Free First Round Lottery Pick by Franklin White

her door was ripped opened and she saw a balled-up fist headed straight for her face, which knocked her out.
    Officer Cummings told her that whoever shot up her car didn’t want to kill her because if they did, they could have easily done it.
    I walked out the hospital with Jalen without a clue to what was going on. As always, Jalen became quiet when he was upset. I knew he was hurting like I was because he and Tori had always been like brother and sister.
    â€œWhat we going to do, L ?”
    â€œI don’t know, man. I mean, what can we do? Ain’t nobody see nothing, and Kelly can’t tell us anything.”
    â€œIf they took her out the car, that means they wanted to take her someplace. Let’s go back to The Vil and find out if anybody heard anything.”
    I wanted to go see my mother and Tori’s people.
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    When I got home, my mother was on the couch. I didn’t have to tell her anything. She already knew what was going on, and even though she was shaken, she was trying to make sure we were okay. She must have seen the anger in our eyes.
    â€œNow you two ain’t really been through nothing like this, so don’t go out of here and get yourself into any trouble. The police is out there trying to find out where Tori is, and the more time you give them to look for her, instead of going out there and looking for somebody, like I know you want to do, it will give them a chance to find her.”
    â€œYeah, but people ain’t goin’ to talk to no police,” Jalen said. “Tori like family, and family need to take care of family, no matter who involved.”
    â€œMa, we gotta at least go out and ride around and see what we see. I mean, ain’t no way we staying up in here trying to wait to hear something.”
    â€œWell, what can I say? Y’all two are men now, but don’t forget everything you got going for yourself, L .”
    â€œI won’t,” I told her.
    â€œAnd I ain’t going to let him,” Jalen assured.
    â€œBut we gotta find her, Ma, we got to.”
    Our first stop was over Tori’s to see her mom and sisters. I can’t lie, I couldn’t take it. I could hear the crying and the calling of Tori’s name through the door before we even knocked. I stood on the step with Jalen and swear I was almost in tears, but I was trying to be strong before I knocked on that door.
    Jalen wasn’t able to keep the tears from flowing and was wiping his eyes every chance he got in case I got the strength to knock.
    The courage wouldn’t come to knock, so I backed away from the door.
    As soon as we stepped away, the door opened. “Tori?”
    It was her mom, and when she called out Tori’s name, I could feel the pain she was going through.
    We turned around.
    â€œOh, Langston, Jalen,” she figured out.
    â€œAh, hey, we were just going to stop by to see how everybody was doing but thought we should give you a little bit more time before we came in,” I told her.
    â€œNo, no, c’mon in,” she said.
    Jalen wiped his eyes and stopped before we went inside. “No, we gotta go find her, Ms. Hicks,” he said. “That’s what we should be doin’ right about now, you know.”
    She tried to smile, but tears rolled down her face instead. “I know. I want to go out there too, but I’m afraid if I do, I’ll miss her call. The police told me to just stay by the phone.”
    It was weird talking outside in the dark about Tori over all the nighttime action in The Vil that didn’t stop for anything. The sirens were blaring, and people were on the hunt for whatever they were getting into.
    I went over to Ms. Hicks and gave her a hug. I couldn’t help but start to feel like Tori missing was my fault. As I had my arms around her while she cried, my mind went back to the day when were just freshmen and Tori’s mom gave me the third degree about taking care of her and