This Could Be Us But You Playin' Read online

  “Get the fuck up!” Monique yelled, before she smacked the sleeping teen so hard on the side of the head, it echoed throughout the room.

  “Oww!” Dominique howled as she sat up quickly. Her hand rested on the spot where her mother had just struck her.

  “What the hell did I tell you to do before I left earlier today?”

  The sound of yelling caused Tiffany to stir. She rolled over in her bed and when she did, she caught a glimpse of her mother standing over her sister angrily. Tiffany quickly pulled her covers up over her head and pretended as if she was still sleeping. She knew that if her mother was mad enough to storm into their room in the middle of the night, she was pissed. There was no doubt in Tiffany’s mind why her mother was upset. She knew that it was because of the mess in the kitchen. Before they went to bed, Tiffany started to remind Dominique about cleaning it, but when she saw just how tired her sister was, she decided not to mention it. In the back of Tiffany’s mind, she believed that maybe her mother wouldn’t come home that night, so her and Dominique would have a chance to clean up before they headed off to school. Seeing her mother now, standing there livid, made her wish that she had just spoke up.

  “I don’t remember!” Dominique snapped, still holding on to where she had been hit.

  It wasn’t that she was trying to get smart with her mother, it just happened to come out that way. Truthfully, Dominique was confused by what was going on. After being woke up from her sleep with a hit to the head, she didn’t have a clue what her mother was talking about. Before she had a chance to really think about what the problem was, Monique was hitting her once again, this time with a closed fist. Dominique’s head jerked back violently and bounced off the wall. She instantly saw stars. The pain in the back of her head throbbed and the aching in her eye made her say a silent prayer that it wouldn’t be black the next day. If so, Dominque knew that she was going to have to figure out a way to cover it. Being at school with a shiner from her mother the next day weighted heavy on her mind for a split second, before she was brought back out of her thoughts.

  “Who the fuck you talking to like that, bitch?” Monique asked with her head cocked to the side and her hands balled into fist. She didn’t give Dominique a chance to explain herself before she punched her again, this time, square in the nose.

  The fact that she thought that her daughter had gotten smart made Monique upset, but not enough to do what she was doing at the present time. No, Monique was pissed about what had gone down earlier with her guy friend and how she had found out about the fact that he was involved with another woman. They were at his apartment getting hot and heavy when his doorbell rang. At first, he pretended not to hear it, but when the visitor began to constantly push the button, Monique advised him to go and see who it was. Reluctantly, he got up and headed to the door, leaving her lying in his bed naked as the day she was born. Moments later, when she heard the sound of arguing coming from the front of the house, Monique jumped up. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but she didn’t want to be literally caught with her pants down. Monique was in the process of slipping her dress over her head when the bedroom door burst open.

  “Who the fuck is this?” a female voice yelled, making her way inside the room towards Monique.

  The lighter skinned woman looked at Monique in shock for a second, before there was fire in her eyes. Her beautiful face twisted into a horrible scowl when she looked down and noticed that the woman in her boyfriend’s bedroom was naked from the waist down. She glanced back at him and from the look on his face, he knew he was caught. There was nothing more to say. Monique locked eyes with the woman, but before she had a chance to explain that she didn’t know that he was involved, the female pounced on her. Together, they fell back onto the bed, with Monique stuck at the bottom. Over and over again, the female swung, connecting her hits all over Monique’s face and head. All of this went while Monique laid on the bed feeling helpless. There was absolutely nothing that she could do because her arms had been stuck inside her dress, and the way that the woman was sitting on her prevented Monique from doing anything to change that. As she continued to get hit, Monique flopped around like a fish out of water trying to free herself, but it was no use.

  A few moments passed before the chick was lifted up by her guy friend, which allowed Monique enough time to get her limbs into the holes of her dress. She jumped up, slid her arms into her sleeves, and thought about fighting back. When she looked in the corner of the room and saw the female still trying to get at her and her guy friend pleading for her to just leave, Monique changed her mind. Not wanting to cause anymore drama, Monique decided to just leave. She didn’t bother to put on her underwear, since she didn’t really know where they had been thrown anyway, and without so much as a word, she shamefully jetted toward the door with her purse thrown over her shoulder and her shoes clutched in her hand.

  Monique felt stupid for allowing the unknown woman to beat on her the way that she did, especially in front of her guy friend. Her entire drive home, all she thought about was the fact that she’d wished she would have run over to the chick and got a few licks in for herself. The only reason why she didn’t was because she wasn’t sure what would happen. The woman was more than likely the girlfriend after all, and who knows what would have gone down if she decided to try her luck. Monique had only known the guy for a few weeks, and after finding out that he had someone else in his life, she realized that she didn’t really know him as much as she thought she did. Monique was pissed and couldn’t believe that she allowed things to go down the way they did. She had never been scary and would always fight, even though she wasn’t the best at it.

  Monique had always been one of those chicks that you literally had to beat the shit out of. She was the type that would be getting her ass whipped, but still talking mad junk, like she was winning the fight. This went on even when she was younger. Even back then, Monique was always in the middle of some shit. Whether it be he-say she-say, her fucking somebody’s man, or just plain old gossiping; she was the one who always had a hand in bullshit. There had been plenty times that her mother had to drag her in the house after she had gotten beat down for running her mouth. Even that didn’t stop Monique, who would still be talking shit out of the window of her bedroom, which would result in yet another fight the following day. Monique had a reputation for getting her ass kicked, but that didn’t stop her from swinging on someone as if she was the best fighter in the neighborhood and it was because she had the heart of a lion.

  “I don’t know who the fuck—” Slap “you think you be talking to—” Punch “But you got the right mutha’fucker today, bitch!” Monique yelled as she pounded on her daughter. Since she couldn’t take her anger out on the chick who had beat her ass earlier, she figured that her oldest would have to do.

  “Ahhhh!” Dominique screeched when her mother grabbed a hand full of her hair and snatched her off of her bed. She was fully awake now. As soon as Dominique’s knees landed on the carpeted floor, they immediately began to sting from the carpet burn. Although it hurt like hell, it was the least of Dominique’s worries because her mother continued to hit her over and over again. The assault that she was receiving couldn’t have been all because she didn’t clean up the kitchen after her younger brother and sisters because she was sure that it wasn’t that bad. No, this ass whooping was about something else. What that was, she had no idea. Her mother was fighting her as if she were a stranger on the street and this confused Dominique.

  It wasn’t the first time that Monique had put her hands on her daughter. In fact, she hit Dominique a lot. She’d smack her for not doing the dishes, or helping one of the kids with their homework. She only remembered one other instance when her mother had beat her this badly, and it had been a few years ago. Dominique felt helpless because what she really wanted to do was get up from the floor and blast her mother right in her fucking face. She wanted to show Monique how much it hurt to be hit on. Dominique knew that she couldn’t do that
because not only was it unacceptable to hit one of your parents, but she also knew how her mother was. Monique would call the police on her without a second thought and have her taken to juvenile. Even though that would be a better situation than practically being your mother’s in-house slave, Dominique didn’t want to leave her brothers and sisters behind. Because of this, Dominique continued to take the beating her mother was giving her, even though she felt herself on the brink of losing her patience.

  In order to cushion the blows that Monique was throwing, Dominique attempted to curl up into a ball. It proved to be harder than she expected because the way that her mother was jerking her head from side to side made it almost impossible. Dominique screamed and bit down on her bottom lip to keep herself from lashing out. Monique was taking the shit too far, and Dominique knew that it was only a matter of time before she would no longer be responsible for her actions. Dominique understood that she had messed up by not cleaning the kitchen thoroughly like her mother had asked, but being Monique’s punching bag was quickly getting old. At the point of no return, Dominique balled up her fist. Her mother didn’t know it, but she was about to be wearing a black eye her damn self.

  “Stop mommy!” Tiffany screamed.

  She had heard and saw enough. Tossing her covers off of her body, she jumped out of the bed. Quickly, she made her way over to her mother and tried her hardest to pry her hands off of her sister’s hair. Monique swatted at her younger daughter with her free hand, while still holding a tight grip onto Dominique with the other. Tiffany didn’t stop though, and continued to pull at her mother’s fingers. This angered Monique because in her mind, Tiffany was choosing Dominique over her.

  That was always the case in their household. Even her ex-husband, Jessie, loved their oldest daughter more than he loved his own wife. Monique thought back about how the bastard always put Dominique on a pedestal like she was a fucking princess, while he beat her ass every chance he got, sometimes for absolutely nothing. Monique was glad that his ass was gone because now she could do what the fuck she wanted, and everyone, including hardheaded ass Dominique, had no choice but to respect it or get they asses beat.

  “Get the fuck off me!” Monique screamed. She let go of Dominique’s hair and shoved Tiffany with both hands with all her might. The fourteen-year-old flew across the room and landed on her butt directly in front of her bed.

  Monique’s chest heaved up and down as she stared at her younger daughter for a moment, daring her to say or do anything that would grant her an ass whopping as well. Monique briefly contemplated on if she should just beat Tiffany’s ass, just for the fact that she meddled in business that didn’t concern her, but decided to just leave her alone. At that moment, Dominique was her issue, and she was the one who Monique wanted to punish. Plus, Tiffany was never really a problem. She just did dumb shit sometimes, and it always had something to do with Dominique. Tiffany always made good grades and did everything that Monique told her to do with no problems. She just happened to love her sister. Monique couldn’t figure out why everyone adored Dominique so much and couldn’t wait until the day that people realized that Dominique didn’t care about anyone but her damn self. She was a selfish bitch who, for some reason, captured the hearts of others. Monique knew that eventually Tiffany was going to get a firsthand lesson on how self-centered her sister was, and once that happened, she would stand there with the ‘I told you so’ face.

  “Yo’ dumb ass gone get enough of taking up for this bitch!” Monique yelled, pointing down at Dominique, who was still sitting on the floor. “She doesn’t give a fuck about you for real. Do you think she would have helped you if you were getting your ass beat?” Tiffany didn’t respond right away. She was too afraid of what her mother would do if she said the wrong thing. “I asked you a muthafucking question, so I expect an answer. Do you think this bitch would help you if you were on the floor getting yo’ ass beat?”

  “Yea…yeah, I know that she would help me,” Tiffany stammered. She knew, without a doubt, that if the shoe was on the other foot, Dominique would have helped her with no hesitation.

  “I swear you are a fucking idiot; you know that?” Monique rolled her eyes and shook her head. “You can think what the fuck you want, but I tell you one goddamn thing.” She paused, before she took a few steps in Tiffany’s direction and pointed her finger in her face. “If you ever in yo’ mutha’fucking life call yo’self getting in the middle of some shit that is going down between me and anybody, I will beat you down so fucking bad that I will have to keep you out of school for a week. Do you fucking hear me?”

  “Yes,” Tiffany muttered.

  “Yes, what?”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “Good.” Monique smirked. She was pleased by the terrified look on her daughter’s face. “And you,” she said, turning back to Dominique, “get yo’ monkey ass up and clean my goddamn kitchen right fucking now, before I punch you in your ugly ass face again!”

  Chapter Two

  With tears still rolling down her face, Dominique quickly wiped them away before she finally stood from the floor. She knew that if she continued to cry, her mother would get mad all over again and try to hit her. She didn’t want that, so she sucked in her tears and headed toward the kitchen praying that none escaped from her eyelids and fell against her will. When Dominique saw the mess her siblings had made, she wanted to scream. She didn’t understand how there was cereal everywhere when she’d fixed them all French fries and chicken nuggets for dinner. A few moments later, she came to the conclusion that they must have gotten back out of bed after she fell asleep and made the mess that she saw before her. Dominque wanted to kick herself for not making sure that they were sleep before she dozed off, but she was just so tired that she couldn’t help it.

  With her head hung low, she sighed and began the task of cleaning up after them. She walked over to the table and picked up the discarded cereal box. A quick glance at the clock on the stove let her know that it was almost four in the morning. She had a little less than two hours before she had to wake her brothers and sisters up for school and make them breakfast. Dominique knew that the mess that they had created would take her a minute to clean up, so going back to sleep was more than likely out of the question; not that she could go back after the beating she received anyway. The fact that she had just gone to bed a little after eleven didn’t give her much time to sleep. Dominique knew that she would pay for her lack of rest later that day at school; she just hoped that it wouldn’t be too bad.

  The sound of her mother entering her bedroom made Dominique turn to look in that direction. When the door closed behind her and she heard the lock click, Dominique rolled her eyes. She couldn’t stand her mother sometimes. No, that was a lie, she couldn’t stand her mother all of the time. Monique was a pain in her ass, and Dominique couldn’t wait until she was old enough to get the fuck out of her house. Once she left, she wasn’t looking back, no matter what the case was. Monique could officially kiss her ass once she turned eighteen, and she didn’t give a damn how she felt about it. The only way she would come back was to visit her brothers and sisters, and that’s it. It was sad to say, but Dominique always prayed that when Monique left the house to meet up with the random guys she’d come across, that one day she wouldn’t come back. That’s just how much she disliked, no scratch that, that was just how much she hated her mother.

  If Monique wasn’t forcing Dominique to take care of all of her younger siblings, she had her doing something else. From cooking, to cleaning, to washing, and everything in between, one would think that Dominique was the mother and Monique was the child. Monique came and went when she pleased and did nothing but layup with different men, bark out orders, spend her disable children’s social security checks, and boss Dominique around. It seemed like ever since her father went to jail four years prior, Monique had showed her ass. It wasn’t like she was the best mother then, but at least she attempted to put up a front because her husband kept her in line. Now, sh
e didn’t give a damn. Dominique wished that her daddy was back home because Monique wouldn’t get away with half the shit she was doing. Truthfully, it should be her locked away and not him because she was more deserving of prison.

  “I already know you’re going to tell your daddy that I beat that ass, but I don’t give a fuck.”

  Dominique jumped when she heard her mother’s voice. She had been so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn’t hear Monique’s door open, or her come back out of her room. She turned to face her mother, but dropped her eyes because she didn’t want to give Monique a reason to hit her again. With the way she was feeling at that moment, she was liable to spazz out and that would lead to Monique being put on her ass.

  “Yeah, you didn’t think I knew you were telling him about everything that was going on in my fucking house, huh?” Monique asked, before taking a long pull of the cigarette that now dangled between her fingers. Dominque hated the smell of the cancer sticks, but she wouldn’t dare tell her mother that. “He told me to stop treating you like my slave,” she scoffed. “I’m wondering how I can treat you like a slave when you don’t do shit around here. I pay all these fucking bills, while you walk around like you are a queen or some shit. You don’t pay for shit in this house!” Monique screamed.

  Bitch, you don’t either. Social security pays for everything with those checks, Dominique thought to herself.

  “Now I wonder why he would think that I treat you like a slave.”

  “I don’t know—” Dominque started.

  “Bitch, stop lying!” Monique roared, cutting her off. “He’s already passed a message through his funky ass mammy. Franny is lucky I don’t report both they asses because last time I checked, that bastard isn’t supposed to have any contact with me, and sending messages through another person is still considered having contact.” Monique exhaled, releasing a cloud of smoke from her mouth. “Now, run and tell that mutha’fucka exactly what I said because it ain’t like he can do shit about it,” she told Dominique, giving her a stare down.