The Dopefiend

by JaQuavis Coleman

  “Look, bitch, you know your name is on that list in there. If they find out who you really are, you ain’t getting any money” Millie whispered.

  “They ain’t going to find out. I got my sister’s ID,” Thelma muttered, finally looking at Millie, obviously aggravated.

  “If I tell them, they would know,” Millie said, smiling but meaning every word.

  “You wouldn’t,” Thelma said in a harsh whisper, calling Millie out on her bluff.

  “Bitch, try me,” Millie said as she stepped back and crossed her arms. “Excuse me!” Millie yelled as she raised her hand while looking toward the front door where the nurse was standing with a clipboard.

  “Okay, chill,” Thelma said in a harsh whisper as she grabbed Millie’s arm. “What do you want from me? Why you hating?’

  “Just let me cut. If I don’t get my medicine soon, I’ma be fucked up,” Millie said as she gripped her stomach, feeling a sharp pain shoot through it as soon as she mentioned it. “And if you let me cut, I’ll even share my pack with you,” Millie negotiated.

  Thelma didn’t want to let Millie cut because if they got caught, they both would get kicked out of the line and no one would be getting anything.

  “Hurry up,” Thelma said as she looked at the nurse about three people ahead of her. Thelma stepped back, giving Millie room to squeeze in.

  “Bet,” Millie said as she slid in swiftly.

  “Hey, you can’t cut!” a male fiend said from the back of the line as he thought about how Millie was making his wait longer.

  “Shut up, nigga! She was holding my spot for me!” Millie said as she quickly snapped back at him. Millie smiled as she noticed she only had two more people in front of her. Her slick move had just cut her wait time by at least thirty minutes.

  “You a dirty bitch,” Thelma mumbled as she stood behind Millie and shook her head.

  “No, get it right, boo-boo. I’m a bad bitch. I’m ahead of you, ain’t I?” Millie said arrogantly as she smiled from ear to ear and took a pull of her cigarette.

  Twenty minutes later, Millie was walking out of the center with a crisp twenty-dollar bill. She saw Thelma outside, obviously waiting on her.

  “Yo, Millie. They knew who I was and kicked me out. You said you would share your pack with me if I let you cut,” Thelma reminded her.

  “Well, I changed my mind. Peace!” Millie said as she walked right past her and held two fingers up, leaving Thelma standing there looking dumbfounded. Millie chuckled as she headed to the hood to cop her first shot of the day.

  Millie sat inside of her home as she slumped on her sofa with a needle in her arm. She had just used the money from the Plasma Center to get right and Lady Luck had her feeling lovely. Just before she drifted off, she saw Hazel’s gorgeous smile and visualized how pretty Hazel was at the Insight ceremony. She then thought about how she once had a man that cared for her, like Seven did for Hazel. She thought back to time where she had a chance to kick her habit and take advantage of having a good man to guide her. However, like most fiends . . . she fucked it up.

  Sixteen Years Earlier

  “Yeah, you black bitch. Squeeze my ass,” the white trucker crooned as he furiously pounded the young girl’s womb, who lay on this cot in the back of his truck. His 280-pound body continuously landed on the young girl as he continued to call her racial slurs. Millie closed her eyes and moaned, faking she was enjoying the small red penis that went in and out of her.

  He needs to hurry up, Millie thought as she momentarily opened her eyes and saw the man’s mouth wide open as drool threatened to fall. She closed her eyes and gripped his sweaty butt as he felt his orgasm approaching. He began to pump faster and faster, until he finally exploded into the condom. He grunted and gave her one last deep thrust before he rolled over and off of Millie. Millie quickly sat up and began to put on her clothes that were on the side of the cot. She wanted to get out of the awful smelling truck, so she could get back to her post and make more money. Once she got fully clothed she looked at the man who panted heavily and stared into space as if he was in a dream.

  “Run it, big daddy,” Millie demanded as she held out her hand and began moving her fingers, signaling for him to pay up. He reached into his boot and pulled out a wad of money. He peeled off a fifty-dollar bill and tossed it to Millie.

  “There you go, sunshine,” he said as he stuffed his money back into his boot.

  “Thanks, honey,” Millie said with a big smile. She rubbed the man’s limp penis and stood up. She straightened up her clothes and licked her lips sexily. She put the fifty-dollar bill into her purse and closed it.

  “So when am I going to see you again, baby? You got some good dick,” she lied as she tried to stroke his ego. The man, still on his back and naked, stared at her and smiled as she gave him self-assurance about his subpar performance.

  “Well, I have to drop off a shipment to North Carolina and I should be heading back this way in a week or so,” he said as he sat up and slipped on his grungy white briefs.

  “Well, I’ll be right here waiting for you, big boy,” Millie said, egging him on.

  “You’re always at this truck stop?” he asked, thinking about how he would stop on his way back, so that he could get another shot of the sweet thing he just pounded. The truck stop was in a huge parking that also had a diner that had frequent traffic from truckers from all around the country.

  “Yep, just about every day! I will be waiting for you, too. It’s hard to find a good fuck in this business, ya know?” she said as she watched him eat up every word she said. She had him, putty in her hands. “Well, I’m about to get out of here. You have a safe trip and make sure you stop and see me on your way back.” Millie said as she began to walk backward, sexily heading to the front cab of the truck. She tripped over his big boots that sat in the middle of the floor and fell onto the floor. Millie quickly grew an embarrassed look on her face and she scrambled to pick up her purse that she dropped.

  “Are you okay?” the John asked as a look of concern washed over his face.

  “Whew! Yeah, I’m okay,” Millie said as she moved the boots out of her way and got back up. “That was humiliating,” she said as she smugly smiled and then headed out. “Come back and see me now!” she instructed just before she stepped out of the truck, leaving him in the back, thinking he was Mandingo or something.

  “I sure will, honey,” he shouted cockily from the back. Millie stepped out of the truck and hurried to the rest stop. She looked down at the wad of money in her hands that she had just lifted from his boot as she smiled. She flipped through the fifties and twenties and knew that she had hit a jackpot.

  “Hell yeah, this looks about . . .” she whispered as she flipped through the bills and continued to walk briskly toward the diner just a few hundred feet from her, “five hundred dollars,” she said, finishing her sentence. She kept looking back at the truck she had just left, hoping that she would have time to get away before he discovered that he had just gotten robbed. Although Millie was only seventeen, she had the wits and savvy of a full-grown woman. Just looking at her, no one would guess that she was underage. Her body was plump in all the right places and the way she conducted herself was that of a seasoned veteran. She had been on the streets since she was fifteen years old and working for her stepfather/pimp ever since she started to grow breasts. He was her mother’s husband and had been in the pimping game for years. Millie’s mother had fallen victim to drugs and overdosed when Millie was only twelve years of age. Millie quickly began to see her stepfather’s true colors after her mother passed. It didn’t take long for her stepfather to introduce her to the family business.

  She was close to the diner and she looked back one more time to make sure he wasn’t coming for her and the coast was clear. Once she didn’t see him, she pushed open the doors and took a deep breath. The only thing on her mind was getting to the dealer who posted in the back of the diner so that she could cop her fix. She knew that she only had a few mi
nutes before her stepfather pulled up and checked up on her. She also had to worry about the trucker finding out what she had done to him and coming for her. But she was so worried about getting high, she wasn’t thinking clearly. The only thing on her mind was the warm sensation of heroin crawling up her vein and giving her a dopefiend lean. Her growing heroin habit was a vice that her stepfather introduced her to, just months before. She loved the way it made her feel and it seemed like when she was high off the drug, her pain went away momentarily. When the magic of the drug entered her veins it made her feel invincible and without a care in the world; just the way she thought life should be. She saw the dark-skinned guy with a baseball cap on, sitting in the back of the diner as he always did. She hurried over to him, overanxious as she peeled off a twenty-dollar bill from the wad she had just lifted. She walked over to him and sat across from him as he casually read a newspaper. Millie cleared her throat to get his attention as he acted as if no one was in front of him.

  “How much?” he said as he kept his eyes on the paper, not even glancing at her.

  “A twenty pack,” she said as she looked at the door, hoping that the John wouldn’t come in.

  “You know you’re too young to be fucking with this shit,” he said as he shook his head from side to side.

  “Nigga, quit with the bullshit. You want this money or not?” she asked, growing irritated with his newfound concern for her. She had copped from him dozens of time and he was picking the wrong time to contest her drug habit. “So nigga, do you?” she questioned as she pushed it toward him. The man finally looked up and then he scanned the room. He folded his newspaper and set it on top of the money. He discreetly picked up the money from under the paper and stuffed it in his pocket. He then put his hands on his lap and so did Millie. He gave her the small baggy under the table and out of sight to anyone. Millie smiled and gripped the bag tightly as she headed out the back door and into the Porta Potty that sat at the back of the place, her “get-high spot.” Cloud nine had Millie’s name written all over it.

  Tical sat in the pickup truck as he scanned the parking lot. He glanced at his clock and sucked his teeth. “Where this dude at?” he said as he leaned back in the seat. He had been waiting for thirty minutes for his connect to meet him at the truck stop. Tical had $60,000 in the bag next to him so that he could buy three kilos of coke. He sat in a black S-10 truck that had piles of haystacks in the back bed of the truck. He tried his best to look like a farmer as he wore a bucket fishing hat and plaid shirt. He had laced the haystacks with pepper, so that it threw off potential police dogs from detection. He planned on stuffing the coke into precut compartments in the haystacks, so he could return back to B-more undetected. “That’s why I don’t like fucking with this New York nigga,” Tical said to himself as he saw a young, dark-skinned girl hurry past his car and head into the diner. Tical was just about ready to leave because his plug was taking so long and that’s when he saw his man pull up in a red Lexus with black tint. Tical instantly knew that it was his connect, Red. “This nigga stupid!” he said as he regretted doing business with him. He hated the fact that Red had the audacity to bring a flashy car to their exchange. Tical watched as the car parked and he grabbed the bag and stepped out of the car. He headed over to Red while looking around to peep his surroundings. He saw a heavy-set man with trucker attire yelling obscenities as he stepped out of his eighteen-wheeler. The trucker’s eyes danced around the parking lot like he was searching for someone. Tical quickly focused his attention back on Red’s car as he approached the car. He opened the door and the loud sounds of Tupac blasted from Red’s speakers. Tical quickly turned the volume down as he regretted dealing with Red once again.

  “What’s up, Baltimore,” Red said as he extended his hand for a shake.

  “Man, you got the shit?” Tical said coldly as he left Red’s hand hanging in the air.

  “Man, what’s wrong with you today?” Red said as he slowly took his hand back.

  “Nothing. So where the shit?” Tical asked again. Red reached in his backseat and grabbed a book bag and set it on his lap.

  “I got you together right here. You got the cash?” he asked. Tical and Red exchanged bags and both of them looked at the contents of their bags. Tical dipped his pinky in the Ziploc bag and ran it across his gums. Moments later, his gums began to numb and he knew that Red had hit him with some good product once again.

  “I’m out,” Tical said as he watched Red thumb through the money.

  “So quick?” Red asked as he kept his eyes on the money. Tical didn’t answer as he opened the door preparing to get out. Tical stopped just before he exited the car and looked at Red. “Let me say this, and I’m only going to say it onc,e you stupid mufucka. Never drive this car when you dealing with me on business. You moving like you an amateur a’ something,” Tical said as he slammed the door and didn’t give Red the chance to answer. Tical headed into the diner to use the bathroom before he headed back home.

  Red wanted to put Tical in his place, but there was something about Tical’s eyes that made Red think twice about jumping stupid. Red couldn’t understand how a guy so young acted like he was the man in charge. Tical wasn’t big at that time, but all that would change in the future. He was going to eventually switch the game and deal heroin and become a legend on Baltimore streets and become the Dopeman.

  Millie nodded off in the Porta Potty as drool slid down her lip. She quickly yanked back her head as she felt her chin touch her chest. She quickly opened her eyes and looked around the stall, trying to remember where she was. The horrendous smell of urine almost made her gag as she positioned herself upright with the needle still stuck in her arm. She slowly slid the needle from her skin and placed it in her purse. She opened the door and slowly stepped out. She smiled as the air hit her face. It felt good to her and the air tickled her skin and the heroin put her in a place where only junkies could fathom. Millie had no idea at how long she had nodded in the Porta Potty. She hoped she hadn’t been in the stall while her stepfather rolled up on her post because she didn’t want to hear his mouth when she got home. She walked around the building, preparing to get back on her post so that she could make more money. At that point she had forgotten that she had stolen nearly $500 from her last John. She walked aimlessly to the trucking parking lot as she scanned the lot for potential customers. Her legs wobbled as she caught a nod while walking, almost falling. She almost got hit by a red Lexus that was exiting the lot and she heard the loud horn from the car blowing at her. She stuck up her middle finger and continued to walk as she began to head toward the area where the truckers usually parked. Millie held her head down as she walked uncoordinatedly. She heard a voice yell from a few yards away, so she lifted her head.

  “You dirty bitch,” a white man screamed as he held a shotgun in his hand. Millie quickly focused on the man’s face and noticed that it was the John that she had lifted the cash from.

  “Aw fuck!” Millie yelled as she saw the man raise his gun and point it at her. She quickly made a dash for the row of cars a few feet away from her while ducking down. She quickly disappeared in between the cars.

  Aw shit, Aw shit, Millie thought as she ducked down, trying not to be seen by him. She crouched down and maneuvered through the rows of cars trying to shake the ranting man.

  “Where you at, li’l black bitch?” he yelled as he looked around crazily as he went in and out of rows trying to locate her.

  Millie quickly dipped by a small truck and heard the man’s voice getting closer and closer. Thinking fast, she hopped into the bed of the truck and lay on her back. She positioned herself tightly in between the two big haystacks that sat in the back. She lay flat on her back and stared into the sky, hoping that the man would not find her. After a couple of minutes of lying there, she began to nod because of the potent drug, and fell into a deep nod. She didn’t even feel someone get in the car and pull off.

  Tical rode down the highway, glancing at the bag that contained the
coke in it, and smiled, knowing that he would return home and make money. He wished that he had put the coke into the haystacks like he planned, but when he came out he saw a crazy-ass white man yelling with a gun and he knew that his best bet was to get out of the area before the cops came.

  “Mufucka crazy,” Tical said to himself as he thought about how crazed the man looked. Tical drove about thirty miles down the highway, heading back to Baltimore, and saw a sign that showed that a rest stop was ahead about three miles. He decided to put the coke in the stash spot at the next stop. Tical pulled his car off at the next exit and spotted a small gas station just off the ramp. Tical drove the truck up to the station and got out and quickly tossed the bag in the back bed. He then headed into the store so he could pay for some gas before he hid the coke into the haystacks.

  Millie felt a bag hit her face as she quickly jumped up, not remembering where she was at; heroin had that effect on its users at times. She saw the haystacks surrounding her and she remembered that she had been hiding from the irate John and her heart began to pump quickly. She looked around and saw the unfamiliar setting. “Where the fuck am I?” she said as she began to take the straws of hay out of her hair. She looked at the book bag that was thrown on her and wondered who had tossed it. She looked at the truck and realized that she had nodded while hiding in the back of it. “Fuck!” she said as she wondered how far she was from the truck stop that she posted at. Am I even still in New York? She stepped out of the truck with the bag in her hand. She heard a gun click and she quickly turned around.