Sonna

Devanny Benitez

Sonna and I got drunk and played kickball under lampposts with the neighborhood kids while music played soft from speakers inside someone's house behind a window and the little girl with the long, shiny brown hair who lived at the corner held our beer while kids screamed or cried or fought and Sonna and I screamed too and then we returned to Sonna's to finish the beer crate and the little girl with the long, shiny brown hair invited us to watch Youtube at her place and we joined her and after an hour her big sister arrived with a boy so we returned to Sonna's to drink more.

In the morning I called off work and Sonna's boyfriend picked us up and I sat with his brother and gave him a handjob while he invited me to his baseball game and I said I'd go and I reminded him I needed textbooks and he said he'd left them on my couch and then I finished him and covered it with a wipe and put the wipe in the seatback and Sonna talked about Mexico while she scratched the crown of her short hair till we were at The Square to eat pizza but decided not to eat there since Sonna saw a girl she knew at a booth there so we crossed the street to McDonald's and ate and sat till the brothers had work.

Back at Sonna's Sonna got depressed and fell asleep while I watched a movie till the sky darkened and the little girl with the long, shiny brown hair joined and told me of a boy she liked who she rollerskated with near the corner store and then she invited me to watch Youtube and I went with her and her big sister was there so we talked about her date and how he picked his arm scabs and how he only has sex in the bathtub and she also talked about getting a third job, that her job at the pizza place at The Square only gave her mid-day shifts and that her father who lived far and sent money weekly had been stabbed at church and was at the hospital and I felt pity and I also needed the bathroom so I returned to Sonna's but the bathroom was locked and music played loud inside so I walked to my house as it drizzled and when I arrived I made a sandwich and masturbated to nothing.

In the morning as I neared Sonna's place I saw two cop motorcycles at the corner house as neighbors crowded by and I asked Sonna at her place as she scratched the crown of her short hair in a mirror what happened and she said, "Something about her father—let's go to The Square," and I called off work again and we took an Uber and met with Sonna's boyfriend and his brother who reminded me about his baseball game and I reminded him about the textbooks and he said he'd left them on my couch and Sonna talked of Mexico and when we were dropped off back at Sonna's with the day still sunny and hot me and Sonna bought a beer crate and went to the corner house and we knocked and scab boy answered and he told us the big sister was at work so we drank with him and Sonna made dinosaur chicken nuggets for the little girl with the long, shiny brown hair and ordered pizza for us and then the big sister came home and found us asleep on the floor.

Scab boy and the big sister made lunch and we ate and then I returned home to do homework and then I fell asleep and woke at night and opened a package someone left on my couch and it was my textbooks and Sonna's boyfriend's brother called and he cried but he would not tell me why so I hung up and ate and showered and changed and walked to Sonna's but she would not let me in so I sat at her porch and watched the neighborhood kids play kickball under lampposts while music played loud from speakers inside someone's house behind a window and it drizzled and the music got louder and the kids screamed or cried or fought and my crown itched and the little girl with the long, shiny brown hair sat beside me and talked about a boy she liked and I asked her who was watching her and she said scab boy and I asked where he was and she pointed back at Sonna's house and I took out my phone and saw Sonna's boyfriend's brother at The Square at the pizza place so I took an Uber and found him with his baseball team still in uniform and they looked at me and I squeezed through and sat next to the brother and said, "I think I got fleas," and he said, "Okay," "Do you want to have sex," "No," "Can I order something," "You missed my game," "Did you win," "Yes," "I think I got it from Sonna," "You can have my slices," "Okay, and I'm glad you won by the way," and he looked at me and looked around and rubbed his eyes and smiled.

I woke at the brother's place and Sonna's boyfriend picked us up with Sonna at the front in the middle of a conversation about Cancun and I went to give his brother a handjob but he held my hand on my thigh and held it there during the ride to The Square to buy flea treatment and after we grabbed a bite we headed to Sonna's to apply the treatment and we waited with the foam in our hair as we sat in the tub and the two brothers sat on the floor while music played loud and soon Sonna and her boyfriend got into a fight about a condom in the bathroom trash and he left and we had the brother buy another beer crate and we drank in the tub with our hair in towel buns while music played soft and the little girl with the long, shiny brown hair came over with scab boy and they invited us to walk with them to the corner store and Sonna and I dressed and with our hair still damp walked with them under lampposts to the corner store and as scab boy and Sonna and the brother ordered I watched the little girl with the long, shiny brown hair talk to a boy on roller skates and I smiled at them and they smiled back and I noticed the little girl with the long, shiny brown hair scratch her crown and soon we began to walk back to Sonna's as we ate bread with cheese and arequipe and rollerskate boy skated circles around the little girl with the long, shiny brown hair and when we arrived at the big sister's house rollerskate boy entered with us and Sonna's boyfriend was in the living room and he greeted scab boy and hugged the little girl with the long, shiny brown hair and then we decided to visit her big sister at work so we piled in Sonna's boyfriend's car with Sonna carrying the little girl with the long, shiny brown hair and me carrying rollerskate boy who would not take off the skates and when we got to the pizza place we asked for the big sister and she served us with a big smile and red wrinkled eyes and we waited for her to finish her shift and we rode back with her as she carried the little girl with the long, shiny brown hair and I carried rollerskate boy who sneezed and cleaned his boogers with the wipe on the seatback and I suddenly had an urge to shower when I saw that.

My boss fired me in the early morning as everyone slept save for Sonna's boyfriend who took me to my work where I walked through the showroom floor as they readied the tables that surrounded the stage with the three poles which they had wiped recently and I entered my room with the lone couch against the wall of movie posters next to album promotions across the wall which my makeup desk of bulbous arched lights sat against and once I had my things some girls I have not talked to in months with names I never cared to ask for said their goodbyes with their dead eyes and I left and entered Sonna's boyfriend's car and he drove to McDonald's where we waited in line at the drive-thru and he asked me if Sonna had sex with scab boy and I shrugged and he nodded and told me he had bought tickets for Sonna and him for Cancun for the next day and I nodded and when we returned to the big sister's house we all ate together in silence at the dinner table and rollerskate boy left to get ready for school and I asked the little girl with the long, shiny brown hair when her homeschooling began and she scratched her crown and I looked at the big sister who smiled and soon Sonna's boyfriend and his brother and scab boy and the big sister left to work just as the air conditioning turned off and Sonna and the little girl with the long, shiny brown hair and I went to Sonna's to apply the treatment and the three of us sat in the tub with foam in our hair while music played loud as we ate dinosaur chicken nuggets and the little girl with the long, shiny brown hair said she wanted short hair and Sonna found an electric razor and cut it short and they took selfies as I watched and I had an urge to shower so I toweled myself dry and ran with panic to my house and showered and masturbated to nothing and fell asleep till midnight and walked back to Sonna's and in front of her house two girls fought and fell on the concrete while three boys tried to pry them off under lampposts while music played loud from speakers inside someone's house behind a window and the neighbors crowded and there on Sonna's porch sat the little girl with the short, shiny brown hair next to rollerskate boy as they kissed in the dark and all I really wanted was another shower and another nap.

Devanny Benitez began writing in his junior year of high school. He was born in Colombia and this story is based on an experience while staying there. This is his first time being published.