Nightlines & Unspoken Truths

Captured by Mitchell Royel | Now Playing: "TROLLZ" by 6ix9ine and Nicki Minaj

Captured by Mitchell Royel | Now Playing: "TROLLZ" by 6ix9ine and Nicki Minaj

The night swallowed North Hollywood, darkness pressing against the car windows as I drove. Abercrombie & Fitch updates had been our initial small talk - mundane workplace chatter that felt like a safety net before the conversation would inevitably unravel.

He was watching the news, the flickering screen casting shadows across his face. A story about a former middle school acquaintance’s brother - someone I barely remembered, someone he knew even less.

“Did you see this?” he asked, his voice carrying a weight that suggested the story was more than just another headline.

The news cycle had picked up another narrative - another Black man caught in a media storm that seemed designed to consume rather than understand. His commentary wasn’t personal. It was observational. Distant, yet intensely charged.

“He’s not going to make it out alive,” he said. Not about himself. Not about anyone he truly knew. Just a statement that hung in the night air like a prophecy.

I watched the road. He watched the news. Two perspectives sliding past each other like tectonic plates - close, but never truly touching.

“Why would this situation result in his suicide?” The question escaped me, more reflex than genuine inquiry.

We went back and forth. The night grew darker. The conversation more fractured.

Some stories are never fully told. Some connections are never fully understood.

-Mitchell Royel