Drugs

I was sitting next to Ana on the sidewalk as we were smoking some cigarrettes. I didn’t know what to say, so I was just watching her until she turned around.

“You seem pretty nervous, aren’t you? What’s going on?”

“Nothing, I was thinking about some stuff at work.”

“What is it?” she asked.

“What’d you do if you know you’re doing the wrong thing but you have any choice?”

Ana and I crossed our gazes for a moment and then, she rested her head on my shoulder.

“I believe there’s always another choice.”

For some reason, I felt glad in that moment. Maybe I felt like that because I had no idea of what was coming.

While I was still blind for my happiness, the rest of the people continued their path.

Carmen’d found a way to be busy at the same she was earning money. She dedicated herselt to make piñatas to pass the time. She sold them thanks to the use of Facebook. She’d learnt that through watching tutorial videos on the internet.

Things were setting right for her. Everything was in peace even though she was worried for knowing nothing about me.

She was cutting some wire when she heard someone calling at the door. She headed up to it and peeked through the doorknob to see who it was. It was a girl.

She was full of happines and it didn’t take too long to unlock the door and open it.

“Emily!” she shouted out excitedly to see her old friend.

They both hugged each other for a while before coming inside the house.

“My friend, long time no see you.”

“That’s right; I haven’t seen you since university. For how long? Almost a year? I didn’t even know you were pregnant.”

“Yeah, it’s been a while. What about university?”

“Everything’s fine. It’s like riding a bike, but the bike and the floor are on fire. Everything’s on fire because it’s a fucking hell.”

Carmen and her friend were catching up happily about everything that happened in the time they didn’t see each other.

“How’s Brandon doing? When I went to your house, your parents told me you weren’t living there anymore. I’ve got surprised because I saw your posts and came directly to you and well, now I know you moved.”

“Don’t even talk to me about that jerk,” Carmen smirked. “He left me when he learnt about my pregnancy.”

“I’m really sorry,” the girl said uncomfortably. “So, how do you pay this place by yourself?”

“In fact, I’m not alone. Ariel’s with me and this is his house.”

“Ariel? Wasn’t he a tall guy who used to pick you up in his motorbike when we were working as cashiers in the store near my hourse?”

“Yeah, that one,” she replied smiling. “Well, thruth is I feel safer here knowing I have his support.”

“I’m happy for you, dear and you don’t choose them wrongly. Where is he?”

“We had a discussion not so long ago and I basically kicked him out, but I’m ok now. I’m gonna actually ask him to bring some milk later.”

Emily bursted in laughter to listen what her friend had done and she actually congratulated her for her action.

“Hey Carmen, it’s so nice you were able to make a living, but if Brandon didn’t want to be responsible, why didn’t you come back home?”

The environment changed quickly after that question. I felt dense and heavy.

“Dear, I’m gonna tell you what my parents didn’t. I never wanted to leave, but they literally kicked me out.”

“Wait, do your parent kick you out?”

“Yeah, they didn’t even give me time to explain myself. They just found the pregnancy test and immediately they kicked me out. They didn’t even let me get something from my room.”

“Well…”

Later on that afternoon, a message popped up on my cellphone. It said exactly what she wanted me to do.

I was happy to come back home. In fact, I think I was starting to be a headache for Beni, so he and his dog horchato were glad to know I was leaving their home.

Beni grabbed my arms and made me come with him to a nearby store.

We were talking about my intolerance to weed and the reason why I didn’t smoke joints.

“It’s so normal to smoke it,” he was telling me. “It isn’t as worse as the cigarrettes. I even think it’s better.”

We saw a group of people in the corner street before getting inside.

“Shut up, I don’t like it at all, that’s what you wanted to hear?”

“No,” he answered taking a bottle of milk to pay it later. “I mean, we sold them and so.”

We came out of the store when suddenly we felt how two men were charging on me. They started to hit me nonstop and then Beni jumped out to protect me.

Beni pulled out an agressor’s shirt and knocked him down in a single punch. The other two hold Beni down and a third one took out a knife.

I yelled and tried to reach Beni, but there two people among him and I saw in shock how they stabbed my best friend.

They just ran away and left us there alone.I rushed to him and held him. I tried to stop the bleeding with my hands but it was useless.

I screamed for help, but no one heard me. After a while, I heard the ambulence sirens, but I knew it was too late.