Prompt: Write a story about someone coming back home - or leaving it behind.

The Fix That Saved Frankie

It’s a dark, cloudy day, and all Frankie can think about while walking down the sidewalk is getting her next fix. Never mind the fact that her face is already sunken in and has bags under her eyes as black as the trash bag she carries over her back. She knows she needs to get out of her hometown, Burch Springs, KY.

She’s stuck, she’s currently a one-time felon and a junkie who has absolutely nothing to her name. Frankie has burned every bridge with her family and has few friends left. What friends she does have are not great friends. Very toxic people, of course, but so was Frankie. But at least those friends gave her a place to rest her head. Sometimes, when she could handle it, she got to eat.

Frankie reaches her destination. The house she got to stay at for that week. As soon as she walks in, Mike holds up a small baggie.

Frankie’s face lights up. “Well, hello there, Mike.”

“Want some?” Mike asked.

“You know I do.”

Mike puts a gram into a spoon, passes it to her, then hands her a bottle of water. Frankie melts it down and injects herself with the potent drug. It feels like electricity runs through her body, taking her breath away, making her cough a little.

Now that Frankie is feeling better, she heads over to the neighbor’s house, her other friend, where she stays sometimes. Tom was tall and very thin; his face was also sunken in.

Frankie knocks on the door, and Tom answers with a smile. “Hey Frankie, I got you a surprise, come in.”

“A surprise, for me?” Frankie asked.

Tom holds up a bag full of dope. “Sure do!” Tom loads a gram into a spoon and passes it to Frankie, along with a bottle of water. Without hesitation, she goes into the same ritual as previously with Mike.

 It starts getting dark, so Frankie decides to go back to Mike’s to chill out for the night. When she walks in, it’s pitch black. She had forgotten that Mike’s electricity was out. But hey, at least he had dope.

Frankie’s high is starting to leave her, and just as she noticed that feeling leaving her, Mike offered her some more. His must have been wearing off, too. “Great timing, bub. Thanks.”

Frankie draws the dope up in her needle, using the flashlight on her phone. Once she ties off her arm, she tries to set the light in the perfect spot so she can see. She sticks the needle into her arm, but no blood goes back into the needle. Of course, she can’t hit right now.

She goes outside and tries using the light from the poles. It worked after trying multiple different angles. Frankie now feels as if she is walking on clouds. Mike comes outside and says, “Hey, bro, we need to go give someone a ride. Can you drive?”

“Yeah, of course,” said Frankie.

After they pick up Mike’s friend, they turn into a gas station, where cops are sitting. Nobody noticed them at first. Mike’s friend started panicking and begged Frankie to turn around and go somewhere else for gas.

So, she did. But when she looked in her rearview mirror, they were right behind her, following closely. She turned right, down a side road, and they followed her. She turned left onto a main road, and they followed her! Frankie was trying so hard to drive straight and not seem nervous. But it must not have been working because the next thing she knew, the red and blue lights were in the rearview mirror.

Alas, she was pulled over. She went to jail that night.

None of that matters now. Frankie is sober and living her best life. After she caught the DUI and Wanton Endangerment, Frankie decided she’d had enough of that life.

Now, Frankie is a full-time college student, a full-time employee, and a wife to her loving and patient partner. Although life has its obstacles, Frankie has chosen the softer path. The path that holds less heartache and worries.

After Frankie finished all her necessary jail time and probation, she left Kentucky behind completely. She misses the family that’s still there. But she’s happy she got out, and she doesn’t ever want to go back. That place holds way too many hard memories.

I do not own the rights to this photo!

$$BNP\ Design\ Studio.\ (n.d.).\ \textit{Homeless person sleep bench illustration}\ [Stock\ image].\ Adobe\ Stock.\ https://stock.adobe.com/search/images?filters%5Bcontent_type%3Aphoto%5D=1&filters%5Bcontent_type%3Aillustration%5D=1&filters%5Bcontent_type%3Azip_vector%5D=1&filters%5Bfetch_excluded_assets%5D=1&filters%5Binclude_stock_enterprise%5D=1&filters%5Bcontent_type%3Aimage%5D=1&k=homeless+cartoon&order=relevance&price%5B%24%5D=1&search_page=1&search_type=usertyped&acp=&aco=homeless+cartoon&get_facets=0&asset_id=270947688