Aria recalled the arguments that began between Travis and Lucy. She remembered the numb paralysis that would devour her when she heard their voices gashing through the air in the apartment. Sometimes she could hear her mother being hit or held against a wall. She would hide in her mother’s closet and close her eyes and ears until Travis slammed the door and she could hear the sound of her mother weeping. It became a common scene. Aria would venture out to find Lucy bruised or bleeding, staring out the window as Travis drove away, muttering “please don’t leave, please don’t leave, please don’t leave” between panicked tears.

When the rent came due later that same month and neither Lucy nor Travis could pay it, an eviction notice came in the mail. At that time, Aria did not understand what was going on when she watched her mother crawl underneath the secondhand linoleum table in the kitchen and cry. All she knew was that they were in trouble. They were facing homelessness. Lucy had to pull Aria out of daycare. The television became her babysitter at that point.

But then one day Travis burst through the door of their apartment with a smile on his face. He walked straight up to Lucy and slapped what he was holding in his hand on the table. It was three $50 bills. “Where did you get it?” Lucy gasped, exhaling in relief but also suspicion. Travis pulled her into the bedroom to explain. He had an acquaintance that made his money selling crystal meth and prescription pain pills. When Travis had lost his job, he couldn’t believe his luck when he was offered some money in exchange for doing a hand-off to a local nightclub. It was Lucy’s poverty that forced her to consent.

Travis soon stopped looking for other jobs. What was the point? He could make enough money to afford the apartment and his car, and best of all he didn’t have to answer to anyone. After realizing how much money he could make as a supplier instead of a runner, he began to cook meth himself in the utility closet of their apartment. Lucy was so naive that she didn’t know how toxic the process of cooking meth really was. So when Aria developed a cough and dizzy spells, Lucy didn’t know it was because of exposure; all she could think was she couldn’t afford to take her to the doctor. When Aria’s symptoms worsened and lethargy began to set in, Lucy was so desperate that she asked Travis for some money. He smiled and said, “Yeah, I’ll give you the money but you got to deliver something for me.” She nodded in acceptance and later that night Lucy ran drugs for Travis for the very first time.