This person was my old best friend from elementary and middle school. We were so close. After middle school, they moved away and we lost contact. We ended up working at the same job briefly and became friends temporarily again and got each other’s number. We hung out a couple of times before they moved away again. We’d text on and off through a few years to check in and actually during one check in last year, we found out we were both pregnant at the same time and due within days of each other. I thought it was meant to be that we’d be friends again and was so excited to have a pregnancy buddy. They barely texted me back throughout our pregnancies so I thought maybe they just didn’t want to be friends after all and I was fine with that. They finally messaged me back a bit after they had their baby and sent pictures. Messages were still sparse for a while and I didn’t think much of it because having a new baby as a first time parent is hard.

Last night I finally got a text back. They seemed a bit frantic over text and told me they’re using crystal meth and their life is basically gone. They said it’s only been 3 weeks since first using and that they had a hospital stay but relapsed. Their whole family has abandoned them and their son is staying with their sister. They ran off to use with a man who beat them and they have nowhere to go. I said they need to get clean for their son and for themself and said that they need to get back into rehab. They eventually stopped messaging me back. After rereading the texts, I get the feeling they were only contacting me asking for a place to stay and decided to stop replying when they realized I wasn’t going to give them that. It appears they were high as well during the texts maybe. I have my own son to protect here though so I absolutely cannot let them come here. I feel so guilty. We were best friends and I keep wondering what if I’m the only person left that cares to hear from them? What if it’s been much longer than 3 weeks? I’d never felt a friend connection like we had. It feels like a big piece of my childhood has just been ripped to shreds and I’m honestly heartbroken. I don’t know what to do to help or even if I can. How do you even help someone addicted to meth? I don’t know what I’ll do if the next time I hear anything, it’s about them being found dead on the street. Should I even try texting anymore?

I feel so disturbed and like I just have this massive pit in my stomach thinking about my old best friend using meth and getting beat by other meth addicts. And my heart breaks into a million pieces thinking about that poor baby. The baby has neither parent and I wonder if it’s possible they were using while pregnant. I have so many questions but I don’t think I’m going to get answers.