It was an early morning the day after Elena’s first day of school. With several rough knocks on his door, Francisco slowly woke up and began answering the door. He stood up from his bed and rubbed his eyes while looking around his room. It was cleaner than yesterday. After spending a huge chunk of time working at Matthew’s shop, he arrived home and ate McDonald’s with everyone. Of course, they had only gotten it because of Elena. Nevertheless, after eating and talking for a long while, Francisco came up here and tried to organize the room. Obviously, it was a difficult task. While working at the shop and organizing his room, the bruises caused by Everett were a hindrance to him. Every time he bent down or moved in a non-specific way, the pain would envelop where the bruises were. For most of the day, he would simply deal with it and work. However, it seemed that the more he moved, the worse it got. Over time, it developed from a constant heavy-hitting sting to feeling like one was getting punched over and over. Halfway through the day, Francisco even debated confessing to Marcia about it to get out of work. However, he chose not to disclose it due to the barrage of questions she would most definitely ask. Today, though, the pain seemed to have gotten even worse. It now felt as though a boxer was jabbing where the bruises were. For Francisco, they were still manageable, but it was only a matter of time before the pain became too much to bear.

Francisco walked to the door before opening it to see Marcia. She had a wide smile on her face and seemed to be in a happy mood.

“I can’t believe you woke up this late.”

With a turn, Francisco looked back to his desk and saw the number 10:20 on the alarm clock.

“Huh, I guess I did.”

Marcia continued to smile as she proceeded to talk some more.

“Elena already left hours ago because you did not want to wake up!”

Francisco remained straight-faced while she continued.

“Well, it doesn’t really matter anyway. Come down for breakfast, okay?”

With a simple nod, Francisco closed his room door and walked back to his bed. There, he dug into his bag before pulling his cocaine out. It had become a daily occurrence for him to ingest it in the morning. He hoped that by snorting in the morning, his constant desire for it would lessen to a manageable point throughout the day. And it had worked mostly, except for a couple of surges in desire on some days.

After taking it in, Francisco calmed as the pain lessened. Thinking about it, on open wounds, one could use cocaine as an anesthetic to relieve pain. Could the same be said about bruises as well? Although he did not know the answer, it was worth a try. With the bag in hand, he dug down and pulled half a fistful before taking his shirt off. Under it, dark purple bruises revealed themselves, radiating with pain. Francisco used the handful and rubbed it across all his bruises with a wince on his face. Afterward, he zipped the bag of cocaine up before examining it. He had noticed a measurable dip in the amount he had. In this one specific bag, only half of it was full. Francisco knew that the day he’d run out would come soon; however, he still was not ready to live without it. Although he had multiple more bags similar to this one, Francisco knew time was passing. It was only a matter of time before he depleted all he had.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Unless he could find a distributor, this was all he had. It was unlikely he’d find a seller of cocaine here. So he had to live with this feeble amount.

Francisco put the cocaine back into his bag before stepping out of his room. He walked down a hallway and stepped downstairs before stepping into the divergence point of the living room and dining room. To his left, Marcia was sitting on a dining room chair with her phone in one hand and her coffee in the other. On the mug, the word best mom was stamped across the mug, while a heart lay under the two words.

Francisco stepped into the dining room and sat on one of the chairs opposite Marcia. On the table, two plates of food lay, one next to Marcia and the other next to Francisco. Placed on the plate were two fried eggs with pancakes and bacon. In general, the meal was made with care, which gave Francisco a feeling of suspicion. He had grown accustomed to everything coming with strings attached, so he grew suspicious of the care.

“Thanks for the food.”

With that said, he began eating. Seconds later, Marcia placed her phone down and began eating as well. For minutes, the two continuously ate without saying anything to each other. Francisco slowly put his guard down as he ate the good food his sister had prepared. However, Marcia said something that sparked his suspicions once again.

“Francisco, we need to go somewhere after you finish eating.”

Francisco continued eating while thinking about what she said.

“Where to?”

Marcia thought about her answer before telling Francisco.

“We have to visit a friend I know in the hospital.”

“Hospital, huh.”

Although he felt heavy suspicion, who was he to tell her no? He lived in her house and ate her food. He had no right to deny going where she wanted to go. So even though he speculated on what she was trying to accomplish, he did not say anything to her face.

“Okay.”

After that, they had a light chat as they ate. Afterward, she washed the dishes while she spoke to him.

“Go and get ready; I’ll do the same after I’m done.”

Francisco nodded, showered, and readied himself while she did the same. Forty minutes later, the two departed from the house to the local hospital, where Marcia’s supposed friend was.