Chapter 15: Rights and power

I remember the day Lionel overdosed. I came with Zion to visit, just like we had initially planned, only to find him unconscious, face down on the floor, with a needle plunged into his arm.

I called the emergency line immediately to come over to the house. I didn’t let Zion in, and neither did I let him see Lionel when the medic came to take him away, because I feared that would leave a negative mark on him.

We were, fortunately, able to stabilise him, and the doctors told us he had injected more doses of heroin than his system could carry. I told them he was clean, but they told me he might have stumbled back into abuse and felt too ashamed to tell me. The doctor told me if I had gotten to him later than I had, he wouldn’t have made it.

Lionel pulled out of the state of unconsciousness a few weeks later. I came with Zion over to the hospital to visit, and there I met with Betty, Tatiana, and Owen for the first time in years. I will not forget the look Betty gave me and Zion that day,