A Thin Line

By Miss Diva

This story is about a female born and raised in the Chicago ghetto near the Cabrini Houses. Her accidental admittance into the psychiatric ward causes her such traumatic stress that she mentally revisits and relives some of the horrible things that she had been subjected to in her childhood and young adulthood. Her relationship with her mother is strained and makes the main character of Mommy Dearest seem like Glenda the Good Witch in the Wizard of Oz. Her life is full of drugs and domestic violence. The continuance of education is what brings this young woman out of despair and depression into a world of tolerance and forgiveness.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 11, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465371676

Miss Diva

A Brooklynite who holds an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Office Technologies, a Bachelor's Degree in Business Management and Economics and a Master's Degree in Social Policy. She has been a Customer Service Representative with a telecommunications company for over 29 years. She has also been a Certified Mediator for over 17 years, serving in the Brooklyn, the Manhattan and the Bronx counties. Miss Diva has received numerous awards for her volunteer efforts in her community. She is a Golden Heritage Life Member of the NAACP. She recently relinquished her title as CEO of her husband's company in order to devote more time to her community. She is in the Cambridge Who's Who directory for the years of 2007 - 2009, where she has been recognized for demonstrating dedication, leadership and excellence in her careers. Miss Diva has also been published in The City Sun January 1.2 - January 1.8, 1.994 edition and The Dally Challenge January and March 1.995 editions.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

THE ROOM WAS dark and hot. Veronica was wet and sticky from the heat and humidity. The long strands of her bangs clung to her forehead. Her underarms were as moist as the skin between her voluptuous thighs. She opened her eyes to the darkness and was unable to see anything for a few seconds. Once her eyes began to focus, she became dreadfully aware of her surroundings. There was a glimmer of light shining through the huge window, which was next to her bed. Through the slightly parted curtains, you could see the ships that were docked in the bay. The foghorns were distant as the steam bellowed from the smoke stacks of the ships. Veronica was afraid to turn her head toward the door because she didn’t want her roommate to know that she was awake. The soft moans emanating from the next bed were telltale signs that someone was in the midst of lovemaking. It was hard to make out the figures as they moved up and down and side to side. Even the bed seemed to want to hide the fact that passion was running high in the wee hours of the night. After a while, the moaning stopped; and all was, once again, still in the night.

Veronica thought to herself, Now of all the damn times to have to use the toilet. I know they can’t be asleep so soon. I don’t want them to hear my footsteps. I don’t want either of them to even see me go pass their bed, to get to the bathroom. How long can I hold it? Damn! Well, it’s now or never. I’ve got to go before I go on myself. Veronica very cautiously slid herself off her bed and brought her legs over to the side. She let her toes fumble around the floor to get her sneakers. When she felt her sneakers, she put them on and tiptoed to the bathroom. Once inside, she turned on the light and looked at her watch. It was 3:00 a.m. After she finished, when she opened the bathroom door, she was startled to find her roommate standing next to the closet, combing her hair with a long pink comb. The roommate’s eyes were bugged out as if she herself had just seen a ghost. There was no sign of the other person who was involved in the earlier sounds of passion. As Veronica emerged from the bathroom, she said, Excuse me. But her roommate didn’t move a muscle. She just stood there combing her hair and looking wide-eyed at Veronica. So Veronica, petrified, sucked in her stomach and squeezed past the crazy-eyed female.

Once back in her bed, Veronica made every attempt to lie still and keep her ears perked up to hear any sounds of movement toward her bed. Veronica was so afraid that someone would come over to her while she lay there and stab her to death. The heat in the room was off the charts, and Veronica had to remove her blanket and top sheet in order to keep from sweating her ass off. She was also beginning to get hungry. She remembered that she had been given something to eat late last night. The emergency room staff had moved Veronica to a small room with a large window. The room only had a chair in the corner. Veronica had been wheeled into the room on a stretcher. On the other side of the window was a desk with two chairs, a phone, some file cabinets, and a desktop computer. At the desk sat a male attendant and a physician’s assistant. They were monitoring Veronica’s every move, as if she were a lab rat in an observation booth. The last night’s meal of turkey, stuffing, and rice had long since worn off. The nurse had been kind enough to give Veronica a small container of ice-cold apple juice, which Veronica quickly consumed. Now hours later, her mouth was so dry, but she didn’t want her roommate to see her eating anything because she had no intention of sharing. She thought to herself, Damn, it’s only 3:00 a.m. and I have at least another three hours before sun’s up and a half-ass decent breakfast. Every time Veronica laid still for what seemed like hours, it was only about fifteen minutes more that had passed. Once her eyes became adjusted to the dark again, Veronica saw something on her nightstand. She reached for it and gratefully discovered that it was the applesauce that came with last night’s dinner. She had no idea how it reached her nightstand because she could not, for the life of her, remember bringing it upstairs. The only thing that she remembered being allowed to bring was her plastic cosmetic bag. She was so thankful for this applesauce, that she started to cry tears of joy. She looked around carefully to make sure that her roommate was back to sleep. Then she silently peeled back the top of the applesauce container. It was then that she realized she had nothing to eat it with. There was no spoon, no fork, or even a knife. She had to resort to eating the applesauce with her fingers. This was so profound that it brought Veronica to tears. Here she was, a grown woman, reduced to eating like a savage, with her bare hands. She wondered if things could get any worse than this. Finally, it was 6:00 a.m.

The door was opened, and the lights were turned on. A tall, slim woman in a uniform entered into the room and woke up Veronica’s roommate. She said, Do you want to take a shower? The roommate answered, No. Leave me alone. The uniformed woman turned to leave the room, and before she walked out into the hallway, Veronica yelled to her, Can I take a shower? The woman said, Yes. And then she went into the hallway to wake up the others. Veronica got out of her bed and ran into the hallway to catch up with the woman. When she had, she asked the woman, Where can I get some soap? The woman answered, It’s in the bathroom on the wall dispenser. Where can I get a change of clothes? she asked. The woman looked at Veronica with an air of annoyance. She felt that these new people were nothing more than a pain in her ass with their needs, wants, and questions. She pointed down the hallway to a basket against the wall and told Veronica that she could find a change of clothes in there. Veronica said, Thank you, and walked to the basket. She removed two gowns and quietly walked back to her room and into the bathroom. There were no locks on anything, and being fearful of