There's Nothing Like a Trail of Blood to Find Your Way Back Home

Nikki’s POV

I’m drowning

That thought ran around in my head like dogs chasing after one of those fake rabbits at a dog track. I feel like I’m drowning myself in all the drugs. It’s the usual heroin, yes, but I’m back to what I did when I was younger: my combination of cocaine and heroin along with my constant drinking. My only company was Morgan who supplied me with everything I could possibly want. Food was delivered to me but I mainly wanted sugar or lemons.

Lemons help dissolve brown heroin so that I don’t have to dilute it in water when heated. Sugar keeps me happy because I develop an intense need for anything sweet so why not eat sugar? Its sweet and I like it.

It has been so long and I still remember what to do to make my heroin life easier. Funny.

The clock tolled and I knew that Morgan was due to come anytime now. He came here once a week and each week, I just tossed him a stack totaling to five thousand dollars like I didn’t care. Actually, I didn’t care. I had millions to my name so it didn’t even bother me that I was tossing money away like that. All I cared about was getting my fix.

But you miss Mariemaia

My eyes instantly focused on the picture by my bedside. It was the only picture I brought with me. I think Hunter took it before Jimmy’s wedding. We all were in Woody Creek and I was holding my daughter in my arms, laughing as she laughed as well and hugged me. It was one of the few things that could keep me happy.

I felt a tear run down the side of my face as I picked the picture up. I have been here for about two weeks now and a day hasn’t gone by where I don’t think about my Mariemaia. It killed me when she said that she wanted to stay with her father. The moment those words left her mouth, I felt my own heart break for the second time into millions of tiny pieces. The first time would be seeing Brian with someone else.

Maybe I was better off with heroin as my main love. The only thing I have to worry about is overdosing but right now, that looks like a great thing. I’d die and be away from all problems. That seems ideal to me. I think I’d be happier in the afterlife. No worries, no problems. Hell, I wouldn’t have to even bother with eating. The afterlife looks pretty good to me.

A sigh escaped as Iwatched stared at the TV. My cell phone rang again from its place on the counter and as usual, I didn’t bother answering it. I knew that it was probably Jimmy, Tash, Hunter, or Criss trying to find me. I didn’t want them to find me. I wanted to stay hidden for the rest of my life. I didn’t want to go back to my old life, to Brian. I was better off like this.

The doorbell rang and I got up from my couch to answer it. There was only one person I was expecting and he stood right there, smiling. My bloodshot eyes narrowed as I opened the door wider so that he could come in. “Hello, Nicole,” Morgan said.

“Enough with the formalities, Morgan,” I snarled, “Here’s your money now give me my heroin.”

“So demanding,” Morgan drawled as he handed me what I wanted, “Maybe that’s what makes you so desirable.”

I glared at him and just tossed him the stack of bills, “Out.”

“I’ll see you next week, Nicole,” Morgan replied, his breath right on my ear.

I shuddered as soon as he left. After locking my door, I went straight to my room. There was only one thing I was looking forward to and that was another chase.

Tash’s POV

“What,” I spat, shocked at what Hunter told me.

“Juan saw Nikki,” Hunter repeated, “She’s back in the Springs, hiding out at her father’s house.”

I bit my lower lip when Hunter said that. Juan, his son, must have seen Nikki when she was forced to go out of that house. Seeing as she was back at her father’s house, there was only one reason behind as to why she went there out of all places. I mean, she could have gone to Van Nuys, Las Vegas, or Woody Creek. Instead, she chose to hide in her own personal Hell. The only reason for Nikki to go to Colorado Springs was because that’s where her heroin love affair started.

“There’s something else you should know, Tash,” Hunter said, pulling me away from my clouded thoughts.

“What,” I muttered, walking around outside.

As soon as I realized that this was Hunter calling my cell, I decided to talk outside. There was no way in Hell that I’d let Brian here what Nikki’s surrogate father had to say. After Nikki leaving him, he became so depressive that he went into a spiraling alcoholic binge. His own parents took Mari away from him and now currently have full custody of her. Seeing as Nikki was nowhere to be found, Brian’s parents were the only blood family she had left.

“She’s in contact with Morgan.”

I almost dropped my phone when he said that. I didn’t think that after all these years, Nikki would still turn to Morgan. He was her former drug dealer from her teenage years and I had no idea that he was still dealing around. Then again, I did hear the rumors about him now being one of those big nationwide dealers that addicts look for. So I guess there was some reason that Nikki would also go back to him whenever she needed a fix.

What scared me the most was the fact that Nikki was a mother. Mariemaia was her only daughter, her only remaining blood member. Cody and Julia passed away, her mother was passed away when she was thirteen, and her father killed himself when he was in jail. Even then, her father was Cody and Julia’s only child and he was adopted. There’s no record of his real parents and even then, they probably wanted nothing to do with Nikki. By having a daughter, Mari had become the sole heir to everything that belonged to the McCade family. Millions of dollars in businesses and cash would go to a four-year-old if anything happened to Nikki. There was no way that Mari would be able to handle it.

Nikki was killing herself and not realizing what she’d be doing if she actually succeeded in that death.

“We have to get her out of there, Hunter,” I said, trying not to cry, “There has to be a way we can get her out of there.”

“You know how she is, Tash,” Hunter sighed, “We would have to literally kidnap her.”

“That’s our only option. Avenged Sevenfold is touring and we’re in Englewood,” I told him.

“That’s three hours away from Woody Creek and from here its four hours to Colorado Springs,” Hunter said, “How long are you here for?”

“Three days.”

“We’ll need to get a move on it now. Get Liz and Leane and then get me. We’re going to get Nikki back.”

Liz, Leane, and I got a ride all the way to Woody Creek and from there, Hunter drove us in the Great Red Shark to Colorado Springs. We knew that we would need Hunter when it came to getting Nikki out alive; we just hoped that for some reason, she’d be passed out to make our live easier. That and the house that belonged to her father was in a gated community and Hunter would be the only one allowed in so as long as we were with him, it made our lives easier.

It was only an hour before we reached our destination and I knew that the anxiety was eating all of us. Nikki had been missing for a couple of months now and Brian started drinking more that he should have. Mari was confused at what was going on and why her mother had suddenly gone missing. How could we explain to her that her father had screwed up causing her mother to leave? How could we tell her that her mother was most likely back on heroin and her father kept drinking just so that he could dream of her?

There was no way to tell Mari any of that and it killed all of us. It especially killed Brian when his parents came to his house and took his daughter away from him. Personally, I don’t blame him. Nikki grew up with a father who drank all the time and he’d beat her too. I’m guessing that’s why they took her: they were scared. But Brian didn’t see it that way. He saw it as him losing everything he loved.

I actually felt bad for him.

“Name please and where you are going,” the guard at the gate said.

“Hunter Thompson and we’re going to the McCade home,” Hunter said, “We’re picking someone up.”

“Oh, Ms. Nicole,” the guard asked, “Someone came by earlier to go see her. He said his name was Morgan Blashco.”

Instantly, we all looked at the guard with shocked looks on our faces when he said that name.

“How long ago,” Liz asked.

“About an hour ago.”

Within that hour, Nikki was guaranteed to have already injected herself with heroin and was probably passed out somewhere. It was obvious that she would have already done something like that.

“Okay, thanks,” Hunter said as he pulled forward and headed down this familiar street to the McCade house.

Jaws dropped as we saw Nikki’s beloved Mercedes sitting on the driveway. That car was one of her non-living prized possessions, well, that and her Lamborghini, her paintings, and this music box her mother had given her when she was little. Strange thing was that music box was sitting in her office back in Las Vegas. Liz looked at the Mercedes and saw that it was unlocked. After opening it, what came out scared all of us. She had bags of cocaine and used syringes sitting on the passenger seat.

If this was in her car, then we could only guess what was in the house.

“The door is unlocked,” Leane called as she checked her front door.

I checked it and she was right, the door was unlocked. Slowly and cautiously, we opened and stepped inside. The smell of lemons and other citric acids immediately filled our nostrils and instantly, we knew that Nikki was high. Heroin is normally an undetectable smell but when combined with whatever it was mixed it, then you can smell it.

“Where is she,” Hunter muttered, covering his nose.

“Don’t know,” I muttered.

I heard a loud groan coming from the other room and I went to go check it out. Inside, there was only a piano sitting there, no couches or anything else. Yet there were strange sounds coming from the piano, as if there were something pressing against the strings inside. Nervously, I opened the lid of the piano and I almost screamed.

Lying inside the piano was Nikki who was passed out. Her nose was bleeding, indicating that she had snorted cocaine and her arms were also bleeding. Turning over one arm, I could see the track marks that now adorned her skin. Strange thing was that she was finely dressed. She didn’t look like a typical heroin junkie, instead, she still looked like she was from pure wealth….well, aside from the fact that she had the smell of drugs all over her.

“Oh god,” I muttered as I tried to carry her out, “You’re so light.”

“Holy shit,” Liz said as she walked in, “Nikki?”

Nikki groaned but didn’t wake up.

Hunter came in and instantly covered his mouth as he saw the sight of his surrogate daughter. “Cocaine nose and trendy clothes,” Hunter said as he led us back to his car, “I guess that’s true to Nikki fashion.”