Thin Wire: A mother's journey through her daughter's heroin addiction by Christine Lewry

Author:Christine Lewry [Lewry, Christine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Non Fiction
Published: 2012-07-02T04:00:00+00:00

Fourteen

Christine

‘Amber! Amber!’ Lauren and Sam run down the hallway as soon as we open the door.

‘Hiya, did you guys have a good time?’ she says.

‘Yes, but we missed you,’ Sam says as he grabs her waist and hugs her. ‘We got you a present. Mummy, where’s Amber’s present?’

‘It’s on top of the suitcase. You can get it.’

Sam finds the decorated paper bag and hands it to her. ‘We chose it ourselves. Do you like it?’ Lauren says.

Taking out a delicate bracelet made of shells, Amber studies it carefully before saying ‘I love it.’ She fiddles with the clasp and then shakes her wrist to show them. ‘Can I talk to you, Mum?’ She glances sideways at the kids. ‘On your own.’

Now that I am home and everything is okay, I am not so worried. Whatever she has to tell me, I’ll cope with. ‘Let’s go up to your room.’

Amber sits down on her bed and rests her hands on her knees, lets out a long breath. ‘I’ve been doing gear while you’ve been away, Mum. I’m sorry.’

I sink down to sit beside her. In my heart I had already accepted that she would; I would have been naive to think she wouldn’t. ‘At least you told me right away. Now I want you straight back on the blocker. You must stay in until you’re ready to take it. Give me your car keys and your mobile.’

‘There’s something else. You’re gonna hate me when I tell you.’

I had expected the relapse. What else could she have done?

‘Just tell me.’

‘Promise you won’t hate me?’

I sigh. ‘Tell me.’

‘I took your cash card; don’t know how many times I’ve used it.’

I jerk back. ‘What? You took it? Just like that? Where did you find it?’ I stand up, put some distance between us and lean against the windowsill.

‘It wasn’t difficult, Mum. You left it in the study.’

‘What about my signature? Did you forge it?’

‘Well, yeah.’

‘Where is it? I want it back.’

Amber takes the card out of her pocket and passes it to me. ‘Did you do this on your own or did someone suggest it to you? Have you been hanging around with addicts?’

‘It was my idea, Mum, it was all my idea. But I’ve got a job,’ her face brightens up. ‘Start a week Monday.’

‘How did you get that?’

‘Leeanne works there – it’s a gardening job. It’ll be good for me to get up every morning. I think that’s been my problem.’

‘I need to check how much money is missing from my account before we can talk about this. You’d better be here when I get back.’

‘Just popping up the shop,’ I call out to Tony as I shut the front door behind me. There is a cashpoint at the top of the road outside Onestop. I’ll walk.

The sun is shining and the heat prickles my skin despite being tanned from Portugal. Marching up the road, I am hot before I have got very far and my face feels red. I can’t believe it.

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