This short story is a product of me, who I am, and how I earned the moniker Storm.
This is not a ‘Once Upon A Time’ intro into my life, but to simply give my readers a part of me that you all don’t know or see. I’m willing to share this with you all because my love runs deep for those who rock with me.
Welcome to Storm’s world…
From the moment I was old enough to understand my emotions, I always felt alone. Yeah, I had siblings—two sisters and a brother to be exact. But being the baby of the family, they never paid me any mind, which oftentimes, I found myself some imaginary friends to kick it with. Don’t judge me lol I was a kid and my imaginary friends were lit as fuck!
Being alone gave me time to think, to dance, to catch the beat of any song and ride the wave. When I danced, I imagined myself on stage while people watched me. I don’t know why, I just liked to think that way. Weird I know, but who really cares? I was a damn loner, so my imagination is what I used to block out the fact that I didn’t have many friends or that my siblings were much older than me and had their own thing going on. No I wasn’t the popular kid, but I had popular friends that I hung with from time to time. Wait, let me scratch that, I had popular ‘associates’. They definitely put the ass in associates bruh lmao! Their love for me was fake as hell, I knew it, but I didn’t care. I was just happy to be a part of something. While they were talking shit behind my back and smiling in my face, only one remained solid. She was the only one who took up for me and she will forever be my sister for life.
I won’t lie and say I didn’t have a bad attitude, which could have possibly been the reason why I didn’t have many friends. My grandmother would always say ‘if you’re ugly inside, you’re ugly outside’ I didn’t know what the hell she meant by that until I got old enough to understand. I was fucking horrible and stayed on the defense. Having an attitude was my defense mechanism to never let anyone hurt me. I didn’t like being hurt, so I lashed out at anyone I felt was trying to play in my face. Like I said, I was a young girl trying to find my place in the world. No one actually took the time to get to know me. One look at me and they immediately thought I was mean. I guess one could say I had a resting bitch face, but once we vibed, you saw the inner me. I love hard, I’m silly, love to have a good time anywhere I go, and just loved to be free. But, people didn’t fuck with me and after a while, I started not to care. That was before I found my escape.
At the age of fourteen, I picked up my first book. I don’t know what led me to read it, but the cover art and the animated girl with the around the way look on the cover is what caught my attention—so I started reading. Flyy Girl by Omar Tyree is when I first found my intense love for literature. I read that book in two days and was fascinated by the storyline and the relatability of the characters that were presented.
So, I picked up a pen and notebook and wrote a story called A New Beginning or something like that lol. I remember my two main characters were Sky and Maurice a.k.a Money. I don’t remember the storyline, but I definitely remember him being in the drug game and her being the innocent and sweet girl from around the way. I never got the chance to finish that story (tears). I remember letting my eighth grade English teacher read it and he was reading it out loud in front of the class and made me feel like I wrote a damn comic book. I felt defeated as if he was making fun of me—defense mode fucking activated! I snatched my shit from him and checked out of class for the rest of the day. Yup, I called my Daddy and lied and said I was sick and he came to rescue me. I was the butt of his joke and before I punched his ass in his obese neck, I decided that this time, I’d just walk away. Oh, but madukes didn’t play that shit! She had a few words with his ass! Lmao!
After that incident, I just went back to reading. Authors like Terri Woods, Keith Lee Johnson, Tanika Lynch, T.N. Baker, Shannon Holmes, Joy Deja King, Shai, T. Styles and Keisha Ervin to name a few, gave me the motivation to try again. By this time, I had a computer and started on my first novel that was originally titled ‘A Gangsta’s Girl’ but I was too late because I saw a book that had that same title lol.
A title hit me one day while I was at the store, and upon receiving my change, the back of the dollar says In God We Trust. How ironic was it that my storyline was about a brother taking care of his little sister because their father died and their mom fell victim to the pipe? So, In My Brother I Trust was born.
Now, I didn’t have a pen name then because I was only sixteen and wasn’t thinking about using a pen name. I actually stopped working on the story because I was out in the world being fast lol. The amount of things I used to get into, could fill up a water jug. I was out here in these ‘skreets’ like it wasn’t nobody’s business. Just young and wild for no reason, but God put a stop to my shenanigans. I always say this because if He didn’t, I really don’t know where I would be or what I’d be doing in this present moment. Before I could do something to get myself hurt or dead, He sat me down, and sent someone into my life that I could love, trust, and adore—He sent me my soulmate.
I got married at twenty-one and had my first daughter at twenty-two. From the very first time I laid eyes on her, I knew I needed to give her a life outside of what I was used to. I knew I never wanted her to follow in my footsteps, so I started writing again.
I don’t want to bore you all with my troubles of the past lol but I was still holding on to that little girl that didn’t get enough attention, that didn’t have enough friends, the girl that didn’t have labels and got her hair done every two weeks. I’m very much so an empath. When I was younger, If I felt an ounce of disdain or shade, I would immediately get offended and that attitude would go haywire. I was eighteen when I finally stopped worrying about if someone liked me or talked about me. My sister (May her beautiful soul rest in paradise) always told me that I couldn’t worry about what people thought of me all the time. People will talk, they’ll assume, and everybody isn’t your friend. Just continue to do you.
Losing my sister was a tragic moment. August 4, 2011 will forever be a day that I will never forget. I stopped writing again after we lost her, but I remember her telling me “This is good, sissy pooh! You should publish this” I was nervous and didn’t think I should at the time she said it, but when her casket sunk lower into that dark hole, I knew from then on, I wanted to make her proud of me. So, May of 2017 I dropped In My Brother I Trust and had my first book signing. The amount of pride I felt and the love that was shown, made me feel as if I could do anything—be any fucking thing!
A storm is a violent disturbance of the atmosphere with strong winds, rain, lightning, thunder, and snow.
As I’ve stated previously, I was a girl with a bad attitude. I was violent, disturbed, and for a long time I hated living on this earth. I carelessly blew through my teens like a strong wind, felt the deepest of sadness that danced with the raindrops, struck people with my words like lightning, with a voice as loud as the thunder crackling across the sky. I was The Storm.
As I grew up, I grew out of that life. Writing became my escape. Having penned twenty-two novels, I took most of what I’ve experienced and turned them into stories that people can relate to. You like businessmen? I got that. You like violence and drugs? I got that too! Rude boys, narcissist, hood niggas, entrepreneurs, broken men/women, love, romance, street shit, sweet, sassy, rude girls, men that make you swoon—I got all that for you.☺️
I hope I covered enough to allow you to get to know the beauty behind the pen. I just thought before the year 2020 closes out, and we begin a New Year, that I’ll give you all a small glimpse of me. Thank you all for your love, belief, support, and dedication. I pray that as we all embark on this new year, that we will rise and prosper beyond our wildest dreams. Much Love.
Xoxo Storm🌪