Chapter 3

Three weeks later, Jennifer woke suddenly in the middle of the night, but she didn't know why. For a few seconds, she lay still and listened from her trundle bed, where she was spending the night at Stephanie's house. It was quiet. Too quiet.

She went out into the hall and walked to the next room, where Stephanie was sleeping. One glance at the bed told Jennifer that Stephanie was gone yet again.

Jennifer sighed. Stephanie had to stop running off like this.

Jennifer frowned and went downstairs to the entryway, grabbed her coat and stepped out into the darkness. She quickly walked down the streets of Alphabet City and found Stephanie standing not twenty feet away from the loft, taking a miniature bag of white powder from a nasty-looking dealer.

Jennifer was stunned. Roger had been right. Stephanie was a junkie. Jennifer wondered how long Stephanie had been doing this. She went up to Stephanie and stood in front of her, out of reach of the dealer.

"Steph," she said, "come on. We need to get home. It's two A.M."

"Is it?" Stephanie asked airily. "Wow, I had no idea."

"I noticed. Come on," Jennifer said, and she took the bag from Stephanie.

"Hey," the dealer snarled, shoving Jennifer backward, "you steal my client, broad, you die."

"You won't miss us," Jennifer shot back. "Look around you, mister, you have plenty of customers." Jennifer grabbed Stephanie firmly by the shoulders. She could smell alcohol on her breath as well. "Let's go, Stephanie!"

Stephanie nodded and Jennifer walked back to Stephanie's house with her, not daring to let go of her, or the heroin, the whole way.

"You told me you'd quit drinking," Jennifer stated, once they were back at Stephanie's house and Jennifer had gotten Stephanie to stay put, and the heroin destroyed.

"I did," Stephanie said. "I just had a little champagne tonight, Jen. It's not a big deal."

"'Not a big deal?'" Jennifer echoed, as Stephanie sprawled out across the couch. "I found you drunk in an alleyway, buying smack from a dealer, Stephanie. How long have you been using?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Stephanie said, as she put an arm over her eyes and sighed. "I don't feel well."

"Well, no shit, you don't," Jennifer snapped. "That's what alcohol does to you, Stephanie. It slows you down. That's why our classmates Jaden, Mike, Mitch, and Amber died, Steph, in drunken driving crashes. Is this how you see yourself dying? Combined with the smack, who knows what the alcohol could be doing to you."

"Shut the fuck up, Jennifer," Stephanie snapped. "You don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"Maybe I don't," Jennifer said, "but you do. Look at Roger, Steph! He's HIV-positive because he did what you're doing now! Do you want to end up like him, sick and slowly dying for the rest of your short life? Or are you planning on just overdosing and killing yourself and getting it over with right away?"

Stephanie stood up swiftly and punched Jennifer in the jaw. Jennifer simply just took the blow. "Get out!" Stephanie yelled. "You can't tell me how to live my life, Jen. You're not my mom or dad. You can't tell me what to do! I like my smack. I feel good when I'm on it, like nothing's wrong. When I'm on it, I don't have a care in the world."

"That's because you can't care about anything in the world when you're on the smack, Steph," Jennifer said. "It makes you numb to the world. You don't feel pain, hurt, hate, or happiness, Steph. You can't feel love, either, and I know you hate that the most, especially after your mom and dad left you to travel the world, like you didn't exist. That's why you're doing this, isn't it; to make the pain of that loss go away?" Jennifer looked at Stephanie one last time before she stepped out the door, so Stephanie wouldn't hit her again. "This isn't the real you, Steph. I know it's not. And I promise you, with every breath I take, I'm going to help you get over this."

"Whatever," Stephanie said, and then she slammed the door in Jennifer's face.

Jennifer stood there for a moment, deep in thought. She didn't really know what she could do to help Stephanie. She had thought that would have worked, but it hadn't. So what was she going to do? Stephanie obviously wasn't ready to listen, and Jennifer couldn't force her to. She'd tried that already, too, and it had failed dismally.

Tell Roger, a little voice said in her head. He's a former addict and Stephanie's idol. He'll know what to do.

So Jennifer checked on Stephanie one last time. Glancing in the front window, she saw Stephanie had collapsed back onto the couch, so she began to make her way to the loft, hoping she was doing the right thing.

OK, so I got a chapter uploaded! HUGE thanks goes out to Tina101 for helping me with that! You rock, chica! Don't forget to review!

Until next time, lots of love,

Renthead07