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The smell of hospitals.
Alaska had gotten use to it by now, gotten use to nearly everything here. She could walk through the halls with her eyes closed, knew the nurses names and what colleges they went to, know what time they left for lunch. The beeping of heart monitors was constantly imbedded in her mind now, even when she hadn't been at the hospital. But the smell, the smell lingered constantly.
"Alaska?" a new voice caught her attention. Alaska looked down the hallway quickly and found Beth, Alaska's sponsor. Beth was three years sober and had kept Alaska afloat most of the time, being the only reason she'd learned to handle bad situations without turning to drugs. While Carmen was what always brought Alaska back when she had a bad day, Beth helped her prevent them.
"Beth." Alaska said quickly as she stood up from the chair in the hallway, "What are you doing here?"
"I just left an AA meeting, wondering where you were." she said, her red hair falling around her face as she stood before the teenage girl, "How come you didn't come?"
Alaska sighed as she ran a hand through her hair, "My friends in the hospital, i'm just worried about him."
"You've been occupied, I understand that." she said with a nod, her blue eyed flickering toward the chairs as her and Alaska took a seat, "Is he doing okay?"
Alaska shook her head slowly, "He's not waking up."
Beth held Alaska's hand as the pair sat together, "Aside from worrying about your friend, are you feeling okay?"
"You mean do I have urges?" Alaska asked, Beth sighed at her bluntness but nodded, "Yeah, but at the same time I don't. I want to take the edge off and not feel a single thing but I know if I do then i'll just be leaving Miguel."
"Miguel's yours friend in there?" Beth asked as she nodded toward the door across from them. Alaska nodded as she looked down at her hands, "I don't know him, but i'm sure the last thing he'd want you to do is turn back to drugs."
"I know he wouldn't, I don't think I'd be able to live with myself if I did that to him again." Alaska shook her head as she let out a sudden huff of disbelief, "He had to deal with so much of my messes, constantly. The amount of times I've shown up in the middle of the night at his house, sobbing and having withdraws. He should hate me for what I put him through, but he doesn't, he really loves me actually."
Beth stroked Alaska's hair, seeing the tears form in her eyes, "You clearly love him too if you've been spending all day here in these back acing chairs."
"He's like family to be." Alaska said with a sad look toward the closed door, "He is my family."
Beth watch Alaska's every move, "What else is going on?"
Alaska gave a sad laugh, "I'd probably have you running for the hills if I told you."
