La Pantera

Ch. 2 The Ups and Downs

Song for Chapter- Mother Me by Clint Mansell

The sun set later that day, bringing the coolness of night with it . It temporarily ended the hell of having summer in Oklahoma. Stevie continued to walk around town, hands in the pockets of her leather jacket. Her eyes scanned the area , alert for any police officers or people in town she had conflict with. She turned into her usual alleyway, smirking when she saw a familiar face . "Aye, Frankie. Long time no see.", she teased , shaking her usual customer's hand. "Hiya Stevie ....you have coke on you right now?" , the older man's left eye twitched a bit . It was obvious he hadn't had his usual fix in a while. "Not until you gimme the money you owe me from last time.". Her usually laidback manner switched to cold and sharp in a second . "Stevie, ya -ya know how it...", Frankie tried but she interrupted quickly with,  "I DON'T GIVE A RATS ASS!". Her voice rung loud with annoyance and snarl that of an angry panther . They were face to face , the girl standing tall at 5'9. His face paled from fear as he backed up into the wall, a few miscellaneous items clattering onto the dirty ground.
"I'll have it for you tomorrow morning! Here at 7:00 I promise.", his voice whimpered pathetically. "You better.", she barked before stalking off into the shadows.

Hustling cocaine was a dangerous life, especially for a 16 year old girl . Stevie had learned how to quickly navigate the twisted world of dealing on her own though. Stealing coke when she could, buying it off of men she could seduce into giving it to her for free, and the rest is explanatory. She smirked taking a bag out of her jacket when she entered her shady motel room . "Sucker.", she sneered . Her jacket fell to the floor before she placed a small pile from the bag on the desk near her bed with satisfaction. She grabbed her handy straw before sniffing hard, the drug rushing up her nostril. She didn't cough, used to the burn that came with inhaling quickly . It didn't take long for the drug to take affect. Her dopamine levels shot sky high, causing her to laugh for no particular reason . The radio playing music was amplified in her head , causing her to scream the lyrics loudly , unaware of her volume levels . She danced with no care , rather looking like those silly men that car washes will have that wiggle everywhere.

Her fun didn't last long however , as strange visions came about her . The music video on her TV began to emerge it seemed , coming closer to her face . "What the fuck?!", she yelled loudly . Her feet stumbled  unsteadily as she tried to understand what was happening . The patterns on her bed morphed into a demonic face laughing at her in a threatening tone. "AGHH!" Stevie grabbed a nearby beer bottle and threw it at where the face was . It merely appeared to bounce off before louder laughter emerged as the flowery demon got closer. "GO AWAY!", she yelled , stumbling into her bathroom and slamming the door . Her hand reached for where her handgun was in the bathroom cubby. There were sinister voices that seemed to occupy the space as well. "Stupid..." "Why do you act like boy?!" "Why can't you do as you're told?!" This all sounded strangely like her mom...who was dead . "Ma?!", she yelled in surprise before slipping , her head banging on the counter . She lost consciousness, falling to the floor , gun in her hand still.