"So you've had a pretty tough go at it then?" Charlie inquired as he and Mimi sat near a fire they had built and talked.
Mimi had just told Charlie all about her life. She was ashamed of most of it and she left out a few of the more gory details, but she felt like sharing her story would help him to share his. When she had finally decided to straighten her life out at twenty-one, they only way that she felt better was when she told her therapist the whole story. She told her everything and hadn't even spared her the gory details. After several months of therapy, she had finally confessed all her deeds to her parents, but as usual they pretended like nothing had happened. It was okay with her this time though. Her therapist had helped her get passed her issues with her parents too. As a matter of fact, it was her therapist who had encouraged Mimi to begin a search for her birth parents.
So even though, her story was still hard to tell, especially to someone who was practically a complete stranger and someone that she had a little crush on, she told it. She wanted Charlie to open up to her. She knew that the only was the Charlie would start to feel better is if he got some things off his chest.
"It's wasn't an easy life, but the last few years have been better."
"You know I try to blame this all on my brother. As a matter of fact, one of the last things that I said to him was that he had made me this way. It's not really true though. I mean he is the one that wanted me to be in the band and he is the one that started using drugs first and he's the one that gave me my first taste of coke, but I wanted it. He didn't force it one me. I wanted to be in the band and even though, it's hard to admit I wanted to take those drugs. I saw how they made Liam. He was so much more comfortable in his skin when he was taking them. He told me that they made him feel alive and I wanted to feel alive, so I took the drugs."
"Charlie, it's good to admit things. It's good to get things off your chest and tell someone else."
"I do feel better. I want to feel better and I think I know how I can start to do that, but I need your help."
"I'll do whatever I can."
Charlie smiled. He knew what he had to do. He had to get rid of the rest of the drugs that he was hiding. He wasn't fooling anyone, not even himself. He didn't keep them around just because or just in case or whatever other bullshit excuse he used to try to convince himself or anyone else that they didn't matter to him. He kept them around because he wanted to take them. He wanted to rip open the bag and feel the taste of the drugs on his tongue. He wanted to forget about everything and feel alive again.
Early the next morning, Charlie led Mimi through the jungle to the secret hiding place where he had over a dozen Virgin Mary statues buried. He had asked her to come with him while he destroyed them. He knew that if they were gone for good, he could finally concentrate on getting better. He uncovered the statues as Mimi gathered some wood to make a small fire. Once the fire was going, Charlie took each statue one by one and threw it into the fire. The statues busted and the drugs went up in flames. Charlie and Mimi stood by as the reminder of the drugs on the island turned into nothing more than smoke and ashes. Mimi smiled at Charlie and reached for his hand. Hand in hand, they walked back to the beach where Charlie had promised to start telling Mimi the story of his life.