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She was only seventeen
Black, beautiful, honor roll student
On the cheerleading team, every boy’s dream
And had the attitude to match
She was what the boys’ mothers’ called
A “good catch”
Never got into trouble
Never stayed out too late
Just broke up with her boyfriend
Cuz she said she wanted to wait
On this particular day
It was a Thursday afternoon
She got home from school early
So headed to her bedroom
Her mom wasn’t expecting her there
So she fell asleep on the living room chair
The young girl put in her headphones
Turned up the volume so she could hear her favorite songs
Outside, her father was pulling up
You could tell he was high by the way he parked the truck
He busts down the door
Drags her mother on the floor
Accusing her of having an affair
She yells, “I didn’t cheat! I swear!”
But it’s too little, too late
The man does not hesitate
To strike his fist against her head
Now she just lays there like she’s dead
And the girl still hasn’t heard a single sound
She’s in her bedroom getting down
Back in the living room, mom’s getting up
Dad’s in the backroom getting more blazed up
So she runs to get help
She left her cell phone on the kitchen shelf
Still shaken, she falls and hits the floor
Hits her head on her daughter’s door
And the girl opens it up
Sees that her mom’s been all beat up
And immediately knows that her daddy’s back on that stuff
She yells, “Mama, that’s enough!”
And goes to confront her father
But he’s so high he doesn’t realize that he’s about to hit his daughter
Her mother yells for her to come back
But it’s too late- her daughter gets slapped
She stumbles back, shaken, but not stirred
Her head is spinning, mom’s talking,
But she can’t understand a word
Her vision clears on up
She turns to see what it is her father is throwing up
Looks like he’s pulled out his gun
Mom’s eyes get big as she screams, “BABY, RUN!”
But this daughter is thinking she’s had enough
Asks her daddy why he won’t get off of that stuff
But now she’s talking to an addict, not talking to a man
She’s talking to a junkie with a gun cocked in his hand
All she’s thinking of is how she’s tired of seeing her mother hurting
If she’s not fighting then she’s cooking, if she’s not beaten then she’s working
She flashes back to the day he sent her mom’s head through the wall
And the time when she was pregnant and he beat her all the way down the hall
But the image that takes this young girl out of her self
Is the day she walked in on her dad making love to someone else
She turns and wrestles the gun right out of her father’s hands
Holds it to his head and asks, “Do you still feel like a man?”
Her mom tells her not to do it, but she hasn’t heard a word she said
She wipes her crying eyes then blows a bullet through his head