AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My body ached as I trudged up the stairs, desperate to use the bathroom as the drive to see Ali was across the other side of the city, and I’d made the mistake of visiting during peak time when everyone was heading home from work.
My phone started ringing just as I was finishing up and fighting to get my jeans up over my ass. I swear it had grown a size since Calli and I moved to Detroit, and I blamed it on Sunday lunch.
It was like having Thanksgiving once a damn week.
When I finally got them buttoned up, I grabbed my purse, and instead of wasting time digging through it for my cell phone, I upended it on the counter between the two sinks.
My cell and several things bounced out and onto the bathroom floor.
A lipstick. A packet of gum. A random pair of tweezers and a couple of tampons.
But it was what landed on the countertop that had my heart stopping.
A tiny packet. With four tiny pills inside.
“How…”
Jason released a dramatic sigh, turned, and went back to the sitting area, returning with my purse in his hands. “Well, you know where I am now if you ever need any help.”
Jesus Christ.
He put them in my bag.
My phone started ringing again, vibrating across the floor while light, ballet-type music echoed off every wall.
It was Bishop.
I didn’t need to look to know that much.
Anyone else would have given up by now and just texted me.
Not him. He never gave up on me.
But at that moment, a lack of sleep had me close to giving up on myself.
The few hours I was getting were enough to keep me from completely shutting down, but not enough to be positive I wasn’t walking through a dream, reality beginning to feel like an out-of-body experience.
Bishop had noticed too.
I was jumping at loud sounds, tripping over my feet, and falling asleep on any flat surface I sat at for more than ten minutes. What he didn’t see was how I lay frozen in bed at night while the darkness and silence played tricks on my mind.
I knew it wasn’t real, but it was like my body transformed into concrete the moment the sun went down. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t get up.
Not until the sunlight peeked through the curtains, illuminating the shadows and freeing me from my prison.
I’d had the odd night like that in the previous few years, often when I was feeling stressed or overwhelmed, but I was usually back to myself by the following night.
But it’d never been this bad.
Not in ten years.
I knew because when I glanced back at the little packet of pills on the counter, it wasn’t memories of pain and nights spent vomiting while I went through withdrawals that came to mind.
No.
It was the relief. I could practically feel it already. I knew how long it would take for them to kick in.
I knew the pure bliss I’d feel the moment those chemicals hit my bloodstream. It would stop my hands from shaking. It would get rid of the headache that had become constant and unrelenting.
