Never Say Never

Never Say Never(Shreyanshu) It's Never Too Late

“Samantha!!”, the group screamed, “All the best!” I smiled. It was the annual story-telling contest. I had been winning the competition for the past 2 years and I intended on winning this one, too. I had always been supported and cheered by my friends, which not only helped me to relax but also reminded me of how many people had expectations from me. I started narrating my story, which I had written in 4 weeks. I was pretty sure about the quality of my work, just scared that I might go blank on stage. Even though I had a paper in my hand, at every moment. Yes, my stage fear is that drastic. The competition ended and the results were to be announced next day, during the assembly.

The next day, I reached school, bubbling with optimism and enthusiasm. Assembly time arrived, I was nervous. “And the winner is”, said the principal, and then came the customary long pause, which I hated. ”Samantha Miller from Grade 11!” I was ecstatic. I won, I had won it for the 3rd time! The whole school started cheering my name. “Samantha—Samantha!!” I received my prize, gave a shout out to all of my friends, and returned with my head held high.

All was not good, though. I was always targeted by the ‘cool’ group of the school. The group, which I hate to admit, I wanted to join, too. My group was nice too, just not—cool. Astonishingly, I was approached by the group during recess and they invited me over for a party at their house. I was bubbling with excitement! “Yes”, I said, faking my calmness. “Cool”, they all replied and left. All of my group members prompted me not to go as these kids may be tagged as ‘cool’ but were devilishly notorious. I calmed them down and said – “It’s a 2 hour thing, what can happen?” I visited the party the next day. It was a rave party! I was welcomed inside and suddenly it all turned bad. Notoriously bad.

I saw them dealing with drugs. One of them suggested - “Hey, check this out, we earn 1000 dollars a week!” His partner repeated - “A WEEK!! Can you imagine?” I said - “I don’t want to.” They asked me whether I wanted to join the business. Without a hint of hesitancy I said - “NO!” They remained quiet. I faked a problem and left the party. The next day when my friends asked how the party was I replied nervously - “Pretty good, actually. You all should come sometime.” They all laughed.

3 weeks passed. Everything was normal. Suddenly we got to know that my Father had a serious medical condition. The day we got to know about this, the same night he suffered a heart attack. Stage 3 heart attack. “Samantha!!”, my mom yelled. I ran, and saw my mom weeping over my fathers’ life-less body. We were devastated, emotionally and economically. My father was the only source of income. My Mother had problems with her back, and hence, could not do a job. She was worried. Our economic stability was dwindling. Emotionally, we were totally wrecked.

2 weeks passed and now we had to compromise with food and living standards to save money. I didn’t know what to do. Then one night, I remembered, the party. The drug-dealing, the money that was involved in it. It all was so tempting now and seemed not so bad. I approached the group the next day and asked if I could join them. They needed one member anyway, so they allowed me in. I got my first income the next day itself. When I gave it to my mom, she asked- “How did you manage that?” I replied- “I have got a part-time job as a book-keeper.” She hugged me and said- “I am so proud of you.” I didn’t reply. Within weeks I was getting thousands of dollars and I had also gained the groups’ trust. All was seeming well, until I took a very wrong step. A step that turned my life upside-down.

I started taking drugs with the group. In a matter of days, I was bunking school to drug myself. My grades fell down, My attendance became low and I did not pay attention anymore. I couldn’t believe it, I had become a drug-addict. It continued for the next 4 months. My mom had been getting calls from school for my awry behavior, but I always made some excuses and she always trusted me.

I parted with my friends, my social life became non-existent, and all I cared about now, were drugs.

One night, when we were partying, the police came. Someone from the neighboring area had complained about us, making too much noise. They stormed into the house and asked us to shut the hell up. We quietly agreed. While leaving one of the police officers noticed a white bag around the corner of the sofa.

He said- “Hold on, I see something there”. We all went cold. What if he finds out about the drugs? What if he arrests us? Will we be penalized for thousands of dollars? And it suddenly struck to me- My mother, she will be devastated. By the time i snapped out of it, the police had reached for the bag and identified it as a drug. I yelled- “I AM SORRY!, I didn’t intend to do this. Leave me, please.” The officer replied- “Too late, girl,” and the other one yelled- “Y’all are under arrest for illegal drug usage!”

We were taken to the jail, where all of our parents were called. My mom entered at last and on seeing me, she went cold. “Sama—Samantha?” “Sorry, mother,” I replied. She collapsed. The police ran for her, called an ambulance and she was transferred to a nearby hospital. I kept yelling that she was my mother and I wanted to see her but the police wouldn’t let me go. It was the next morning that we were free, thanks to the principal. That night was the longest. I kept thinking of what condition mom would be in and that I was responsible for it. I, whom she trusted. My heart grew heavy and sank to level zero.

I rushed to the hospital and saw her awake. She had suffered a heart attack, too. Luckily, hers was not life-threatening. I went to her and apologized. She said- “Samantha, why’d you do it?” and I explained to her that- us being on the verge of becoming broke, fueled me to do that. She replied- “I understand. But why weren’t my values stronger?” I started crying. “Yes they were, mother” I replied. ”Just that, I was not strong enough” -I continued. She wiped those tears off my face and said- “It's all right now, dear.”

I left the drug-dealing, and got a real job at one of the restaurants as a waiter. My mother got a job as a receptionist, so the back condition of hers, didn’t interfere. Now with two sources of income we were able to re-stabilize, economically. There will always be a void due to my father’s absence, but me and mother will always have each other’s back, no matter what. I became friends with all of those who I had ditched. My life was normal, again.