The room was grey with fifteen chairs in a circle, all facing the middle of it. In each of the chairs sat a human. Some looked like a million bucks; others looked as if they had slept in the gutters the night before. In addition to the depressed look on their faces due to the lack of alcohol, some of them had the shakes. I shouldn't even be here. I'm not an alcoholic or a druggie. This is so stupid, were the thoughts of the newest member, Sam Evans. Sam was only there due to a court order because he had hit a parked car while under the influence.
His posture straightened when the head of the group came in with the sponsors, wanting to make a good impression on them. "Welcome all. We would like to introduce our newest member of the group. If he would please stand up and make his presence known." Sam cleared his throat as he stood up, running a hand through his scruffy blonde hair. "I'm Sam and I'm here due to a court order."
"What'd you do?" "Why?" "How could you let a felon into the group, Joe?" were just a few of the questions that flew around the room. Some of the big shots stood up, yelling at the leader. The few that remained seated were pulling out their mobile phones, dialing numbers and asking their family members to come and pick them up. The people who were shaking just sat there and shivered, rubbing their arms to keep warm.
"Everyone, sit down!" The voice was not the leader's, but a sponsor. Sam turned to look at the owner of the voice. A blonde woman who was probably twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old. Sam couldn't deny the fact that she was extremely attractive. In fact, he had never met a woman as beautiful as she was. Joe's voice came through the room, "Please let Sam finish his story as to why the court ordered him to come."
Sam rubbed the nape of his neck and nodded, swallowing the lump that had formed in his throat. "About two weeks ago, I went out and partied with a few of my buddies from high school. I got drunk, but thought that I was sober enough to drive home. It turns out I wasn't and I didn't stop at a stoplight and crashed into a parked car. Nobody was in it, but the assistant district attorney managed to convince the judge that I was a threat to the public. I was ordered to come here because I had no criminal record. That's, uhm, all." He sat down in his seat and went back to analyzing people.
Their looks of anger, worry and resentment had all disappeared and looks of relief, guilt and sympathy had taken their place. A few of the members looked at him and nodded, expressing their nonverbal apologies for the way they had acted towards him. Joe nodded and looked to Sam before saying, "Thank you for sharing." The group then snapped after the thanks had been given. The blonde boy's brow arched as he looked at the group before Joe continued. "How many of you have had the urge to drink or do drugs this week?" Everyone's hands rose, including Sam's. "How many of you have acted on it?" Sam kept his hand up, looking down as some hands went down, leaving about six hands still in the air.
"Well, it seems as if you fell off of the bandwagon. But don't worry, your sponsors will make sure that you stay on this time around. Won't you, sponsors?" The sponsors all nodded in agreement while some let out verbal affirmations.
"Good," Joe continued before looking back to the recovering addicts. "Would anyone who didn't give in to the wants like to share what made them choose to not do it?"
A redheaded girl's arm shot up and Joe nodded in her direction. "I thought about my baby boy and what would happen if I got high. If something happened to him while I was shooting up, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself." The group snapped before another person's arm raised. His voice rang out as he said, "My girlfriend told me if I drank one more time, she'd leave for good. I won't lose Linda. I just won't." The groups' snaps rang through the air.
"It seems as if you both conquered a great demon in your life this week. You should be very proud of yourself." The group nodded and the people sitting next to them gave them a pat on the shoulder or smiled in their direction. "Now, what can you do to make sure you don't give in to your temptation?"
The group started up with answers. "You can read a book." "You can take a walk." "Drink something else that gives you the same effect." Joe nodded and held a finger up to the group and they quieted down. "Those are all good suggestions. But I would like to hear thoughts from our newest member. Sam, what could you do if you had the urge to drink?"
Sam looked down to his hands before looking up to the group and he looked up at the ceiling as he thought. "I could keep working on learning Na'vi." The group chuckled along with him, Joe smiling at them. "That's great thinking." Sam nodded and then looked at the clock on the wall.
"This week, I want you all to meet with your sponsors at least once. Tell them about any problems you might be having in your life and let them help you. Remember, they won't criticise your choices, but they will be disappointed if you give in to your addictions." With that, the group nodded before climbing up and shaking hands with the few people that didn't give in the past week.
Sam stood and shoved his hands in his pockets as he noticed the blonde sponsor walking over towards him. She let a huge smile come on her face as she approached him and extended her hand to him. "Hi. I'm Quinn. I'll be your sponsor."
Author's Note: I hope you liked it. I will be uploading more later this week. (:
