by Alex Pitt
“What’s your name, son?” I asked, much softer than he deserved.
“Sam Higgins, ma’am,” and I was surprised at his politeness. I wasn’t a fool though, and I could tell it was just an act.
“Right, Sam, are your parents home?” Unsurprisingly, he shook his head. “OK, I need everyone to leave. Either they can go of their own free will, or we’ll start forcing them out. We’ll need to do a quick search as well, just to make sure you weren’t taking anything dodgy tonight.”
“Come on, Officer,” he pleaded, and I almost felt sorry for him. Almost. “We’ve all just finished college. We wanna have a good time. If I turn the music down, can they all stay?”
“Not a chance,” I barked, making both Sam and Rory stiffen. “I have to say, I’m not very impressed with the ten or so people passed out in the drive.”
“I’m just trying to be a good host. It’s up to them what they do with it.”
“That may be. Nonetheless, I need everyone out.”
I pushed past Sam and headed into the house. Someone switched the music off, and people started heading out of the back door. Most of them knew that a visit from the police was never a good sign, and they’d decided to split. Fortunately for Sam, there was actually a way out to the street through the back garden.
It took us ten minutes to clear everyone out downstairs, then we had a quick rummage around. I didn’t think we’d find anything too terrible, and I was right. We searched cupboards, closets, sofas, anywhere that the kids might have hidden drugs. As it turned out, the only drugs there was the alcohol itself. Despite most of the kids not being old enough to drink it, it wasn’t something we would send them all to jail for. Stern words and a formal visit were enough.
“Alright, I think we’re clear down here,” I said to Rory, heading for the stairs.
“Are we going up?” he asked me, and I nodded. “But what if we see people in bed?”
“Then make sure you’ve got your camera going,” I laughed and made my way to the landing.
There were so many rooms up there, and I didn’t know which one to start with. Opening a door at random, I found myself standing in a sparkly white bathroom. It was obviously loved by Sam’s parents and looked like it had cost a pretty penny to have it installed, but it was currently ruined by someone passed out in the bathtub and a red smear of lipstick on the mirror above the sink.
“Wake the hell up,” I shouted at the kid, slapping him gently on the cheek.
Groaning, he opened his eyes and stared at me. He saw the police uniform, and that was enough to jolt him up completely. Grinning at his misfortune of being caught by us, I had a quick hunt round for anything naughty, before moving on.
The next few rooms didn’t contain any people, and certainly no drugs. The sheets were all messed up though, and Sam’s parents struck me as the sort of people who would leave the house looking pristine, judging by the bathroom and the overall landscape of the house. This made me think that people had been occupying the bed, but had left recently.
In the room at the end of the corridor, it was the same situation. Messed up sheets and a vague stench of sweat and shame were the only evidence that anyone had been there. I moved over to the window and peered out, scanning the front lawn. I could just about see it from over the garage roof, and most of the people passed out had gone. There were still a couple hanging around, but we could clear them up on the way out.
“It looks like they had a fun night,” I muttered.
The window had been left open, and I closed it now, before heading out of the room and back down the stairs.
Chapter Nineteen
Daisy wasn’t in a good way at all. Blood was still covering her chin, and some was oozing from her nose. She was as pale as a ghost and, for the first time since I’d met her, she wasn’t very attractive.
So many thoughts were racing through my head as I squeezed through the large window upstairs and onto the garage roof. Why had she taken drugs? There were things she was hiding from me, she’d said as much herself. Was that part of the reason she’d taken them? It wasn’t like her at all, and I couldn’t help but wonder who’d given them to her.
Whoever it was, I was so angry with them. Angry with them and angry with Daisy. A drug dealer can sell drugs, but Daisy had made a conscious decision to take them. We’d have a serious conversation about this later, but I needed to make sure she was better first.
The sensible thing would have been to take her to the hospital. The only problem was, we wouldn’t be able to get there on foot. It was too far away, and public transport was out of the question. Even if we did manage to get to the hospital, I was sure they’d report her to the police. It was a good job I had faith in myself. I could look after Daisy. I was just thankful that my mum was on holiday.
“Oh my God,” I muttered, standing on the flat garage roof and staring down at the ground.
I hadn’t estimated how much of a gap there was. I could probably have made it by myself, spraining my ankle on the way, but it was impossible with Daisy. I had to hold on to her, and we wouldn’t both make the jump, not without serious injury.
“Jack,” Daisy muttered, her blue lips twitching as she said my name.
“I’ve got you, baby,” I told her, tears streaking down my face.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, opening her eyes. I was glad to see them open. Maybe she could get herself down now, but it only lasted for a second before they flickered and disappeared to the back of her head.
“We’ll talk about it later, Daisy,” and I kissed her forehead. I wouldn’t be going anywhere near her lips for a while, not until they’d had a clean and several brushes with toothpaste.
I still had the small sachet of cocaine in my pocket, and Daisy’s bag over my shoulder. I was praying the police didn’t come back out of the house now. It would raise some serious questions if they saw the two of us on the garage roof, especially the condition Daisy was in.
I stood there for a few minutes, deciding what to do. Daisy didn’t weigh very much, but my arms were starting to hurt. There was nothing else I could do. The only way we were getting out of this was if we left right now, before the police came back out.
Placing Daisy on the cold floor, I closed my eyes and whispered a prayer. I don’t pray much, this was one of the only times I had, but I remembered learning this particular one back in primary school, and I hoped it would help me now.
Still with my eyes closed, I told Daisy that I was sorry, and then used my foot to push her off the edge of the roof. It was extremely dangerous, as she could smash her head open and do so much damage internally, but all I was thinking was how to get out of there. If I’d jumped with her in my arms, I would have broken my legs, and what good would that have done?
I heard Daisy bang on the slabs and I jumped down after her. As expected, I twisted my ankle on impact, and screamed aloud. Why couldn’t the grassy section be directly in front of the garage?
I picked Daisy up, gave her a quick once-over and, miraculously, she didn’t seem to be hurt, apart from a small lump on the back of her head. There was plenty wrong with the girl, but none of it had been caused by the fall. It’s only as I looked back over the coming months that I realise how stupid pushing her off the roof was. I wasn’t thinking clearly at the time. I was too concerned with getting Daisy out of there.
“Jack?” Scooter asked me, and I turned around.
I had already been crying, but I was so close to blubbing aloud when I saw my confused friend.
“Scooter, thank God,” I cried, standing next to the road and looking around. “Daisy’s taken drugs. We need to get her out of sight, in case anyone sees her like this.”
“Oh, Jesus, fuck,” Scooter said, echoing my sentiments. “We’ll take her back to yours. It’s the closest, and your mum is away.”
“We have to take the back alleys though,” I nodded, and Scooter agreed.
He’d just come out of the side passage that led from Sam’s back gar
den to the street. Many other people had followed him, but they were too concerned with escaping from the party to spare us a glance.
Fortunately, there were a lot of back alleys we could take to get to my house and, even when we ran out of those, the roads were deathly quiet. We’d been jogging as fast as my poorly ankle would allow, taking it in turns to carry Daisy. Scooter offered to carry her the whole way because of my ankle, but I refused. She was my girl, and I wanted to help her.
“So, do you have any idea who gave her the drugs?” Scooter asked me, and I shook my head.
“When I find out, I’m not going to be happy,” I told him.
It was true that I wouldn’t be too pleased with them, but it was also true of what I’d said before. They’d been stupid enough to sell her the drugs, but Daisy had been the one to take them.
We crashed through my door, and I raced upstairs to my bedroom. This was the first time Daisy had been in my house, and it was a shame that it couldn’t have been under different circumstances. Being just me and my mum, there were only two bedrooms, so I placed Daisy on my bed. She might have been more comfortable in my mum’s double bed than my single one, but I would feel extremely guilty if I’d placed a drugged-up girl in my mother’s resting place.
“We’re just going to have to let her sleep it off,” I said to Scooter, coming back down the stairs and sitting next to him on the sofa. “She can lie there for a bit, then I’ll clean her up.”
“You still haven’t wiped the blood off her?” Scooter raised his eyebrows.
“Dude, I will. I just want to take my shoes off first. Besides, it’s dry by now.”
“God, what a mess,” Scooter said, placing his head in his hands and letting out a sigh.
“Yeah, I know,” I muttered. Then, figuring he must have found out by now, I said, “I’m sorry about Trisha.”
“Do you know what the funny thing is, Jack? I’m not sorry. I’m really not. I always secretly expected something like this would happen. It was nice to think I could trust her for a while, but I knew it wouldn’t last.”
“Just be glad you sealed the deal with her,” I chuckled, slapping Scooter on the shoulder.
Despite everything that had happened with Daisy, I was glad that Scooter had got over Trisha.
“Did you and Daisy not do anything? You looked pretty pissed off with her when she kissed Sam.”
“I was pissed off. She shouldn’t have done it, but she was drunk and it was a game. We were going to hook up when we went upstairs. We kissed and then things started happening.”
“So why didn’t you do it?” Scooter asked, and I pointed to the ceiling. He understood. “Ah. Happened too soon, did it?”
“Yeah, but I’m sort of glad. Not glad that she’s like that, of course, but when we do have sex I want it to be when we’re sober, and definitely when she hasn’t taken a shit-load of cocaine.”
“I get you,” Scooter smiled, and I was so glad he was there. I don’t know what I would have done without him.
“Listen,” I said, taking off my coat and my shoes. “I’m going upstairs to clean Daisy up, then I’m going to sit with her for a while. Can you get hold of Tom and Vince? I don’t know where they went after the party, but they were supposed to be coming here. They still can if they want to, but it might be a good idea to warn them about Daisy.”
“Yeah, no problem, mate,” Scooter replied, and I headed up the stairs.
Dipping a flannel into a sink of hot water, I rinsed it and carried it through to Daisy. It was a white flannel but we had plenty of those, and I’d have to dispose of it before my mum saw. Speaking of which, I hoped Daisy had recovered by the time my mum came home.
Pressing the flannel to her chin, I began to wipe. It took me ages to get all of the blood away, and then I had to take her top off and wash it. Fortunately, the blood managed to come out of the dark material. Leaving it to dry, I closed the door to give her some privacy and went back downstairs. Tom and Vince were here by then.
“Mate, I am so sorry about Daisy,” Vince exclaimed, clasping his arms around me.
“So am I,” Tom nodded, giving me a hug once Vince had let go.
“I just appreciate you all being here.”
“Anything we can do, mate?” Vince asked me. They were all staring at me, and I was lucky to have such supportive friends.
“No, but thanks anyway. I’ve cleaned her up, her top’s drying, and she should be alright by morning. Some of the colour’s returned to her now, and she’s breathing steadily.”
The lads accepted that and I was glad. I appreciated all of their support, but there was nothing we could do. It was almost one in the morning, and I just needed some shut-eye. I wasn’t sure if I’d actually be able to sleep with everything going on, but I did finally manage to, and I was grateful to be able to escape from the real world for a few short hours.
My alarm woke me up at six and I shut it off quickly, not wanting to wake the others. We’d all been lying downstairs, Tom and Vince on the sofas, Scooter and I on pillows on the floor. I’d woken up early so that I could see how Daisy was doing. Hopefully she’d be better by now, and then I could tidy up any remaining mess before my mum got home.
Entering the room, I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I saw her eyes open and a smile on her face. I hurried over to the bed, placed my hand on hers, and gave her a kiss on the forehead.
“Are you OK?” I asked, and she nodded.
Daisy groaned at the movement and I could tell it hurt her. I wondered if it had been the fall from the garage roof last night, but a sore neck would have been the least of our problems if the police caught us.
“What do you remember?” I questioned Daisy.
“Most of it, to be honest. We were playing truth or dare, and I kissed Sam. Something I feel disgusted about, by the way. Then we went upstairs, we caught people in bed together, but I don’t remember who.”
“Trisha and Morgan,” I informed her, and she placed her left hand on her forehead.
“Fuck, Scooter must be heartbroken.”
“Actually, he’s taking it pretty well,” I replied. “Carry on.”
I was eager to see how much of our conversation she’d remember. As it turns out, she had all of it stored safely in her memory banks.
“Well, I remember us talking,” she told me, and I smiled. Despite how stupid Daisy had been, the conversation from the night before had made me very happy. “You told me you liked me, I said I liked you. Which was true, by the way. I meant it.”
I already knew that she meant it, but this made my grin grow wider, stretching from ear-to-ear.
“We made out, we tried to hook up, but then I ruined it.”
Her brow furrowed at this, and I felt sorry for her. I could tell she regretted it. Having said that, she’d probably been sober when she accepted the drugs, so we couldn’t blame the alcohol. In fact, I had a feeling she’d acquired them at the start of the evening, and had been constantly taking them all night long, ending with the incident in the bedroom.
“Daisy, I need to ask you something, and I need you to answer honestly. Please will you do that, for me?”
“No, Jack,” and I was surprised by her response. “I can’t tell you who sold me the drugs.”
“Because you don’t remember?”
“I remember quite clearly. He’s someone that I never thought was into that sort of thing. He doesn’t seem hard enough to be dealing class A drugs.”
“Then who was it?” I pressed, but she wasn’t giving in.
“Jack, I’m not telling you because I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone. He didn’t think this would happen, so we can’t blame him. I just took too much, so it was my fault. You were never supposed to know I’d taken them.”
“Well congratulations then, Daisy. You tried to hide it from me like everything else in your life, and now look what’s happened.”
“Jack, that’s not fair,” Daisy cried, but I backed away.
“You’re the one
who isn’t fair. How could you do this to me? What sort of a monster are you, Daisy?”
With that, I hurried out of the room and back down the stairs to my friends. It seemed I’d woken them up after all, and they were looking at me, concern in their eyes.
“She’ll be fine,” I said. “But I don’t know what to do. She keeps hiding thing from me, and now she won’t tell me who sold her the fucking drugs.”
I shouted when I said this, kicking the coffee table.
“Mate, calm down,” Scooter encouraged me, standing up and placing an arm around my shoulder.
The others followed his lead, but I just wanted to be by myself.
“I am so sorry,” Vince whispered, a tear streaking down his face. It hung on his cheek for a second, then splashed to the floor.
“It’s OK, mate,” I comforted him, looking a bit confused. Why was he crying?
“No, you don’t understand.”
But then I did understand, as soon as he said that. It all fitted into place, and it was as if the whole world had crumbled apart.
“What do you mean?” I whispered, already knowing the answer.
“I gave them to her,” and the rest of us were silent as he confirmed my fears. “I gave Daisy the drugs.”
Chapter Twenty
Vincent – 4th June 2017
“That movie was utter crap,” I screamed, throwing my popcorn to the ground, making people around me jump. “So fucking crap. When are they gonna stop with these bloody pirate movies?”
“If you thought the film was gonna be crap, mate, you shouldn’t have come. I thought it was awesome.”
“Whatever,” I retorted back to the man, flipping him the finger.
A few people grumbled at me as they left, but I didn’t care. I was in the cinema by myself, something I wouldn’t usually dare be seen doing, but I’d had an argument with my folks that day. It was about revision, of course. They were pestering me to do it, and I had been. They just hadn’t seen me doing it. All they’d seen was me sitting on my arse playing Xbox, taking a much-needed break from the books. The argument had basically ended with them saying I would fail if I didn’t try hard enough, and so I walked out.