Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
🥘 twenty. i used to know him .⊹ °ʚ☆ɞ°.⭒₊
The church was filled with people who came in for their confessions or for their daily mass that happened from all hours between the day. In one of the rooms nearby, AA/NA meetings were being held and so was Al-Anon. It didn't matter because more people began showing up for both meetings and some people were coming up less, either for a good or a bad reason. Maybe some people stopped drinking, maybe others didn't allow the guilt to get to them. Either way, it didn't change because some others stayed and new people came.
It was a never ending cycle, but it was interesting because people shared stories about how alcohol or narcotics affected people and their loved ones.
In the morning Al-Anon group, there were new people who sat in the rows of foldable, gray chairs, and they went up after one another. Some of them were sharing good news or random stories about their life and the audience would just listen without any judgement. Their faces were pulled into a neutral yet somewhat solemn expression.
After the last person finished talking, the meeting leader got up and stood in front of the lone chair that was up front. "Would anyone else want to speak?" asked the leader, looking around the awfully silent room and she perked up when a hand raised from the crowd. "C'mon up."
Some people turned around to see who held up their hand and all of their eyes watched as a brown haired woman walked up to the lone chair. Her clothes were too big for her own body.
Odessa cleared her throat and she plucked at her woolen sweater. Some people were new, others weren't.
"Hi. I'm Dez." said Odessa, her hands awkwardly placed atop of her lap. "My family abused alcoholic and drugs, but..I'm—I'm starting to think that I'm..turning into my mother because I was drinking recently. I know my emotions doesn't excuse my drinking, but I recently went through a breakup and my father died in his sleep. My depression was so bad that I didn't shower, I didn't eat, and I had to cut off my hair because it was so, so disgusting that I couldn't even wash it."
Odessa sniffled, already tired of hearing her own voice. "But I'm getting better. I'm looking for a new apartment and I'm paying for my tuition at cosmetology school. I just hope that I don't slip up again and ruin everything because my life is sorta going good for me. Like I'm not sleeping in, I'm actually going on runs even though my asthma sometimes sets off. It's uhm..yeah. That's pretty much it."
The feeling of public humiliation wore off once the meeting was over with Odessa's parting words and she smiled softly to herself. She started to think about her life in some sort of retrospective way, wondering how she could've had this change come sooner. Maybe she should've been in cosmetology school instead of working at The Beef and maybe she wouldn't have to experience the loss of her best friend.
