Hi there! Welcome back. I'm happy to return to this story.

I don't mean to sound desperate, but if you could review, I would very much appreciate it. It definitely keeps me motivated to write for this story-for any of my stories, for that matter. Of course, they are never expected, but it would help me turn my updating schedule around.

LET THE SKY FALL

They never tell you addicting drugs are.

I watched my old man die of alcoholism only two months after I got home. I felt nothing as I watched him be lowered into the ground, six feet of space between us, but it felt like so much more.

I was thankful for the Curtis family in those times. They got out of my house, away from my too-long grieving mother, and let me run into the night. We played football, cards, and Soda even got drunk once. It left him heaving into the toilet, but damn, was it a great night.

Lots of good nights with them. With my gang; with my family.

But it all came crashing down when I met Astrid.

A girl from the darkest parts of Georgia, Astrid was a looker. She had long brown hair that was pulled into a bun, combat boots that were too worn to even be tied, and dark eyeliner outlining her bright blue eyes.

She also was a drug dealer running from the fuzz. She started out as my dealer, getting me ecstasy, coke, LSD. You name it, and Astrid would try her damnedest to find it.

But then I found myself being pulled towards her in a different way. I found myself going to her house, a severely run-down apartment building, instead of the Curtis house. I found myself craving her money, her drugs, her being.

I only ever got shit-faced with drugs around her. She was my watcher, my person to keep me awake as the drugs took hold of my body. I had been doing drugs for so long that she no longer needed to keep her eyes on me the whole time. She could leave me there, heroin or ecstasy in my blood, and go make food or something.

"Astrid?"

As if I commanded her to come, her body poked around the corner, her head cocked to the side. "What?"

I raised my arm, which was bruised so bad I'm sure my veins hated me. "Got any more?"

"Can I not eat my fucking sandwich before you get another fix?"

I shook my head. She rolled her eyes, took a huge bite, and fell down beside me as she loaded a heaving spoonful of cocaine. A flick of her wrist and the cocaine began melting, a sweet liquid that killed me. She placed a needle and syringe into the jack of all trades, filled it, and then automatically pushed it into my arm.

She let me take the needle, muttering, "Have at it, dude" before returning to the doorway, where she grabbed her plate of food. She eyed me carefully as I sighed in delight at the feeling of getting high. I watched her through half-closed eyes as my body slowly began to turn to stone.

"How's your sandwich?"

"Fucking cold," she said, giving up with her food altogether. "Thanks to you."

I gave her a thumbs up.