Baaul: A Change of Heart

Chapter 5: Laws Be Damned

Renee ran her hand through her hair and struggled not to pull it out at her current situation. She was already irritated beyond belief at the lack of sleep she had thanks to jet lag, but now she was sitting in the middle of a circle of drug addicts who were all introducing themselves as a part of their therapy. The sheer ridiculousness of it all had her bouncing her thigh and chewing the inside of her cheeks.

"Renee." Marianne's sweet voice might as well have been nails on a chalkboard with how it affected her. Today she still had on the white coat but she was now wearing a bright neon pink dress underneath. Her loud color choice was another irritation to her. "Please introduce yourself to the group."

For a brief second she almost told her to go fuck herself, but she knew it would only prolong her stay here. This morning it was made very clear to her that her 3 weeks stay was a minimum amount of time but if Marianne felt she still needed more time, the bitch could and would keep her. If she didn't actively participate in her recovery, that would hinder her ability to go home.

Renee took a deep breath before standing and letting it out. It did very little to ease her intense rage. "My name is Renee and I'm here to work on my...'addiction' to technology." She couldn't hide her sarcasm but at least she did as she was told.

"How can you be addicted to technology?" A young girl snickered. She looked in her lower twenties, if that. Her dark roots that were showing through told Renee that she had been here for some time. At least two months.

Renee glared at her and snapped back, "Keep laughing. I at least try to help others. What the fuck can you say aside from the fact you're polluting your body and stressing out people who love you? Get off your fucking high horse."

"Okay, Renee. Anger has no place here in the circle. This is a safe space. Apologize." Marianne's tight lipped smile only served to piss Renee off more.

"Then I'll never be able to fucking talk again if I can't express anger toward idiots who started shit they can't finish." She gave Marianne the brunt of her glare. Before she opened her mouth to chastise her she continued. "Boundaries are healthy to have and sometimes those boundaries need to be given harshly. She no doubt is used to people bending over for her because she's probably someone of influential power's daughter. Even though her arms are riddled in scars from most likely heroin abuse and that is something one should be ashamed of-"

"Renee now that's enough. I agree boundaries are important but this is just too far-" Marianne tried bring control back to herself but Renee was already heated. She had already entered that rage mode that all too often helped her hyperfocus on finding disgusting people.

"I don't think it's far enough! You know why people come here to you? Probably because this isn't even a real rehab center! You baby them! Comfort them and tell them bullshit they want to hear while they detox so that way when they leave they feel good about themselves again! She's one of those types to go on a fucking bender, be a selfish cunt and drive off! Then when she kills someone because she hits that high while driving she gets sent here to detox instead of actually serving any jail time! Then instead of dealing with the trauma that she's a good for nothing drugged up murderer, she resorts to middle school snarky comments and projecting her hatred onto other people. How did I do?"

It was so quiet that a pin falling would have been an explosive sound. The girl in question had a flood of tears waiting to burst but before they could fall she shot up and ran from the room, leaving Marianne awkwardly trying to decide to stay or follow her. Finally she scowled and pointed to Renee. "That is not your responsibility to bring all that to the surface and not how we do things here! Now I'm going to have to go undo the damage you have done! No one leaves this room until I get back! If you do, I will be calling your parole officers and you'll be in serious trouble!"