Forest

Chapter Five

Sammy still wasn't home. Turning some of the lights on in the living room, I started my routine for the night. Get changed, brush my teeth again, and chill. I was so ready to chill, that slight headache that started in the vehicle, was now a full blown killer headache. My heartbeat was in my skull. Switching my clothes for a pair of comfy sweatpants and an old t-shirt, I went to the bathroom where the medicine cabinet is. I took a couple of Tylenols, did a quick brush of my teeth, and quickly made my way to the living room. Sprawling out on the couch, I switched through different apps.
Finally I found a show I didn't mind watching if I dozed off while it played. No more than three minutes played before my phone started ringing. "God, why?" I asked to the empty room. It was Sammy, answering it, "Hello?"
Sammy was sobbing, "H-he cheated on me!" She was so difficult to understand, but I pieced it together, "Can you come get me?" She asked, breathing in sharply between another loud, messy sob.
Clutching my head, the pounding wasn't getting any better, "Um, yeah, sure, give me a second and I'll be on my way. Where are you?"
"I'm at Desmonds," She cried. Desmond is Nicks piece of shit friend. They're both drug dealers. Desmond runs the South end of Bitterroot, he's a big time dealer. He sells the hard stuff, including any new drugs that hit the market. Hanging up the phone, it took all of my willpower to stand up, because standing only made the heartbeat in my head pulse harder. Snatching my keys from their spot on the counter where I'd thrown them earlier, I walked outside, my mood completely soured.
Driving through the heart of the city, the traffic wasn't bad considering it was eleven o'clock at night. I'd lost more time at the Indian reservation than I'd initially thought. Traffic was still a bit of a hassle anyways, there were drunk drivers, and traffic crashes along the main highways. Eventually, after much determination, more detours than I cared to take, and a couple more Tylenol later, I entered the South end of Bitterroot. The buildings were run down, the sidewalks were cracked and missing in places. This part of the city is desolate, and decrepit. Only a small fraction of the population in Bitterroots South end live down here, and who does live here are all criminals, or some sort of sex offender list.
Desmond works out of an old warehouse, they've been turned into apartments, but they're still not great. They're not the warehouse apartments young adults dream about. Turning the corner on Nesmeth Avenue, I pulled over to the side of the street, parking across the big building. There was a party going on, that much was obvious. I could hear the loud thumping of the bass, there's a bunch of lights strobing through the windows on the top floor, and a whole gaggle of drunk women stumbled through the front doors of the apartment complex. "This is going to be a nightmare." I let my head fall against the headrest. Attempting to call Sammy, I clicked on her name, and watched the phone ring on speaker. It rang, and rang, and rang. Clicking on her name again, "Please, for the love of God, answer your phone." I groaned. More ringing, and silence, and another groan of displeasure from myself, I shoved the car door open. Pulling my keys out of the ignition, making sure the vehicle was locked, I moved past the drunk party girls. Inside of the building, It was basically a lobby on the first floor, and the four floors above it are the residential apartments.
I pressed the up button on the elevator, which was no longer clear, or had a distinct arrow on it. It was brown in color and greasier than I'd have liked. Impatiently waiting for the elevator, I heard some more women cackling, and stumbling down the staircase next to me. One of the girls looked at me and managed to say, only slurring half of her sentence, "The elevator is out of order."
"Wonderful." I gritted through my teeth, "Thanks." I said loud enough for the drunk girl to hear. Squeezing past a pair of girls from the group who were struggling with the last few steps, I climbed the trash covered stairs. Four stories later, I was standing outside of a large metal door. The music was pounding against the metal door, my head throbbed. It was a little better after taking a couple Tylenol from the bottle I leave in my car. Rubbing my neck a couple times, I grabbed the grimey handle of the door and shoved it to slide it open. There were tons of people here. More I cared for, I'd say there were a good fifty, seventy people here. They were all shoulder to shoulder, bodies gyrating to the loud, irritating beat of the music.
Pushing past sweaty people, holding my breath as much as I could, the body odor alone could knock someone out, I needed to find Sammy. The sooner I find her the sooner I get to leave. More than likely she's going to be in a bathroom somewhere, the bar, or a room where she could sulk by herself. I quickly found the bar, leaning on the counter, I looked both to my right and left, no Sammy. I flashed a picture of her to the bartender, he said he hadn't seen her in a while. Pushing away from the bar, I pushed my way over to the what Desmond calls the 'Pink Rooms'. They're rooms where people can do drugs, drink, and screw, or watch other people screw. Whatever dark desire you have, you can live it out in the Pink Rooms. Swallowing some pride, I started knocking on doors.
The first door I knocked on, I was advised to open it by someone inside, there were two guys watching a woman pleasure herself. I closed the door quickly, moving on to the next room, I was greeted with a group of people shooting heroin. No one noticed me opening the door, so without being noticed I closed it again. Third room was empty. Fourth room, it was a full blown orgy. Naked people everywhere. That concluded my search in the Pink Rooms, the fifth and sixth rooms were also empty, but looked recently used.
Now to try the bathrooms. I was holding the sides of my head by this point. Struggling to get past people, I could feel tears welling in my eyes. My head hurt so bad. I should ask the Elders what they blew into my face, because it had to have been more than just ashes. Shoving the thoughts of what could have possibly been laced with the ashes, I had found my way to the bathrooms. There were only two, one was marked for the men, the other was marked for the women. Knocking on the women's bathroom door, a man hollered, "Just a second, I'm taking a shit!" Sighing, I knocked on the men's door, no answer, knocking again, a little harder, the door cracked open. It was Sammy. "Jesus, Sammy!" I had to yell over the music, "I tried calling, twice!"
Her makeup was a mess, her eyeliner and mascara had run down her face, all the way to her chin. It was smudged across her cheeks, and her lipstick was sloppily removed. Her eyeshadow was smeared and mostly gone. "Thanks." She hiccuped, still coming down from sobbing so hard.
"Let's just go!" I yelled, turning around, marching toward the exit. Outside, my head grateful for the peace, unlocking the car, I sat down in the driver's seat. "Alright, so what happened?" I asked, my tone a bit more crass than I'd expected it to sound.
"Nick and I were in one of the Pink Rooms, we were getting ready to have sex, he wanted a drink," She wiped her nose with her wrist, "So I went to go get him one, being nice, and when I came back, he was on top of another girl." She said, her voice was hoarse. "When he noticed me standing in the doorway, he didn't get off of her, or apologize, nothing!" She flung an exasperated hand out in front of her. "So that's when I called you."
"You should get over him." I said, "I'm not saying, 'I told you so.' but he wasn't ever a great guy. He's kind of worthless." Pausing, letting a pretty bad wave of pain run it's course, I continued, "You're worth more than an ex-con who still deals drugs. He's still on probation for God's sake! If he gets caught he won't be given a second chance, he'll go to prison. Once he's there, he's only going to try to leech off of you. He'll want commissary, and money added to his books so he can call people, and not only you. He'll want to call everyone." I added, calming down a little bit, "Just drop him. He's not worth going back to. He obviously doesn't care what his actions do to you. Absolutely do not let him sell you on the idea that he was under the influence of drugs, and he had no idea what he was doing, because that's bullshit. Do you hear me?" I asked, looking over at her for just a second, refocusing on the road, "Say it back to me," I asked.
She sighed, I could tell she was crying again, but I think I told her what she needed to hear. I've tried coddling her in the past, it never worked, so I'm trying the tough love approach. "You're right. I hear you." Her voice cracked a little.
"Good, you'll find someone so much better, Sammy." I finished my ranting, the rest of the car ride was silent. Sammy hadn't asked me about my fay, which I was thankful for, I'd have no idea what to tell her. Do I start with the idea I had about getting a Night-Walker book? Or do I immediately go into telling her about going to the Indian reservation and being drugged, then having a wild drug journey about seeing the Night-Walker I'd seen as a child, or that a really hot guy has my phone number now? Yeah, I don't think she could handle hearing any of that tonight. Sammy is also drunk, so she probably wouldn't remember me telling her, and I'd have to relay the story a second time.
For the final time, I hope, I pulled into the driveway. Slamming the vehicle in park, shoving open my car door, I made my way inside. I needed more Tylenol. Maybe ibuprofen this time, and then to go to bed. Sammy was stumbling a little behind me, but she managed her way up the front steps, and inside. "I don't know if you're staying up, Sammy, but I am going to bed. I don't feel good, and I'm exhausted." Sammy waved her hand at me in acknowledgement, but she made a B-line for the bathroom, seconds later, she was vomiting. Taking a couple of headache pills, I waited for her vomiting to stop. After a good five minute session in the bathroom, I heard the bathroom door open, and Sammy's bedroom door close. Leaving the kitchen, I cleaned the bathroom toilet off, it had remnants of Sammys previous food and drinks on it. Once I was sure the toilet was clean, I went to the bathroom, washed my hands, and wasted no time going to my bedroom. I placed my phone on it's charger, pulled the blankets back on my bed, and very happily crawled in bed. Laying my head down on my pillow, I could feel some of the tension in my neck ease, but it wouldn't be until another twenty or so minutes passed before I was comfy and fell asleep.