Relapse Row

(*)Author's Notes: This story has been posted to Literotica. Com with the full knowledge of the original author, JimBob44. No part or whole of this story may be reprinted in any other format or on any other web site without the express written consent of the original author.

Any and all persons engaging in any sexual activity are at least eighteen years of age.

This story has been edited by myself, using Microsoft Spell-Check. You have been forewarned; expect to find mistakes.

This story is submitted for the 2026 Halloween story contest. Please take a moment to vote for this and the other fine stories being submitted for this contest. Thank you.

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There was nothing to do in Stepping Stone, Louisiana. For years, there had been nothing to do in Stepping Stone, Louisiana. In ten, twenty, fifty years from now, there would be nothing to do in Stepping Stone, Louisiana.

Ruby Wright joined the small throng of girls that graduated from John F. Kennedy High School and began working nowhere, doing nothing. The Sweet Gum Paper Mill had slowly, steadily decreased operating hours, laid off most of their workers, limping along on State and Federal subsidies. Sooner or later, though, some State employee or a Federal Government employee would press a key, read their computer monitor and realize that they were paying thousands of dollars to a dying entity and receiving nothing in return. A few keystrokes would then bring an end the trickle of cash to the paper mill.

Fucking. Fucking and drinking, and whenever available, smoking marijuana, snorting meth filled a few moments in the endless monotony. But the moments were short, fleeting, then bled into longer moments of inactivity.

Walking home long Highway 467's hot asphalt from Jacki Trahan's trailer, slightly pleasantly buzzed on the bottle of Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill Jacki had managed to steal from the grocery store, Ruby Wright moved her knee length limp brown hair back out of her sweaty face. She and Jacki had drank the entire bottle, giggling and kissing and touching one another. Then she and Jacki had swung into a side by side sixty nine and...

A truck's horn blared, causing Ruby to jump. An eighteen wheeler slowed and the truck gave another bleat of the horn.

"Hey; want a ride?" a burly man yelled out.

"Yeah, sure, why, why not?" Ruby giggled, opening the door of the truck and clambering up into the trailer. She closed the door and looked at her new friend with a coquettish smile.

"Tiny," the large man said, dropping the rig into gear and accelerating away.

"Ruby," Ruby said, looking around as Penny Parish receded behind them.

'Tiny' seemed to be an appropriate pseudonym for the large man; his cock was barely four inches in length. But he was willing to buy Ruby pints of Iron Barrel Chocolate whiskey. He was also a reliable source of crystal meth. Ruby became his party girl and her days and nights became a blur of getting high and drunk, sweaty passionate sex, truck stops, sweaty passionate sex, loading depots, getting high and drunk and sweaty passionate sex.

At seven thirty two on the morning of the Thursday after Labor Day, Ruby was convulsing and unresponsive. Her breathing was shallow, nose and mouth bloody from snorting copious amounts of low-grade meth. Tiny shoved the skeletal girl's body in a toilet stall of a rarely frequented rest area and left. He had a drop-off to make in April Falls, Kansas and the paperwork and questions for a Drug Overdose would just slow him down.

Fortunately, a Ministries bus for the Colorado Church of Golgotha pulled into the parking lot just as Tiny's rig was pulling onto the highway. Two women heard Ruby moan from the middle stall and went to investigate.

"Well, it is obvious that the good Lord had designs that we would be here," Reverend Crosby Morrison said as two EMTs loaded the unconscious girl onto a gurney.

"She, she's hardly more than just a child," one woman sobbed, looking at the deplorable condition of Ruby Theresa Wright.

"Drugs don't care how old you is," Gloria, an eighty nine year old member of the congregation stated bluntly as she used her walker to push her way into the restroom. "Need to move; when I got to go I got to go."

Ruby came to full consciousness a few days later in the ward of Benhurst Medical Center, the charity hospital of Benhurst County, Colorado. A kindly nurse smiled and told the girl she was already looking a lot better; she even had some color back in her skin.

"Yeah, yeah, that's great; when I can get out of here?" Ruby asked, trying to pull the IV needle out of the back of her hand.

"That, OH! Oh I just love, girl where you from? That accent, I could listen to it all day," the nurse laughed in delight even as she struggled to restrain Ruby from pulling out the needle.

"Ac, I, I don't got no accent," Ruby denied.

"Oh yeah you do," the woman said. "Can you tell me your name? Do you know who you are?"

Managing to restrain Ruby's flailing arm, securing the IV drip once more, the nurse filled out the pertinent paperwork for Patient CF-92109225. When she revealed that she was from Louisiana, she scowled as the nurse cackled, once again declaring that Ruby's accent was just adorable.

The Church of Golgotha sent cards and prayers and even had a beautiful fruit basket delivered. Ruby did eat most of the fruit but hardly glanced at the silly, meaningless cards and prayers scribbled into the cards.

"All right, all right, when I can get out of here?" she kept demanding as the doctors, mostly students of the nearby Jordinaire Medical College doing internships and residencies at the charity hospital. Finally one of the residents told Ruby, point-blank, she would be moved from this ward into a ward on the fourth floor, the Chemical Dependency Unit as soon as her detox was completed.

"Court-ordered," the young man snapped, nerves at the breaking point after pulling his second double in as many days.

"Detox? Chemical, what?" Ruby shrilled, incensed.

"Oh, but let me guess. You don't have a problem. You can quit any time, right?" the man spat at her, entering her vitals into the system.

"Well, why I would want to quit? I, I like..." Ruby argued.

"Because you're about thirteen weeks pregnant," the man said, moving around the curtain to the next bed.

"Preg... PREGNANT?" Ruby gasped, looking down at her flat belly.

She was not shy about admitting to staff and medical personnel alike; the moment she was released from BMC, Ruby had every intention of getting high, getting drunk. She did not care about the baby in her belly; she'd not asked to get pregnant.

Doing the math in her head, the baby was either Tiny's, Curtis's, or Ronnie's. She hated Tiny; he'd abandoned her. She hated Curtis; he thought that, just because they'd fucked, she was his property. She liked Ronnie, Jacki's brother but Ronnie didn't like her; he just fucked her. So, Ruby didn't really like Ronnie either.

"God, really? Another? Another one of these stupid ass fucking meetings?" Ruby complained but dutifully got into the fifteen person BMC CDU van.

"You're fixing to graduate, what? Next week?" one of the volunteers asked Ruby as they rumbled to another Narcotics Anonymous meeting.

"Uh huh; I guess," Ruby said, wondering why they seemed to hold NA and AA meetings in some of the nastiest neighborhoods.

"Well, Sweetie Pie, you ain't graduating until you get five phone numbers," the older man stated. "And from those phone numbers, we'll help you pick out a sponsor."

"God! What? I, I got half that stupid fucking church of Gotham or Golom or whatever it is saying they sponsoring me," Ruby complained.

"No, no, you need a woman that's got some clean time, someone from the NA meetings," the man said, then quickly got to his feet as two male patients were starting to get loud with one another. "Don't care who started it; I'm finishing it. Doug, you go sit over there; Matt you stay right there, hear?"

"Why y'all got these meetings in some the nastiest places?" Ruby asked no one in particular as she grabbed an ice cold bottle of water from the small kitchenette in the church's basement.

"Uh? 'Cause that's where the addicts are," Stephanie, a beautiful blonde sneered as she poured herself a cup of the mud they called coffee.

"You need to put a dollar in the box for that water, Sylvia Milligan gently reminded Ruby.

Remembering the volunteer's words, Ruby got Sylvia's phone number and Stephanie's phone number. Then she ignored Marcia, the counselor from their CDU and sat down next to Joey Trumond, a surly looking blond slouched in a chair far away from the center of the meeting.

"You. Sit. HERE," Marcia hissed, her displeasure evident as she pointed toward a chair at the main table. "Not back here in Relapse Row."

"Joey, what you want to read?" the chairperson said.

"Nothing," Joey mumbled.

"I did not ask IF you wanted to read. I asked you WHAT you want to read. Because you really, really, really want to read," Sterling snapped at the surly young man. "And get over here. Up here. Where the winners all sit."

After she had five phone numbers, as well as Joey's phone number and the phone number of Eric, a really cute red head, Ruby sat down with Donna, her BMC counselor/case worker. Together, they agreed that Sylvia would be an excellent sponsor. Then, to Ruby's extreme displeasure, Donna rifled through Ruby's purse and threw Joey's phone number and Eric's phone number into the trash. Then, they rehearsed how Ruby was to ask Sylvia to be her sponsor.

"I'm recommending that you go to Happy Destiny Half-way House," Donna said after Ruby got off the phone with Sylvia.

"What? Aw Jesus God, why?" Ruby spat, having no intention of using Sylvia as a sponsor, of going to meetings, of continuing with this charade.

"Because, you are millimeters away from relapsing. And you're not even smart enough to hide it," Donna said. "That baby in your belly? Needs for you to stay clean and sober. Hey, what you do after you drop that puppy? Nobody gives a shit. You want to die in a filthy gas station's bathroom, needle in your arm? Be our guest. But until you give birth?"

"What the fuck ever," Ruby snarled bitterly.

At her graduation 'ceremony' Ruby was surprised, startled and a little intimidated when several women from the Church of Golgotha showed up. She was also more than a little surprised that Sylvia showed up. After she received her certificate of completion, the women of the church took her to Benny's Burger Bar. Gloria, the eighty nine year old woman fixed Ruby with a steely eyed glare and, in a strong clear voice told Ruby she was taking bets that Ruby would not stay sober, would not be alive by Christmas-time.

"Oh, Gloria! Do you have to?" another woman chided. "Come on, Sweetie; you need to get the half-pound; you're eating for two."

"Baby ain't going make it neither," Gloria declared, ordering a half pound and a large chocolate malt. "What Wilma? Yes, I know I'm diabetic. Now, ask me if I care."

They dropped Ruby off at the half-way house, declaring they were praying for her. Gloria did not tell Ruby anything, just glared from the rear seat of her old Cadillac. For some reason, Ruby found this funny. She smiled wider when Gloria suddenly twisted her head to look away.

Right after finishing her intake forms, Ruby was pulled into an in-house meeting already in progress. She saw two other girls were also pregnant as she took a seat.

"I oh I was so happy," Destiny, one of the residents in the halfway house declared, cradling her eight month pregnant belly. "Thought wasn't no way get off that crack."

"Crack? Jesus, people, people still doing that shit?" Ruby sneered, pulling her large tee shirt down over her four month belly.

"Hey new kid," a very mannish looking girl snapped. "Around here? We don't interrupt when people sharing."

As invincible as she felt, looking at Lilly, Ruby knew she would not win a fight with the girl. Wisely, she zipped her mouth shut and half-listened, half-stared at the incredibly slow clock as the meeting dragged on and on, as residents droned on and on.

"So? Got nothing to say?" Lilly demanded of Ruby.

"No. Not really," Ruby shrugged.

"Well, we ain't leaving here 'til you share," Andrea said, smiling what she hoped was an encouraging smile at the new girl.

With a sigh, Ruby said her name, said she was an addict; her trucker boyfriend had dumped her in a bathroom somewhere; she wasn't sure where, some people from some church found her and next thing she knew, she was being held against her will at Benhurst Medical Center and here she was.

"You, you don't WANT to get clean?" Andrea gasped, looking at Ruby's slightly distended belly.

"No. Not really," Ruby said.

"But, but you preggers," Destiny gasped.

"Yeah? And?" Ruby asked. "God! All y'all. All y'all keep saying we got to get honest. But fucking minute I get honest with y'all? Y'all all 'bout lose your fucking mind."

The next day, at eleven fifteen, Ruby was told they were going to the Mid-Day Meeting. With an exasperated sigh, Ruby put her workbook on her assigned shelf, stood in line with the fifteen other girls and signed herself out. Then the fifteen of the residents walked the four city blocks to the noon meeting. Many of the girls clumped together, laughing, squealing, and chattering.

"Come on, new kid, pick up the pace," Lilly snapped, walking behind Ruby.

"Go around you that in a hurry get there," Ruby snapped.

"Oh no, new kid. I ain't letting you wander off," Lilly said.

"Lilly's just about to graduate; she's the senior girl," Andrea smiled at Ruby. "But come on; you, you can walk faster, can't you? I mean, Destiny? She's about to pop and she's all the way up at the front."

"I ain't 'bout to pop," Destiny called back, laughing. "Got another three, four weeks to go here."

At the meeting, Ruby saw Joey so went and flopped down on the couch next to him. He and Ruby talked; Ruby ignored the disapproving glares she was receiving from her house mates as she and Joey talked, none too quietly throughout the meeting. She was surprised that Joey was also in a halfway house, a condition of his parole. After the meeting, Ruby had to be dragged out by a very irate Lilly.

"God, I, I don't even want to be here," Ruby complained when Lilly let her know that she would be talking with Carmen, the head counselor at the halfway house. "Go ahead; tattle on me."

"Come on; can't you even try?" Andrea begged.

"Why? God, what? What you care?" Ruby challenged.

"Because she's a lezzy," Lydia, one of the prettier girls said, sneering at Andrea.

"Gay. All right? Gay. Lezzy? Makes it sound like something to be ashamed of and I ain't ashamed to be gay," Andrea shrilled.

"Me neither. But uh, want call me Lezzy to my face?" Lilly challenged Lydia.

By late October, Ruby had to break down and ask the women of the Church of Golgotha for some maternity clothing. She recognized Gloria's large Cadillac as three women got out and presented Ruby with some good quality maternity clothing. With a happy giggle, one of the women disclosed that the brand new packet of panties was from Gloria herself; so too were the large, comfortable shoes, still in the box.

Gloria's scowl made Ruby smile and the old woman turned her head away. Even as the three church women continued to prattle happily, Ruby walked to the rear window of the Cadillac and softly knocked on the glass. With a jerk, Gloria twisted to glare at Ruby.

"Thank you," Ruby mouthed, then waddled away.

"You're not going make it, kid. You got too much ego. And ego ain't nothing but 'Easing God Out,'" Gloria called out, lowering the rear window of the older luxury automobile.

"Oh Miss Gloria, why? Why do you have to be so cantankerous?" one of the women chided the ninety year old woman, getting into the driver's seat of the car.

"Because I'm ninety. What good is living this damned long if I can't be cantankerous?" Gloria snapped.

"When I'm ninety?" Sally, a twenty six year old woman agreed, sitting in the rear with Gloria. "I'm going be the biggest bitch anyone's ever seen."

"Well, you are well on your way," Shelly, the minister's wife agreed as they drove away.

"Oh! Oh, I cannot wait! I cannot wait to tell Crosby what you just said!" Sally hooted and the four women laughed uproariously.

Carmen, the head counselor reminded Ruby that she needed to sit down, sit down and write a 'Thank You' note to the Church of Golgotha for her new clothes as well as the emotional support and the prayers that the church had extended to her. Somewhat grudgingly, Ruby did sit and scribble some insincere words of gratitude. Carmen read the letter, tore it up and told Ruby to do it again.

"By the way; what? What are we doing tonight? It's Halloween," Ruby said as she sat at the large breakfast table, slowly plodding through her second attempt at writing a letter of thanks.

"There, there's that dance over at Carry The Message," Andrea said.

"So, we going to that?" Ruby asked, signing the second letter.

"Yeah. Prizes for costumes, food; we get in for a dollar because we're in a halfway house," Lilly agreed.

"Hey Ruby. Why don't you go as a knocked up meth whore?" Lydia said. "You could win for scariest costume."

"Why don't you go as a nasty bitch?" Andrea shot back.

"Much, much better," Carmen approved of Ruby's second attempt.

Ruby did not know why, but gaining Carmen's approval buoyed her spirits. Buying a stamp from the office, she sealed the letter and dropped it into the mailbox out front of the house.

None of the fifteen girls actually did put any costumes on; all of them did put on their nicest, prettiest clothes. Two of the girls even put on far too much perfume.

Arriving to the Carry The Message Club, they sat and waited; Sterling was telling his story. Then, after the speaker meeting, they would exit the club while the club members hurried to set everything up for the dance. Then, they would pay the entrance fee and get back in for the dance itself.

Ruby saw Joey and Sterling standing near the podium. Joey looked very unhappy; Sterling wore his usual Fatherly expression.

"You knew, Joey. You knew your step-father sent you that money for your fees. What? The halfway house is just supposed to let you stay there, pay nothing?" Sterling asked.

"But, but, dude! The tat is just killer," Joey defended.

"That tattoo? That tattoo going to pay your monthly fees? No? Then maybe should have paid the dues. Any money left? Then you put it toward a tattoo," Sterling stated.

"But, but, come on; you, you can't give me the money?" Joey whined. "They, they're going kick me out. I get kicked out? I go to prison, man."

"Hey Joey? I got bills to pay. And this cancer? Uh treatment isn't free, buddy," Sterling said.

Ruby and Joey sat together, Joey complaining bitterly about the unfairness of it all and Ruby sympathizing. The tattoo was mostly scabbed over at present, but Ruby agreed; a dragon heart was a cool tattoo.

"You know, my sister? My step-sister? Brooke? She uh, she's pregnant," Joey confided. "Fuck, pregnant women are sexy as shit."

"Yeah? You uh, you think so?" Ruby asked.

"Let's see," Joey said, looking at his cell phone. "Bus ticket, bus ticket to shit, anywhere. Motel room..."

They made plans; as soon as the meeting was over, as soon as the paying members of Carry The Message Club made them get out, they'd go down the street to the Budget-Stay Motel.

"You, hey, you like, you ever do anal?" Joey whispered as Paul called the meeting to order.

"Up the... No," Ruby giggled.

Paul had a habit of picking young, pretty girls to do the readings. Sitting behind the podium, Sterling smiled and shook his head at the antics of the old lecherous man.

"Hey, hey, some of us is sicker than others," Paul said, unapologetic for his shortcomings.

"Boo!" Joey called out when Paul introduced Sterling. Sterling smirked, then shook his head at his young sponsee's antics. Then he spent the next thirty five minutes telling his experience, strength and hope.

"He, he's got cancer?" Ruby asked as Sterling was finishing his story.

"Yeah, but still..." Joey said, still perturbed about the money/tattoo situation.

After holding hands and reciting the Lord's Prayer, the majority of people trooped outside. The crowd was loud, boisterous, happy. Joey and Ruby slunk away then hurried to the Budget-Stay Motel two blocks away.

Joey paid cash for the room and smirked when the clerk stated the room came with free movies. He told the clerk they would be making their own movies then pulled Ruby down the hall to Room 112.

His kisses were aggressive, his gropes demanding. This was fine with Ruby; she was horny, ready to fuck. All of her sexual experiences had been hurried, fumblings in the back seats of cars, drunken, high grappling in Tiny's rig, hurried masturbation sessions in the shower cubicle at the Happy Destiny Halfway House.

"Damn yeah, love, damn nice titties," Joey praised when Ruby wiggled out of blouse and bra.

He thrust his cock into her mouth even as she attempted to slide her big, ugly, comfortable shoes from her feet. Ruby gave a loud, sloppy blow job; Tiny loved her loud, sloppy blow jobs.

"Aw yeah, aw yeah, yeah Brooke, better, better than that red headed..." Joey moaned as he thrust frantically into Ruby's slurping mouth.

"Brooke? Red headed?" Ruby thought, gripping the base of Joey's cock so that he did not thrust into her throat, activate her gag reflex.

"Fuck yeah, fuck yeah, that, that's it," Joey groaned, spurting into Ruby's gulping mouth. "Plenty of protein for that baby growing in..."

He pulled out of her mouth, still spurting his semen. Some of his semen splattered onto Ruby's face, some went into her long brown hair. With a screech of disgust, she used her hand to wipe her face clean.

Joey laughed at her enraged face, sauntering to the bathroom. While he noisily urinated, Ruby dug his wallet out of his crumpled jeans and helped herself to a wad of bills from his wallet. She did not bother to count the bills as she hurried to stuff them into her left shoe. Then she lay back on the bed, slowly stroking her furry pussy.

"Aw yeah, aw yeah, God! You pregnant bitches, y'all are some fucking hot," Joey agreed, admiring Ruby's swollen belly.

Eating pussy was not among Joey's skills. In truth, Ruby had not had any male lover that could compare with Jacki, her best friend in Stepping Stone, Louisiana. Lying there as Joey ineffectively licked her pussy, Ruby did think briefly of the beautiful girl, wondered how Jacki was doing, what Jacki might be doing at that moment.

When Joey determined he'd returned the favor, he slid up and mounted Ruby. Twice more, during his frenzied bucking and thrusting, he called Ruby by his step-sister's name. Ruby was fairly certain Joey would not respond well to being called by another man's name though, so kept her lips zipped as he fucked her while imagining that he was actually fucking his step-sister.

"God damn yeah," Joey groaned happily, finally pumping his seed deep into her pussy.

"Thank God," Ruby thought, grateful that he would finally get his weight off of her belly.

"So, the brat in your belly? It white or what?" Joey casually asked as he lay next to her.

"I, what? WHAT? You, you think I'm one them..." Ruby screeched in disgust.

"Hey, hey, you know, you meth whores don't exactly do background checks on your customers, huh?" Joey defended.

"Meth, I, I'm not, I'm not some meth whore," Ruby screeched, wiggling to get out of the bed.

"Hey, hey, what? Huh? Where, where you going?" Joey snarled, gripping Ruby's arms in a tight grip.

"Let, let me, augh!" Ruby shrilled then grunted as she was twisted and forced onto her belly.

She felt like throwing up when she heard then felt the globule of spit strike her anus. She grunted, attempting to clamp her anus tightly shut as his fingers plunged into her rectum, using the spittle as lubricant.

"Aw, aw yeah, augh, oh yeah, this..." Joey praised as he forced his erection into her struggling anus.

"Augh, I, oh, oh God, I, I hate you, I hate you," Ruby choked out even as a wave of warmth enveloped her, spreading from her anus outward.

"Man!" Joey grunted, thrusting himself into her wiggling rectum with forceful strokes.

She could feel the flared head of his cock rasping along her rectal walls. She could feel her muscles straining, trying to expel him from her guts. Even as she fought against him, she felt the pleasure building and building inside of her.

"This, this the only, augh, only way I can even feel you augh, feel your pathetic little pee-pee," Ruby taunted even as her orgasm welled up in her guts.

"Damn man, tight, Jesus, so, so tight," Joey wheezed, fucking into her squirming ass.

"Aaieegh!" Ruby shrieked in orgasm as he used her long hair as reins, snapping her head back. "Oh God, oh God, I, no, no, no."

"Fuck yeah, fuck yeah, augh, God!" Joey groaned as he pumped his semen deep into her guts.

"Fuck!" Ruby complained as he pulled his still spurting cock from her stretched, raw anus. "Fucking asshole!"

"Aw Jesus, got your shit all over my dick," Joey complained.

"Gee, how the fuck you think that happened, dumb ass?" Ruby shrilled.

He made her scream in rage when he delivered a very hard slap to her pudgy buttocks. He got out of the bed and entered the bathroom, still complaining about her fecal matter, about her being nothing but a God damned useless meth whore, about... Ruby grabbed one of the pillows and intentionally wiped herself on the pillow. Then, while the shower gurgled to life, she hurried to dress. She stuffed the wad of bills into her purse then slid her shoes on her feet.

She heard him complaining when she opened the door of Room 112 and hurried down the hall.

"Free movies with every room; you can just beat your little meat, asshole," Ruby muttered as she sprinted for the motel's exterior doors. She did not respond to the motel clerk's friendly words as the electronic doors slid apart, allowing the cold night air to greet her exit.

Instinctively, Ruby knew to look for a gas station, a convenience store, a motel... She skittered to a stop; she was standing right in front of a cheap motel. Turning to peer into the darkness next to the side of the motel, Ruby saw him, saw the dealer she was looking for. His greasy smile greeted her as he peered at her from the shadows.

"Oh God," Ruby said, that familiar need building inside of her fevered brain. Even though it had been two, two and a half months since her last time, Ruby's cravings were just as fresh as if it had only been two, two and a half hours since her last time using.

"Stop," Gloria ordered, suddenly appearing right in front of her.

"Mi... Miss Gloria?" Ruby stammered, shocked at seeing the elegant and elderly white woman in this seedy neighborhood.

"Need to think of that baby," Gloria snapped, voice hard as she fixed Ruby with a disapproving scowl. "That's the problem with you addicts. Never think of nobody but yourselves."

"Miss Gloria, what, what you would know about..." Ruby demanded, now noticing that the woman clutched a beautiful infant to her chest.

"Know a lot more than you would think," Gloria said, lifting the hem of her dress, revealing her left leg, her prostetic leg. "MASH unit, Vietnam War. Damned Viet Cong shelled us. Got hooked, hooked bad on that synthetic morphine they gave me in the VA Hospital."

"I, I..." Ruby said, again looking at the beautiful girl in Gloria's arms.

"She's yours," Gloria explained, voice almost gentle as she stroked the girl's thick mop of brown hair. "Or she would be. Unless you..."

"I, I, Miss Gloria, what? What you want me to do?" Ruby sobbed as the dealer stealthily made his way through the shadows to where they stood.

"Need to go. Need to go now. Call your sponsor, admit you almost messed up," Gloria said, scowling hatefully at the drug dealer. "Need to get honest, I mean really honest and need to start praying. Praying like your life depends on it. 'Cause Sugar? Your life really, really depends on it."

Even as the infant let out a delighted giggle, Ruby turned. Ruby turned and hurried toward the Carry The Message Club. Behind her, she heard Gloria lambasting the drug dealer, calling him some pretty vulgar words, words no ninety year old woman should know how to use.

Entering the dingy, dilapidated building, Ruby hurriedly dropped a dollar bill into the basket. The young man seated behind the small table smiled and wished Ruby a Happy Halloween but she paid no attention to him as she scanned the darkness.

"Hey! Where, where you been?" Andrea called out over the thumping, thudding music, grabbing Ruby's hand.

"Andrea, you, you seen Miss Sylvia?" Ruby begged, trying to peer into the darkness.

"Yeah, she, she's working the coffee; asked where you was," Andrea agreed, pointing toward the thin sliver of light at the end of the hallway.

Ruby found Sylvia in the small room, laughing and chattering with another woman. Looking over, Sylvia lost the smile as she saw the terror on Ruby's face.

"Miss Sylvia, I, I messed up, I almost messed up. Bad," Ruby sobbed out, feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of her evening's actions.

"Dottie, you take over here?" Sylvia begged, grabbing Ruby's hand. "We'll be in the Twelfth Step room."

"Absolutely," Dottie agreed, taking Sylvia's post. "All right! All right! Next one of you assholes complains about how nasty the coffee is? Sylvia's one that made it."

"Dottie!" Sylvia laughed as she herded the frantic Ruby into the small, comfortable room set aside for sponsors and sponsees to sit, do step work together, admit shortcomings, or just to pray together in comfortable silence.

"I, I fucked that Joey guy; we left here right after Mr. Sterling finished telling his story; we went down to that motel and fucked," Ruby blurted out.

"Okay," Sylvia said, no judgement in her voice.

Ruby spilled her entire story; she stole money out of Joey's wallet and, after he'd sodomized her, she'd dressed and was planning, she'd had every intention of finding some meth. She'd had every intention of buying the meth if she couldn't talk the dealer into spotting her some magic powder, you know, for a blow job. She'd even found the dealer, lurking on the side of the motel.

"So, what stopped you?" Sylvia quietly asked when Ruby sat and sobbed quietly.

"Miss, Miss Gloria was there; my, my baby? She's, God! She's beautiful and Miss Gloria told me if I used my baby, my baby, she wasn't going make it," Ruby sobbed out.

"So, you didn't use?" Sylvia verified.

"No, no, I, I wanted to but Miss Gloria, she made me come here looking for you; Miss Sylvia, I, I need to get honest. I need to get clean and sober; I don't need to be fucking around with this shit no more," Ruby choked out, tears streaming down her face.

"All right," Sylvia agreed. "Let's do this."

After reciting the Third Step Prayer from page 63 in the book 'Alcoholics Anonymous,' Sylvia made Ruby go to the dingy, dank bathroom and clean her face. Quietly, she also told the girl to wash the glob of semen from her hair, then join her in the coffee room. Ruby was going to be of service; Ruby was going to make and to sell coffee to the alcohlics and addicts.

By the time the dance ended, Ruby was giddy with happiness, with hope. She asked Miss Sylvia if it was all right for her to go to church, go to the Church of Golgotha and tell Miss Gloria she was grateful she seen her and saved her life and the life of her baby. Sylvia agreed that this was a fine idea.

Fourteen of the fifteen girls walked to the halfway house, laughing and chattering and squealing about how much fun they'd had. Ruby smiled happily as she walked with them.

"Lydia, hey, you, you said you go to that Church of Golgotha, right?" Ruby suddenly remembered.

"Yeah, my mom's been going there for years," Lydia agreed. "Been dragging me for, God! Years?"

"You, you think I could catch a ride with y'all?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah. Why? Want to scam some more money out them people?" Lydia spat contemptuously.

"No, no. They, they just been real helpful; I, I'd kind of like to see what their church is like," Ruby said, voice earnest and sincere.

Allison, Lydia's mother was delighted to have Ruby joining them. She even opined, their coffee was a hundred times better than the coffee at that Carry The Message Club. Ruby laughed and said it would be hard to be worse than the coffee at their club.

Some reddened eyes greeted them when they entered the small foyer. Ruby greeted the minister's wife; she knew the woman from when they'd dropped off the bags of maternity clothing. She shocked the woman and herself when she hugged her.

"Where, where's Miss Gloria? I need talk to her," Ruby happily said.

"I, oh, oh child," Shelly said, fresh tears coming to her eyes. "Miss Gloria? She, she passed away. Died yesterday morning. In her sleep."

"Heart attack," another woman verified as Ruby stood, stunned and disbelieving.

"No. No," Ruby whispered, shaking her head in denial. "No. I, I seen her. I seen her just last night."

Ruby came to, someone pressing a cold rag to her face. Her vision swam as the tears began. Sitting up, Ruby again stated that it was impossible. Miss Gloria couldn't be gone; she had seen her, she had talked to her. Just last night. Just a few hours ago.

"Miss, Miss Gloria? I, I'm naming my baby, I'm naming her after you," Ruby whispered when she finally came to believe that the battle-hardened, cantankerous old curmudgeon was truly deceased.

The End.

***Author's Note: I write these stories for my pleasure; I post them here for your enjoyment.

I thank you sincerely for reading my stories.

Likewise, I also thank those that take the time to leave comments, good and bad. I also thank those that take the time to rate my words, those that take the time to 'Favorite' my works.

This story is a submission for the Literotica 2026 Halloween Story contest. Please take a moment to vote for this and for the other fine stories being submitted for this contest. Thank you.

Ruby Theresa Wright is the younger sister of Becky Wright, a character introduced in 'Cast Adrift' in the Taboo/Incest category.

The origin of Jordinaire Medical College is mentioned in the 'Crescent City in the Rockies' series in the Loving Wives category.

Joey Trumond is mentioned in "Am I?" in the Lesbian Sex category; he is the step-brother of Brooke, Brooklyn March.

Stephanie is a character in 'Kimmy's Hot Afternoon' in the Group Sex category.

Sylvia Milligan is a minor character in 'He Who Dares to Bare His Heart' in the First Time category.

Have a swell day. And some of you, have a swollen day. Happy Halloween!