The Realest Ever (12 page)

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He told Brianna about meeting Kyra in grade school.  She was quiet and small for her age.  Kyra didn’t have nice clothes.  Sometimes she came to school with her hair half done, like she styled it herself without an adult around to give her a once-over before she left the house.  Kyra had a brother named Duke who was two years older.  Her sister Jessica was a year older than Duke.  Every now and then Kyra was fortunate enough to attend the same school as one of her siblings, but for the most part she was on her own. 

Donovan and Kyra weren’t in the same grade, either
.  They only saw each other at lunchtime and occasionally before or after school.  The first time they spoke was during recess when Kyra was in the 3
rd
grade.  Donovan noticed her walking alone near the gym while most of her peers were involved in games with at least one other person. 

Donovan
approached Kyra and asked if she wanted to play with his yo-yo.  The smile that lit up her face changed Donovan’s heart in ways he still didn’t comprehend.  He would never forget how awkward and vulnerable Kyra was.  For the next twenty minutes Donovan’s only intention was to keep a smile on the quiet girl’s face.  The following day he sought her out again with the same goal in mind.

The first time Donovan walked Kyra home from school, it was because a clique of
bad girls tried to attack her.  Kyra allegedly stole a dollar from one of them.  Donovan was more sympathetic than upset when they arrived at Kyra’s home and she admitted to stealing from her classmate’s purse.  Donovan gave her all of the money he had in his pocket (a buck fifty), and told her to ask him the next time she needed money.  She never did, but Kyra would take a bag of chips or the desert from his lunch whenever Donovan offered.

What
Donovan found most endearing about Kyra was the beauty and joy she possessed on the inside despite the obstacles in her daily life.  Kyra’s mother, Deidra, smoked crack cocaine.  Kyra never met her father.  Kyra’s brother Duke was a budding criminal, spending the bulk of his adolescence in juvenile detention centers and alternative schools. 

Kyra’s
big sister, Jessica, had seen way too much.  She was hardened and bitter about life.  Jessica barely reacted to the hell their mom put them through.  The only comfort she offered Kyra was the certainty that after awhile she’d get used to it.

With Donovan, Kyra found one person who never criticized her about her hand-me-down clothing or her dopefiend mom.  Donovan
was there for her when Kyra wanted to talk about the most dreadful situations, like when the dope boys came to her house and threatened to kill her mom over an unpaid debt.  And Donovan had the
regular
life Kyra dreamed about every night.  Donovan’s father still lived with him, and his parents were married.  There was food in the refrigerator at Donovan’s house, and he even had cable television.

But the thing that made Kyra love
Donovan so much was that he genuinely cared for her, though he had absolutely no reason to do so.  Donovan never judged her.  He rarely had solutions to her problems, but his encouragement lifted young Kyra’s spirits.

“It won’t be like this forever,” he would tell her.  “
When you grow up, you’ll have a normal family.  Until then, you can come visit me whenever you want to.  I’ll help you anytime I can.”

He was
only a child himself, but Donovan was serious about being there for Kyra.  The first time he helped her out of a jam was when she was in the 7
th
grade.  Donovan was in the 8
th
.  Kyra’s mother’s addiction was going strong, and she came up with a boneheaded idea to move a drug dealer into her home.  In exchange for living there and selling dope out of the house, the dealer paid Deidra
rent
, which was never cash; always drugs.

The
dealer was known as
FourFive
.  He was 35 years old with long hair he kept in cornrows most of the time.  He set up shop in Duke’s room because Kyra’s brother was locked up or running the streets most nights.  FourFive was respectful of Kyra and her sister, but they feared for their safety the entire time he was there.  FourFive had beef with several dealers in the city.  There were more goons who wanted to take FourFive’s life because he supposedly killed one of their relatives.  FourFive didn’t fear his enemies.  His signature weapon, a .45 semi-automatic, was never out of reach.

De
spite the obvious dangers, the main problem FourFive brought to Kyra’s home was traffic.  FourFive’s new dope house was open twenty-four hours a day.  Junkies knocked on the front door when the sun was up and went around back when it got dark outside.  FourFive had two good friends who were always there.  They played loud music and smoked weed into the wee hours of the morning.  Sometimes they brought female crackheads inside for sex if the women couldn’t afford their high.

After a month, FourFive was comfortable and established in his new
spot.  Unfortunately his new spot was Kyra’s home, and she barely slept at night.  Donovan listened to her complaints day after day.  He walked Kyra home so he could see FourFive himself.  Donovan knew the drug dealer was dangerous, and he was too young to tackle the problem on his own. 

Without telling
anyone, Donovan began making anonymous phone calls to the police regarding the drug activity on Bishop Drive.  On his sixth call, Donovan was told that he had to give them his name and address if he wanted to file a formal complaint.  Donovan was only 13 years old.  He knew his information would be filed in a police report.  He also knew that snitching was a capital offense on the streets of Overbrook Meadows.

But Donovan cared enough about Kyra to
take the risk.  Two days later a SWAT team invaded Kyra’s residence while she was at school.  When Donovan walked her home that day, her house was in disarray.  The door had been kicked in.  Every room was ransacked.  Kyra’s mother sat on the porch looking lost and depressed.  Kyra’s eyes lit up when she heard that FourFive was in jail, and he was never coming back.

Donovan didn’t tell her
that he was the one who summoned the police until the next day.  Kyra hugged him so hard Donovan had to beg her to, “
Let me go.  I can’t breathe
!”  Donovan waited three months before he told his mother about the incident.  Beverly was furious.  She truly disliked Kyra from that point on, but Donovan never doubted that he did the right thing.

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The second time Donovan put himself in harm’s way on Kyra’s behalf was in 1997.  He was in the 10
th
grade at Finley High.  Kyra was a freshman, and they were as thick as thieves.  Kyra was doing well in school.  She was even a better math student than Donovan.  Typically the best friends went to Donovan’s house after school to do their homework.  Beverly wasn’t happy about that, but she was supportive because it kept Donovan safe at home.

Kyra had developed most her
womanly physique by then, and she had quite a few admirers, both in and outside of school.  Donovan was not among them, and he didn’t mind talking to Kyra about some of the boys she liked.  She didn’t tell Donovan about the one crush that made her uncomfortable until things nearly got out of hand.  This admirer was bad news from the start because Marvin was already in a relationship with Kyra’s mother.  And he was 38 years old. 

Sometimes, late at night,
Marvin had a look in his eyes that chilled Kyra to her core.  She was so frightened, she started barricading her bedroom door before she went to bed.  Unfortunately she could only block her door with items she could lift or drag herself, and Marvin was much stronger than she was.  He pushed her door open twice already.  Kyra was awakened both times.  She stared wide-eyed at the door, and she saw Marvin’s ugly face in the opening.  But he didn’t walk in.  Not yet anyway.

When Kyra finally told Donovan about the way her mother’s boyfriend watched her and always
felt the need to use the bathroom when she was in the shower, Donovan was upset that she didn’t tell him sooner.  His concern became anger when Kyra told him that she complained to her mother several times, but she wouldn’t listen.  Marvin was a dopefiend, too.  He provided Deidra with a mostly free source of drugs.  Kyra’s mother wasn’t willing to give that up just because her youngest daughter might get raped.  Hell, a lot of things
might
happen.

Less than a week after Kyra confided in Donovan, her troubles at home reached a boiling point.  Marvin
broke through Kyra’s barricade one night after he sent Deidra to score their next high.  Egged on by the hard liquor he’d been consuming, Marvin stepped into Kyra’s room for the first time and tried to pull the sheets off her body.  She held on to them with all her might and screamed at the top of her lungs. 

Spooked, Marvin retreated and didn’t bother her anymore that night.  Kyra lay in bed trembling until
her mother returned.  When she heard Deidra’s voice, Kyra summoned the courage to confront Marvin in her mother’s presence.  But nothing happened. 

Marvin said he thought Kyra barricaded
the door so she could sneak out of her bedroom window.  He said he lifted Kyra’s sheet to if it was really her under there, rather than a pile of clothing.  He said he was startled and confused by her scream.  He never did anything to harm her.  He didn’t know why she didn’t like him.

S
urprisingly, Deidra sided with Marvin.  She threatened to kick Kyra out if she continued to lie on her boyfriend.  Deidra told Kyra to stop barricading her door at night.  She said she wanted to be able to check to see if Kyra really was trying to sneak out of her room.  Plus Kyra’s barricade might prevent someone from saving her if there was a fire, Marvin added.

Kyra told Donovan what happened when she got to school
the next morning.  He was in a foul mood for the rest of the day.  She had never seen his eyes so dark.  The best buds usually went to Donovan’s house after school, but he insisted on visiting Kyra’s home instead.  She was against it, but Donovan marched on alone when she tried to stop him.  Kyra caught up and pleaded with him along the way.

Donovan was only sixteen
at the time, but he’d been playing football since the fourth grade.  He had the build of a college freshman.  When they arrived at Kyra’s house, Donovan knocked on the door while Kyra paced anxiously in the front yard.  Marvin answered.  His expression was quizzical.  Donovan dropped his backpack and grabbed a fistful of the man’s tee shirt.  He yanked him out of the house so quickly, Marvin stumbled down the steps and face-planted on the dry lawn.  Kyra screamed.  Deidra rushed from the house, her eyes spooked from cocaine.  She started yelling, too.

Marvin scrambled to his feet with anger quickly replacing
his confusion.  He went after Donovan with his fists raised.  Kyra started crying.  The difference between their sizes looked astronomical.  Deidra demanded to know what was going on.  Kyra wanted to know, too.  She talked to Donovan about everything, and he never reacted like this.

“What the hell’s
your problem?” Marvin barked.  His tee shirt was ripped.  Dead blades of grass clung to his nappy hair.

“Quit messing with Kyra!” Donovan told him.  He stood defiantly with his
little fists balled. 

Marvin shook off the rest of his shock and sneered at him. 
“Boy, I’ll beat yo bitch ass!”

“Stop!” Kyra wailed.  “Please, stop!”

“Come on!” Donovan said.  “I ain’t scared!”

“Get that boy away from my house!” Deidra shouted.

“
Come on, you pervert
!” Donovan yelled.  His eyes were locked on Marvin’s. 

Kyra had never seen him fight before, but Donovan’s boxing stance was official.  For a brief moment
she thought Donovan would be able to stand his own.  But Marvin had been in plenty of fights during his life as a junkie.  He grinned and closed the distance between them with quick, purposeful strides.

“You gon’ do something about it
, little punk?”

“Kyra, get that bo
y–”

WHAP!

Deidra was cut off by the sound of palm hitting cheek.  Donovan didn’t see it coming.  And when it connected, he couldn’t see anything past a blinding flash of red and white.  Donovan stumbled backwards.  The side of his face exploded with blistering pain.  Kyra screamed again, and so did a couple of street people who were drawn to the fight like moths to a flame.

“You come to my goddamned house
starting shit!”

PAP!

Marvin berated Donovan as he whooped him.  But he wasn’t fighting him like he would a man.  The second blow was another slap that connected with the side of Donovan’s head.  His world spinning, Donovan dropped to one knee.  He didn’t feel the blood leaking from his split lip, and he couldn’t hear any of the people shouting around him.  Vaguely he caught sight of a loose brick in the lawn.  He reached for it instinctively.

But Donovan’s senses were slurred
.  His movements were telegraphed.  Marvin saw him go for the weapon, and he decided to put an end to this.  He reared back with his right leg, planning to punt the runt’s face like a football, but Donovan’s brain cleared up for a fraction of a second, and he saw the sneaker coming.  Donovan blocked the kick with his arms, and then he grabbed Marvin’s leg and threw all of his weight at him.