When They See Us (Book 1.0)

Chapter Six

Macy

Why did she have to turn up at my house like that? I thought I was being discreet leaving school so nobody could find out where I lived. It's not like she even cares about me, I wish she would just drop the act already. Her popularity is clearly more important, has always been, and probably will always be. After middle school, she climbed to the top of the food chain, while I sank to the bottom, like scum on her shoes. She never took a second glance at me when she became popular, never gave me the time of day.

She was my best friend for four years, we did everything together. But that quickly changed when we got to Clearwater High. She was never there for me through all the stuff I went through. Through this bullshit, I'm still going through. Some friend she was.

I walked into the house and locked the door behind me. Trash was everywhere, and it smelled like beer bottles and dirty sewers. I sigh to myself. He never cleans up after himself, and I never have time between going to school and keeping my grades up. I toss my backpack down and begin to pick up all the dirty dishes, bringing them to the sink. I don't bother washing them right now.

"What took you so long?" Daniel snapped. "Who was that girl out there?"

Crap, he saw her. "Just some girl at school," I say, grabbing my school stuff, about to walk up the stairs.

"Well don't let me see her here again."

"Yes sir." I sarcastically salute him and rush up the stairs to my clean room. Well, as clean as it's going to get in this ragged old house. No one ever comes in here but me, and I don't mess it up much.

"Macy!" I turn to look back down the stairs.

"Yes?" He shakes a new pack of cigarettes and tosses them up the stairs. I catch them and shake the box. "Thanks." He walks away, and I hear his bedroom door slam shut, shaking the whole house.

Daniel isn't a bad guy. He doesn't hit me or anything like that. He's just a junkie that shoots himself with every drug in the book and provides me with anything he thinks I need to stay afloat.

I've known him since I was seven years old. He and mom were in love, and we were a happy family for a little bit until Mom had a stillborn and started to get into drugs. I'm not sure where their supply came from. I just remember it was some lady Daniel knew, who would come around here when I was about ten or eleven years old. I remember one occasion, it was Valentine's day, and Adelaide and her mom met us at the park for Addy to give me a gold charm bracelet. I recall the woman bringing my mother a car, and I took a peek in the trunk, noticing massive clear bags with white powder and brown tape wrapped around them. I was young, so I thought it was giant bags of flour or something.

That's around the time my mother had her miscarriage. I remember her telling me she was pregnant, but there was never a baby. Her addiction didn't come until a year later though, and the woman who brought those giant bags of white powder disappeared with the remnants of my mom. It started with just a little weed here and there to calm her nerves, and then she started taking opioids and later snorting Coke and shooting heroin. Daniel eventually followed in her footsteps. You know what they say, as the tide begins to shift, the child follows in the path of their drug addict parents.

So... here I am.

Mrs. Reed is the only one that has watched over me all this time. She helps me to believe in myself and know that even if the statistics are stacked against me, I can beat the odds. She helped get me into Narcotics Anonymous meetings and in my application process for university, so I can get out of this hell hole after graduation. Mrs. Reed only found out about how bad things were at home last year. She got to school early one morning and saw me sleeping on the school bench.