Dana’s Homecoming

"Love it."

They walked two blocks. When they reached the restaurant they entered. Within minutes they were seated. The waiter came over to take their order. Mark asked, "What would you like?"

"Dana said, "Shrimp with lobster sauce."

Mark said, "Sounds delicious. I'll order the same. Also two shrimp rolls and fried noodles."

"I love those."

When they were done eating Mark asked, "Are you ready?"

"Yes."

They returned to his home. The couple sat on his love seat. Mark said, "Let's talk about you."

Dana responded, "There's nothing to tell. I am the second oldest of four. I have two younger sisters and had one older brother."

"Had, what happened to him?"

"He died."

"I'm sorry. How old was he?"

"He was thirty-two. He was a heroin addict. One day he came to me and said that he wanted me to help him get off of the stuff. He had lost his room at a boarding home. No one knew that he shot up but me. My parents thought that he took pills. That's what he was taking when my father told him he had to leave the house. I don't know how he got started. He had been engaged to be married two years when we noticed that he was taking drugs again. His finance overdosed on heroin. We never thought that he would use it. We were wrong. Story has it that she is the one that got him turned on to it. My father found out that he was using pills. One day I guess Jamie, that was his name, was low in money, so he decided to take some of my father's sleeping pills and some other drugs. I don't know what those were. I do remember being told to go to my room. There was so much yelling. My mother cried for so long, you know I don't know when she stopped. I cried every night for a week. My brother was my best friend. He knew me better then I knew myself. He was my world. He taught me to be strong. Isn't that ironic? He taught me to be strong when in truth he wasn't. He couldn't have been, he took drugs. He loved that woman and she caused his death. What kind of love is that?"