Alani checked her watch, knowing the next bus was coming soon. She still had to pick up her car. She would need it to run the errands needed to plan two funerals. Normally, shame would fill her, as she stepped onto the city bus. Flint wasn’t the public transportation type of city. You had to be down on your knuckles to even consider utilizing the bus; but today, she didn’t care. She looked how she felt and there was no point in fronting for anyone like she was okay. In fact, Alani wasn’t sure if she would ever be okay again, and she just didn’t have the energy to put up a visage. She dug the change out the bottom of her purse and paid for her ticket, and then took the first seat she saw. Her head rested against the window, as she watched the dilapidated city pass her by. She was tired of Flint. Every day it was a different story of tragedy. Niggas killing, robbing, raping, scamming. When she was coming up, Flint wasn’t so bad. It was a hype, little city where everybody knew everybody. The most you would see was a good, old-fashioned fight after the city school basketball games. It was ruthless, now. So many things had changed. So many jobs had left. Too many babies deserted and too many crack pipes smoked. It was a lawless place and niggas didn’t live by any type of code anymore. Women and children were being killed off every day. Young, black boys gunned down over the most trivial things every, single day. Her daughter had been a victim of circumstance, and Alani would carry that guilt for the rest of her life. I should have gotten up out of here a long time ago, she thought. She had been so busy chasing behind Cream that she had given up on her own dreams. Her potential to contribute something worthy to society had been immeasurable. She had been smart. She could have gone to college and made something of herself. It had been expected, but loving the wrong man had distracted her and she had become stuck. Her choices had led her here. Her thoughts plagued her all the way to her stop, and she shook them off as she hopped off. The bank was right up the block from Ethic’s shop and she headed there first. After cashing the check, she hurried to try to catch him before it was closing time. She was eager to pay her debt to him, and even more zealous to see him. She could only imagine what he must think of her. She had damn near prostituted herself to a man right in front of him. She, practically, ran down half the block, as she rushed to get there. She was winded when she stepped inside the shop. The closed sign was in the window and it was empty, but Ethic’s Range Rover sat in the parking lot, so she knew he was there.