Death, Sex and the Girl Next Door

Nineteen19

     "Moms not doing well, I won't b able 2 c u 2day L"

Aleks was still rubbing the sleep out of his when he read the message from Jessica Sunday morning. It was clear to him that even though Taylor was out of the picture Jessica was not going to have a lot of time for him as long as her mother was in the condition she was in. Fuck he muttered out loud while still lying in his bed. He put the phone down on the night stand and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes. Eventually he dragged himself out of bed and into the shower. Aleks had hoped that he and Jessica would be able to spend the afternoon together but that wasn't going to happen now. When he was finished his shower he picked up his phone and sent her a short reply.

" :-( "

Aleks threw on a t shirt and some pants before making his way down to the kitchen where he poured himself a coffee. He was halfway through his first cup when his aunt came in and joined him.

"Good morning," she offered as she too made herself a cup of coffee and sat down at the kitchen table across from Aleks.

"Good morning. You're up early." He replied.

"I know, I couldn't sleep. You're up kind of early yourself. What are you up to today?"

"I was hoping to hang out with Jess but she's staying in with her mother, apparently she's not doing well."

"It's a lot to deal with, I'm not sure anyone could go through what they're going through and not be profoundly changed. You know what it's like to lose family Aleks. So do I, it's not easy. Everyone deals with grief in their own way." Aleks looked up at his aunt and silently nodded his head. He wasn't sure if she was referring to him losing his parents or her losing her brother.

"You barely knew my dad though; it's different when you lose someone who's really close to you."

"Didn't your dad ever tell you about what happened to our mother and father, your grandparents?"

"No. All I remember him telling me is that Grandma and Grandpa emigrated from Russia to the United States in the early 80's, 1980 I think. Eventually they settled in Indiana. In 1987 there was a fire and everyone died except for my father. He told me everything was lost in the fire, pictures, family mementos, everything. He never mentioned you and he never talked about what happened after the fire, only that he was adopted after spending some time in foster care."

"That's all true, there was a fire and your father did end up in foster care. We both did, but your dad, my brother, was adopted after a few months while I wasn't quite so fortunate. I spent 4 years going from foster home to foster home until I was old enough to get out. And there was more to it than just a fire Aleks." Katy was about to tell Aleks more but they were interrupted by her phone buzzing. She picked it up and checked her messages. "It's the hospital Aleks, I have to go."

"Hold on a sec, what did you mean there was more to it than just a fire?" His aunt though was already on her way out of the kitchen to change and head to the hospital.

"Somethings are better left in the past Aleks, we've both moved past those memories, maybe we should just leave them be."

"No, no I don't think so Aunt Katy. I want to know." Aleks demanded.

Katy paused and stared at Aleks as she contemplated telling him. He phone buzzed again and snapped her back into reality. "Later Aleks, not now; I have to go." She turned to leave but stopped again briefly. "Say hello to Jessica for me Aleks, and let her know that I'm here if she needs anything." and then she was gone.

Aleks spent the rest of the morning pondering the details his aunt had shared over their morning coffee. There was apparently more to his grandparent's death than his father had told him but then again he was only 12 when his parents died, perhaps his father was trying to protect him. He assured himself that his father would have told him the complete story when he was older if he hadn't of died so suddenly.

Aleks pushed those thoughts out of his mind and instead decided to read up on the prescription drugs that Mrs. Andrews was taking. It turns out that the dosage could easily be fatal if it's too strong or mixed with alcohol, and Aleks knew that Mrs. Andrews did like her vodka. He remembered how sometimes Mr Andrews would appear to be annoyed with how much she was drinking when he had been over visiting at their house. Jessica never addressed it with him but he could tell she was uncomfortable with the subject whenever it came up.

For the most part, Jessica had been paying a lot more attention to Aleks since her fight and friendship break up with Taylor. Aleks wasn't really that serious about arranging for a mix up with her medication but he was curious about the drug that Jessica had shown him the night before in the car.

It was called fluoxetine, and when he googled ithe was surprised to learn just how common a drug it was in the United States.Apparently 13% of Americans were on some kind of anti-depressant and 40,000 peopleover-dosed every year. Aleks knew that if he was looking for a way to create anaccidental death for Mrs. Andrews, a drug over-dose would be easy peasy.