Four Months in Hell

Brody Baldwin

March 29, 2005

It all started a year ago. I was doing well. I had a girlfriend, a job and a nice car. I am going to tell you how I lost it all in a matter of four months.

It all started when I drove down to North Adams for a party that my friend was throwing. When I finally arrived at the party, there was a lot of hot girls, kegs of beer and hard alcohol. When I started to drink, I walked over to one of the girls that I had my eyes set on since I’d been there, and started talking to her. That’s when I found out her name was E______. We talked for a little bit, then stepped out to my car and went for a drive around town together, (while drinking.) (I wished the cops had arrested me before we ever arrived at her place.)

When I woke up the next morning, I did not know where I was. I asked myself who is the girl sleeping next to me. So I woke her up and asked her, “Who are you and how did I end up here?” She then told me that her name was E_______, that we’d met at a party the night before, and I was at her crib. That’s when I realized that I’d cheated on my long-time girlfriend, A_______, with a girl I had just met. I did what I had to do; I broke up with A______ (even though I didn’t want to because I still loved her, and I knew I would really miss her). Then I moved in with E_______ only because I couldn’t live with myself for what I had done to the only one I ever truly loved. That’s when I started to live a whole new life that later turned into hell.

E_______ was different than the other girls I have dated in the past only because she was into different things than I was. She had used cocaine, heroin and was a big time alcoholic (which later on, while living there, I became.) The only thing that I could see that we had in common is that we both liked the same music, we smoked the same cigarettes, and we both smoked marijuana.

Every night at 7:00pm when I got home from work (don’t forget I worked in Greenfield) E_______ and I, plus our friends, would start drinking and did not stop until 6:00am the next morning. Then I would get cleaned up and ready for work and head out the door at 6:30 am. This went on day in and day out for four months.

On the third month of living down there my grandfather had a heart attack and went to Bay State Medical Center. E_______ and I would drive down and see him at least 3 times a week, only because he was not doing so well. This went on until he went back to his house near the end of the third month since I had been in North Adams.

At the beginning of the fourth month something inside of me snapped and made me sit down and think about where was I going because obviously living down here had turned me into a alcoholic, and had also took me away from the things I used to care for so much before all this hell happened. So I smartened up and took a reality check. I broke up with E_______ and packed my shit, got in my car and took off.

While I was driving something inside of me told me something was wrong with my grandfather. I speeded up and started to pass two cars when one of the two turned left into the Town of Florida Transfer Station. I slammed on my brakes, but I was just going to fast to stop in time and I hit him and totaled my car.

When the ambulance dropped me off at the hospital, they told me that my grandfather had passed away. After they had told me, I wanted to get out of there and be with my family but I couldn’t because I was 17 at the time and the hospital would not let me leave with out a parent’s signature. That’s when I got pissed because I had a ride home and every thing so I had to suffered for four hours there until my dad picked me up 4 hours after the crash.

I have learned a lot in four months and I am looking forward to the future.