The Cure For Boredom

Chapter Eighteen

Twenty-four days. I've been in this hell hole for twenty-four days and hopefully, today will be the last. Tessa and I managed to open our window a week ago and they haven't came by to shut it. We are going to break the screen, climb out the window and jump the fence. I've grown more attached to Landon and hate that I'm going to leave him to escape with Tessa.

"Babe, you seem distracted." Landon whispered while nudging me.

I sighed. "The topics of therapy and the meeting tonight have gotten to me."

"Why?"

"The loss of my baby brother is what started me down this path. Talking about loss like that brings back the memories of him."

"I'm so sorry. You were brave for talking about it during the meeting."

I nodded. "It was hard but also felt relieving. I felt like I lost a child even with the baby being my little brother."

"I couldn"t imagine. I had a girl get an abortion once but she didn't even tell me until after she did it. It's like why the fuck are you telling me now since you already terminated? I dumped her that day. I don't believe in abortion."

"Me neither. My parents have six of us if you don't count the one that passed."

"Wow. My parents only had three of us."

"I love my family. We were all close. I miss my dad the most."

"Were you a daddy's girl?"

"Yes. You realize with us having unprotected sex, something could happen. Right?"

Landon nodded. "Yeah. Wouldn't that be some shit. Hey kid, I got your mom knocked up in rehab."

"That would be a hell of a story. I wonder if it's happened before."

"I've heard that it has but of course they keep it quiet so it doesn't ruin their reputation."

"Makes sense."

A bell went off and we glanced at the clock. Time for the end of day meeting! We all have to talk about what we learned, what we are feeling, pros and cons. I dread these meetings, especially on occasions where I open up like I did at the in house NA meeting. Landon and I finished up our cigarettes and headed to the meeting. We sat next to each other and waited for our group leader to come in. Frank, Tessa, Landon, and I piled on a couch together with Tessa and I in the middle. Tessa leaned over and bumped her shoulder into mine, so I looked over at her.

"Look, Crystal and Tina aren't sitting as close." She whispered while pointing at them.

"Maybe they're fighting again." I whispered back.

"They always fight but not like they have any other options."

We both laughed, getting the attention of the other eight people in the room with us. Rusty and Sam walked into the room with smiles on their faces. How can they be so happy in a place where everyone is so down from coming off substances and dealing with emotions? Tessa and I have learned more about each other in the past twenty-four days than we have with knowing each other our whole lives.

"Hello everyone. Who is ready to wrap up today and get ready for bed?" Rusty greeted.

"Another day down means another day closer to going home." Erik replied.

Jerica snorted. "Yeah, that is if you want to go home. I sure as hell don't."

"Why don't we focus on the here and now instead of what's going to come?" Sam suggested with a forced smile on her face.

We all let out a collective sigh and went through the end of day meeting, Tina and Crystal revealing that they are fighting once again over Tina not sharing her last cigarette! We then got the discussion of how smoking cigarettes is just replacing one addiction with another and to truly heal we probably shouldn't smoke at all. Fuck that! When the meeting was over, we all went outside for a cigarette, disregarding what they just told us.