The Candy Shop (8 page)

Immediately after I we hung up, I thought that it would be a good idea for me to run by the school and pack up my things before any of the staff got there. So, I figured that in order for this to be possible, I would need to leave my house right then. And that’s exactly what I did. Kimora and Eric were still asleep, so I didn’t bother to wake either of them. And besides, it was a little after six a.m., so if I would’ve woke Eric up, he would’ve wanted to know why I was leaving the house so early and I really didn’t have the time that it would take to explain my motives to him, which was why I got out of there as quickly as possible.

When I arrived at the school, I noticed only one car there. But, it belonged to our head janitor, Mr. Clemons, so I was cool. He was no threat to me.

And knowing how he operated, he was probably in the back of the school, hanging out in the boiler room. And if that was the case, he wouldn’t even realize I was there, not that it mattered any.

When I entered into my office, I wasted little or no time at all throwing my things into the storage box I brought along with me. And surprisingly, it didn’t take long at all for me to get everything organized and packed away. But to be honest, I think it had something to do with my heart beating out of control and the adrenaline pumping inside of me. The fear of letting one of my teachers see me with my things was something I was really trying to avoid. So, after I cleared everything and closed my office door behind me, I headed back out to my car. And right when I was getting ready to pile all my things into the trunk, Steve came driving up and parked his vehicle right next to mine. Now, I had just gotten off the phone with this man not even forty-five minutes earlier, and he told me that he wasn’t going to come into work today, so why the fuck was he here? I knew the only way I was going to get the answer to that question was by waiting for him to get out of the car, and I was not looking forward to that because he was going to want to know why I was packing my shit in the trunk of my car. So, without further delay, I shoved everything into my car and quickly closed the trunk afterwards. But unfortunately for me, this bastard got an eyeful and went into question mode as soon as his fat ass got out of his car.

“What’s going on? I thought you were under the weather,” he said.

“Oh, I am,” I began to say. “I just needed to come up here and get a few things, so I can have something to do while I’m home. But, what about you? Because you did mention that you were under the weather yourself.”

“I am. But I got a phone call from Katherine and she’s going to meet me up here in the next hour or so, so we sort out a few things.”

“Well, have fun!” I told him and proceeded to the driver’s side of my car. But, before I could even get within a few feet of it, Steve continued by saying, “Why didn’t you tell me you had a drug problem too?”

I stopped in my tracks, but my heart sped forward as I turned around to face him. Every part of me wanted to crumble to pieces, because I figured, how in the world was I going to face this question head on? But, then I realized that I was only in the company of him, so my respect and dignity wouldn’t be affected that much. Katherine was the only person who had the power to rip that part of me to shreds, and since she was not there to humiliate me, the hell with both of their asses. My shit was already packed, so what could they do to me? Nothing! And when I finally got my thoughts together I said, “I beg your pardon!”

“I asked you why you didn’t tell me you had a drug problem too.”

“I’m sorry, Steve, but I’m not following you,” I replied sarcastically.

“Faith, let’s cut to the chase,” he said, walking closer in my direction. “Your drug screening came back positive.”

Trying to shield myself from degradation, I went into a state of denial and responded by saying, “There must be some kind of mistake.”

“Faith, let’s not do this.”

“Let’s not do what?” I replied nonchalantly.

“Come on, let’s take this into my office,” he urged me.

“Steve, I’m not up for going into your office right now. So, whatever it is we need to discuss, let’s do it right here.”

“But, what we need to discuss wouldn’t be appropriate to do it here.”

“Steve, just spill it out,” I demanded.

Steve looked into my eyes and said, “You know I’m going to have to let you go.” Then he paused for a moment and said, “But I will allow you to give me a letter of resignation if you fax it to my office by morning.”

I stood there speechless. My mouth wouldn’t move. So, Steve continued on to say, “Now, is that feasible enough for you?”

Humiliated to the tenth power, I somehow held my head up and said, “I can handle that.”

“Well, that’s great!” he said, patting me on my shoulder. “Because I really didn’t want to fire you.”

“Everything’s okay,” I assured him.

“Well, I’m glad to hear that. But, let me say this.”

“Go ahead. I’m listening.

“You’re a very bright and intelligent young woman. And with your credentials, you can go so very far, so please don’t let those drugs take over your life.”

“It’s just marijuana. And I only do it sparingly.”

“Faith, I don’t care what it is. Just don’t let it take your life from you.”

Respecting what Steve had to say, I took it in and pondered on it for a moment, but then all of a sudden I realized that I had bigger fish to fry. Finding a way to tell my husband that I no longer had a job was one, and trying to recondition myself to accept what I couldn’t change was the other. So, everything else was water under the bridge.

Now before Steve walked off, he told me he had a couple of other people he had to send packing. So, I said, “Wait, there’s more?”

“Yes, there is.”

“Who?”

“Let’s just say that Mr. Evans, the biology teacher; and Mrs. Templeton, the music teacher, aren’t as righteous as they appear to be.”

Stunned by Steve’s response, my eyes protruded instantly. But, I refused to make a comment. It would’ve been very hypocritical of me. So, with little effort on my part, I just shook my head in disbelief and waved him a goodbye.

It had been a week since I’d become unemployed, and I had to admit that it didn’t feel half bad. Speaking of which, I showed Eric the resignation letter I faxed it to Steve. So, there was little convincing on my part that it was solely my decision to make the transition, and telling him that my decision to leave had a lot to do with the strain our marriage was under, was like putting icing on the cake. So, trust me, he ate it up. But during the day while he was at work, I made it a habit to hang out at Teresa’s place. Now, there was always something unusual going on over there, and believe me, today was no different.

“Girl, you aren’t gonna believe what I am about to tell you,” she said the moment she opened up her front door to me.

“What’s going on now?” I asked.

Teresa closed the front door behind me, and as we began to walk in the direction of her living room, she grabbed my hand and placed in the center of her stomach. So, I stopped in my tracks and said, “Don’t tell me you’re pregnant.”

Her face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Yep, I sure am.”

“So, what are you going to do?” I wondered.

“I’ma keep it,” she replied with certainty.

When we reached the living room, she sat down and I took a seat next to her. And the whole time, all she was doing was rambling on about how happy she was and that she was sure this baby would bring her and Darren back together. So, I stepped in and said, “Don’t set yourself up to get your feelings hurt.”

“My feelings aren’t going to get hurt,” she replied in a cocky manner.

“They will if you think Darren is going to leave his wife and come back to you because you say you’re pregnant.”

“He ain’t gotta leave this wife. I don’t mind sharing.”

“Girl, you need to wake up and leave that lady’s husband alone. All you really need to be concerned about is that he takes care of that baby.”

“Oh, trust me. He will.”

“So, when are you going to break the news to him?”

“I’ve been trying to call him all morning, but he’s still not accepting my phone calls. So, I left him a message and told him that he needed to call me because it was very important. But, if he doesn’t, I’m going to go right back ’round his house and show the fuck out!”

“And what is that going to solve?”

“All I’m trying to do is get some attention.”

I laughed and shook my head. “Well, you’ll definitely get some attention that way,” I assured her and then I immediately changed the subject. “You got some blow?”

“You know I do,” she said, all excited, as she attempted to retrieve a plastic baggie from her front jean pocket. “I just got this delivered right before you got here.”

“Why is it so brown?”

“That’s because it’s all heroin.”

“I’m not doing that shit by itself,” I protested.

“Stop fretting! I still got a little bit of coke left over from last night.”

“Well, get it. ’Cause, I’m ready to get fucked up!” I announced in a cheery kind of way, taking off my jacket to get a little more comfortable.

Minutes later, Teresa had everything situated on top of the coffee table in front of us. Now from the looks of the bag of dope, and all the items such as the plate, the razor blade, a straw, the cotton balls, the beer bottle cap filled with tap water, the cigarette lighter and the syringe, I could only assume that Teresa was about to do some type of surgery on herself. I was literally baffled by the cigarette lighter and the syringe. So, I asked her, “What is all this shit for?”

“Oh, don’t worry! I ain’t gon’ try to put you on to this. That’s why I placed a straw on the table.”

“So, when did you start shooting up?”

“I’ve been doing it on and off for about two months now. Trust me; it ain’t no biggie.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?”

“Yeah, if you don’t know what you’re doing. But, I’ve gotten plenty of practice by doing it with Eugene.”

“So, are you going to mix it?”

“No, ma’am!” she began to say, as I watched her draw the water up into the syringe, “I’m gonna do straight dope this time.”

Curious about what she was going to do next, I watched her next moves very closely as she dumped a small amount of heroin into the other end of the syringe. Next, she shook up the syringe, dissolving all of the drug into the water and then she shot it out of the other end into the bottle top. Seconds later, she picked up the cigarette lighter and lit the bottom of the top with a small flame for about six seconds, and then stuck a small piece of cotton ball into the top. “What’s that cotton for?” I wanted to know.

“I’m using it as a filter, so I won’t pull up any of the trash from the dope or the bottle top into the syringe,” she replied, drawing up all the liquid through the needle. “Here we go,” she continued as she pushed the tip of the needle into a bulging vein located in the crease of her arm.

Seeing the blood trickle back up into the needle scared the hell out of me, so I said, “You’re bleeding!”

“Don’t worry, I’m okay,” she assured me.

Moments later, she injected the blood-mixed drug into her arm. And as it began to travel through her veins, she slowly closed her eyes and laid her head back against the head rest of the sofa. Now, watching her go through this major transition had me at a loss for words. I honestly did not know whether to leave her alone or shake her just to make sure she was still alive. Once I realized that she was off into a zone, I left well enough alone and started on my journey to my next high.

Unlike Teresa, I felt like sniffing the drugs would be a lot safer, which was exactly what I did, and I had a fucking blast once it hit me. And from that point, I drifted off into la-la land.

Teresa and I used up the entire gram of heroin, along with the rest of the coke she had saved from the day before, so we were high as fucking kites. But, by the time our kite started descending, Teresa started ranting and raving and crying her poor little heart out. She was completely falling apart on me as she began to vent about how fucked up her life was. Truthfully speaking, I still had somewhat of a buzz going on, so I wasn’t feeling the fact that she was blowing my high. So, I said, “Hey, can you calm down! You’re fucking up my high!”

“I’m sorry, girl,” she apologized. “But, if I don’t get to talk to Darren by nightfall I am going to go crazy!”

“Girl, you are not going to go crazy.”

“Yes, I am. You have no idea what that man has done to me.” The tears began to fall from her eyes.

“Well, whatever it is, you need to shake it off because he’s not going to come around.”

“We’ll see!” Teresa commented and abruptly got up from the sofa.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“To his house,” she replied, slipping on a pair of sneakers.

“Teresa, please don’t go over there,” I begged her.

“You know what? Fuck that! This nigga has been avoiding me for far too long. And right now, I got some shit I need to get off of my chest.”

Before I could try to talk her out of bum-rushing Darren’s house, she had already grabbed her car keys and was headed out the front door. The last words I heard her say were, “I’ll be right back.”

Realizing how serious she was, I knew I couldn’t just sit here and let her go off on her own and do God knows what. So, I jumped to my feet and followed her. Truth be told, I wanted to make a U-turn and carry my red ass home. But, under the circumstances, I decided against it. Who knew? Maybe I’d be able to talk her out of walking up to his front door and making a fool out of herself.

During the drive I tried several attempts to call her on her cellular phone, but she refused to answer it. So, I since I couldn’t make contact with her this way, I continued to tail her in my car. We ended up in a beautiful upscale neighborhood in the Great Neck area of Virginia Beach. The houses there had to be at least $600,000 or better. And to get there, it only took us twenty minutes, so we were there in a flash. Teresa was able to get there a few minutes before me, because of the lead she had on me. So, by the time I was able to park my car directly behind hers, she was already out of the car and on her way up to Darren’s front door. It seemed like everything was going in fast motion and there was no way for me to stop any of it, which seemed like a disadvantage on my part.