Briarwood Girls by Mariel Gates

Author:Mariel Gates [Gates, Mariel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Vanguard Press
Published: 2021-05-02T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Sara

Sara had been to Briarwood before. This was her second attempt at getting sober. She was a coke head, but like most of the girls here, she would readily use alcohol or other drugs when her drug of choice wasn’t available. The first time I saw Sara, she had come over from the detox unit with a couple of other girls and she seemed young, shy, a little embarrassed that she was back at Briarwood again. She struck me as the type of girl that really just wanted to please people. She was like a puppy that way, tell her what shape you want her in and that’s the way she’d bend. She was friendly but younger than me so we didn’t really socialize. Not that rehab was really a place for socializing. I’d guessed that she hadn’t been through more than the eleventh grade. She was naturally very pretty and had a Jennifer Garner look about her, just petite. When she smiled she had the cutest dimples that made her seem so innocent. Which I guess she really was, barring the drug use.

On a particularly warm day in March the air conditioning in the old house wasn’t on or wasn’t working, and when we all came down for morning groups we had T-shirts and tank tops on for the first time since I’d been there. Some girls even had boxer shorts on. I wore an old Nike T-shirt and some capri sweatpants. When I entered the room the only chair available was the one closest to the hall, farthest from the cracked windows. It was muggy and the air felt stagnant. Sara sat next to me, her skinny arms poking out from a pink tank top that said PINK on it in white. She also wore sweats. As I put my notebook down on the floor I noticed there were circular scars on her right upper arm. They were circular and seemed to fan out almost like little suns. I wanted to ask her about them, but Jill walked in and drew a deep breath.

“Sorry it’s so hot everyone, we are working on it. If you want to try to crack the windows any more over there Roz that would be great.”

Roz stood up and tried to crank the windows open but the old hinges didn’t want to move any more.

“What about that fan?” Jill pointed to the ceiling and Roz flipped a couple of switches on the wall until she found the one that turned the large overhead fan on. She was about to return to her seat when Jill said “Roz you can turn the main lights off.”

I was hoping this wasn’t going to be another meditation class. Roz shut off the overhead light and slumped back into her chair. Jill took off her cardigan and wore a V-neck sleeveless blouse that once again boasted her fullness.

“I know we are all uncomfortable so we are just going to have to make do with what we have. I had Jamie run out for some more bottled water.

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