Inside The Storm

Chapter 3

⚠️TW for substance abuse, self harm, disordered eating, self harm, abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault, and more. Take these seriously!⚠️

"Ok so tell me about yourself!" Maria says pulling up a chair and sitting across from me. Her eyes are eagerly awaiting my answer as they spark in the fluorescent light.

"What do you wanna know." I say kicking my feet back and forth under the table.

"Everything!" She says putting her hands under her chin smiling. "Well everything you can fit into 10 minutes. Just start from the beginning."

I take a deep breath in and begin. "You asked for it." I laugh. "Well I used to live Tacoma with my mom cause my dad vanished the second the stick turned pink. My mom would've run if she could but she stayed for the welfare checks. While she was in between jobs the welfare checks were the only things keeping the drugs coming." I start laughing before I realize Maria's face is no longer smiling and is not written in concern. "Oh my gosh I don't mean to trauma dump on you! I'm so sorry!" I say frantically.

"Omg no it's ok I'm so sorry you had to go through all this!" She says grabbing my hand on hers.

"Oh you haven't heard the worst yet." I chuckle.

"Well by all means continue." She says still holding my hand.

"Well it was the end of 6th grade, a few weeks before my birthday, I came home from school to see my mom passed out next to an orange bottle. I brushed it off and hid in my room to do homework. A few hours later I escaped to the kitchen to make myself dinner and my mom was still passed out but now her lips were blue and her skin was ice cold. I felt her neck for a pulse like I learned in health class for 5 minutes assuming the reason I didn't feel anything was because I was feeling the wrong place. The real reasons was because there was no heartbeat. There hadn't been for hours.

"I've always thought if I had just checked her pulse when I got home she would still be alive but I know it's not true. She was dead hours before I got home and even if I did save her then, she would have killed herself another way. It was July before I even called the cops. That's when her body started to reek to the point where I would sleep outside. I'm not 100% sure why I kept her around for so long. It felt good to have her around without screaming at me while high and throwing whatever she could find at me.

"The worst was a ceramic vase that hit my right shoulder and shattered across my body. She threw it because my shorts were too short and I was 'asking to get raped'. She did make me regret wearing the shorts cause all the shards of vase cut up my thighs. A few were so deep I needed stitches. Not that I actually got stitches, just a rag held on the cuts with Scotch tape."

I realize as I've been telling this story Maria's face has filled with sympathy and her hand has strengthened its grip on mine. "Too much for the first time meeting someone?"

"No no it's ok. I'm glad you felt like you could share all of this with me." She moves her seat in closer and leans over the table. "I feel like I've known you forever."

"Omg really! I feel like that too. Its just so easy to talk to you." My cheeks go hot and rush red. She grabs my other hand and smiles while cocking her head.

"Breaks over Mar! Get back to work!" Chris yells from behind the counter. Maria rolls her eyes but doesn't pull her hands back.

"Ugh I don't wanna go back!" She says with a giant sigh that sounds like she's been holding it in since B.C.

"What time do you get off?"

"5 why?"

"Amelia gets off at 6 and she wants to go shopping after so I can wait her until then and I can walk you home." I say stepping out of line.