"Hurry up!" he muttered, thrusting a �50 note into her hand. As he shuffled away down the dank alley she realised what this meant, it was official, she was a dealer. It had never been an ambition of hers, but when her parents kicked her out for 'bad behaviour' she didn't have anywhere else to turn. Steve had taken her in, homed her, fed her and kept her safe from the outside world. If only she had known how he was paying for her well keping. She knew eventually Steve would need to be repayed, but she had never put any thought into how.
Rachel was just taking at first, a bit here and there, nothing serioous she thought. But she had stopped that day Steve went crazy. Whether it was the cocaine or the drink that did it she couldn't tell, but she could tell there was something not right. They always lay on the sofa together, bu never as close as this. Too close, breathing down her neck and sniffing her hair.
"I always knew there was something different about you Rachel. That's why I took you in," he whispered into her ear, as if expecting some meaningful reply.
"Stop messing 'round, Steve!" she replied, trying to brush him off with this simple sentence, but it was too late. As he bagen to lean towards her she knew what was coming next. His breath, warm on her face smelt of Jack Daniels and cigarette smoke, a stench she would never forget. Pushing as hard as possible, she threw him off her and onto the floor. She wasn't to know that he was bleeding, all she could think about was getting away. As she opened the front door she could still hear his wimpers in the darkness.
Where she was going, she didn't know, after all she had nowhere to run too. She turned into a long alley and collapsed by a wall, unable to carry on. That's when the tears came, rushing, streaming down her cheeks. It was all too much. Not knowing why, she made what would be the most difficult descision so far, to ring her parents. As she entered the call box a warm sensation eclipsed her body, a feeling that had been absent for so long.
"Hi...Mum?" Rachel mumbled, her chin wobbling, unable to hold back the tears.
"Rachel, Honey is that you?" replied an excited voice.
"It's just so good to hear your voice," Rachel carried on, only stopping now and then to catch breath. In the back of her mind, she knew that this is the closest she could get, to go back would just be stepping back into the past, and she knew that.
She sat down on a box, as if the memory had taken it out of her. Deep down she knew what she was doing wasn't right, but there was nothing else for her. But she realised, there was only up from there.