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Chapter 9: April Showers And Storms

"A few weeks later," Mark said, continuing Maureen's story, "we noticed April was, different somehow. I mean, we were all happy she was getting out of her apartment and living her life again, but it was different than before."

Maureen nodded, "We were all worried about her. None of us knew where she was sometimes. Then, one day I went to see if she was at her apartment…..


Maureen knocked three times on the door.

"April? April come on, open up," she called, but got no answer. Then she remembered where April hid her spare key, above the door frame. She reached up, grabbed it, and opened the door.

"April? Where are you?" Maureen said in a sing-song voice. She looked around the main room of the apartment, no sign of her. Maureen began to search the apartment.

When she entered the bedroom she couldn't believe what she saw.

April, sitting on her bed, with a belt around her upper arm, ready to inject her self with the contents of a small needle.

"APRIL WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?!?!" Maureen shouted.

April jumped, obviously not knowing Maureen had even entered the apartment. She put the needle on her night stand and took the belt off her arm and ran after Maureen, who had stormed out of her bedroom.

"Maureen, just let me explain, I-," April pleaded, but Maureen cut her off.

"Explain? Explain? Ok, April, I'll just 'let you explain' why you were about to shoot up. I'll 'let you explain' why you're doing this when you know it will screw up your life. I'll 'let you explain' why you think this is the only way to turn to escape your problems."

Maureen was now fuming; she couldn't believe that her best friend was turning to drugs to fix her problems.

"I can't help it Maureen! Can't you at least try to see what I'm going through? I mean my sister died for crying out loud! I have no where else to go, no one to turn to that knows what I'm going through!" April cried.

"Just because we don't know what you're going through doesn't mean we're not here for you. Especially Roger. What do you think he's gonna do when he finds out about this?" Maureen said, lowering her voice a little.

"He'll probably say the same things to me that you are right now! He'll leave me and I'll be all alone!" April yelled.

"Well," Maureen couldn't help but still feel sorry for her, she was still her best friend. "I won't tell him, but only if you promise me you will stop using that shit."

"I'll try," Maureen glared at her. "I promise."


"The thing is," Maureen continued. "She broke her promise, she kept using heroin. She was addicted."

A week later, everyone, including Collins, who was already off for Thanksgiving, was in the loft for a "Halloween party," which basically meant they were all going to get drunk.

"Are there any Halloween songs?" Maureen piped up, taking a sip from her beer bottle.

"What?" the rest of the group chorused, each of them giving her a confused look.

"You haven't ever wondered? I mean, Christmas, New Year's, Hanukah, and birthdays have songs, so why can't Halloween?" Maureen asked.

"Good point," April said from her spot next to Roger.

"I'll write one!" Everyone laughed.

"Good luck with that!" Collins said, while taking a very long drink of his precious Stoli vodka.

April then excused herself to go to the bathroom.

In the next twenty minutes, Maureen had written her Halloween song, Mark had gone through his second beer, and Collins had drank nearly half his Stoli.

But April was still in the bathroom.

Roger got up from his seat and knocked on the door.

"April, are you ok in there?"

No answer.

"April, open the door now!"