Addiction ran in her family. Her mother was an addict. Her uncle was a gambler. Her grandparents were alcoholics. The Lee's were American trash.
Ray Lee was a corrupt lawyer, who despite his gambling problem, was able to hold down a steady career and was far sharper than one might expect.
Ray didn't give a damn about most people, apathetic to the suffering of humanity but he did care about a few, chosen loved ones, his miserable, elderly parents and his sister, Robin and niece, Joanna to be exact.
The Lee's were mostly living off the government, poor and dependent. Robin and Joanna lived in the projects in a seedy part of town infested with drug abuse, and the crime associated with it.
So, when Ray won three bets on three, obscure horses, in one afternoon, it appeared as a miraculous blessing to the broken family. Ray gave a portion of the earnings to Robin and Jo. He was aware of his sister's drug problem and knew she would waste it irresponsibly, so he gifted his niece with significantly more money than his little sister, knowing that she would spend it wisely. Joanna had been born old, aging in reverse. She had played the parental role, taking care of her mother for as long as she could remember.
'If you're free and got nothing else better to do, you ought to come with me and check this kid out. He's a real freak, sort of reminds me of you.' Suggested Ray, fondly teasing his niece, who was like the daughter he never desired.
'Yeah, sure.' Jo agreed, intending to thank the man for herself, in person, for the blessing. The money could not have come into her life at a more opportune moment, as she had just received an eviction notice on the door the day prior.
They drove across town and engaged one another in idle, small talk whenever the silence in the air became too unbearable.
Hazel eyes peered out the window, absently observing the autumn atmosphere, warped by the progression of the vehicle. Suddenly they veered a sharp left, across a lane of oncoming traffic, in the midst of the chaos downtown, and pulled up right along the curbside with a violent jerk.
Joanna braced herself at the stop and narrowed her eyes at the driver to convey her disapproval of his reckless driving. Ray hardly seemed to notice as he eagerly rolled down his window and whistled loudly as if summoning a stray dog with a bone.
'Hey, Pearson, is that you?' He hollered, craning his neck out to get a better look of the burly blond with a mane of long, greasy hair. Joanna instantly recognized the young man and frowned, her expression uninviting.
'Shit, Ray.' She cursed beneath her breath, leaning her head back against the seat in aggravation. It was her mother's dealer, she realized.
Pearson shoved his hands in the depths of the pockets of his military-style jacket and approached the idling vehicle hesitantly, looking uneasy and paranoid.
'What do you want?' He greeted his attorney harshly, eyes darting around in suspicion, scanning the street before landing on the pair of them. He briefly assessed the girl's appearance before he peered back over at Ray as he spoke first.
'I wanted to introduce you to my family, you really helped us out, man. This is my daughter, Jo.' He shamelessly lied to him, manipulating the junkie by appealing to his sensitive nature. Junkie's were too fragile to function in the real world, too soft.
Joanna flashed her uncle a piercing look of scolding, which he ignored before she gazed back at the dealer
'Hey.' She offered curtly, choosing not to address the fib.
'Hello.' He replied flatly with disinterest.
'Great, fantastic.' Hummed Ray. 'Now that we've all met each other, I was hoping I could maybe get another bet off you?' He inquired, a pleading edge in his tone, conveying the gambler's desperation.
'I can't do that. I'm sorry.' Declined the deadbeat.
'Come on,' Ray pressed, pulling out a small parcel from the glove box. 'I come bearing gifts, just a little something something to hold you over, a little taste.'
'He doesn't need that.' Joanna couldn't help herself from interjecting.
Both men peered over at her as she spoke and she looked Pearson in the eye.
'He's a junkie dealer.' She pointed out coldly, despising his criminal profession. She blamed scum like him, in part, for the drug epidemic sweeping the nation.
'Formerly.' Pearson easily corrected her, not appearing in the least bit offended by her remark. 'I don't sell drugs anymore, and I'm working hard to quit.'
'Congratulations.' Said the brunette dryly.
'She means it, we're both happy for you, happy to hear it.' Ray smoothed over her lack of social grace.
'Not sure I believe that.' Mused the blond lightly with a shrug.
'Come with us, we'll buy you some supper.' The attorney suggested kindly. 'Joanna, get out and let Philip sit up front with me, we got a lot of things to chat about.' He told her hastily.
Five minutes later and the trio pulled into a parking space outside of a local Italian restaurant with outdated decor. Jo followed behind them, seething with irritation and hardly spoke a word as they bumbled. She observed the exchange, watching Ray chat animatedly with his client, behaving extra friendly and putting on a show in the hopes of getting what he wanted, another gambling tip.
Joanna slid into the ruby booth, the upholstering torn, followed unexpectedly, by the dealer, while Ray took his place across the table from them like a guardian watching over two unruly children.
Joanna bristled as his arm brushed against hers when they removed their jackets and hung them on the brass hooks nearby.
'Sorry.' He muttered, to which she ignored him and unfolded the menu to decipher. He watched her behavior closely before doing the same.
'What do you guys normally get?' Philip wondered, eyeing them both with intrigue.
'I recommend the pizza, get the thick crust, it's better.' Ray suggested.
'What about you, Joanna?' He asked her quietly, recalling her name and using it in an effort to persuade her to warm up to him since she wasn't making an effort to mask her hostility towards his host body.
The brunette brushed back her windswept, wavy hair behind her ear and looked over at him, softening ever so slightly in her prickly demeanor.
'I'm going to get a steak salad.' She informed him calmly.
'Is that vegan?' He wondered, arching a sandy brow as he studied his own menu, trying to find it.
'Yeah, it's steak, so it's definitely vegan.' She jested sarcastically with a haughty smirk, unable to help herself from warming up to him a little. She couldn't resist any appeal to her humor, no matter how resolute her anger.
'Fantastic.' He decided, closing shut his menu and folding his hands atop the table with finality, looking relaxed.
He was rather strange, Joanna decided, examining him closely while remembering her uncle's former labeling of him as a 'freak'.
'We wanted to thank you personally, you have no idea just how much those bets helped us out of a really tough spot.' Began Ray sincerely, putting on his charm.
'How did that money help you out exactly?' Pearson questioned brashly.
Ray stammered, looking caught off guard by his forwardness as he formulated a lie in his head while his niece intervened and offered up the truth.
'My mom and I were facing eviction. That money helped us keep our home.' Said Jo evenly.
'That's terrible.' Pearson decided, appearing genuinely empathetic to her unfavorable situation.
'Not as terrible as you feeding my mother prescription drugs at every opportunity.' She pointed out bluntly.
'I'm terribly sorry. I wasn't a good person, but I'm tying hard to clean myself up and do better. I've changed.' Offered the junkie sincerely.
'That's good.' Replied Jo shortly with a curt nod before she looked away from him and played with a packet of sugar, twiddling it between her fingers absent-mindedly as she willed herself to calm down and remain civil.
They ate their meal and paid in an uncomfortable silence, despite Ray's valiant efforts to keep them both talking and lighten up the mood between them.
Philip scribbled down something on the back of the receipt and offered it to his attorney as they got up to go.
'Here's a couple more bets over the course of the week. Use the money to help your wife and daughter have a better life.' He pulled Ray aside to instruct him privately, so that Joanna did not overhear them.
'Right, I certainly will do.' Agreed Ray slyly, intending only to give them a small cut of the change and gamble away the rest of it in the foolish aspiration of making a bigger fortune.
'Thank you for dinner and for your company.' Said Pearson earnestly as they dropped him off downtown where they had found him.
Joanna battled with conflicting emotions, the urge to chase after him and ensure that he was alright and had a place to stay for the night and the urge to do nothing and let him to rot like the piece of garbage that he was, it wasn't her problem.
'Wait!' She out called after him just as Ray was about to drive off. She opened the door and briskly jogged to catch up beside him. He turned to look at her, curious and taken aback by her urgency.
'Do you have anywhere to go?' She checked in with him.
'No, not yet.' He replied honestly.
'Well, if you need a place to stay you could crash at my place tonight, I guess.' The humanitarian offered, trusting her intuition which urged her to do the kind thing.
'That would actually be really appreciated. Thank you.' He told her gratefully, following her back into the idle vehicle.
Ray dropped off the pair at home. Philip's suspicion rose when he realized that Ray wasn't coming inside with them and he questioned him about it.
'I'm going out to the bar with the boys tonight, don't wait up for me, kids.' He lied easily, waving goodbye and driving off into the bitter, cold night.
Joanna led the way along the narrow, cement pathways between rectangular, unwelcoming complexes where multiple families lived, divided by thin walls.
'This is where you live?' Philip clarified, gazing around in awe. It reminded him in some ways of the shelter which he came from in the future in its uniformity.
'Yeah, you've been here before?' Jo arched a dark brow in suspicion, analyzing his behavior closely. The intensity of her gaze caused him to shift in discomfort. He felt as if she was capable of reading his thoughts and seeing straight through into his consciousness.
'Right, I was high before.' He covered up his tracks, attempting to sound casual.
'Oh, right.' She realized, looking sheepish before she fetched her keys and unlocked the door.
In the kitchen a woman was sprawled upon the floor unconscious, next to spilled bowl of cereal and milk.
Joanna cursed beneath her breath in irritation as she carefully stepped over the corpse-like obstacle and carried on into the living room as if there were nothing unusual about it, as if it were an area rug and not a living person.
'Is she going to be alright? It appears that she fell.' Observed Pearson with alarm.
'Don't mind her. She will come around by morning. She always does this.' His host waved her hand in a dismissive fashion before beckoning him to join her deeper in the apartment.
Philip felt conflicted but trusts the knowledge of his host and didn't want to appear rude by questioning her, so he cautiously stepped over the body and followed her inside.
She removed her coat and shoes and placed them in a cramped closet, offering to do the same with his belongings.
Then they sat together in the living room while she fetched her laptop computer and populated a website called 'Netflix', which housed an array of films and television shows.
'You can watch whatever you'd like. I'm going to go upstairs for a few.' She explained, departing temporarily from him and leaving him feeling totally perplexed and clueless as to where to begin on the primitive website.
Joanna gathered her pajamas and took with her a concealed container of mace for self-defense. She still didn't trust the sketchy dealer and was beginning to regret her generous decision now that the realization dawned upon her that she was alone with the thug.
She checked the lock on the door before running the shower and getting undressed. She washed herself hastily, not trusting him downstairs alone in her home, aware that one thing junkie's cannot resist is the urge to steal and leech off of others, from her own experience.
The cautious brunette found him right where she'd left him, watching a foreign film with subtitles which she found mildly intriguing but did not remark upon it.
She got them some drinks and made a large bowl of microwaveable popcorn.
'What's this?' Philip asked her, pointing at the corn kernels in full bloom between them.
'I made us some popcorn, for the movie.' She explained uneasily, casting him a strange look.
'Oh, right.' He mumbled, trying to appear ordinary.
He watched her take a handful of the bizarre food and toss it into her mouth to chew it before swallowing. Then he mirrored her and did the same, chewing slowly and relishing the combinations of salty and buttery flavors against his tongue. He decided that he liked this popcorn.
'It's good.' He remarked with delight.
Jo continued to watch him, her expression unreadable. She was far more alert than the other 21st centurions he had interacted with during his brief time here. Most people of this time were practically mindless zombies, consumed with greedy self-indulgence and severely narcissistic in nature. They were so absorbed with their individual, distinct realities that they had hardly the time to concern themselves with other people's business, unless it was provided to them on the convenience of a screen on a handheld device.
Philip examined the room in intervals as the dramatic film unfolded. There were bohemian tapestries hung haphazardly over the windows, decaying plants with dry, yellowing leaves that Philip had taken the time to water while his host was upstairs.
The only sources of light came from the cool-toned screen of the computer and the warm, amber glow of a wicker lamp in the corner of the narrow living space.
There were multiple ashtrays scattered about and most of the furniture was outdated and dingy.
There weren't any photographs displayed. Nothing to make the home more intimate. The energy of the apartment felt heavy and hopeless. The home stunk of cigarette smoke and stale air, adding to its lack of appeal. Still, it was far better than the overcrowded, suffocating shelter he was raised in, in total isolation. He wondered what it was like to have parents… and then the thought crossed his mind that perhaps the young woman beside him often wondered that too, since she appeared to have been raised in a similarly desolate environment.
'Do you watch a lot of foreign movies?' Inquired Joanna in an attempt to make pleasant conversation with her guest in order to appear polite.
'No.' Said Philip simply. There was a stagnant pause between them before he continued. 'What do you like to watch?' He wondered.
'Not much, actually. I've been so consumed by my writing lately that I haven't the time to binge out on Netflix anymore.' She revealed.
'What do you write?' He asked her.
'I'm an aspiring author. I've been working on a couple of plots for a few months now. Can't seem to stick with one long enough to see it through, unfortunately... I blame it on my moon sign.' She chuckled dryly, finding humor in her own shortcomings.
'That's amazing.' Philip told her, finding her quirky personality endearing. His expression was thoughtful. 'May I read one?'
Joanna bristled with discomfort at being put on the spot so suddenly. Her writing had always been kept private, she had never shared her work with anyone.
Insecurity washed over her and she looked sheepish.
'Definitely, if I ever find the time to finish one.' She offered him a raincheck.
'Come on, please. I'd really love to read it. I haven't read a book in a very long time.' He revealed, looking genuinely eager.
There was a moment of contemplation before a small smile tugged on her lips.
'Alright, if you're really into it. I'll let you check it out.' She succumbed to the pressure and pulled the laptop over to her, closing out the website and opening up a program on word processor. 'This is my latest pursuit.' She told him.
'It would be really awkward if I were to sit here and watch you read my most private thoughts, so I'm just going to go, upstairs, to bed.' She dismissed herself.
'Okay, good night.' Philip smiled softly at her, watching her go before his blue eyes flicked back down to the screen and he began to read the words she had written…
He soon became overcome with panic and excitement as the plot progressed. It was eerily similar to the fatalistic future he had left behind him, so similar in fact that he was certain that she must be a traveler like him, in disguise. There was simply no other logical explanation for the haunting coincidences.
Philip pressed the com button buried beneath the flesh of his neck and hissed quietly so that the traveler upstairs would not overhear him.
'Guys, pick up.' He called out to the group. 'Can anyone hear me?'