One night, the whole family was watching the television after dinner. As usual, I was with my phone as Telenovelas were not as interesting as Kamal, my new boyfriend.
My dad had walked in. My brothers had whined in protest before my dad even held the remote. We knew he’d always tune to the news channel which was more boring than the telenovela they have engrossed in a few minutes ago.
It still happened. The news was as boring as ever. They were talking about how common the abuse of drugs was becoming in society. My dad’s eye widened. He looked at his boys and asked,
“I do hope none of you is involved in any of these rubbish habits.”
They mumbled their replies in the negative.
“If I find any one of you with those boys a unguwa. You will know who I really am.” He threatened.
I paused, as I had been typing the whole time. What about me? No one suspected that I could abuse drugs.
It started with cough syrup. My friends in school had rumored that Hadiza had been buying cough syrup of late even though she wasn’t sick. They said that she drank the whole bottle at once and acted funny afterward. I wanted to know how it felt so I pretended to have a cough.
I soon joined Hadiza in buying those cough syrups from time to time. We became very close friends. We mostly did it at her house since she had a room to herself.
For once my parents never suspected. My lips grew dark from shisha and my teeth had changed color. I used lipstick to cover it up all the time. My mom applauded me for using more make-up unlike a few years back. My Dad watched my brothers closely, he was like a hawk looking for a chick on the ground. The thing is, he’s looking in the wrong direction, for this chick was on his back and she learned to go with the tide of the wind.
I got married last year and until now I still abuse substances. My husband had reported to my family that he didn’t understand why I drank children’s medicine after finding a couple of them in the trash. They all don’t see that it is not only males that go into drugs and smoking. I am a drug addict and I need serious help as I can’t concentrate at work without abusing substances.
I am telling you this story so that as parents, we should not be biased when treating some issues because both genders can be affected. Say no to drugs!
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