Crooked Smile

Not Picture Perfect, but worth the Picture.

Jermaine's Point of View:

"Please," She carried on begging on her knees towards me, her eyes full of despair and her hands shaking with desperation. Her hair was dishevelled and her skin was out of colour. Probably from many years of use. In any other occasion Jermaine would have given her, her fill with the right amount of money paid in full. Yet now he couldn't do it. He's had no problem in the past like this with her, as she was a frequent costumer of his that he has been serving since the age of sixteen, old friends others may say. Although this was the first time in ten years that the woman had brought her kids, who were standing on the pavement facing towards them. Both of them were young girls, no older than six even, the younger of the two was screeching senselessly, whilst her sister tried to calm her down. The woman, Denise, stared at him with no emotion within her eyes; he stared back with a growing pity, not for her, but for her children. "What are you doing with yourself? Don't make me throw you out and embarrass you in front of your kids. I already told you no." With that he shut the door in front of her face.

"How's Valerie? Does she know what her daddy does whilst she's asleep in her queen-size mattress? You're not any different from me Jay, we may sleep in different beds but we live the same lives!" Denise carried on screaming hysterics, loud enough to wake the whole neighbourhood. A fire erupted within Jermaine, causing him to run out onto the front porch, fuming. His temper reached unknown heights, making it even harder for himself to contain. "You leave Val out of this! What kind of mother are you? Exploiting your children to the life we live in. What's my number one rule!?" Jermaine shouted the question out, in front of Denise's face, trying to get all of his frustration out.

"Not to expose children to this life but..." Her voice slowly simmered down into whisper, so quiet that Jermaine was lucky to catch what he could. "No there is no excuse, my first question to you ten years ago when you came to my door step begging for your next fix, was if you had any kids and to tell me immediately when you do. Now you're coming here with your children to my door; you are going to have to find another dealer because I'm no longer serving you, or better yet stop using. Look at your daughters, you really going to lead them down the same path as you."A twinge of guilt crept inside of Jermaine when he saw her wince, but it started to quickly dissipate, she had to hear it no matter how hard it was for her.

Her voice pierced through the silent wind around them, "...Jay please don't do this to me, I've been using since I was thirteen, it's too late for me, Jay please." Tears started streaming down her cheeks; it was an awful sight to see. A desperate mother on her knees begging for something which could not only potentially damage her life, will eventually also destroy those closest around her, her girls. Jay refuses to be a part of that corruption, he shakes his head and turns around to walk back into his house, and he then stood still, rooted to the ground, and looked at back at her with sorrowful eyes,  "It's not too late for them." Shutting the door behind him, he sank down with his back towards the door. His hands joined together making their way to the back of his head. Puffs of air left his mouth as he sighed deeply, feeling disheartened. A creak came from the top of the staircase, without looking up Jay already knew who it was.

"Daddy, who was that lady at outside?" a drowsy voice came out of her very lips, acknowledging the disturbance which took place a few minutes ago. "An old friend honey, let's get you ready for school." After Jay got Valerie dressed up and ready for school, he managed to get her to the front gate in fifteen minutes flat, knowing that he was already late whether he made an effort or not. "Okay now remember what daddy tells you, work hard, stay focused, always listen to the teacher, and don't fight unless,"