The Ones Called Family

By Framed in Fire

Warnings: Attempted suicide mentions, drug use mentions, sexual mentions, and mentions of peer pressure and alcohol.

Fun Fact About This Story: I live in St. Louis, so I have access to the Kirkwood Public Library, which happens to own a copy of the Speedy drug comic. I read it, and it was fantastic! But, I don't want to copy them, so this will have some snips and pieces of their original story, but it is mostly my own words in writing, minus the subject I'm writing about. Thanks! Fire.

Summery: They say everybody has a story that will break your heart. Mine almost ended up breaking me. -- Speedy, member of the Titans East.

I don't really remember exactly when it started happening.

I mean, I know it was a little after Ollie started dating Dinah Lance, but I couldn't give you an exact date- things didn't just happen overnight. It all starts to take place as time goes on.

But I can tell you that what I remember is that Ollie started leaving me alone longer and longer- it went from being only a few hours to being a few days, and pretty soon he was missing for weeks at a time. And he didn't treat me like a kid, which I loved at first- I could party, drink, smoke, have sex, and eat whatever I wanted, and I never had to worry about him. For a while, like I said, being treated like an adult was a ton of fun.

And then, I began to get lonely. I couldn't handle him being gone all the time. It didn't matter how much freedom he gave me- I was still a kid and he needed to treat me like one. But he never seemed to grasp that. At fifteen, I should be able to make my own choices, he said, but I cant fully blame him… Dick was fifteen, and he could take care of himself. On the other hand, though, he had to fight the Bat to be able to leave Gotham and form the Titans- I was an original member. There was me, I was Speedy, and then there was Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad… and last, but never least, her.

Wonder Girl.

Her real name was Donna Troy, but she was Wonder Woman's sister, so we called her Wonder Girl, and that's the codename she used. For a while, we dated, and it as like I was in heaven. I should have known it wouldn't last.

While Ollie was ditching me in favor of his girlfriend Dinah, as least I could go to the Titans for company. And then I couldn't, because we ended up disbanding, and Wonder Girl dumped me.

For some reason, we stopped working well together, and there were family troubles for everybody to attend to- they managed to fix theirs and re-connect with their mentors and parents, they ended up going on with their life, and I spent my days wishing I could be them. Wishing Ollie was more like Kid Flash's uncle Barry, loving and caring, instead of stubborn and misunderstanding like he was. I practiced what I would say to him over and over in my head, but every time I got close to saying them, Dinah, or his best friend Hal, would interrupt the moment. I grew to hate Hal and Dinah, even though it wasn't their fault.

Eventually things went so downhill that I did one thing I regret most in my lifetime: I got hooked on drugs.

Heroin, to be exact.

I can say exactly when I was approached by the man. I was sitting on the bench in the park, thinking about the place I grew up, Arizona. I had been wondering why Ollie had never taken me back since he had adopted me. Too busy, is what he'd probably say.

I was so lost in my thoughts I didn't know he was even there until he was standing directly in front of me. Scared the hell outta me when he asked me, since Id thought everyone had gone home, probably asleep by then.

"You here to buy?" I couldn't grasp what he meant at first- I never thought it'd happen to me. "Buy what?" I asked him stupidly. The man snorted. "Don't play dumb. Are you buying or not?" By that point, I had figured it out.

I was being offered heroin, the things Green Arrow and Speedy fight against the hardest.

I know what I should have done. I should have said no, I should have told somebody, I should have walked away.

But I didn't. I wish I did, but I didn't. Instead I took out my money, and seeing I still had at least twenty on me, three weeks of odd jobs, raking leaves and mowing lawns, and I used it.

"Yeah." I said slowly. "Yeah, I am. I'm here to buy."

That's how it really got started.

Heroin became my life. There was nothing else, just the drugs. The numb feeling I got every time I injected the needle into what became familiar track marks, I swear, it was like I was floating. For three years, Ollie and I grew more and more apart. And as the lows got worse, I craved the highs even more.

It went on that way for three fucking years, and Ollie never figured it out.

And when he did, it was a complete accident.

I was doing what I usually did to get the heroin ready- you have to cut it so it wont kill you, but it usually does at one point. I was lucky though.

So, I was there mixing it up in my room, and I heard him walk up behind me. He was home early that day.

"Hey, kid." That's what he always called me. Like he was calling his dog or something. "Hey, kid, fetch!"

Ha ha. See me pretend to laugh.

Walking in… God, it was scary- so bad I almost shitted myself.

He looked at me, and practically screamed. I would have laughed, though, if I wasn't so scared. The first thing he yelled out was: "Egad!"

What a nerd.

"You're a goddamned no-good junkie!" And he punched me. Hard, right across my face. He yelled at me to get out of his house, and I did. But I haven't spoke to him since. Just Dinah and Hal, since they were the people who took me in and helped me through the worst of withdrawal.

The next time I did see Ollie, I didn't speak to him- I mean, that's what I said. But you probably thought I meant seen him. No, I've seen him a ton since, with the Titans and Justice League are forced to mingle on a case, but never have I spoken to him.

Your probably wondering, what happened after that? But all I can say is: Thank God for Dick Grayson and Karen Beecher. Especially Karen. That's a story for another day, though… and you'll have to wait.

Please review. Its been a few weeks, and this is a new acount (see my profile for details on the guess who I am contest) so I used my fav character, Speedy, who the cartoon mislead many to belive to be a Robin clone, when he is NOT, to warm myself up.

THANKS AND REVIEW!

Fire