Sometime around last March, in a shelter down in South Miami, a little girl with her fro tied down in a bun walked into the kitchen and poured out her cereal. There was a table in the dining room that she preferred to sit at. And just her luck, it was almost quiet today. Perfect for rereading the Sorceror's Stone again.
It was whatever. She already had the book in hand. Her head was hunched between her shoulders due to the itch going down her back. The thought of someone being behind her was a continuous fright.
Her breath stopped. Her heart skipped a few beats and rose to her throat. Walls concaved in. This place was scary. The girl found her anxiety attacks coming more frequently than usual.
"Why are you always standing in the fucking way!" shouted a fat woman from behind, "Move!" the lady pushed past her, "I can't stand these kids"!
People were scary. Maybe that's why she felt alone. Come to think of it, she could never find a shoulder in these times. Nor a smile. Anybody could've been nice. Harry and Ron would be nice right now. She can be the bookworm who punches Malfoy.
Instead, she crept her way around until she was out of the dining room.
An older Jamaican man walked through the shelter. He looked around the furniture but never bothered to ask for his little Daniel. It was that time. Or one of those times. He could feel it. She was definitely somewhere hiding. Without looking, he knew which book she was reading and which cereal she was eating. It clicked to him where she may have been.
He paced through a tiny computer room where the only computer was broken, "Dani? Danibanani".
From behind a desk, laying on the ground, Dani stuck out her head, "What"?
He bent down to her, "I knew you were hiding with your book".
Dani smiled, "I'm debating which book I should read. I really wanted to read the Half-Blood Prince because the movie soon comes out".
He thought for a second, "Yeah. It's gonna be almost a month before it comes out. You'll probably read all the books again twice".
She patted her hair, "I... have a lot of school work to do. And I soon finish the seventh grade. So I'll be busy".
"Oh do you?" he laughed as he joined her underneath the desk, "Well you do what you have to because I'm also gonna be busy getting this new job. After that, it'll only be a few more months before we get ourselves situated again".
Dani's smile was a little wriggled, "It's okay. You got this".
He kissed her forehead, "You know how lucky I am to have you," unstoppable tears were coming to Dani's eyes, "That's something your mom will never know nor appreciate," Dani leaned in to hide her tears of which he began rubbing her shoulder, "Come on. let's go watch some TV together. And don't worry. It won't be sports".
She chuckled through her tears, "Okay".
The father helped her up and brought her to the main room. A skinny man was sitting on the couch watching Baseball.
He walked in with little Dani, "Hey man, you mind if me and my watch some TV".
The man ignored them until a bigger guy walked by, "Hey! Let that man watch TV with his daughter"!
The skinny guy didn't want that smoke and left out the room.
"Thank you," waved the father to the two men.
He sat down, hugging his little Banani. Nothing good seemed to be on. There were people talking. The news. Even the cartoons sucked. Dani loved anime. But there wasn't any on basic television.
"What's that?" asked Dani.
The father clicked back, "What's what"?
She stopped on the channel with people shooting after a man, "Right here with the people running".
"looks like the news. The SWAT seems to be... Oh wait. This isn't the news nor SWAT," he looked harder, "What is this"!
The two paid close attention to see a group of girls in full gear chase after and shoot a man down.
"Oh wow," said the father, "I can't believe they have this on basic cable... He's not dead, but those girls shot the man".
The big guy was impressed, "Damn. They ain't never had this on TV when I was young. Most we had was football".
"But you saw that right?" smiled the father, "Those girls really shot that man".
The big guy leaned in, "Wait a second. Basically they strap money to this guy and run him out in a city where these girls have to beat his ass for the money".
Dani was smiling, "Gangsta".
The guy smiled back, "Yo, let me do some shit like that. They literally let these girls shoot this man on live television for some money".
"Can you believe that?" laughed the father, "Crazy what's going on in this world. But at least it's better than them actually being out on the streets. See, this man here is fine. They taking him out on a stretcher, but he's fine".
There was a gushing feeling in Dani's stomach that lit her smile up, "It's called, 'The Isekai Game: Spring Event'. That looks so cool. I wouldn't mind doing something like that".
The father chuckled, "That's a bit of the old Air Force in you. That's probably why I have to be extra careful you don't kill someone".
"Yeah?" laughed the big guy.
The father smiled while shaking his head, "Yeah. All when she was in elementary school I would get calls about her trying to stab some girl who was messing with her".
Dani had the biggest smile hearing the praise around her name. But what interested her more was when they showed the girls who were fighting the guy. they were nice. Mostly pretty. One with long red hair. Another was tall with a darker complexion. There was a skinny pale girl who was actually pretty and shied away from the camera.
One girl in particular interested her. Her name was Jaivva. She mildly looked similar to Dani. There was a Jamaican flag shown with her name. The strength she displayed was amazing. Not just in her demeanor and actions, but in her words. The way she brushed off her previous struggles was amazing. It was all about the wins that come later after hard work. Looking back at those problems, it seemed as though this girl Jaivva had only one thing to say, "Fuck niggas".