Different

Chapter 14: Walter

The only way she would let me in, is if I let her in. I realized it last night, when I dropped her off, and when she was telling me her story. Or part of it, at least. But, literally what I said, the only way she would let me in, is if I let her in. I have to tell her my story.

I shrugged my t-shirt back on. "You should probably sit down on the couch, instead of the floor."

She shook her head. "I'm good down here."

I smiled, and sat beside her, grabbing her hand while entwining our fingers. "I have a dark past, Zaya. Darker than you could imagine. Half the time, I don't even know how I got there. I've gotten out of the mess I was in, but it will still mess with me, and my friends.

"Basically, it all started at this party, four years ago. We were all freshmen, too young to know what we were doing. We listened to the upper class men, especially because they said they would look out for us. There was this senior, named Zion. He had like this drug selling business, and he needed some workers. He recruited us. Our whole gang."

She sighed. "So, you were a drug dealer?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"How long?"

"Three years, give or take. We were really deep in it."

She bit her lip. "Tell me more."

"Well, basically we couldn't get out. Zion wouldn't let us. Then, we got hooked on the drugs we were selling. One night, I was so stoned, I passed out in my front lawn. That was the first time my parents knew what I had been doing.

"They sent me off to a rehab center up in LA for the summer before junior year. I sobered up after a month, and never did drugs after that. But I still dealed them. That was the only way I was safe.

"One night, we had a big drop off. It was only Derek, Zion, and I. Christina and Jade were our backup, and were standing by a couple blocks away. The clients weren't happy with their supply, and pulled out a gun. Zion pulled out his, but Derek and I were completely unprotected.

"Long story short, Zion's dead now, Derek got away, and I wasn't so lucky."

It was pretty quiet in the room, except for the sound of our breathing. Zaya had laid her head on my shoulder by this point, and tracing my arm with her other hand.

She looked up at me. "Is that how you got your scar? Gunshot?"

I nodded. "Yeah. It was multiple bullets, five to be exact. I was in a coma for two weeks. My folks didn't think I would make it, and when I finally woke up, they knew everything."

"How did they react?"

"They were livid. I told them I wasn't in the drugs anymore, but they couldn't trust me. They still don't. It will take a lot of time before I could have them trust me again."

"So, Zion was killed that night?"

"Yeah. His funeral happened when I was in the coma. It was tragic, yeah, but I'm glad I'm not in that craziness anymore. I hate that I couldn't get out of it, unless I wanted to risk being killed. But either way, I would've gotten hurt someway."

"Does a lot of people know about this?"

"Just the people who were involved, so not many. You're the first person I've told the whole story, aside from my parents."