The space between us

Collateral damage

Over to the sunniest state in America, Naomi lived a different life under the roof a local physician in the Florida Keys. Before that, she stayed in Miami. Her addictions had gotten worse, and she had started dealing with it too. She worked with a Cuban named Raul. Business was good, the money was piling up until, they lost it all and almost their lives after an attack by their most trusted associate, a very wealthy and powerful man in the city. He realized that they had been selling fake products to him for a while, scamming him of the millions he'd purchased them for. Raul was killed a few days later by the same people who initiated the previous attack, and this forced Naomi to go into hiding for months. She was terrified for her life, consumed by her fear. She took to her usual alternate, like Xanax and KlonoPIN, to make her feel better. It did momentarily, but it made things worse than they were before. After a while, the search for her died down. When they considered she could either be out of the country or dead. Forced to leave home when she was 19, she had nothing and nobody until she met Raul. He was more than just an associate. They shared a complex relationship that was very difficult to describe but one thing for sure was that she loved him, and she just came back one day and his body was soulless, lying in the pool of his own blood. It was traumatic for her, but she knew that it was only inevitable in the type of work they do, and it was only a matter of time before it was hers. Back in New York when she started to go astray and her parents completely cared less about her situation anymore, some would say she was nuts, others, her parents were wrong for doing what they did. Jordan was younger when the incident happened, even though he didn't buy into the stories his father, the late Mr. Johnson Bartel, would tell about her. There was nothing he could do about it, and eventually, he thought little or not about her, making peace with the fact, his sister was indeed a sociopath who was doing more bad to them than good. Their mother would try everything, they took her to church, hospitals and Even Rehab centers, which she had consequently escaped from.

It all started when she was fifteen and was feeling neglected by family. She hung around the wrong people at school and eventually got into drugs, had an abortion the same year and was suspected for a serious murder case that arose in her school at the time. She and a couple of her friends bullied one of their classmates to the point they committed suicide. This raised some concerns in the neighborhood, particularly at their local church with Mrs Bartel holding a significant role there as one of their spiritual leaders.

Naomi suffered multiple suspensions and detentions and had almost always gotten expelled, but her parents would consistently vouch for her and plead for stay. Days before her graduation, she conjured up a plan where she would steal fifty thousand dollars worth of cash from her father's savings to flee to Mexico.

This was a successful theft, and she was already halfway across the country along the borders of Texas when her parents found out. Mr Bartel, swearing to never let that "monster" as he would call her back into his home and most importantly their life, especially Jordan's. Naomi was doing better now, she acted less deranged and more normal as she lived with Dr Phil, the physician in Florida who took her in. She would say she doesn't remember anything from her past when asked about it. A possible case of amnesia resulting from a vast majority of reasons: It could be too large intake of sedatives and opioids, or maybe substance-related accidents or head injuries causing head trauma. She has been registered with the name Becca Gray ever since.

Over in Arizona, Tyrese has just recently got settled into college. He's been on a few phone calls with Jordan, but they've never been able to talk about anything really, freshmen year has always been that hectic. Of course, Jordan told him all about Audrey, and Tyrese, being indifferent, told him he's not the type to give advice. Jordan, knowing fully well Tyrese, sucks at making anything better. If anything, he makes it worse, but Jordan still makes it a habit to ask about how to handle a girl situation. In this case, two were involved, one which he truly cares about but has quite drifted apart due to struggles with trying to balance a relationship separated by a distance or a new girl who keeps him at the edge of his seat wanting to know more about her lovable personality.

Jordan, after hopping off a call from Tyrese, decided to call Audrey for the very first time. It rang for a while before she picked up. "Hey, it's Jordan," he said , deepening his voice. An ugly reaction sprang from his face, wondering why he did that. He cleared his throat, pretending to have a cold. "Oh hey Jordan,"Audrey said with a bright smile on her face." Indistinct chatters in the background got Jordan curious about her whereabouts. "Are you busy? "It's a bit loud in the back," Jordan asked. I'm at a party? wanna pull up? Audrey said. Don't worry, I know the host. She said, reassuring him of the invitation. "I don't know, it's getting kind of late and ..... "Audrey cuts into the conversation, saying, "Don't be a buzz kill, come on, have some fun!" After a while, her persistence got to Jordan, and he finally decided to go, he got the location from her which was an apartment just outside the school's campus that a senior apparently stays at. This was the first party being hosted this year, and it's kind of a big deal to Jordan about fitting in with peers. He attended a lot of parties back in high school too, mostly because he was always invited, but college isn't high school. He was afraid he had already peaked in high school and would end up being known as just another student.