A Life Not Realized

Prologue

-2001-New York City-

Jess Mariano, age seventeen, walked into his mother's apartment in the slums of the city. He was swaying, dangerously so as the door shut behind him. The apartment was small, not even suitable for the four human beings that lived there. Only two bedrooms, a kitchen and bathroom could not hold all of them for long but because of the lack of income coming from the residents, it's all they could do.

Jess' mother, Liz Danes, was in the corner with her head hung in shame as she took in Jess' appearance. His eyes were blood shot and the dark circles that resembled sleep deprivation were practically radiating off his face. His nose was covered in bloody residue after he had probably had another nosebleed, not an uncommon occurrence for the teen.

"How could you?" The almost silent cry over on the couch not two feet from him could be heard. A girl with light brown hair and tears streaming down her face stared at him. Her anguish at what he was doing could hurt everything she had worked to do for all of their benefits. She had a job and she gave him little money for things that they would need around the apartment but he always came home empty handed and looking as if he was high as a kite. "I gave you that money for some formula and what do you do? You hock it all to some dealer for what one dose? God can't you think about anything besides the drugs, like oh I don't know, YOUR DAUGHTER!"

The small baby the woman was holding wailed as her mother's voice raised. Her small hands shook in fury and beat on her mother's chest at the cruelty of waking from her slumber. Her big brown eyes, so like her father has, were shedding tiny beads of water as the sobbing got louder and louder. Her pink hand me down jumper was getting more wet by the moment and surely the minute someone tried to calm her she would wet her diaper.

"Kat I got the…um what's wrong Jenny?" he said toddling over to the infant with curiosity as the drugs began to wear down in his system. He had most likely taken a snort because he would not down fall this fast if it had been via the crack pipe.

She pulled Jenny away from him just as he was about to caress her chubby cheeks to calm her down. "Don't you dare touch her! You promised me when you found out that you would stop. Promised! Does that word even register in your drugged up mind. I told you that she needed stability, nothing flashy but at least a decent family that would love her and try to provide for her." Kat was angry as she handed Jenny off to Liz, who had started crying, looking at what her son had become, and she blamed herself.

"Kat stop, what are you doing?" He asked as he witnessed her pulling out a suitcase and Jenny's diaper bag filling them to the rim with everything imaginable she and Jenny would need.

"What does it look like Mariano? I am packing, something I should have done a long time ago. You may not want to change your life for Jenny but I sure as hell do. I got my act together for our daughter, and you just keep going on like you did before. I'm taking Jenny, somewhere you will NEVER find us. If you ever straighten up your act I'll find out and I'll make sure you can see her but until then just go on your way throwing your life out the window!" Kat closed her eyes to regain her composure. She went over and grabbed Jenny from Liz, giving her a hug and a hidden piece of paper as she did so, and left, never to darken the streets of New York again.

Jess stared after her, eyes welling up as he realized what his chosen lifestyle had cost him. He looked at the wallet-sized picture of Jenny, Kat and him, back when he was able to control his addiction. The tears fell freely as his mother made her way over to him and held him in her arms as he cried. "Mom, Mom, I need to stop this I can't, I just can't do this anymore. Kat's right I need to get out of this, Please help me." He begged and he felt his mother nod. Less then a week later Jess was in a rehab center thanks to some money Liz had conned out of Jess' father Jimmy and Jess was on the road to recovery.

A/N
All right, so here it is. I got bored in my Health class when we were going over drug information and started writing. I have more and I am just figuring out how to set it up so that people will like it. If you guys want to see more of what happens with Jess, Kat, and Jenny please review. I'm on a little amount of time at the moment though so if I don't update for awhile don't be angry. I am graduating soon and I am being bombarded with work but I will do the best to my ability to keep anyone who actually reads this happy.