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realmam
, November 19, 2009
As a high school junior at Esquimalt Secondary, Curt has it all—a supportive family, a position as star pitcher for the varsity baseball team, the Victoria Falcons, a lot of friends and the perfect girlfriend, Leah; at least until he met Rachel, and Leah’s problems and her family issues. One day, he hurt his pitching arm lifting those heavy cases while he was working; Coach Watson gave him a bottle of muscle relaxant pills. Soon Curt can’t sleep without them, he took one the first night and he felt really good the next morning for his math test but a headache hit, a sharp pain on both sides of his head, and at night his headache got worse, he took two more pills that night. The next game, two days after he took the pills, Leah did not show up, and he played the worst game for the beginning of the season, coach pulled him after the third inning; he said to the coach he had a killer headache, so coach told him to take those pills that he gave him; Curt was amazed at the way the lie slipped out of his mouth, he said he lost the pills; and he was even more amazed that he believed him. Back to his room, he dialed to Leah’s number, and when she answered, he asked her where was she today; she was obviously trying to think up a good excuse, and she finally choose the headache. Curt asked her if she will be good enough to show up tomorrow for the next game, she slammed the phone hardly while she said she didn’t much care. Curt had a test the next morning- in biology -but he couldn’t sleep that night so he took another pill, again. The biology test was at 10:00. It was grim, he knew so answers, he might even passed it, but now he’s glad it’s over. Then came the game, he had some good pitches in, not he’s best but good enough to win and put his team closer to the finals. When he got home, he called Leah- she didn’t bother to show up to the game - and a man answered and asked who is it? Curt hung up the next second; he didn’t know what to do, so he left his room, walked down the stairs and out of the house going to Leah’s house; there he was just about to buzz the intercom that Leah came and he apologized for being rude whit her and she promised him to come to his next game, tomorrow at 5:00. The next day, at the field, Curt was feeling pretty good, his shoulder did not hurt at all, but he took a pill yesterday night, just to make sure he said. He started to practice with Stuart before the game, Rachel show up to his surprise to watch the game. They won the game 8-1, he pitched pretty well, then he went to get a burger with Leah and Stuart. Friday night, he took a pill, just to make sure, and another one at night. Saturday morning, he had a game, the rain was pouring down, but the game was not cancelled, neither Rachel nor Leah showed up, and they won. It was still raining after work, so Rachel gave him a ride, to home, her home; she invited him inside for some coffee. But instead of coffee she gave him a beer and a cheese sandwich, and they started talking about baseball, and the next thing he remembers, she was coming back from the kitchen with a little square of cardboard that was folded up like an envelope, with cocaine inside. He should had say no, but he couldn’t, he took some of it and it made him feel so good; he had never known anything like that; but suddenly, it was over; he felt real bad and he could not stay in her apartment anymore, he started to run, he tried to but he couldn’t, you’ll be back she called. Back to his home, his parents started to yell at him because he was late, and he couldn’t find a real excuse. The next day was Sunday, and he had to work, and he was glad to hear that Rachel didn’t show up. He called Leah several times but she never answered, so Stuart and him left to the baseball field to practice a little bit before the game; there Leah showed up, finally he said. The score was 6-0 against The Panthers at the bottom of the eighth inning, and it was his turn in the spotlight, he glanced at the stands to see Leah, for good luck, but what he saw sent a chill through his bones; Rachel was making her way to sit next to Leah. The score was at 7-2 at the bottom of the ninth inning, and he jogged to the pitcher’s mound and he tried to avoid looking at the stands but his eyes were drawn there anyway, and he saw Rachel talking to Leah. The next Panther made it to second. Leah was gone, and the final score was 7-6; they won but he screwed up. He couldn’t wait for the coach to ask about his shoulder or the team to give him a bad time, so he left to Leah’s place, when she saw him, she was very upset, he asked why and she told him that Rachel told her everything, about the beer and the drugs. He told her that it was only once and that he will stop; but she couldn’t believe him, so she told him not to come back. He came back to home where another headache started behind his eyes; he tried to remember where he put those pills. He promise himself that he would stop taking pills forever; at least as soon as baseball season was over. For the next game, he pitched really badly, Coach took him off, that pissed him off, and also because of those pills, and he quit baseball! Stuart and his parents couldn’t believe it. The only thing that he wanted was talk to Leah, so he went to her place, but find nobody but Darren, Leah’s older brother, who told her that their dad was an alcoholic, and that was where Leah’s problems come from. The next day, he left to work, and found Rachel crying, she got fired. She told him that he has to pay her for all drugs that he took from her, he got scared and started to run and run; when he got tired, he stopped and her mom called him to talk to him, she told him that she thinks that he has a drug addiction, he couldn’t believe it, him a drug addict? No way has he said to himself. He hung up on his mom and dialed Leah’s number, he said he needed to talk to her and then he felt tired, he would rest a while and then decide what to do…
He heard Stuart’s and Leah’s voices telling him that they’re taking him to home to help him to overcome his problems; what problems? He asked, you’re drug addiction Leah said. They walked to his home. Strange but he felt good, now that everybody know, no need to hide or lie, I got no problem, he said.
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