Life of a boy in the hood

Started off all nice, a kid with all the potential, up to him to exceed. Exceed all his desires live out all of his dreams. Mother was strong, working long hours, not the ordinary nine to five. Everything she can do to provide. Everything she needs to survive. Guiding her son as much as she can, with what little time she has.

But as he grows older, his shoulders start to broaden, as do his necessities.

Mother relinquished some of her responsibilities and continued to graft.  But the problem is, a young man needs guidance in his life, guidance on how to survive, it only takes one dubious road to change a life.

Boys 15 now, not the same young man as he was a year ago.

Is that so hard to believe…. A year can change everything you believe, all your hobbies and interests have changed, your way of life. No longer interested in games and football, football was just an unexpected dream, way too far out of reach.

Moved to the things that are important to a kid, how to look good, how to be acknowledged as the man. Acting older than what you should.  

Started hanging in the block, moving further from his home.

As time goes further, distance starts to seems to part him from the life he once had, his house is just a place goes to, just to take a nap. His mother has no idea of the company he keeps or the life he leads. Trusting and believing everyone he shouldn’t.

Young and naïve, no concerns of the company he keeps. The glamourized life that’s presented to you as a kid. No one seems to understand the pressures as a kid. The drugs, the life, the image and the grind.

Its hard being a poor kid, in a neighbourhood full of darkness. Its only a matter of time before the light fades and the darkness consumes you.

Mother starts to notice the change and confronts him about his life, he does not reply with the respect he once had. She is left wondering how it has comes to this. Flashbacks to that kid with all the potential to be what he wants, as he slams the front door interrupting her trance, not telling her where he has gone.

Hes falling and there is no way back. Ventures to the place he thinks is home turning to the man that embraced him with drugs and crime, slightly contemplating about his mum, but the adrenaline pushes him further to the end. The company he keeps had many supposedly friends in other peoples eyes, they would probably be considered enemies, but if your seen with money or product, everything can go.  Clean sweep and everything can change.

You wanna be the man but we all got to eat out here. The streets don’t reward no one, its everyman for themselves. It has no mercy for some poor dumb kid.

He runs into some familiar faces, but not so friendly. Confronted by a youth in a hoodie. Blacked out, another boy in the same boat, another boy who chose the wrong road, a boy out here to prove a point. Earn his stripes with a quick poke with what he will call a shank. The hype surround him before they leave this yout bleeding on his knees, in the middle of the streets.

Presented with the same flashbacks his mother shared not much longer before he ran away from home. Is this the life he really wanted. This is just the life that chooses you without no given right.

 If you stay here long enough, there is always one conclusion. Just another kid on the block, plenty more of them right?

His mums concern her young mislead boy has got the better of her, or is it just a mothers intuition, deep down knowing something isn’t right.

She gets in her car in search for her boy, switches on the radio to hear another boy in the hood has been stabbed. Fears start to raise, keeping in mind its just a typical report on the news. Things like this seem to happen everyday.

As she endeavours further, she comes to stall, roads blocked off, taped up and no ones allowed through.

Could this be what she feared the most, as she has travelled to the scene of the crime on the news. She gets out her vehicle to investigate what’s happened and more importantly who it has happened to.

Officer tells her to get back, before she cries and whimpers “my sons gone missing”

Officer speaks to his lead detective before they decide to present her lost child before her eyes.

Lost in a spiral spinning out of control. Thoughts spewing around her head visually emotionless, physically distressed.

All them long hours trying to provide.

All the lost time she could of spent with her child.

All for nothing….

But no one knew what she grinded to do.

She thought it was all good just a year ago…

Continued her grind to take them out of this forsaken life.

Planned to leave this hellhole, give him more opportunities.

So close to her dreams, so close to a better life.

Now she is left with sorrow. And a life no longer worth  living without her boy.