By Ade Dina
INT. DE'VONTE'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
AARON (19) and DE'VONTE (10) sit on the edge of a bed while playing a video game.
DE'VONTE
Wha- you always cheating!
AARON
Nah, you just suck
Aaron shakes De'Vonte's head and goes back to playing the game. Aaron's phone rings in his pocket and he immediately goes for it. Aaron pauses the game and picks up the phone
AARON
Right now?! You at the crib? Aight, I'm about to come scoop.
Aaron hangs up and drops the controller and gets up in a hurry.
AARON
My bad Vonte. I gotta go, your mom should be home soon though.
Aaron continues to gather his things
DE'VONTE
What?! You just going to quit like that? That means I win.
AARON
You couldn't win even if I gave you my controller. But look, imma be back tomorrow to finish that ass whopping.
DE'VONTE
Will it actually be tomorrow? Beat.
Aaron looks back to his sulking little cousin with his head down.
AARON
Alright imma try. And-
Aaron reaches for his back pocket and pulls out his wallet. He takes out $100.
AARON (CONT'D)
... hold on to this till I see you.
Aaron holds out the $100. De'Vonte's face lights up.
De'Vonte goes to grab the cash but before he can, De'Vonte's MOM (33) passes the door frame and grabs it. She is dressed in her nurse scrubs. Aaron looks at De'Vonte's mom and she is giving him a stern look. He knows the queue
AARON
I'll see you later lil bro. Call me if you need anything. Love you.
Aaron leaves the room and De'Vonte's mom's eyes follow him all the way out. The house door closes in the distance. De'Vonte's mom turns her attention to her son
MOM
What did I tell you about taking money from that boy?
DE'VONTE
But mom-
MOM
Don't "but momma" me. I told you that you don't know where that boy gets his money from. He's-
De'Vonte's mom looks down at her son. De'Vonte has his head down and is defeated about the whole situation. De'Vonte's mom takes a deep breath and walks over to the bed. She takes a seat next to De'Vonte. She puts his head on her shoulder and takes another breath.
MOM
Look De'Vonte, there are just some things you don't understand right now. But I'll tell you this though, just because you are related to someone don't mean they good. I know you love your cousin but I'm your mother and know what's best for you. You hear me?
DE'VONTE
Yes
Yes what?
MOM
Yes ma'am
DE'VONTE
MOM
Ok, I love you and it's time for bed
De'Vonte tries to pout but it's shut down by his mother.
MOM
Nah I let you have a lil extra time with your cousin. So go brush your teeth and go to bed
De'Vonte's mom leaves the room and enters the ambient sound of boredom. De'Vonte reluctantly gets up and heads to his lamp which he turns off.
CUT TO:
INT. BEDROOM - LATER
De'Vonte is sleeping and his alarm clock says 2:43 am. The sound of peace occupies the room with the occasional car passing by and dog bark.
A male shadow casts itself through the window of De'Vonte's room. The shadow opens up the window and slowly enters De'Vonte's room and the shadow overcast gets bigger. The shadow's hand goes over De'Vonte's mouth.
De'Vonte instantly wakes up and screeches and is picked up off his bed. The shadow puts De'Vonte against the wall adjacent to the window. De'Vonte is still screaming but stops when he sees the intruder is his cousin, Aaron.
Aaron recognizes that De'Vonte has calmed down and moves his hand from De'Vonte's mouth. Aaron puts his index finger on his lips to signal De'Vonte to stay quiet. He turns his body towards the window and looks up at it.
On the opposite wall to the cousins, a shadow of someone outside of the window appears. The shadow is looking around. A second shadow appears in the frame of the window. The two start talking.
SHADOW #1
Shit. Where that pussy ass nigga go?
Pause.
The two are still loitering outside of the window and looking
around. One looks into De'Vonte's room.
SHADOW #2
Fuck!
SHADOW #1
On my moms next time I see that nigga imma kill him
De'Vonte is looking up at the window. Stuck with fear. He tracks his eyes down at Aaron and his eyes light up. Aaron has fresh blood on his clothes
SHADOW #2
Let's go nigga, everybody knows that bitch ass nigga's face. We gotta go check on Casey
One of the shadows leaves the frame of the window. The other looks around for a few seconds. He looks inside De'Vonte's window one time and knocks once as he leaves.
Aaron sees the shadow leave the frame of the window from the opposite wall. He waits for a second and rises from the wall. He peaks around to the window then moves further into the frame and looks outside of it.
Aaron takes a breath as he rests his head on the window. He turns and walks towards De'Vonte's bed.
DE'VONTE
You have blood on your shirt
Aaron turns around quickly. He looks down at the bloodstains on his shirt. There are few seconds of silence
AARON
Yeah
Aaron takes a seat on De'Vonte's bed.
DE'VONTE
Were those boys gang members?
Aaron has a confused face at his cousin. He collects his thoughts and looks away
AARON
Uhhh yeah
DE'VONTE
Are you in a gang?
Aaron looks up at quickly at his little cousin. He looks away and doesn't answer, but that was an answer
DE'VONTE
So momma was right about you
Aaron scoffs and shakes his head
DE'VONTE
You're just like boys out there. The ones that killed my dad
AARON
No I-
Aaron takes a breath before continuing
AARON
My people were not trying to kill him. He was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Why would I turn my back on my own uncle?
DE'VONTE
But you do kill people?
AARON
Wh-
MOM
De'Vonte! Is that you? Why aren't you asleep?!
Aaron stands up at the impending presence of De'Vonte's mom coming. He looks to the room door and then at De'Vonte. He walks over to the window and looks over at his little cousin again
AARON
Vonte, one day, it will make sense to you
MOM
De'Vonte?
Aaron looks back at the room door and leaves out the window. De'Vonte looks at the door with his mom's entrance impending.
De'Vonte's mom enters De'Vonte's room. She looks over to her son who is tucked in and seems to be asleep. She closes the door.
De'Vonte eyes are still open and stare straight ahead reflecting on all that just occurred. The alarm clock now says 2:50 am.