Part IX: One Year Later

Part IX: One Year Later

As time passes, life and tensions get so bad at Frank and Laura’s house, that one day, Sydd comes downstairs, and approaches Frank and Laura. “I’m moving the hell out.”

“Why man?” Frank asks.

“Because I can’t stand to be around all this s**t.”

“Man, you used to be ok and down with all this s**t, now you’re just lame.”

“Because I don’t want to fall back into that again.”

“Oh, so what if you do? It’s only meth.” Laura says.

“Only meth??!! Dude the first time I ever had meth I went into a seizure.”

“Haha, that’s funny to me.” Frank says.

“That s**t ain’t funny.”

“I’m just messing, calm your nuts.”

“I don’t care. I’m out.” Sydd takes his stuff and he hunts down Leon at Aaron’s house.

“So, you’re leaving because of the drugs?” Leon asks.

“Yes, I have some money saved up; I was hoping we could get our old place back.”

“If it’s still around.”

“I checked and it’s still available.”

“Good.” They find the house and make the arrangements to get the house back and the two of them get it back with the money Sydd had saved up while plotting his escape.  They bring their stuff over the next few days and start setting the house back to normal. Sydd is unpacking his stuff and Leon comes to a realization. “I still don’t know how you found a job and I didn’t!” Leon says.

“I told you, not everyone likes cops.”

“Yeah, but even so, there should be some merit to the fact that I was out putting my life on the line to protect their sorry a*s every single f*****g day!” He says with anger in his face.

“Know what? I can’t argue with you there, you have a very valid point. Maybe you can use that to your advantage, and do it in a place with an actual slot to fill so you have a better chance at actually getting the job.”

“It’s just bullshit that even with you being an ex con and me being a cop, that you would have a better chance at finding a job than me.”

“It also depends on where you apply, too.”

“Yeah, I guess, but still…”

“Hey, I just got lucky.”

“How DID you end up getting a job with your history anyways?”

“Funny story, I’m not the one with the worst history that works there.”

“Oh, I see…”

“Yeah, you wouldn’t have a good chance there.”

“Thanks for the heads up.”

“Sure, anytime.” There’s a knock on the door. “Could you get that? I gotta bring these boxes up to my room, and then, well, at least down here will look at least semi back to normal.” He brings the boxes up and Leon answers the door.

“Um, uh, hi.” Sydd comes back downstairs.

“Who is it- oh. Hi mom, hi dad.”

“Glad to see the house is still standing. So, why have neither of you tried to contact us in six years?” Moxxie asks the both of them.

“Well, to be honest, I was in jail for most of the time.” Sydd says.

“Gee, what a surprise.” Moxxie says sarcastically. “What about you?” She turns to Leon.

“I uh, I was pretty pissed that you left without telling me.”

“I’m sorry we had to do that, you’re right, we should have told you, but we didn’t want Sydd accidentally finding us and hitting us up for money.”

“Hey!” Sydd says.

“What did you expect? You were out of control.” Sydd sr. says.

“I know I was a dick, but, trust me, I’m not like that anymore, I haven’t been for awhile.”

“We’ll see how long it lasts.”

“That’s not fair! I’m trying! Did you know that I was so depressed that you were gone I did a line of heroin and coke in one line?”

“I don’t want to hear this, and I know your mother doesn’t want to hear this, and your siblings shouldn’t be hearing this! Watch your mouth!”

“It’s the truth though.”

“That’s a bit of an exaggeration.”

“I realize that now, but at the time, I was a stupid kid who still thought everything revolved around me, and I was already on the drugs.”

“Do you understand why we did it though?”

“Yeah, I know, and I respect your decision, but I’m going to tell you that I think you might have exaggerated too, but that’s just my own personal opinion.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you’re finally starting to understand.”

“Understand what?” Sydd sr. doesn’t respond.

“Good to see you’re not a wreck anymore, bro.” Rayne says.

“Thanks, sis.” Sydd says.

“Are you still a cop, Leon?” Lance, the youngest, asks.

“No, I quit just recently, actually.” Leon says.

“Why exactly did you quit?” Sydd sr. asks.

“I couldn’t handle it anymore, I went patrol, to narcotics, to homicide, and that’s where I hit my breaking point. I couldn’t handle dead bodies like I thought I could, I couldn’t go back into narcotics because I fell too deep undercover, and I sure as hell don’t wanna go back to patrol.”

“So what are you planning to do now?”

“I have no idea yet.”

“Good plan, I hope you’re finding a way to support yourself.” He says sarcastically.

“Well, Sydd has a bunch of money saved up from his job until I can find one.”

“Sydd has a job? No way!”

“Yeah, believe it or not, he actually found one and I couldn’t.”

“Wow, where are you working?”

“Um, just a restaurant, washing dishes.” Sydd says.

“It’s a start. Good to hear you’re not on drugs anymore and being productive.”

“Yeah, I feel the best that I have in years.”

“That’s good to hear. So, do either of you have a girlfriend?”

“No, no we don’t, in fact, that’s why I was in jail for so long, 4 ½ years, there was a little delay in getting to scheduling my parole hearing, they put it off like, three times before I finally got out.”

“Why were you in jail because of a girlfriend?”

“Wow, I thought you would’ve heard about it on the news or gossip, I killed her.”

“I just wanted to hear you admit it. How about you, weren’t you with Charlotte?” He turns to Leon.

“Yeah, but she cheated and got pregnant.” Leon says.

“Ah, I see. Anything else new?”

“Actually, yeah.” Sydd says.

“What?”

“I, uh, went back to jail for six months for assault. Both times I went to jail was because I had an attack, causing me to act violently. The first time, I was just straight out junkie and not taking my meds at all; but, during the second time, I don’t know why…” He says.

“Well basically, take your meds and you’ll stay out of jail, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out.”

“It wasn’t just that though, he was beating her pretty badly.”

“What do you mean?”

“I ended up flipping out because the guy I beat up was mercilessly beating his girlfriend.”

“So you did it in a sort of defense?”

“Yeah.”

“It still doesn’t justify what you did; you still deserved what you got.”

“I know, I just wanted to clarify how and what and why it happened, in case you hear or may have heard anything.”

“Thanks for being so honest, you’ve improved since the last time we saw each other. Well, we’ll leave you two back to your own devices, keep in touch. We love you.” Moxxie says.

“We love you too, guys.” Sydd and Leon’s family leave the house.

“Wow, that was unexpected.” Leon says.

“Yeah, yeah it was.” Sydd says.

“Alright, man, let’s just chill out for the rest of the night, order in a pizza, and watch some movies.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” The next day, there is a knock on the door and Leon answers it. “What’s up, Aaron?”

“I got some heavy news for you, man.”

“Um, come in. What’s up?” Aaron comes inside, and they sit down.

“Carmella died.”

“What? That’s it?”

“What do you mean ‘that’s it’?”

“Lemme guess: she killed herself.”

“Did you hear already?”

“No, I knew it was a matter of time.”

“But how?”

“She was Rob’s mental slave, without him, she probably thought she had nothing.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“I’m serious, from what I saw and from what Sydd told me, he owned her.”

“I wouldn’t know, I just talked to her here and there.”

“I only saw her a couple of times, and not for very long.”

“I tried hanging out with her, but she said she wasn’t allowed.”

“She wasn’t allowed?”

“Yeah, she said Rob would get mad if she talked to other guys and she wasn’t allowed to have male friends.”

“That’s weird, then why did Rob allow me to f**k her?”

“Wait, you fucked Carmella?”

“Yeah, I thought you knew about that.”

“No, what happened?”

“Um, me and Charlotte got into a fight, and temporarily split, then I got wasted, called up Carmella and fucked her, of course she did ask me for twenty bucks to go ho-…oh…she probably just bought drugs for her and Rob.”

“Yeah, probably.”

“Wow, she prostituted herself for drug money and I inadvertently went along with it, I’m a disgrace to the uniform that I once wore, I was never fit to be a cop.”

“Dude, don’t be so hard on yourself, everyone makes mistakes.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Seriously, don’t sweat it.”

“How?”

“How what?”

“How did she kill herself?”

“They said she hung herself in her cell.”

“I bet you he told her to do it.”

“You really think so?”

“It’s possible; I wouldn’t put it past either of them.”

“Does anything surprise you anymore?”

“Not really.”

“Charlotte’s taking it pretty hard.”

“I don’t give a flying f**k.”

“Wow, you don’t have to be so harsh about it.”

“I haven’t cared in years.”

“You know since her boyfriend husband thing died, she’s been drinking nonstop.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, she pawned her kids off on her dad, and she’s been going to bars and buying bottles of booze and just, she’s off the deep end.”

“Is she still working?”

“Nope, living off of unemployment.”

“Oh well, sucks to be her…Next topic please.”

“I- just I-ok. So, you and your brother are back to living together again?”

“Yeah, he finally fulfilled his promise and got clean and a job and s**t all taken care of. That, and we also saw our parents and siblings yesterday.”

“No way!”

“Yeah.”

“How did that go?”

“Well, I’m not sure, actually.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean they showed up out of nowhere, asked for an update, and left.”

“That’s weird.”

“Yeah, and my brother and my dad got into an argument about why they left.”

“Oh, wow.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, what’d he say?”

“He blamed it all on Sydd,”

“Oh, wow, so why did they come back?”

“To check up on us and find out why we haven’t contacted them.”

“What’d you say?”

“That I was mad.”

“So how are they doing?”

“Good, it’s been so long since I’ve seen them all.”

“I guess they seem a lot different now.”

“Yeah, it’s crazy how life changes and we don’t even notice it.”

“Word.” Sydd comes into the house.

“Hey, did you guys hear that Carmella hung herself?” Sydd says.

“Yes.” They both say.

“Oh…crazy, huh? Though I kinda saw it coming…”

“Us too.” Leon says.

“Ok, so I’m not just the only one who saw that then.”

“Yeah, they’re both dead now.”

“Wow, yeah, you’re right.”

“How do you feel?”

“What do you mean?”

“Now that Rob’s dead.”

“Oh, well, I mean, he WAS my best friend for a good amount of years, and after the first time I cleaned up, I saw what a monster he truly was. I can’t believe I chose him to be my friend through my life; he was such a piece of s**t. Of course, when I finally saw what he really was, I decided to let him know what I thought of him, and we got into a huge fight.  I still remember that day: I had just gotten out of rehab and I was super clean and didn’t have the urge to do drugs anymore, but that didn’t stop me from relapsing anyway…”

It enters a flashback: Sydd is talking to Janis and Leon with Charlotte waiting in the car. “Ok, then, um, if you’ll excuse me I have a couple of people I need to erase out of my life.” Sydd says. He turns around and starts walking down the street. He finally reaches Rob’s house and bangs on the door.

“What the f**k do you want?” Rob asks with a sneer.

“I’m here to tell you what a piece of s**t you are!”

“Oh yeah, and how am I a piece of s**t, exactly?”

“Because you’re a horrible person, it’s your fault I got addicted to drugs and everything bad that has happened since because of it.”

“Oh, so it’s my fault your life sucks?”

“Yeah.”

“Well guess what? I never shoved those drugs down your throat!”

“You enabled it by starting me on it!”

“Again, it was your choice!”

“F**k you; you’re a piece of s**t anyway, because you treat people like s**t, and not just me. Carmella’s practically your own personal crack w***e.” Carmella comes outside after hearing this and gets in between the two of them.

“Did you just f*****g call me a crack w***e you scumbag?” Carmella says to Sydd.

“That’s basically what you are.”

“Yo dude, shut the hell up about my girlfriend” Rob says.

“No, because it’s true.” Rob punches Sydd in the face and Sydd punches him back in the face. The two start fighting and Carmella tries to break them up.

“It went on like that for another ten minutes before he ran into the house like a coward. I kept shouting at the window, but he just stayed in there…”

“Get out here, you p***y!” Rob pokes his head out of the window.

“If you don’t get the hell out of here, I’ll take care of it myself!”

“I’ll tell everyone what you did, and you’re going to go down for it!”

“Do it and I will make sure that I do end up killing you.” He retreats back into the house and shuts the window.

“I F*****G HATE YOU, YOU DESTROYED MY LIFE!! C’MON, ANSWER ME!” Sydd walks towards Rob’s house and bangs on the door. Rob answers it, and steps out of the doorway.

“You again? Listen p***y; get the F**K OUT OF HERE NOW!” Rob yells to Sydd.

“NO YOU LISTEN, YOU SACK OF S**T! YOU’VE KEPT ME IN HELL FOR EIGHT YEARS AND NOW IM FINALLY OUT!”

“I KEPT YOU IN HELL? You did it to yourself. You’re the one who kept coming back here, a*****e. GO F*****G SUCK A BAG OF DICKS MOTHER F****R!”

“YOU STARTED IT WHEN WE WERE FOURTEEN! I DIDN’T WANT TO BUT YOU SAID HOW AWESOME IT WAS!”

“Because I always knew you were weak.” Sydd punches Rob in the face and starts beating on him repeatedly. Rob kicks Sydd in the stomach and knocks him off. Rob gets up and walks back in the house.  “Alright you piece of s**t, get the f**k out of here and don’t come back.”

“FINE, YOU A******S, EAT S**T AND DIE!”

“GET THE F**K OUTTA HERE!”

“Oh? What’s that? Aww, you’re hiding in your house, how cute!”

“Get out before I take care of you myself!” Rob screams out the window.

“C’mon, do it, p***y!” So Rob takes his gun, points it out of the window and shoots, missing Sydd. Sydd darts in the other direction.

“I didn’t see him again until jail, and he pinned the fact that he was in jail on me because he thought I ratted him out, even though it was your awesome police work that ended up nabbing him, though I’m sorry I had a part in it.”

     “It’s alright, it’s all over now.”

     “Yeah, so that’s what went down, and now he’s dead. I told him he’d be brought down, and he didn’t listen to me, he got what he had comin’ to him.”

     “I’m glad you wised up before it was too late.”

     “I know I did a lot of stupid s**t because of him, but I’m glad I didn’t help him kill his parents.”

     “How come you didn’t notice then what kind of monster he was?”
     “Because I needed a place to live and was in firm denial that he might not be as bad a person as he comes off, and I was high, so it didn’t faze me too much.”

Meanwhile, at Frank and Laura’s, it’s just a typical day. “Man, we’re making some great bank today.” Frank says.

“Yeah, five hundred bucks.” Laura says, as she lets out a long fart. “Ah, the smell of success.”

“We gotta make some more.”

“More?”

“Yeah, we got more people hitting us up.”

“Damn, any big buyers?”

“We got a couple, should I make more than a pound?”

“Yeah, hurry up.” Frank goes downstairs and starts making more meth. Later, he comes back upstairs.

“What took so long?”

“I had to make a shitload so that way we don’t run out as fast.”

“Well, we’ve got people jonesing for more.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m on it, do I have to travel anywhere?”

“Yeah we’ve got a couple out of town people.”

“Alright, I’ll hit them first, I have the last batch still making down there, could you check on it in like, ten minutes and I’ll drop this s**t off?”

“Yeah, I’ve got it.”

“Alright, see ya later.” He hops in his car and heads to his first customer. He knocks on the door and the guy opens the door.

“About time you got here, it feels like forever.” He says.

“Yeah, yeah, I got your s**t, Damien. But, ya know, I also had to make it, too.”

“Ah, so it’s fresh?”

“F**k the f**k yeah!”

“Sweet! Where’s the old lady?”

“At home taking care of the last batch I’ve got cooking.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Yeah, so that’ll be sixty bucks.”

“Yeah, here ya go.” He hands him the money and receives the drugs from Frank.

“Do you have anything else? Pills? H? Dust? Something?”

“Isn’t meth enough?”

“Yeah, but I’m looking for a different buzz tonight.”

“What kind of buzz?”

“I was kinda itching for some dust.”

“You’re lucky; I’ll sell you whatever I have left.” He pulls the angel dust out of his pocket. “Forty five.”

“Thanks, man. I’ll catch you later.”

“Alright, see ya later man.” He leaves and heads to his next customer. He stops at the house and the guy answers the door.

“Sup, Vito?”

“Gimme, gimme, gimme!”

“Here, here, calm down.”

“How much?”

“Eighty.”

“Thanks.” He hands over the money, takes the drugs, and slams the door in Frank’s face.

“What a dick.”  He goes through the route back to his house, dropping off more as he figures it’s on the way anyway, and plans on getting everyone else to his house when he gets there. He makes the turn to go down his street when he sees an ambulance, fire truck, and police car outside of his house. He parks in front of it and gets out of the car. “What’s going on here?”

“Do you live here?” The cop approaches and asks him.

“Yes.”

“Name?”

“Frank Larego”

“Let’s go talk down at the station.” So they go to the station and into an interview room. “Can I get you anything?”

“A water would be nice.” An officer leaves the room.

“Says here you have a record for drugs.”

“Yeah, I’ve done some time.”

“Do you know what happened today?”

“No, but if you could fill me in that would be great.”

“It seems your meth lab exploded while your girlfriend was attending it.”

“MY meth lab?”

“Yes. According to your record, you’ve been busted for marijuana, heroin, and cocaine and meth possession as a teenager, so I can only deduce that you operated the meth lab as well, do you mind if we search you?”

“I guess I don’t have a choice.” They pat him down and come across the meth that he’s carrying.

“Looks like we have you for possession of meth, operation of a meth lab, and involuntary manslaughter.”

“Involuntary manslaughter?”

“Yeah. Your girlfriend died in the explosion.”

“What? No…”

“Yes, it seems she was downstairs and she must have done something to cause the explosion.”

“I told her she didn’t have-“

“It’s too late; you might as well finish your thought.”

“I told her she just had to check it, and not do anything to it.”

“Well, after the explosion, she was blown backward from the force, and she slammed into the brick wall in your basement, knocking her out.”

“So she was still alive?”

“Yes, but she had already suffered burns from the explosion, the resulting fire asphyxiated and burned her as she was unconscious.”

“So it was the aftermath of the explosion that killed her?”

“Yes, I’m sorry, but this is where it ends, Frank.”

“I-I can’t believe it.”

“Believe it.” The cop cuffs Frank and puts him in the cell.