One day we got a new kid in class named Kendo. He was dark-skinned with dreads, a Rick Ross beard and a medium muscular build. He didn’t speak much, so no one paid much attention to him until the day he used a rubber band to shoot paper clips across the classroom and one hit Ty. Ty became pissed and told him if he shot one more paper clip at him then he would fight him. Ty then proceeded to pick up a chair and put it in front of Kendo; then he sat down in the chair. Kendo smiled and shot another paper clip at Ty. Ty stood up and punched Kendo in the face, then proceeded to throw a combination of punches at his body before picking him up to slam him onto a desk. The desk turned over causing Kendo to fall on the floor, where Ty picked up up and slammed him on a table, then slammed him about 3 more times on the ground before throwing another flurry of punches. Security ran in to pull Ty off Kendo and suspended him.
Dame became interested in Ty after seeing how far he was willing to go. I tried to tell him that Ty gave me this bad feeling, but he wouldn’t listen. He was convinced that Ty had to be a part of his crew. Once the suspension was over Dame approached Ty and was able to convince him to become a part of the team. In the beginning Ty seemed like an invaluable member of the team, but his hot-headed ways drew a lot of hatred as well. Then came the day that Dame was killed…
The story was that 3 guys ran up on Dame and unloaded their pistols into his body. The only other person that would have known was Ty, but no one knew where he was. Word on the street was that a major gang called the Black Skulls was hunting down the remaining members of Dame’s crew. Once these rumors began to spread, Jason told me to meet him somewhere where there weren’t that many people around. He handed me a small pistol and told me, “I hope the day never comes that you need to use this. You weren’t meant to live the same life we do. You’re a good kid.” I took the pistol and simply nodded my head. Jason proceeded to tell me, “we are going after this Black Skulls gang. Rumor is that they are very dangerous…we probably don’t have a chance. They shouldn’t know about you since you were mainly around us in school; look out for them anyway. We will take out as many of them as we can. No matter what happens…just remember to LIVE!” Jason then turned and walked away. That was the last time I ever saw him.
For several months a war waged on in the streets between the Black Skulls and Dame’s crew. My bother got sick of the dangerous city life and decided to do everything she could to move out into the suburbs. After hanging out with the crew I learned how to carry myself with a different demeanor. I walked like a gangster and even sagged my pants. Most people left me alone, because I looked like a tough guy. I wasn’t a bad person, but I was so tired of being picked on that I did whatever it took to keep people at a distance. Every once in a while, I had someone start trouble with me, but after I would spazz out on them, they would leave me alone. Things changed for me when I graduated high school.
I was 17 and tired of living with my mother, under her rules. I decided to move out of the house. I got a job moving furniture and bought a cheap apartment in the city. Every once in a while, my cousin 12 Gauge would come over to play video games with me. 12 Gauge was a few years younger than me. He was dark-skinned, average muscular build with his hair cut into a fade. He had dark-brown eyes and was slightly shorter than me. He was more into the street life than me and would hang out with Bloods.
