The Addict & The Addiction

Chapter 3: Carmen Ramirez

"We do, we live with my mom. She took us in. I've been dying to move out of here for ages, small town and everyone thinking my son is a criminal. I didn't wana go through that again -" She suddenly stopped talking and wiped her tears away.  

"I forgot I have to go pick up something from the market before Mom gets here. You better go, Serenity, was it?" She swiftly got up, her hair hiding her pretty, exhausted face and turned her back to me, looking for something. 

I awkwardly got up and walked to the door. "Oh and, I'll let you know if I hear from him." She called out to me. I nodded, smiled once, then ran all the way to my room where I could burst into tears without humiliating myself.  

Turns out I was wrong, Wednesday was definitely the worst day. Knowing Ian was no longer here and having to hear about Carmen all day long. Is it healthy to be jealous of a dead person? I was. They talked about their relationship on the news everyday, they talked about how much she loved him and how he treated her in public. Her parents were interviewed and they said many things about him. Ian leaving to California was illegal. He wasn't allowed to leave the state or city while he was still a suspect in the ongoing case. So him leaving like this, its basically telling everyone that he's running away because he's guilty. But I didn't believe that. Ian ran away because it just kept getting worse and worse for him. On Thursday the girl's noticed my mood change. 

"Like what's wrong with you, you've been acting weird since they found the body and you didn't even know her. Are you, like afraid to die or something cause its like, safe here. This is the first murder scene we had in like, fifty years." Tess said, while texting and chewing her gum annoyingly.  

"I kind of noticed too, you're so lifeless its like you're there but not really. Are you okay?" Lacey pressed.  

"I'm just, I miss my old home I guess. I'm homesick." I lied. 

"Aw, well we've tried our best to make you feel welcome here I mean I know its not Florida but can you find friends like us there?" Victoria grinned, trying to lighten the mood. Which sadly didn't work. 

"It's not about you guys I'm so thankful I met you, you're all so kind, its just...I liked a boy from there and he recently left without saying bye to me." I blurted.  

They all gasped, big, big mistake. "Oh my god, was he hot like those Miami surfer type of dudes?" Tess asked. I rolled my eyes. 

"It doesn't matter, he's gone anyways. No last goodbye or anything." I sighed. 

"He didn't even break up with you first. What an asshole." Vick frowned, lightly patting my back. 

"We weren't really...official you know? It just happened...and I thought we were going somewhere but then..." I trailed off not knowing how to complete. 

"But then you moved here and things went downhill. I can see why you hate it here so much." Lacey finished for me, brilliant Lacey!  

"Yeah...exactly. I guess he couldn't handle long distance." I rubbed my temples with my fingers. "I don't wana talk about it anymore, its been days now. I'll get over it." I smiled convincingly, and they returned to talking and me listening. That's how it went until Saturday. If I fake smiled, no one would ask me what's wrong. And I put on quite a show. 

Saturday was pretty lonely. I lay in my bed, hugging my favorite novel to my chest and thinking about the kiss. The way he pulled me towards him, the chills running up and down my spine. My rapid heart beats, fireworks in my stomach. How could he have not felt that? I wiped a tear from my eye and turned off the lights. There was no use, he's gone now...just not his memory.  

I didn't want the weekend to end, I wanted to hide out under my covers all day so I wouldn't have to hear about Carmen or anything related to Ian and that murder. My phone started ringing and just as I was about to press ignore I realized it was an unknown number. I didn't answer any of the girl's calls, afraid if they would try to get me out or something. I answered anyways.