The Story of Vada Munroe

Chapter Twenty Two

Michael walked downstairs the next morning, immediately catching the attention of Vada's parents and Jennifer said, "Oh, Michael, I didn't realize you stayed over last night."

Michael glanced up at them. "Uhm, yeah." He replied, awkwardly. Casey looked down at his cup from him, an annoyed expression on his face.

It wasn't a secret that he didn't like Michael and he knew Michael knew and he knew it was because he slept with his daughter but he was slowly trying to get on Casey's good side and it was working, very slowly like miserably slow.

"Are you hungry?" Jennifer asked, looking back at him from the stove.

"Do you know where Vada is?" Michael asked.

Jennifer smiled up at him. "She's outside."

He nodded. "Thank you." He walked out of the house and glanced over at the porch bench and he saw Vada curled up as she stared out at the road. He walked over to her and sat down beside her, causing the bench to slightly swing back before going still once again. He looked over at her before looking at the road.

"Every morning I come out here and just stare out for hours making up stories for the people that walk past, it makes me feel better about mine." She smiled softly to herself before she spoke again. "Like that little girl over there with that woman." He looked over and across the street, there was a little girl, who seemed to be around 10 and there was a woman, holding her hand while she was on the phone. "Growing up was hard for the woman, she had very strict parents, the ones when you come home with a B instead of an A and they disown you and say you're not good enough. She lives in her sibling's shadow, the accomplished and responsible sibling. She rebelled against her parents for most of her life, and she met this guy, who knocked her up but stayed unlike other guys. They thought they were in love but in reality, she was the only one in love. He was cheating on her. They've been split up for over a year now but they still fight everyday because she won't let him see his daughter and ten years from now, that girl will hate her father because he never came to see her."

He glanced over at her then back at the road and asked, "Do any of them end happily?"

She looked over at him, a soft smile on her face as she said, "No story has a happy ending, it'll feel like a dream for a while but sooner or later, they'll all be nightmares again." He looked over at her and just stared at her, trying to figure her out. She seemed different, like she wasn't mentally here with him. She hummed and leaned her body against his and laid her head on his shoulder and she whispered, "That doesn't mean I don't have fate in us." He looked back at the road. After a moment of comfortable silence, Vada suddenly perked up and Michael flinched slightly. "But!" He glanced over at her, seeing a grin plastered on her face and he watched as she got on top of him, placing both hands on his shoulders. "Enough of that."

He laughed and placed his hands on her sides as she leaned in to kiss him but he pushed her back. "We're outside, people are looking at us like we're crazy."

"Let them." She said against his neck before leaving light kisses down his neck.

He bit his lip but after a long second, he shook his head. "Alright, that's it." He said and he held her up as he stood up. A small scream after some giggles escaped her lips as he laughed and he carried her across the street to his house, not wanting to walk past her parents like this.

Vada walked into her bedroom and closed the door. She walked over to her desk and opened the top drawer and took the pill bottle from inside and opened it and poured a couple into the palm of her hand then she put the bottle back and closed the drawer. She ran out of pills from the bottle she took from her mother, so she got a bottle from Chris. She sat down and placed them on top of her laptop before crushing them with a mug and she formed the powder into a straight line and consumed the drugs.

She took drugs for the first time 2 weeks ago. It started out as an innocent experiment, but it always is just that until it becomes a part of your daily routine and at the time, she didn't realize she was becoming an addict but the thing about that is, you never truly come into realization that you become a drug addict until the fall. When you run out.

A few days later, Vada opened the desk drawer to find out she was out of pills.
"Shit."

She knocked on the door of Chris' house.

They became friends after only 2 weeks of knowing each other and little did Vada know, he was worried about her. He saw that she was getting seriously addicted to drugs and it scared him. He cared about her deeply. She became family to him.

The door opened and Vada looked up at him from the ground and she smiled nervously as she shoved her hands into her pockets. "H-Hey, Chris."

He stepped forward, shoving his hands into his pockets. "What are you doing here, V?" He asked in a low voice, losing eye contact.

"I just need some uhm.. some oxys a..and I'll-"

He huffed and looked up at her. "You can't be coming over here anymore."

She then furrowed her eyebrows. "Why?"

He shook his head lightly and gestured towards her as he said, "Look at yourself. This is your tenth time here this week. I'm worried about you."

She scoffed, losing eye contact for a moment then she shook her head and looked back up at him and said, "No one is asking you to worry about me, Chris. All you have to do is give me the damn pills and shut the door."

"I'm not going to watch you kill yourself, V."

She shook her head again, a look of disbelief on her face. "I'm fine."

He stepped back and reached for the doorknob. "I'm sorry."

"Chris-"

The door began to slowly close as he whispered, "I'm sorry, V."

"Chris!" She quickly rushed up to the door just for it to close in her face and she slammed her hand against the door in frustration and shakily said, "Shit, Chris!" She turned her back to the door and looked around frantically as her breathing began to pick up and tears formed in her eyes. She turned back and stepped up to the door. "Come on, Chris..." No response. "Open the door, please." She begged, a tear escaping her eye and she said, "I'm not fucking kidding, Chris, open the fucking door." She inhaled sharply as she stared at the door in desperation. Her heart raced and her breathing got worse. "Open the door!" She cried out and she kicked the door, tears were now flowing down her face, a heavy groan left her lips and she inhaled shakily.

She knew he was there, which hurt the most. How could he sit there and listen to her breakdown and not care?

"I thought you were my friend."

"I am your friend, V." He said from behind the door.

She shook her head. "No, you're not." She paused and inhaled before letting out a shaky breath and she said, "You would open the goddamn door if you were my friend!"

"I'm sorry..."

She cried out as she slammed her hand into the door continuously. "CHRIS!"
Her head dropped and her hand fell to her side in exhaustion. "Goddammit, Chris," She whispered to herself then she let out a breath of exasperation and she shot her head back up and pounded her fists against the door over and over again. "OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!" She let out a piercing cry and dropped to her knees. "Please..." After a long minute, she began to just stare at the ground, the tears stopped and she was left to feel empty.

Something snapped in her and nothing will ever prepare her for what's to come.