Hooked The Making of an Addict

Chapter Twenty: Changing Tides

The next few weeks my routine changed drastically. Instead of coming home after school I went to see CeCe. Some days Jake would take me and other days, like today, I would spend thirty minutes on a city bus to see her. 

Ann and Michael gave up asking where I was going, though I think they knew. 

I guess they agreed she was better off away from her parents. Both of them. 

I finally arrived at CeCe's friends house. I didn't bother knocking. I made that mistake the first day. 

"Only cops knock." The guy said. 

I walked into the living room and CeCe was sitting in her normal spot on the couch. 

"Aaron!" She yelled before jumping up to hug me. 

I could tell she started without me. 

"What's on the menu today?" I asked with a big smile. 

"Only thing we could find was some coke. Nothing special" Her friend replied. 

CeCe looked like it was more than just coke. She was too happy for it too just be coke. 

"Let's go to my room." She said with a wink. 

I knew what she wanted. She wanted it more lately. We had been spending more and more time alone, locked away in the darkness of her room. It was starting to become not so special anymore. Just a quick thing we would do after getting as high as the drugs would take us. 

"Let him get some good stuff in him before you rape him." her friend laughed. 

Her entire body stiffened at the word. Obviously her friend didn't know. I was the only one here that knew the truth. I knew her secrets. I couldn't help but smile at the thought. 

I went over to the coffee table where her friend was making a line for me. CeCe was looking at me with sadness in her eyes. I didn't understand what was wrong. She's heard that word plenty of times and she's never reacted like this. 

I took my line and thanked her friend, standing up to go back to CeCe. 

"You okay?" I whispered in her ear as I put my arms back around her. 

"Yeah." 

She pulled away from me and walked to her room. I looked at her friend and he just shrugged. I was completely lost in what was happening. I followed to her room finding her sitting on the edge of her bed. 

"What's wrong?" I asked softly. 

"I should have never brought you here. This isn't your world." 

"What?"

"Your not this person. Your good. You still have a little bit of hope left. People that live here, people in this world, they have nothing. They don't even having feelings left. They aren't humans their just shells of what they used to be."

"What did you take?" I asked putting my hands on her cheeks. 

"Nothing. I'm not tripping Aaron. You shouldn't be here. I shouldn't be here. This house, these people their not good. You could get hurt." 

"What happened?"

CeCe looked down at her feet. I couldn't understand what was happening. She was happy when I first walked through the door. I don't know what changed. 

"CeCe?" I said starting to get a little angry. "Answer me."

"Please go home." She finally said looking up at me with tears in her eyes. 

"I'm not leaving until you tell me what happened." 

She pulled her sleeves up revealing bandages on her wrists.

"What did you do? What were you trying to do?" 

"I don't want to be here anymore." She said crying harder. 

I didn't know what to do. There was something she wasn't telling me. I wanted to know but I couldn't bring myself to ask, so I just held her until she stopped crying. My phone had rang a dozen times. I'm sure it was Ann trying to figure out where I was but I wasn't going to let CeCe go. Not now. 

She finally sat up and looked at me. Her eyes puffy and bloodshot from the tears. 

"You need to go home Aaron." 

I shook my head.

"I'm not leaving you." 

"Please. You have to leave before he gets here." She said with tears forming in her fearful eyes. 

"Who?"

"Please Aaron. Please go home."

"Not until you tell me what's going on? What happened?"

She just shook her head. I could feel the anger welling up inside me. Why couldn't she tell me what was going on? Why was she so scared?

"Where is she?" 

I could hear someone yell after slamming the front door. 

"Aaron please go. He will kill you." She begged. 

"Who?"

I asked as the footsteps got louder. 

"Please just go out the window. Get out of here as fast as you possibly can. I'll meet you in the park tomorrow after school."

"I'm not leaving you CeCe."

The door slammed open and I was met with an older man who had rage in his eyes. 

"Who the fuck is this Cecelia?" He yelled stepping towards CeCe.

I stepped in front of him. 

"You might want to get out of my way kid."

I was shaking. All I could feel is danger. A sense of impending doom.

"No." I said shocking myself. 

"Move. Now, little boy."

"I'm hardly little."

"Aaron please just go. Just listen to him."

"Listen to the bitch. Leave why you still can." He said threateningly. 

"I'm not leaving without her."

He raised his fist and made contact with my face. I fell to the ground out of sheer force and watched as he went for CeCe. She tried to run but he grabbed her by the wrists forcing her back onto the bed. 

That's when I snapped. I got up and charged at this man. Starting a fight I was sure to lose. I tackled him to the ground and started hitting him as much as I could before he pushed me off of him with full force. 

His face was red and bloody but that didn't stop me from seeing the rage in his eyes. I knew the second he stood up and looked at me that this is where I was going to die.