65- Death Wish

Editing in Progress…

~Chapter 65~

Monday morning rolls by, the sun rises to start a new day, and Kehlani wishes she didn't rise with it. She, with all seriousness, wished something had taken her life while she slept, just so she wouldn't wake up to her miserable life, but not every wish and prayers are heard. 

She lifted her hands to the side of her face and pulled the melted ice pack from her cheek. It was lukewarm and had lost its icy feeling at night. 

She sighed for the nth time in the short period she had awoken. Lani lazily slipped her feet into the slippers and went to see herself in the mirror. She traced her fingers over her swell. 

"Hmm… It has gone down to a considerable amount." She whispered, still analyzing her face. "A little face powder, concealer, and contour can hide the rest"

'OR I could simply leave it and waltz right to the police station and report the abuse.' She thought, but snorted at the dumb idea. 

It really was an idiotic idea. After all, she had tried it before. She had tried reporting to the cops; they said there was no much proof to arrest her father. 

She rolled her eyes at the remembrance. 'Proof? As if my face wasn't enough proof for them.'

She shook her head, readily forgetting the dreadful thought. Peeling off her clothes, she slipped into the shower and turned it on, letting the water pour on herself.

She was truthfully tired of her life and wanted it all to end. Lani wanted to cry out her pain, she wanted to lean on someone for comfort, but she was alone.

All alone.

It didn't take long before she came out of the bathroom. She soon began doing her make-up, ensuring to apply a lot of concealers on her face. 

Once she was done, she looked at herself in the mirror and groaned inwardly. The make-up was clearly heavier than what she usually put on regular. 

"Well, it is not as if I plan on gaining attention from any boy in school," She said, tapping her make-up foam on her face.

Finalizing her look, began dressing up. That didn't take much time, since it was a simple flannel jacket, jeans, a beanie she placed in her bag with places to wear later and sneakers.

Checking herself in the mirror to make sure she didn't look as bad as how she felt inside. Leaning closer to her mirror, she lightly slapped on her cheeks to loosening them up as she practiced a smile on her face. 

After all, it was better to smile when things are getting rough, than frown and let the whole world know you are suffering, because you don't know who is happy at your pain.

The smile didn't need to be real, it just needed to look real.

Grabbing her skateboard, she headed down the stairs, but to her utter disappointment, she heard her father's footsteps and dry singing voice as he sang along the morning radio. 

She had two options: to run downstairs and not stop till she was out of the house and many blocks away from it. 

OR she could go back to her room and scale through the window, leaving her with the possibility of getting injured. 

She chose the latter. After all, she already had wounds inflicted on her, what is stopping an additional one. She silently turned around, going back to her room. 

Kehlani pulled her windows opened. It made sounds as it pulled open. Lani peered down the window to the ground, calculating the best way to scale down without actually getting hurt or breaking anything. She tucked her skateboard into her school bag, just the most she could fit. It didn't matter, since it was only until she escaped.

She swung a leg over the windowsill, still having a firm grip on the frame. The branches of the oak tree beside the window reached close to her as the morning wind blew. She steadied herself, stretching to grasp the nearest branch facing her.

Its rough bark bit into her palm, cutting it a little, but she still clasped it.

With a deep breath, Kehlani hoisted herself up and out, her other leg followed with it. She dangled for a while. It was suddenly as if the ground had sunk some distance deeper into the earth.

She slowly eased herself down the branch, inch by inch, until she found a lower branch that could support her weight. The tree bark scraping her arms and legs as she progressed 

Finally, she was also getting closer to the ground. Lani took one last look at her bedroom window before she let go. She landed awkwardly, but still managed to stay upright.

She let a sigh of relief flow from her lungs to her mouth. Without wasting another moment, Kehlani adjusted her school bag on her shoulders. She quickly pulled out the skate board from her bag and skated away from the house. 

She didn't look back as she did so.

Her school was a thirty-minute walk, and twenty-minute skate, and she knew she would make it just in time.

She let out an audible sigh of both relief and happiness as she continued her way to school.

She was happy she didn't need to meet her father. Her mood would have already gone sour if she had exchanged even a good morning with him. 

Escaping through the window had been her small, one-sided war victory against her father. But it wasn't like she could actively run away from her problem by jumping off the windows.

She shook her head. She was going to school, one place her father and those loan sharks could not torment her in.

🌟

{Coming back hopefully this afternoon. Bring my School bags and books. Would most likely head to school from the airport.} Quin texted Santi as she stepped aside while some men from the blood devils loaded their boxes into their black SUV.

{Why? Just skip school for the day} Santi texted a reply.

{No, I don't plan on repeating a class just because of low attendance.}

As a response to his message, Santi sent en emoji face with raised eyebrow.

{I AM SERIOUS} Quin texted back with all caps. He shut his phone, not waiting to read his reply. He sighed, rubbing his brows.

"Problem?" Diesel asked. Despite the morning cold air, he was a clan in sweatpants and a loose, opened button-up shirt. His hands were tucked into his pockets as he looked at Quin.

"Not really, just one of my men… I plan ongoing to school from the airport, but he said not to"

"Why do you want to go to school from the airport?!" He questioned, his face recreating the emoji Santi had sent to him.

"I just want to," He groaned. 

"So diligent," Diesel teased. 

Quinn glare at him, then rolled his eyes. Both men stayed silent after that as they watched the men load in their boxes.

Until Diesel broke the silence, "Did you like your stay in New York?" he asked, stepping down close to him.

"I guess," Joaquin answered with a shrug.

"Would it kill you to give a direct answer?" Diesel criticized him, nudging him on the side with his elbow.

"And take inflate your ego some more? No, thank you"

"You asshole!" He scoffed. Quin rolled his eyes in response to him.

"If you throw up on me, I will kill you," Cassius voiced, sounding very abrasive. Carlos, who was hung on his shoulders, sighed. "You are very wicked. You know that?" He slurred on his words. 

Cassius took Carlos down the stairs, waving to Quin and Diesel before replying, "Well I like being wicked," He replied apathetically. He opened the back seat of the Audi and dropped Carlos back flat on the seat.

"Safe journey dude" He added, tapping his legs, and Carlos only groaned his reply.

"What is that all about?" Diesel asked, pointing towards the duo.

"You know, Carlos and Cassius came back late." He asked, and Diesel nodded. "Well, they both came back not only late but also drunk out of their mind. And now he is facing the consequences." His voice didn't hide the mocking tone that was in it. His phone pinged, grabbing his attention to it.

{No problem. We will call you later. But for now don't text us, we are dead ass tired} Santi double texted after this last text had being ignored.

{Hmm}

As Quin and Diesel continued their little banter, Vincenzo's car pulled up in a parking space. Quin furrowed his eyes, as he remembered him leaving yesterday, but he hadn't seen him all morning. 

Strangely enough, Vinny didn't step out from the car, even after parking for a while. And this rang alarms in Diesel's head as he knew what sort of dangerous job he went for. 

He took long strides towards his car and aggressively threw the door open.