Restricted Territory

Prologue

"Come on. I just need one hit to make it through."

My teeth chatter as the cold blast of wind hits me, seeping through my thin black hoodie. I send him a pleading gaze as I wrap my arms around myself and shift my weight from one foot to the other.

"That's what ya said the other night." He motions me away and starts to count the thick wad of bills in his hand. "Get lost."

"Please, man."

He groans. "You know my boss already has the juice running on you. Said he was gonna make a stop at your place soon."

I suck in a breath. I know what that means, and what it could mean for Ava, but I can't focus on that.

The only thing that matters is getting that hit. I only need one, so I can get my head together. Then I'll be able to deal with the situation at hand. He needs to understand.

"I can't put any scratch together when I feel like this."

He stares at me for a long moment, surveying me with his dark brown eyes. He thinks I'm pathetic. I pulled this act on him a few days ago, and when he gave me a break I did whatever I could to keep my head together but I've reached my limit. I need the drugs before something really bad happens to me.

"This is the last time." He reaches into his jacket and pulls out a hit of Heroin, slapping it into my hand with disgust. "Now get outta here."

I don't look back, just run. Run and run as fast as I can back home, to my shit trailer. I throw open the door, glance at my seven-year-old daughter quickly as I throw myself on the mattress. She's fast asleep, one arm touching the ground, the other wrapped around her beloved doll. It's ratty, falling apart, just like her clothes and the rest of this place.

She deserves better but the drugs prevail.

I focus on heating my drugs with the lighter on their usual spoon and fill my syringe with the precious liquid, immediately plunging the tip of it into the vein. My eyes close as I feel the drugs pumping into my bloodstream, working their magic. It's the most comfortable I've felt in a week.

Everything is going to be fine now.

Just fine.

BAM BAM BAM.

I barely acknowledge the banging, blow it off as the wind, and nothing more.

"Daddy?"

"It's fine, baby. Just the wind, go back to sleep." I stroke her hair softly. My eyes close as the drugs begin to take over. They relax me, and I know that soon I'll be lying on my back, slipping into that world where I have no problems or concerns at all.

"Police! Open the door!"

I don't respond. It's much too late for that. I've slipped away, despite my daughter's frightened cries for me to wake up. It's like I'm dreaming, floating.

Everything is fine.

Ava screams. Then the hands grab me roughly, forcing me to my feet. A harsh voice blares in my ear, asking me my name and where the rest of my drugs are.

"DADDY DON'T LET THEM TAKE ME!"

I force myself to get it together. The magical world the drugs created suddenly melts away and I'm slapped with reality. There are police officers everywhere, scouring my tiny trailer. One is behind me, slapping me in handcuffs, reading me my rights.

I've been through this before.

But not with Ava.

I frantically scan the apartment for her, only spotting her when it's too late. She's in another officer's arms, being carried out the door.

Out of my life.

"Ava!"

I'm shoved forward, out the door, back into the bitter cold of the night.

It's only then I realize that she's gone.

As I'm pushed into the back of the squad car, the panic surges in my gut.

I have no clue how I'm supposed to get her back.