Saving Rain

by Kelsey Kingsley

“Have you been in my room?” I enunciated every word through my throat, clenched with panic and despair. “I … I don’t know, Soldier. Probably. Why?” “Did you take anything?” My hands were shaking uncontrollably. My teeth were chattering, as if I were freezing, despite the fire licking away at my veins and cheeks. She turned away to face the ripped cushion beside her head. “Mom! Did you look under my bed?! Did you take something from me?!” Her silence told me everything I needed to know. “Oh my God.” My eyes flooded as I lifted my hands to my hair. I stared down at her limp form, shaking my head and taking one, two, three steps backward. What the fuck am I going to do now? How the fuck are we ever going to get out of here? I gasped, choked by a blinding panic I’d never felt before in my life. I knew we needed to get the fuck out of this hellhole. We needed to leave if there was any hope of us getting better and turning shit around for ourselves, and she had taken every last shred of hope for that from me—from us. She had taken every last penny I’d saved—and for what? More drugs? Jesus fucking Christ, didn’t she have enough? Angry and upset, I spun on my heel and headed straight for her bag on the floor beside the buried table. I knelt and opened it up for the first time without a care if she saw or not. “What are you doing?!” she shrieked, sounding like a scared little animal as she tripped from the couch. “Get out of there! What are you doing?!” There were four full bottles...