt right.
Until it didn't.
There was a defeaning sound-a crash, and the lights on the kitchen turned cold and colorless. And then she saw it. Her parents, both on the ground, blood spilling everywhere. They were writhing in agony, and she noticed they weren't in the kitchen anymore. They were in the middle of a highway, but she was still sitting at the kitchen table. She started to scream, but she couldn't move. She couldn't help them. It was as though she was glued to the kitchen chair, and then their parents stood still. The writhing had stopped.
everything had stopped.
Huey stood next to them, but also didn't move himself. Riley couldn't see his face, but she felt herself yelling at him, begging for him to help them.
"they're dead." He mumbled. "THEY'RE DEAD!" He repeated the same two words over and over, each time getting louder and louder.
They were dead. Cold, on the ground and she had failed to help them.
She was a failure.
Her body jerked awake with a sharp intake of breath. She sat up harshly, panting and feeling an immense knot on her throat and a tightness on her chest so great she was sure to have a heart attack at any moment. Her body was ridden with cold sweats and chills and she noticed just how bad she had been shaking.
That had been the worst one yet.
she peeked under the covers and a slight bit of relief washed over when she noticed her sheets were clean. She had made sure to go to the toilet and drink as little water as possible before going to the bed and not embarass herself any further, but she knew that if she hadn't taken those precautions that nightmare would have done it for her.
She took another shaky breath as quietly as possible to try and not wake her brother, but it was too late. "Riley?" He turned on the little lamp on his bedside table and took in his sister's appearance. Her skin was clammy and pale, and he noticed just how badly her body trembled. Her breathing seemed erratic, almost as if she had run a marathon. She looked ill, but Huey knew exactly what was going on with her. "Another one?" He asked with a sigh. She nodded, avoiding his eyes.
Huey couldn't blame her, his nights were also usually assaulted by nightmares and flashback of that day, this or restless sleep. He looked worriedly at his sister, who scratched her braids awkwardly. "You okay?" It was a stupid question, he realized that after it had left his mouth.
" 'M fine," She mumbled, looking down.
"Riley."
"What?"
"You're not." The looked she gave him made his heart clench inside his chest. There was a moment of dense silence. "Granddad told me why we need to share a room. And no, it had nothing to do with your bedwetting." She glared at him, but her face seemed curious nonetheless.
"And?"
"And he said that we needed each other." He gave his sister a meaningful look.
"Watchu mean tho?" Riley furrowed her eyebrows.
"We've been through some shit." He stated simply. "And we need each other." He repeated. He was never the best with words, but he knew he had gotten his point across when Riley's face crumpled, and she fought hard against the tears that had flooded her eyes. "Come here," She hesitated, but stood up nonetheless and sat down besides him. "Just let it out, Riley. For your own sake."
Riley shook her head. She didn't want to cry. She couldn't cry.
It had been three weeks.
Three weeks since the worst day of her short life. Three weeks since their fate had been changed forever.
Three weeks since they died before their eyes.
Riley hadn't yet cried. A few tears rolled down her face when it happened, out of shock, but none after that. Even her stone faced brother allowed himself to sob at their funeral, something that everyone expected from her, the crybaby of the family.
But it hadn't happened. Riley didn't let it happen because she knew that when she started she wouldn't be able to stop.
But as the realization finally hit, when she looked around at the foreign bedroom and the eight years worth of what once was her life packed away in boxes, she couldn't hold it in anymore.
it crashed into her almost as hard as the red truck that fateful day.
It seemed that everything that was pent up for the last three weeks fought it's way out of her in the form of tears and sobs so violent she could barely breath. Her throat was raw and she could feel a migraine, but her body seemed to be acting on its own accord, as thoug it was convulsing. It was agonizing. Her ears were ringing, her head reeling, and the only way she could breath was through the sharp intake of air though her sobs.
She needed this to stop.
She felt herself being pulled back into her brother's arms. He held her protectively, not in a hug, it was almost as though he was trying to shield her from her own self. "Breath, Riley." His shirt was soaked with her tears, but he didn't even care. He couldn't remember the last time they had actually embraced, and he felt a sudden guilt take a hold of him.
Yes, he was grieving too, but he should have been there for her, He was the older brother. But instead he had just pushed her away, estranging their relationship more than it already was, and Riley was at her breaking point. "You need to breath." He repeated, his own voice thick, his own face wet. "I've got you." And he felt her head nod.
He felt a sense of responsibilty over her. He had always been told that he had to take care of her, that he was the one setting an example, but he had never paid much attention to these claims until now. That fact seemed to glare at him. Granddad wouldn't be around forever, it was only a matter of time before they were the only ones they could count on.
Riley was his responsibilty.
And the weight of it all scared him more than he'd like to admit.
It was already ten a.m, where the hell were his grandchildren?
He could understand Riley, as she often woke up around noon when there wasn't school, but Huey? That boy was often up and going hours before he himself was. There was something strange going on.
Robert assumed they were still mad at the events of last night, but what was done was done. He believed he had made the right choice and he was not going back on his word, at least not anytime soon.
He sighed, heading up their bedroom. They had a busy day of unpacking ahead of them. His lazy grandchildren couldn't afford to sleep in. He slowly peeked in, frowning when he noticed that Riley's bed, which was closest to the door, was empty, but that frown soon vanished when he looked at Huey's half of the room to be greeted with a scene he hadn't witnessed since they were toddlers.
Huey had his arms wrapped around Riley, who in turn had her face buried into her brother's chest. It was a comforting sight, and Robert smiled, deciding that maybe they could afford to sleep in a bit more.
And well, he took some pride in knowing he was actually right.
Hello!
The idea for this story just hit in the middle of the night one day and I just had to put it down! I'm a sucker for Genderbend AU's and since there's so little of it on the Boondocks community I just thought "Why Not" lol.
It's a fun little project, but I still will give full priority to my on-going fanfic "Revolutionaries Don't Fall In Love" (Also, excuse the shameless self-plug, but the newest chap is out lol, go check it out!)
I tried to keep Riley in true to character, but also give him (her?) a twist with what I imagined a female counterpart of him would be like. Let me know what you think! Reviews are important!
If you guys have any prompts in mind, I would love some creative inspiration! Seriously!
If you liked it make sure to Review and Follow the story so you can always keep up with the lates updates! Also, follow me if you like my work and is interested on what's in store next!
XOXO
-Agatha