I didn't plan to follow him. Truth is, I didn't even know where "him" was anymore—Derrick Kane had vanished from Roosevelt like smoke slipping through cracks. But fate… fate had a way of pulling me where I wasn't supposed to be.
It started on Thursday, after school, when I cut through Oakridge—the part of town nobody bragged about living in. The houses sagged, paint peeling, fences bent like broken teeth. And that's when I saw it.
A black sedan, parked crooked outside a run-down two-story house. And stepping out of it—Derrick. Hoodie up, hands buried in his pockets, head low. He didn't see me. Not yet.
I ducked behind a leaning streetlamp, heart pounding. I told myself I'd leave, that this wasn't my business. But then the front door creaked open, and the air changed.
A man stood in the doorway. Tall. Broad shoulders. Tattoos crawling up his neck. His face was older, harder—Derrick's future, carved in flesh.
His father.
I couldn't hear every word, but the voices carried sharp through the evening air.
"You shouldn't have brought them here," the man snapped.
"What was I supposed to do?" Derrick shot back. "They came for me. At school."
"That's because of me, not you."
My stomach dropped.
The father's voice lowered, but the anger in it was like fire under steel. "They're watching us again. Which means you've got two choices, boy—stay quiet, or burn with me."
Derrick didn't answer. He just stared at the ground, fists tight, every inch of him torn between rebellion and fear.
And in that silence, I saw something no rumor could explain. Derrick wasn't just a bad boy. He was trapped in a legacy darker than the school could ever imagine.
The door slammed shut, leaving me in the streetlight glow, shivering with more than cold.
---
That night, the group chats lit up again. A new rumor tore through Roosevelt like lightning.
"Derrick's dad was locked up before."
"Prison. Gang ties. Everyone knows."
"No way—that's just made up."
"Not anymore. My cousin saw him. He's back."
I closed my phone, pulse racing. Because for once, the whispers were true.
And I had seen it with my own eyes.
---