Sugar, Spice and Anything But Nice

Monitoring

Sage

I woke up from a long dreamless sleep. I'd almost forgotten how great it was to sleep in a bed. The first night I'd spent in the guest house, I slept on the ground. The bed had been too soft for me.

I tried to keep everything that involved drugs out of this guest house but I felt lonely very fast. It took me two days to visit Jeffrey and ask him to stay with me. Obviously he had been thrilled and he even promised me not to do or carry any drugs in the house.

He was sleeping in the room next to me. There was a bathroom separating our two rooms but we kept both of our doors open so we wouldn't feel alone. Even though people had the tendency to treat me like garbage, I still preferred being around them than being on my own. I couldn't stand being on my own.

I woke up early every morning so I could be there and watch everything when Madd would wake up. She'd been with Ellen a little over a week and I knew it was all a matter of time before things would start to get ugly.

When I went to brush my teeth, I heard Jeffrey groan in his room. I guess I'd woken him up. He sauntered to our shared bathroom and looked at me. I was still in my underwear because I was planning on taking a quick shower before I headed out.

"Do you have time for a quick fuck?" Jeffrey asked me.

"No." I answered bluntly. We'd only ever done that when we were high and I didn't really know what I was doing. I didn't feel anything for him and I was pretty sure it was mutual.

"Fine. How about we do some crack later?" He suggested.

"I'm busy." I told him. Monitoring Madd was a full time job and it was one I took very seriously. I hadn't even touched any drugs ever since Madd had been staying with Ellen. I needed to be alert at all times.

I tried to smoke some joints to keep the withdrawal symptoms at bay but it didn't really help me so I quit it all together. I wasn't doing too bad. I had hot flashes and I trembled a lot but that was about it. If you didn't count the craving. God, I was craving it all the time. Jeffrey tempting me all the time wasn't really working out in my favor and it probably wouldn't take long for me to get high with him again.

"Again? Sure, whatever. I'll see you tonight." He touched my arm gently, went to his room and closed the door behind him.

After my quick shower, I walked to Reid's storage space where all the monitor equipment was waiting for me. I watched everything that had happened during the night in fast forward while checking out what was happening during the day. Madd had just woken up so I knew I hadn't missed much.

There were two other foster children there with Madd. One of them was Heather, one of the girls I'd left behind years ago. It pained me to know she was still there. She looked like a small, frightened mouse. I knew she was keeping up a strong front because if she'd blow her cover, she'd get beaten by Ellen but I could see right through it.

"Morning." I heard Reid say. Most of the time she would join me but some days she had to do jobs for other people. I hadn't expected her to be here this early but I was glad she was.