“Late Night Refuge”
Ray made it his mission to annoy the fuck out of me that night. My mom had been married to Ray for about six years and he went from being an alright person to being this constantly angry man. It was like no matter how hard I tried to stay on his good side, he always found something to bitch about. So, I’d just gotten off of work that night and was in my room minding my business when he barged in like a crazy person to get on me about tracking dirt into the house when I walked in. We had a back and forth argument and then this nigga decided to push me in my own room. Needless to say, it got out of hand.
“No!” my mama screamed as she tried to keep me from hitting Ray back. “Khalid, stop it!”
“Move ma!” I shouted. “I don’t wanna hurt you but this nigga just put his hands on me! I am a grown ass man!”
“Then act like it,” Ray said.
“Ma, move!” I managed to get around her for a second and popped Ray one good time in the jaw. He stumbled back and fell, hitting the back of his head hard on my doorknob on his way down.
“Oh my God!” my mama cried as she bent down to help him. When she touched the back of his head and saw blood on her hand, she looked back at me and screamed, “Get out!”
“Are you for real? You’re throwing me out? He put his hands on me first.”
“If you don’t leave this house right now, I will call the police.” She turned her attention back to Ray and asked him, “Are you okay, baby?”
“I’m okay, Kim,” he told her. After they stood back up, he looked at me and said, “I want you out of this house.”
“You know what, fuck it! I’ll move out. I’m sick of this shit anyway. I work and pay bills around here but I don’t get treated like an adult! When you’re not treating me like a kid, you’re treating me like I’m a criminal even though I’ve never been in trouble. I finished high school and tech school and I am gonna own my own mechanics shop one day. When I make it, I don’t wanna hear shit from you.”
“Whatever,” said Ray. “You have done nothing but make your mother upset lately. You come in at odd hours on the weekends, bringing your little boyfriends of the night in here with you.”
“Oh, so we’re back to you having a problem with me being gay?” I sat down so that I could unplug and shut down my MacBook while also getting on my phone to text a friend. I looked at my mama and told her, “I hope you enjoy throwing your only child out over a bigot, ma.”
Me (Khalid Mosley)
“He is not a bigot,” she snapped. “He’s right, you have no respect for us. You bring guys over here and play loud music so we can’t hear you in here having sex. It’s disrespectful, Khalid.”
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