Later that evening, Adette and Derek were sitting in the lounge, the television on but neither of them really watching it. Adette got up to get something, and Derek’s itch begun.
Just get it out of your pocket and give it a quick sniff. She won’t catch you, the voices hissed. He shook his head, trying to snap out of it with no success. Almost as if possessed, his hand crept its way into his pocket and he pulled out his pack of cocaine.
It just so happened at that moment, Adette returned. “Derek!” she said sharply, her eyes glinting. “Just what do you think you are doing?”
Derek jumped. “I uh, well…” God damn it, how am I supposed to answer that? She knows full well what I’m doing, he thought irritably.
She sighed, suddenly looking more concerned than anything else. She sank onto the couch, watching him while he shifted uncomfortably.
“Are you just going to sit there and stare at me?” he grizzled. He was already beginning to feel the effects of withdrawal. Suddenly, she was pissing him off ten times more than she should. The fact dawned on him that he was trembling and sweating.
“Look,” Adette began, “I want to help you get over this crack addiction, but to do that you’re going to have to want it too. I can’t do it if you don’t try.”
Derek gave a short, sarcastic laugh. “You seriously think you can get me off crack? You must be high too, ginger.”
Adette’s expression remained calm. “I have seen many worse off than you manage to quit. Are you suggesting you are too weak?”
“So what if I am?” he spat back aggressively.
“I know you’re not that weak, Derek. I may have only just met you, but that doesn’t mean I can’t sense that you have true strength where it matters; in your heart.”
Derek scowled. “Don’t feed me that soppy shit, chick. You don’t know shit about me, get it? I got hooked on crack because it made me forget everything. I’m so weak I couldn’t even handle my own past.”
As if something snapped, Adette’s eyes flashed and she stood up abruptly.
“Look, I’m trying to fucking save your life here, get it? Do you know what happens to crackheads like you when they keep on this downward spiral? They die, Derek. Don’t lie to yourself. And don’t think I don’t know shit about this stuff, because… because you’d be surprised, okay?”
With that, she swept out of the room, leaving Derek staring after her in stunned silence. “Jesus,” he whispered to the empty room, “What have I got myself into?”
