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This story is very recent. Just two weeks ago actually; the day I went to court.
As most of you know, I went to court to seal my misdemeanor from the theft of property charge I received in October 2014. I waited for my case to be called for over two hours. As I was waiting for the judge to arrive, people filed into the room. Lawyer after lawyer came in, dressed in the same navy blue pants suit and brown Sperry's, carrying suitcases and bags full of documents.
I was two rows away from the front, and just a few other people had come to sit so daringly close to the police officers, lawyers, and judge. As I looked down at the floor, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone, I couldn't help but notice a young woman who was followed by a young, grungy looking man who came over and sat right in front of me.
She was very slender, with long dark hair. She reminded me of Amy Winehouse and looked very familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on where I would know her from. I watched as she struggled to sit comfortably. She sat her purse down, then picked it back up. She did this several times. The more I watched her, the more familiar she was. I still didn't know who she was, but I knew what she did. She was high on dope.
My curiosity quickly turned into pity. As I watched her, it was like looking back in time, to the last time I was in this same room, pleading guilty to my charge. I hadn't been around someone who was high after I had left the dope game and to see it when I was years clean, it was a strange and sad experience.
Judge Brown came in and called court to order. They called name after name as I patiently waited. After an hour or so, the judge called her.
"Catherine Trumann"
I knew that name.
I knew her.
She was one of my best friends in junior high.
We called her Candy.
I watched her as she walked up to the podium. A tall man in a black suit followed and stood behind her. As the judge spoke, it looked like she received a lifetime ban from Walmart, for stealing something only worth $36.00.
He asked her if she were to take a drug test today if she would be positive for anything. She looked up at her lawyer and looked down before speaking. She reluctantly replied that she would be positive for methamphetamine.
My heart sank. I knew she had been down this road for many, many years.
Back in 2012, when I was still dating my ex-boyfriend, we ran into Candy in the parking lot of a local game store. She noticed me, but it took me a second to recognize her. She was a popular beauty queen type of girl back in school. Although I was the outcast, we were good friends. We spent many nights at each others houses growing up. When I met her that day, she was a shell of the girl she once was.
I remember her hair was a mess and her clothes looked old and worn. She came up to me and started talking about how she just got kicked out of a Maurice's store. She said she had a pair of pants and she was walking around the store trying to chew off the security tag. She said she was so out of it, that she didn't even realize what she was doing. The manager had kicked her out of the store, which is why she was currently wandering the parking lot.
Regardless of what happened, she seemed very happy. She gave me her number and she walked away. Me and my boyfriend looked at each other with concern. Neither of us knew what was wrong with her. It didn't make sense until today. She was on meth the whole time.
I watched as the judge told her that if she ever set foot in another Walmart, she would go to jail for a year, no exceptions. She went to sit back down, seemingly unbothered as the man who came with her went up for the same thing. He too said he would be positive for meth.
They both left the courtroom, but as she was leaving, I couldn't help but watch her. I usually don't stare at people, but I just couldn't help but try and see the woman she once was, lost in the hands of meth.
The day did end on a good note though. The judge approved my petition to seal, and all that's left on my record are two speeding tickets from years back. I left the courtroom shaking and crying tears of happiness. I waited over 5 years for this moment.
To end this off the record post, her real nickname was Candy. Catherine isn't her real name, but I don't expect anyone to know her by her other name any more. Looking back, I know so many people from that school who ended up in the dope game. One named Tyler. He ended up climbing the ranks in a... well it's safer to not say what "group" he was affiliated with, but he was shot and killed a few years ago. Just barely in his 20's. I met him once in the game, and I will write about it, later on, once I get to that point. He was a changed man, for sure. Yes, Tyler was his real name, and I say that out of respect for the young man he once was. May he rest in peace.