Free The Candy Shop by Kiki Swinson

an old lady and come on over here, so I can cheer you up.”
    “And do what? Get high?”
    “You might as well. I mean, what the fuck you got to lose? Your job is already up in smoke.”
    “You got a point there.”
    “Well, come on over then, so I can help you take your mind off that bullshit!”
    “All right. I’ll be over in about thirty minutes.”
    “Okay.”

My First Mistake
    To save myself from the embarrassment of Steve and Katherine walking me off the job, I called Steve at home bright and early this morning and told him I wouldn’t be in to work today because I was still feeling a little under the weather. He told me that it must be something going around the office, because he wasn’t feeling that well either, so he wouldn’t be going in himself. I immediately told him to take it easy and that I hoped to see him tomorrow. He extended the same courtesy and then we said our goodbyes.
    Immediately after I we hung up, I thought that it would be a good idea for me to run by the school and pack up my things before any of the staff got there. So, I figured that in order for this to be possible, I would need to leave my house right then. And that’s exactly what I did. Kimora and Eric were still asleep, so I didn’t bother to wake either of them. And besides, it was a little after six a.m., so if I would’ve woke Eric up, he would’ve wanted to know why I was leaving the house so early and I really didn’t have the time that it would take to explain my motives to him, which was why I got out of there as quickly as possible.
    When I arrived at the school, I noticed only one car there. But, it belonged to our head janitor, Mr. Clemons, so I was cool. He was no threat to me.
    And knowing how he operated, he was probably in the back of the school, hanging out in the boiler room. And if that was the case, he wouldn’t even realize I was there, not that it mattered any.
    When I entered into my office, I wasted little or no time at all throwing my things into the storage box I brought along with me. And surprisingly, it didn’t take long at all for me to get everything organized and packed away. But to be honest, I think it had something to do with my heart beating out of control and the adrenaline pumping inside of me. The fear of letting one of my teachers see me with my things was something I was really trying to avoid. So, after I cleared everything and closed my office door behind me, I headed back out to my car. And right when I was getting ready to pile all my things into the trunk, Steve came driving up and parked his vehicle right next to mine. Now, I had just gotten off the phone with this man not even forty-five minutes earlier, and he told me that he wasn’t going to come into work today, so why the fuck was he here? I knew the only way I was going to get the answer to that question was by waiting for him to get out of the car, and I was not looking forward to that because he was going to want to know why I was packing my shit in the trunk of my car. So, without further delay, I shoved everything into my car and quickly closed the trunk afterwards. But unfortunately for me, this bastard got an eyeful and went into question mode as soon as his fat ass got out of his car.
    “What’s going on? I thought you were under the weather,” he said.
    “Oh, I am,” I began to say. “I just needed to come up here and get a few things, so I can have something to do while I’m home. But, what about you? Because you did mention that you were under the weather yourself.”
    “I am. But I got a phone call from Katherine and she’s going to meet me up here in the next hour or so, so we sort out a few things.”
    “Well, have fun!” I told him and proceeded to the driver’s side of my car. But, before I could even get within a few feet of it, Steve continued by saying, “Why didn’t you tell me you had a drug problem too?”
    I stopped in my tracks, but my heart sped forward as I turned around to face him.