Sinking Ships

Chapter Four

“We don’t think she will make it through the night.” Kelsey’s nurse looks at me sympathetically as I sit in a chair in the waiting room. My head had been resting sadly in my hands, but I look up the meet the nurse’s eyes. “However right now, she’s stable with the life support. We just have to wait and see what happens while the drugs run their course.”

I’ve always hated hospitals. Not because they’re full of sick people, but because they’re always full of either bad news, or confusing news. Right now, I just heard both.

“So what are you saying?” I sigh at the short brown haired woman. She looks at her clipboard and then meets my eyes again.

“I’m saying that you should go home, get some rest, and we’ll call you if there’s any change. Her parents are with her now, and we can’t have more than two people in the room at a time.”

As much as I don’t want to, I rise to my shaky feet. I nod politely at the nurse and head for the automatic sliding doors. Tyson is probably already asleep, and it’s not fair to Ms. Rose to look after him the whole night.

With no ride home, and not wanting to call Erik this late, I start the long walk home. When I’m alone on the sidewalk, I allow myself to cry. After all, my ex-girlfriend, whom I hate and still have a place in my heart for, is most possibly going to die. Not to mention that she’s the mother of my son. I’m sure that it’s a lot better to have a mother who’s alive and you hardly ever see than to not have one at all. At least, in my perspective it is.

I head to a twenty-four hour beer store and pick up a few bottles of alcohol. Not bothering being discrete, I take gulps of burning liquid as I head home. It instantly goes to my head as I think about Kelsey and wonder what’s going to happen to Tyson if he doesn’t have a mother.

I’m walking through a particularly bad part of town when I hear my name being called. I turn to the left only to see a group of shady looking people standing in a circle. One guy gestures me to come over and as my head yells for me to keep walking, my feet move me towards them.

“I thought it was you,” grins the guy under his hood. “Long time no see!” I try to see the face in the darkness and place the guy; however I have no idea who he is. Looking to the rest of the group, I have no idea who they are either.

When I give up trying to place them, my eyes land on the pipe that’s passed around. Each one of their expression is content, more or less. They all look careless and the memories of feeling that way creep back up my spine. After my parents died, I constantly felt horrible, depressed and angry. Then I would get high and feel like I’m on top of the world.

“Want some?” The guy who called me over asks, holding the pipe out towards me. I think about Tyson. He’s at Ms. Rose house and I know for a fact she wouldn’t mind watching him for the night. Especially after what’s going on with Kelsey, she would never say no and I know that for a fact.

I know I shouldn’t. I really, truly know how bad it will be if I go back to doing it again, even just one time. The thing with Meth is that even just once can lead to millions of cravings. But if I beat it once, I can beat it again, right?

“Oh I remember now, you’re not much of a pipe guy.” He wraps his arm around my shoulders and leads me to a nearby house. “No worries, man.”

Inside it’s too dark to see much, so I avoid thinking about the disgusting surroundings and follow him to the living room. The circle of friends stays outside, not wanting to get the house full of smoke.

“Interested?” The guy asks, reaching into the drawer of a coffee table and pulling out a small baggy of clear crystal. I do math in my head however the guy beats me to the answer. “Seventy-five.”