Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Delirium ❯ Home Free ( Chapter 3 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

After a lovely (note to sarcasm) stay at the hospital from hell, they finally let me come home. This was, of course, conditional. Unfortunately for me, I'm being forced to attend a stupid little substance abuse group three times a week. Basically, I get to go in, stand up and say with a false sense of shame "Hi, my name is Christina and I'm an addict." What a bunch of bullshit. Mom comes by almost every day so I only get to have my fun at night. This seems to work well, however, as I never have to worry about her coming in when I'm fucked up. Doesn't make me hate it any less, but it was a compromise I was willing to make.

Right now, though, I'm sitting on the couch (like always; this city is a little dull). It's about 7:30 pm and mom left about an hour ago. While I ponder over what remains of my "stash" -such a funny word, but I couldn't ever think of anything better to call it- the buzzer rings from outside.

"Ms. Lindenburg?"

"Yeah," I respond through the speaker.

"You have a visitor. Is it alright to let him up?"

The man at the front desk's voice is horribly obnoxious, so I respond with a quick "Yes". Within about two minutes there's a knock on my door.

I walk over and look through the peep hole. I don't recognize the man standing there, but he doesn't look threatening. His black hair hangs over his forehead and hazel eyes peer patiently at the wooden door. I open it and I can see him trying to find words to explain why he would come here. Surely there's a better place to go.

"Um, hi Christina," he says in a low voice, obviously a bit shy.

I look at him, a bit confused.

"Hi," I manage, still racking my brain, trying to figure out if I knew him or not.

"I, uh, I know you don't remember me, but we went to high school together."

I knew there was something vaguely familiar about him. However, I still didn't recall his name.

"I'm Gerard. I was in your art class senior year."

A HA! That's where I know him from!

"Oh, well, okay then," I say, "and why, just out of sheer curiousity, would you come to find me?"

He tries to think of sensible reason, but I see he's struggling.

"Well, I-," he begins, "actually, I ran into your mother the other day."

Oh shit, here we go...

"She told me you had been having a few issues. Ya know what, I really don't know why I decided to come here. I guess I just always kinda liked you and when I heard you had been in the hospital, I wanted to find you."

Fair enough, I suppose. Still a bit odd.

I invited him in and we sat on the couch. I tried my best to hide everything so, just in case he saw mom again, he wouldn't tell her what I had been doing.

We talked about high school, about what we had been doing since then and I even told him about Kyle and the blonde chick, and then the magnificent hospital stay. Those nurses were bitches. I thought they were supposed to be pleasant, but when you're in there for substance abuse issues, they treat you like dirt. I fucking hated it.

The night wore on and by the time he left, I was too exhausted to bother shooting up. I offered to let him visit again the next day and we would go to lunch. Though I hardly knew him, something felt right. Maybe he could be the answer I was looking for...



Yeah, so everything seems to be looking up rather quickly. Don't worry, it's not gonna be daisies and peaches just yet! Lemme know what you think!