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Storm's POV

"Good job baby" I said clapping as Chelsey just finished counting to 20 all by herself. I spent the whole day with her and I was very happy. She makes me so happy and I loved how she wanted to be with me. She was more of a daddy's girl and picked Josh over me most times. But I was a happy to be able to teach her today and get stuff done. I was just gonna spend all day laying in bed but she didn't let me.

We took a shower, ate dinner, did laundry, and even went on a walk. We also took many pictures together. I love her so much.

"Mama where's daddy?" She says in her little voice.

"He's at a game. But his game should be on tv" I said as I grabbed the remote. I turned the tv on and went to the sports channel. Just in time, Josh's game was on.

"Daddy!" She cheered as Josh's face was on the screen. He was talking to Marcus, Kevin, and Lola as they sat court side with Josh's bodyguard and security. He laughed when them until he walked onto the court with his teammates.

"Mama can I have juice please?" She asks.

"Yea of course" I said to her as I nodded. I got up and walked to the kitchen. I grabbed her sippy cup and walked to the fridge to grab some pineapple juice. She loved pineapple juice. When I was finished filling up her cup, I put the juice back in the fridge and start to make my way back to the living room. My phone buzzed as I walk past it. Should I open it...

I grabbed it and looked at the message I got. I had many messages to open but I was picking wisely who I answered. I was still mad at the girls so of course I wasn't gonna answer them. They sent me messages apologizing. I still felt a way with my mom so I wasn't gonna answer her. And Saweetie sent me a long paragraph telling me that the way I was living is not ok, and if I don't start acting "right", I can kiss my job goodbye. I don't give a fuck at this point. I tapped iMessage and see that Shareef sent me a message.

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I looked at the message confused then looked at when he sent it. 20 minutes ago. Before I can do anything, I heard a knock at the door.

"Mama the door!" Chelsey yelled. I grabbed my phone putting it in my pocket and walked to the living room to give her the juice. I then walked to the door.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"Shareef" I heard on the other side. I opened the door and there stood Shareef.

"Hi Storm" He says before hugging me.

"Hey Reef" I said to him. We pulled away and then I closed the door. We walked to the living room and Chelsey instantly smiles when she sees Shareef.

"Uncle Reefy!" She cheered. He smiles and picks her up as he took a seat. He showers her with hugs and kisses.

"Chelseyyyyyy. How are you princess?" He says.

"I'm ok. How are you?" She says.

"I'm ok too. Look, my daddy is playing" She says smiling and points at the screen. She's so cute.

"Yea I know. Your dad is a great basketball player" He says to her.

"Yea, he's better then you" She says before looking back at the tv. Shareef gasps and looks at me. I just laugh.

"She's a chatter box just like her dad" He says and I laughed.

"Yup, definitely. How's Shariah?" I asked him as I took a seat beside them.

"She's good. Still very quiet be we are getting there" He says and I nodded. Shariah was the definition of Shareef but in a little girl version.

"So what did you wanna talk about?" I asked him.

"Storm I wanna talk about you" He says. I rolled my eyes and groaned.

"If you're gonna judge and push me like the others then you can leave Reef" I said to him.

"You know I'm not like the others Storm" He says sighing. What I loved about Shareef was, he was always the big brother I never had. As a group of course him and Heaven are like the mom and dad. But with Shareef and I, we are like siblings. The same with Caleb, Shaqir and Jalen.

"So speak" I said to him.

"Why don't you let yourself cry?" He asks me.

"I cry...." I said.

"Now isn't the time to lie Storm. I know you to well" He says and I rolled my eyes.

"I made a promise to Melo that I wouldn't cry after he leaves" I said to him. Shareef is the first person to ever know his.

"Why would you guys make a promise like that?" He asks.

"Because Melo knows how I feel about crying. I don't like it, it makes me feel weak" I said to him.

"Sometimes you have to feel weak before you can be strong again" He says shrugging.

"Get to the point Reef" I said looking down.

"We're all worried about you Storm. This isn't like last time where you just locked yourself in a room and we don't see you for weeks. Your letting yourself be out there and your trying to go by everyday like it's ok when you know it's not. I see why you wrote that letter to Melo. You wrote down your feelings because you couldn't hold them in" He says. At least someone understands.

"You're the only one that understands that" I said.

"Well I am the smartest" He says and we both laughed.

"But my point is, I understand why you do what you do Storm. I understand why you say what you say and I understand why you act the way you do. You have all of this anger and sadness in you though, why?" He asks me. I sighed as I felt the feeling in my chest that I wanted to cry. I looked down playing with my bracelet.

"Because, I am angry and sad" I said. He puts Chelsey down as she stares at the tv screen. He stands up and grabs my hand and leads us to the kitchen.

"I had a feeling that you didn't want Chelsey to see you cry" He says and I chuckled.

"Who are you angry at?" He asks me.

"Myself. And the world. But mostly myself" I said looking down.

"Why?" He asks.

"Because everything is my fault" I said.

"What's your fault Storm?" He asks.

"Everything. Peyton leaving, the girls not talking to me, me getting hate by everyone, losing jobs, Melo dying" I said. I bit my lip as I mentioned Melos name and the tears welled up in my eyes.

"You blame yourself for Melo's death?" He asks and I nodded.

"Everyday for the last two years" I said as a tear fell. I let it fall this time.

"What were Melo's last moments like? Like how was his emotions?" He asks as he took a seat on a chair.

"He was happy as he says. He was cracking jokes with me like everything was ok" I said to him. I then laughed a little when I remembered when he asked me if he still looked good while being in the condition he was in. Only Melo.

"So he was smiling?" He asked me.

"Yes" I said as I looked at him. He nodded before speaking again.

"You also said you were sad...why?" He asks.

"Because, everyone approaching me about everything makes me feel like I'm the bad guy. It hurts my feelings. Then waking up everyday to a new message saying why I should kill myself doesn't make it easier" I said to him. I looked down again as the tears started to fall faster. This was the first time I was ever opening up about how felt. Like fully.

"Why are people so mean" I said as I started to sob. Shareef stands up and pulls me to him as I cry on him. I cover my face as I cried. Wow, it's been a while since I cried like this.

"We live in a world where people will hate and judge you for no reason Storm. It's gonna hurt, the things that people say affect you in a way. It makes you, or it breaks you" He says as he rubbed my back.

"I broke the second I lost him" I said as wiped my face. I wasn't going to let myself cry for long.

"Do you miss him?" I ask him.

"Everyday" He says sighing.

"How do you cope with it?"

"I know that Melo wouldn't want us to be sad about him and that he'd push us to do our best at anything we do. So I use that as motivation to try and do better everyday" He says. I took in what he said and let it sink in.

"Turn your pain into something else Storm. You're a strong girl, I know you are" He says.

"Thank you Shareef. I didn't know how much I needed this kind of talk" I said as I pulled away from the hug.

"Anytime Storm. I knew you weren't gonna let out your emotions all at once, so I chose to help you do it little by little. You feel different?" He asks. And I nodded.

"Yea, I feel a bit lighter" I said and we both laughed.

"That's good. And Storm, I want you to know that nothing is your fault and you have to stop blaming yourself. It's not good for you and it's only going to make you feel worse" He says.

"Ok Reef, I'll stop" I said to him. He smiles at me and nods.

"Well I gotta get going now" He says and I nodded. We walked into the living and we see Chelsey sleeping on the couch. I giggled as I picked her up.

"She's knocked out" He says and I laughed nodding.

"Yea, it's her bedtime" I said to him. We walked to the door and I opened it for him.

"Let yourself heal Storm, ok?" He says. I nodded.

"I will eventually. Thank you Reef" He says and he hugs me again and kisses Chelseys head. He leaves and I close the door. I then walk up the stairs and walk to Chelseys room to lay her down. I cover her with her blanket and turn her night light on. When I walk out, I head back downstairs to the living room so I can clean up. I turn the tv off and pick up Chelsey's toys.

All of a sudden, I hear a clash behind me and a brick is thrown into my living room. I duck down and then hear a car drive off. The house alarm goes off and the red light blinks.

"Oh my gosh" I said now scared. I turned around to see my living room window now broken and glass is all over the floor and couches. My heart starts to race and it gets harder to breathe. I looked at the brick and seen a piece of paper on it. I slowly picked it up and read the note.

Die you murdering ass bitch!

As I read it, I looked down to see a bullet tapped onto it. I dropped it as my eyes started to fill with tears again.

"I can't breathe" I said before grasping my chest as it pained. I gasped for air as it felt like I couldn't get any oxygen. My body started to shake in fear and I fall to the floor as I stared at the window.

"Ahhh" I yelled in pain. The ringing of the loud alarm in my seems to get louder which only made my head hurt and my heart beat faster. I tried to reach for my phone on the table, but next thing you know......

My body shuts down and my eyes close.