Crying On A Saturday Night

This task was definitely not going to be easy on me. To tell the truth, I was scared. I was scared that Charlotte wasn't going to be able to get over this addiction. Heroin is tricky business, and I remember when Johnny got into that shit a couple years back. But Johnny was nowhere near as bad as Charlotte was this time, so I was scared.

The first thing I had to do was lock up anything that could be considered a weapon in case Charlotte got violent during her withdrawals. The second step, was to do a thorough search of her room.

I trudged my way up to her room, with Charlotte trailing behind me. We got to her room and I stood to the side.

"You can either make it easy on both of us and hand over everything you've got, or I can search the room," I said quietly. She nodded without a word being said and walked over to her desk, opening a drawer. She rummaged around until she pulled out the heroin and the needles. She quietly walked back to me and handed them over.

"Is this all of it?" I asked, and she nodded before walking over to her bed and sitting down, an empty expression on her face. I noticed the way she walked, like she was fragile. She was fragile.

"Thank you," I said in a hushed tone before I left the room. I disposed of the drugs and stood at the kitchen sink, looking out the window in front of me. I sighed deeply and felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist.

"You alright baby?" Michelle asked as she rested her cheek against my back. I sighed again.

"I dunno... I'm just scared for her. I don't think she really knows how hard this is going to be. Hell, I don't even really know how hard this is going to be."

".... I'll help you however I can. I'm here for you..."

"I know baby, I know," I said as I turned around to face her and wrapped my arms around her waist.

Charlotte had spent the remaining hours of the day up in her room. But when I called her down for dinner, I could tell that things were already in motion. There was no turning back.

She sat down at her spot at the table and I could see a fine sheen of sweat on her skin. She looked like she could pass out at any moment, and boy was she pale. She kind of say there in a daze before I noticed her starting to shiver.

Michelle looked at me sympathetically before she turned to Charlotte and placed a hand on Charlotte's forehead.

"She's running a fever," she stated quietly. I nodded, knowing there was really nothing either of us could do for her at this point.

I noticed after I started to eat that Charlie started to get really fidgety and couldn't sit still in her chair. I remember Johnny was like that too; he could never get comfortable.

"Charlie are you gonna eat anything?" I asked. She shook her head no before she yawned and rubbed her eyes slowly. "You wanna try and sleep?" She nodded, and slowly got up, retreating back to her room.

"Daddy, is Charlie okay?" Jack asked. I sighed heavily.

"No buddy, she's really sick," I said.

"Is she gonna get better?" he asked after that.

"Not for a long time..." I said, and he looked back at me with sad eyes. I looked from him to Michelle and she placed her hand over mine, and we all sat in silence as we continued on with dinner.

I woke in the middle of the night hearing noises coming from down the hall. I pulled on a shirt from off the floor and slowly crept out of my bed, being careful not to wake Michelle. I walked down the hall to Charlotte's room, where she was hunched over on her hands and knees down on the floor as she threw up. I rushed over and kneeled down by her side as I rubbed her back. She had tears staining her cheeks and she was literally drenched in a cold sweat.

She coughed for the last couple of times and leaned back, resting on her legs. She wiped her mouth on her sleeve and sat there breathing shakily as she stared at the wall. I kept stroking her back and she sniffled a couple of times. Her eyes were completely bloodshot.

"I-I'm sorry Brian... I tried to get to the bathroom but I just..."

"Shh, don't worry about it. Its okay Charlie, its not your fault," I said quietly to her. "Come on, you go clean yourself up and I'll clean up in here, alright? Can you do that by yourself?" I asked gently. She barely nodded and I got up, slowly pulling her up after me. I took her down to the bathroom where I left her to clean herself up before I hurried down to the kitchen to get the cleaning supplies. I went back up to Charlotte's room where I got to work on cleaning up. Thankfully there wasn't much there to begin with.

I got everything cleaned and Charlotte slowly walked back into the room where she just walked over to her dresser and changed her shirt, not caring that I was there at all. I helped her get back in bed, where I gently brushed the damp hair off her forehead and watched her close her eyes. I stayed there with her, waiting for her to fall asleep, and every time she was almost out, she'd open here eyes and get into a different position. Finally, after an hour and a half, she finally fell asleep, so I gently got up from my spot on the side of her bed and walked back down to my room. I scooted back into bed, when I felt Michelle stir.

"What is it, Bri?" she asked groggily as she opened her eyes and looked at me.

"Nothin'... Char got sick so I had to go take care of her. Go back to sleep baby," I said before I leaned over and kissed her lips lightly. She settled back down and was soon asleep again. I tried to sleep, but I couldn't do anything but think.

This was only the beginning...

When I woke up the next morning, the house was quiet. Michelle was still asleep next to me, and I didn't hear any noises from neither Jack's nor Charlie's rooms. It was only seven , so I didn't expect anyone to be awake anyways. I slowly snuck my way out of bed and quietly walked down to Charlie's room to check on her. She was asleep in her bed. Her forehead was glistening; she was still in a cold sweat.

As I turned to leave the room, she started to stir and mumble in her sleep. I turned back and watched her. I watched as her face contorted in pain and her eyes scrunched up tight. She whimpered and slowly her body started to convulse there on the bed, starting down at her legs and spreading to the rest of her body. I went to her side.

"Charlie... Charlie honey, wake up," I said to her as I took a hold of her hand. The convulsions started to wake her up and she looked at me before tears started to leak from her eyes.

"Brian, wha-what's happening to m-me?" she asked shakily.

"Its all a part of the withdrawals. It should die down in a couple minutes..." I said to her. Her grip on my hand tightened as she sobbed and let the shakes take over her body. After about five minutes, the shaking was gone and she lay there, trying to calm herself down. She sniffled as she looked over at me. I was still at her side with her hand in mine.

"It hurts..." she cried softly.

"I know Charlie, I know..." I said, trying to comfort her. "It's gonna happen a lot, and they're gonna get worse. If it happens again and I'm not in here, I want you to call for me, okay?" I asked her. She nodded slowly. "Are you hungry? Cuz I can go make you something if you want..."

"I'm not in the mood to eat... I just wanna sleep. I didn't sleep good last night and I feel sick," she whispered.

"Alright. You just try to relax. We've got a long way to go before you get better," I said before giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. I got up from her bed and headed down to my room, where Michelle was still asleep. I was thankful she hadn't woken up. Soon she'll be waking up to it for sure.

I walked down the hall to my son's room where he was soundly asleep in his bed. I smiled faintly as I leaned against the doorway and looked in on him. He somehow gave me hope that there was always a brighter tomorrow. But no I'm not sure what lies in store for us tomorrow, or the day after that, or the day after that. Things were going to have to get worse before they got better. And things did get worse. A lot worse...

That very same day, a Wednesday to be precise, I was sitting in the living room with Michelle while Jack was at school, just taking in the silence around us. I knew there wasn't going to be much silence around here anymore.

"BRIAN!" I heard someone scream. It snapped my from my thoughts and Michelle looked over at me with wide eyes. We both jumped off the couch and raced up the stairs to Charlie.

She was shaking again, only this time it was much more violent. She was actually smacking her arms about, and kicking. I went to her side while Michelle went around to the other side, and tried to take her hand. Her hands were balled into fists, and I unexpectedly got a swift punch to the jaw. I was able to grab her thrashing hand with one of mine, while I massaged my jaw with my other hand. Michelle had gotten a hold of Charlotte's other hand and had it pinned down to the mattress. I did the same with the hand I was holding, but her legs were going insane.

"Try to control it Charlotte," I said firmly. She clenched her teeth together and tossed her head from side to side.

"I can't! IT HURTS!" she practically screamed at me. This carried on for a good half an hour until I think she actually passed out.

"Brian... that was scary," Michelle said as we went back downstairs.

"Yeah... and its only gonna get worse."