How Long Can You Hide That Belly?

My parents are adamant that it was neither my place, nor my business. I guess that's up for the individual to decide.

My aunt is four years my senior and is the perfect example of how not to live your life. She had to drop out of high school due to pregnancy. One would hope this would be a tale of a teen mother doing right by her child and stepping up to the responsibility she now had. However, the moment her daughter was born, she was passed to her grandparents to be raised.

My aunt still resided with them, if you could call it that. She continued to have unprotected sex with multiple partners, rarely coming home. While I knew that she was still as irresponsible as ever, my grandparents had done an excellent job of keeping her dirty little secrets under wraps for years. When she was arrested the first time, it all came out in the open. She had been involved in burglary and prostitution, both to feed an addiction. Heroine. She had also had four abortions over the course of those years. My grandparents, who are very poor, put a second mortgage on their home to bail her out of prison. She was actually arrested a second time while waiting for sentencing for selling illegal guns. My grandparents proceeded to sell all of their valuables to get her the best lawyer possible. She got a six month sentence.

Fast forward to current time. My grandparents are still raising her daughter, who recently asked,
"Why is mommy mean to me?" She was fired from her job taking care of a paraplegic man because she brought along her boyfriend, who proceeded to pull out needles and clean them. She is on her sixth pregnancy. My grandparents are adamant that she isn't using again, but the odds of that are slim to none. They bought nothing for my entire family for Christmas. They paid off all of her fines instead, so she wouldn't go back to jail. All of this, when she has been out of prison for three months. And the kicker? We're the only part of the family that knows she's pregnant, they're trying to hide it.

I was recently watching a talk show, during which they advertised, "Is someone you love suffering from a heroine addiction?" And offered a help line. Not really believing anything would come of it, I emailed them. I did it because I have listened for years while my parents said, "she's going to kill herself one of these days." And then not actually do anything about it. While I am aware I cannot magically fix her, I didn't want that day to come, when she overdosed and not a single person had done a thing to prevent it. To sit by and essentially allow it.

A couple of nights ago, they called me. And asked for her phone number. I work at the same place as my grandmother, and now she won't even look at me. I don't think anything actually came of it, and now I'm alienated from my family. I feel foolish and naïve. I get sweaty palms when I have to call the doctor on my own, I'm barely an adult. What right did I have to involve myself in affairs that were outside of my knowledge?

At the same time, I'm not sorry. I'd do it again, if there was a chance of any good coming from it.