Jahi. He means everything to me. When I'm down he's there to pick me up. When I need that motivation to keep going I just think of him and how much he has gone through and it helps me realize how good I actually have it. It helps me realize that my life isnt all that bad. But most of all it helps me realize how much he needs someone there for him. Jahi is my best friend, so much so that we call each other brothers whenever people ask. And it's funny because people always get the most confused looks on their faces simply because I'm white, and he's black. We call ourselves the lost brothers because we act so much alike. We have the same laugh, the same mentality, and our games are so much alike my mom says it's scary. My mom is like his second mom. He literally calls her mom.

It felt like any other night, except this time the night sky was frowning on us. It was late, it was probably around midnight. All we were trying to do was play ball. We were just trying to get better and have fun while doing so. We played around four games of pickup. Which is basically where you go to any court and call next. When the current game ends you and your team get to play against the winning team. So we get on and we can't lose. We are doing really good, it's like jahi’s brain and mine were connected like we were walking in each other's shoes. This one play I bounced the ball off the backboard to jahi and he dunked it. You could feel all the other players getting frustrated with us. Everybody really wanted to beat us and we were not going down without a fight. The next team comes on and they're is instantly trouble. lots of trash talking and the game was getting very physical. We usually play the games to fifteen and as this game was getting closer to the ending points an argument breaks out. The argument is over the score. we say the score is twelve to ten us. And the other team is saying the score is tied at eleven. This is very important for us because we are one basket away from winning the game. Now one thing I did not tell you about Jahi is that his temper can explode at any point. It doesn't help that it is now around one in the morning. I didn't realize till later that everybody is probably tired and when you get tired, you can lose your temper a lot easier.

Jahi just loses it, starts yelling things like “y'all are cheatin” and “No that's not the score.”

These are grown men he is fighting with, so this could turn very bad and the situation is only getting worse. It gets so bad that my mom and the management has to step in. As all this is happening I am watching from the back. More like cowering in the back. I feel ashamed, I feel embarrassed that I didn't step in to help my brother. One of the people that mean so much to me I just let hang out there and take it all on by himself. I should have stepped in and tried to calm him down or done something to maybe help prevent this, But instead I stayed back and basically watched my brother suffer. At this point one of the older men charge at Jahi, who is currently being held back by my mom. Knowing this can only get worse they kick us out.

I remember walking out of the building not knowing what to feel. I didn't know if I should feel sad or mad. I remember walking behind my mom just hoping she doesn't turn around, and of course she does. She starts screaming at me infront of everyone saying “do you know how pissied I am right now. I could honestly hit you right now.” Every word she threw at me felt like a knife being stabbed into my heart because I knew she was disappointed in me. And that is truly the worst feeling in the world, knowing that your parent is disappointed in you.

I stay silent and try to walk away but she pushes me back saying “no, you are not just going to walk away.”
In frustration I yell back, “why are you mad at me, I didn't even do anything.”

All she says is, “exactly.”

I try and walk away again and she pushes me back again this time threatening me saying “try that one more time and I swear to god I will hit you.”

I didn't dare try to walk away a third time.

My mom scared me so bad I couldn't feel my legs. She continues to yell at me while at the time I was confused why she was because I thought I did the right thing by not getting involved and arguing. I now know that I needed to be there for Jahi and I should have helped him. The car ride home was even worse because she was nonstop yelling at both of us. If I had another chance to go back and redo that whole night I would not hesitate at all to save my brother.

But now I ask this question, if I were to step in would it be as good as I thought? I ask this because at the time I was employed there. Could it be possible that if I got involved I may have lost my job? or could I have earned more respect from my bosses by trying to stop this outburst from happening. I guess all I'm trying to say is never hesitate to be there for someone who is in need of help because you never really can predict what the outcome might be. The two actions of getting involved and staying out of it both have very different benefits. But could also have very different consequences. Never leave a brother behind, because in the end you will regret it. Trust me.