A New Life (River Phoenix)

Drawings

I find myself in a constant cycle of taking care of a boy who beats me in age by 2 years, and in wisdom by 20.

The next few nights go by the same; River leaves for meetings and comes home a whole new person.

Despite how much I love him, it's starting to get aggravating, though I deal with it all the while.

Out of boredom and the need to rant, I call Piper on a day that River spends away from home.

It only takes three rings for an answer.

"Carmen?" Piper asks, her voice lively.

"Yeah. I need your help." I say.

"What's up?"

"The past few nights have been kind of horrible," I explain. "River keeps getting drunk and I don't know how to deal with it. I'm serious. It's weird and I feel responsible for it."

She sighs.

"First, you're not responsible so don't even say that kind of shit. And I thought getting him away from Hollywood was a good thing? The drug scene in Gainesville can't be that bad." She says.

"It's not; I don't know! I don't think he's taking anything right now." I tell her.

"You never know." She says, making me doubt myself. "He's oddly sneaky. You'd think he wouldn't be as smart as he is. Did you know he has multiple dealers? Like, to hide the addiction?"

Addiction was a word I hadn't thought about before.

I knew he had a problem, but to really label it was different.

"You really think he's consumed by this?" I ask.

"I mean, I don't know. I don't want to think about it that way because he was never too fucked up around us. But since you left I've been spending a lot of time at the Viper and I've been hearing a lot of stories." She says.

"Do you believe them?"

"Sort of. River does have that addictive, self-destructive personality. He doesn't care about himself that much, you know."

I stop for a second; trying to understand the severity of what has been happening behind all of our backs.

I wonder if Flea knows anything about this.

"What do you think I should do?" I ask.

"Hm," She says from the other end. "Maybe you should tell Heart."

"Right." I begin. "I could but then she'd get all worried and confront him, and then he'd get mad, and it would be a huge mess."

She laughs slightly.

"Yeah, scratch that. What about Iris?"

"She would kick my ass if I told her River was behaving like a reckless teenager again. Remember the first time? She practically broke into the apartment and dragged me to his set." I recall.

"Yeah, that was weird." She says, lightly amused. "I'll tell you what: call Flea. Tell him what's going on and ask what you should do. He knows River best. Or Keanu, that's a good choice too."