A Place To Call My Home

Chapter 1

I can't see the end of me

My whole expanse I cannot see

I formulate infinity

Stored deep inside me

***Flash forward***

Alex was banging on the door of Piper's house, she knew the blonde was in there. Everything had gotten fucked up so quickly, and Alex had no idea how to fix things. In that moment, all she knew was that she needed to see Piper, she needed to make sure she was okay. After five minutes of knocking on the door, Alex turned the knob and was surprised to discover the door was unlocked. This just made her panic more, Piper never just left her front door unlocked, not unless something was really wrong.

Alex burst into the apartment with desperation and began searching every room. She eventually opened the bathroom door, and found what she was looking for. It was Piper, sitting on the floor next to the bathtub, with a small vile of white powder sitting next to her, the same white powder that Alex had been selling to her for over six months. Piper didn't even seem to register Alex's presence, it was a miracle she could still breathe on her own.

Alex was scared, and knelt down in front of Piper, taking the blonde's face in her hands, "Pipes, can you hear me?" All Alex got in reply was a faint groan, which she felt was better than nothing.

"I'm not going anywhere okay, I'm gonna look after you."

Piper managed to open her eyes as Alex kept gently stroking her cheeks, "What?"

"You've taken too much Pipes, I'll take care of you."

"I'm so tired Alex."

"I know Pipes, I know. But I can't let you go to sleep just yet, you gotta stay with me for a bit okay?" Alex looked at Piper in desperation, trying to will her to stay awake. "Please Pipes, please try to stay awake."

Alex wasn't sure what to do, Piper became so depressed when she found out about the baby, and she started relying on heroin to get through the day. Deep down Alex felt responsible for what she saw in front of her right now. She had known Piper was struggling, but she never stopped selling her the drugs.

**********

7 months earlier

Alex sat across from Fahri in his apartment, sipping her beer as she stared off into the distance. Just three hours earlier they had stepped off a plane, returning to New York after three weeks in Bali followed by two weeks in various other Indonesian islands, picking up new business. Alex had met Fahri three years earlier, and they'd been close ever since. Alex had never been the sociable type, so aside from her mother, Fahri became her closest friend.

This was only the third time Alex had been trusted to travel overseas for the drug cartel, each time she had gone with Fahri. Even though she was completely drained as she sank further into the arm chair, the truth was that she loved the new opportunities she was being given. Before she met Fahri, she had nothing. She worked whatever waitressing shifts she could pick up and lived in a trailer park with her mother, Diane. The cartel had given her access to a new life, she wasn't ashamed to say the cartel had given her a new lease on life, a reason to keep going. But above all else it gave her the opportunity to help Diane, to get her out of the trailer park and into her own apartment. It still wasn't much, but it was more than her mother ever had. Alex had started at the bottom and gained trust with Fahri and his bosses, things were going well and for once she was actually happy.

She sipped her beer again as she mentally reminded herself to call Diane in the morning, it was after midnight now and Alex didn't want to wake her up. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, but was disturbed by Fahri's deep voice before she could drift off to sleep.