I walked into the tall, brown house without knocking.
"Aye, Matt! You here?" I called out, closing the front door.
I heard the sound of footsteps rushing down the stairs. I walked around to them and stood at the foot of the steps. Halfway down the stairs stood a stoned Matt.
"You should've been here last night dude," he started, "the party was epic." his voice lowering.
I chuckled at him. The wobbling, redhead in front of me was my best friend. I've known him since we were in diapers. Did everything with him. First smoke. First line. He was my younger brother.
"Let me guess, you banged the daylight out of Miranda, and she's still sleeping upstairs." I pointed to the door at the top of the steps.
His face turned a shade of red, similar to his hair color. I laughed harder at his shame. The door opened, and at the top of the steps stood a naked, tired, purple haired girl.
"Miranda!" I yelled, covering my eyes, "Go put on some clothes!"
She screamed and fell down the steps hitting Matt's legs, causing him to fall.
"Uh, Adam if you could excuse us." Matt stuttered.
"Only if you give me some." I stuck my hand out toward him.
He groaned and pulled a small bag of marijuana that could last me days. I smiled brightly at him, and walked away from them and to the door.
"Use protection kids!" I yelled from the door, shutting it quickly. I heard a string of curses come from his mouth.
I turned and walked down the sidewalk, back towards the shitty apartments I'd called home for the past year. I pulled out my keys with the small, green turtle keychain. I laughed at the memories I recalled as I unlocked the door to the clean apartment. Even though it may seem as I was a dirty person, I had pretty bad ocd tendencies.
I grabbed the clear, glass ashtray from my kitchen and sat down on the brown couch. I pulled out the plastic bag of weed and rolled a blunt. Feeling my phone vibrate in my pocket, I set the blunt in the ashtray. I pulled my phone from my hoodie pocket and glanced at it. Missed call from unknown number. I stared at my phone strangely and called back, suspicious to who the number belongs to.
"Hello. Am I speaking to a Mr. Adam Forman?" a small, calm voice asked on the other end of the line. I nodded my head, but remembered that i was on the phone. "Oh, yes this is Adam?" I groaned internally as it came out more of a question than a statement. "Well Mr. Forman, we are going to need you to come down to the Social Security building to take your daughter home." A chill ran up my spine as I heard the word the daughter. "D-Daughter?" I stuttered out, clenching my fists. She laughed as if it were a joke, "Well of course. She needs to be in a parent's custody or she will be put into foster care." her voice turning stern at the end. "Okay. Thank you. I will be there shortly." I hung up the phone and grabbed my keys. I stubbed out the weed I didn't get to finish. Locking the door i walked to my car, starting it and pulling out of the parking lot.
As soon as I got to the tall, grey, sophisticated building, my heart started to feel heavier. I sat in my green 2001 Honda. I sluggishly got out of the car and made my way towards the glass doors, that looked too clean to be real. I walked to the receptionist telling her my name. she smiled, "You must be here for the little girl." She walked me down a hall of doors, stopping at one that had stars painted on it and had kids written in foam letters at the top of it. She opened it and let me step inside closing the door behind me. I looked at the center of the room, where a girl with long, brown curls sat. An older woman, around my age, sat in front of her holding a barbie. I cleared my throat, catching the attention of both of them. She ran up to me hugging my legs. I lifted her thin body up as she The little girl's eyes pricked with tears and her bottom lip quivered. "Daddy?" she let out the most heart-breaking sob. cried. The woman walked over to us, patting the little girls back.
"Hi, I'm Jenna. I was Tiffany's friend." she started, "and this is Amelia." she gestured toward the girl. The small child looked up at me and put her hands on my face. Once i got a good look at her there was no way she wasn't mine. Her soft, blue eyes, that were tinted red from crying, scarily resembled my own. I smiled at her as she squished my face. "Hi, I'm Mia. Am I going home?" she stitched together the words, as if she was speaking a foreign language. I looked over at Jenna, whos smile dropped at "home". "Where is Tiffany?" I asked her. "Died. Heroin overdose." her eyes never left the ground. Tears threatened to spill from my own eyes. "Mia, do you want to go home with me?" I asked unsurely. She giggled at me, "Of course silly." She squirmed in my grip and I set her down on the ground. She tugged on my sweatpants. "C'mon daddy. Lets go home!"
I lifted her up setting her on my hip. "Wait, Adam. Take this." she handed me a small card with her number and where she worked. I nodded my head and walked out of the room. "Bye Auntie Jen!" Mia called out waving to her. We walked to the car and i put her in the backseat. "How old are you Mia?" I asked her while buckling her in. "5." she replied quickly. "And what kind of music do you like Mia?" I asked as I got into my own seat. Her face brightened, "Oli Sykes!" she clapped her small hands together. I smiled at her in the rearview mirror. "Bring Me The Horizon, huh? Your mother raised you well." I turned on the music and we sang together. Well, never thought this would happen.
