July 31st, 2012

He has a way with his tongue to place you under a spell. The only one to not fall for it was Cody.

He found us walking outside the diner and asked me to come with him. Andrew was in the backseat of a luxury SUV already. Cody didn’t want to but I think he knew we didn’t have a choice when it came with Lyle.

He introduced himself to Cody. “I assume you two have already eaten.”

“Uh, yeah, the food was good,” Cody stumbled his words which I didn’t know was possible. It’s been a few minutes and I felt like Cody lost all of his confidence, like he was scared. I didn’t feel that way, but I should have.

“To be honest, I expected you to be alone, Elizabeth,” Lyle said

“Why?” Cody answered for me.

“I just wanted to get to know you a little better before you became involved with me,” his words sounded threatening, but I didn't feel it.

“She changed her mind.”

Lyle scoffed, “Do you always let him talk to you like that?”

“No,” I affirmed myself. “I didn’t expect this, however.”

Cody rolled his eyes, “I’m sorry, but we have to leave,” he said opening the door. “Ellie, come on.” But I didn’t budge. Lyle was clearly amused by this. “Ellie, come on!”

Once again, I didn’t budge. Another thing I did wrong.

“She clearly doesn't want to,” Lyle said.

“Fine, whatever. Do what you want,” Cody said before leaving.

A full minute passed in silence while I observed Andrew. He wasn’t looking at me, instead, he would occasionally glance at Lyle. I looked over to the driver, who was Acid and he was texting on his phone. Lyle never took his eyes off me.

“Elizabeth Wilson, was it?” Lyle broke the silence. “Have you ran out?”

“Uh, I have a small baggie left.”

“Do you want some more?”

“Yes, please.”

“How much do you have?”

“Five hundred,” which was all I had left for summer. My mother only gave me a limited amount of money. “Is that enough?”

Lyle chuckled, “You ever heard of Meth? It’s slightly cheaper, stronger and last longer. You’ll like it.”

“No.”

“Winter?”

I heard about Winter. I’ve only seen Connor do it. He described it as being the ultimate high. It’s getting lifted. It’s far too expensive to ever buy and nobody knows where to get it. I heard it was easier to get and much cheaper five to six years ago but that was then, and this is now. “That’s far too expensive.”

“First one’s free then.”

This grabbed Andrew’s attention.

“What’s it like?” I asked but I already had some idea. Connor described it as being hopped up on coke and ecstasy with this indescribable feeling shock. Now that I know how the two are, I couldn’t imagine both of them together.

“You want to try it?”

“Uh, yeah.”

Lyle pulled out a little blue vial out of his suit pocket. That single little vial which is probably 50ml cost about 500 dollars. Connor said a hit was 10, but one wasn't enough to get you completely ‘lifted’. Lyle pulled out an orange syringe, measured in 1 ml. Lyle gave me a full shot, “Don’t be afraid.”

I take the shot into my mouth and the taste fits the name. It’s minty but also tastes the color blue, not blue barry, blue. Lyle hands Andrew another shot. “How long till it hits?”

“A couple minutes. Tell me, what is it that makes you go down this path?”

Something inside of me burns. That mint blue flavor had settled on my throat. “Boredom.”

Lyle and Andrew both chuckled. Lyle’s eyes pierced through me like he knew everything about me. Then I doubted my answer. “Fair enough.” He closed the vial and tossed it to me. “Don’t be afraid to take as much as you want, you can’t overdose. Not with that small amount anyways.”

“Why are you doing this?” I asked, staring at the blue vial.

“Boredom,” he smirked. “Andrew will take you home. Text me when you need something else.”

Andrew got out first. When I opened the door and first stepped out, I started to feel it. I could feel that coke sensation of feeling like a queen and loving everything in sight of MDMA. There was that shock Connor described. It was like I was standing outside during a snowstorm but it wasn’t cold.

Andrew led me to this old Toyota car that wasn’t his. Andrew’s too poor to ever have a car. “Drink half of it,” he said. “It’ll send you to another world. A better one.” Those words alone felt like small little icicles piercing through my skin.

I didn’t hesitate to follow his order.

We were driving down the streets of Darkwood when it all hit. It’s not something I could compare anything to. Time itself had stopped but it was still flowing. There world around me was this icy gray and cold where everything seemed frozen. Euphoria isn’t the right word to describe it. It was more than that. It was normal like I was sober.

“Why were you there?” I asked Andrew.

“I have too. It’s what you do when he does you favors. You will have to too.”

“Are you scared? Is it dangerous?”

“Maybe.”

“What are you scared off?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“Yes.”

Andrew pulled over the side of the road in between some neighborhood. He turned off the car and sighed. I could feel my phone vibrate but I ignored it. “I’m not scared of anything. You asked weeks ago if I cared about anything and I said no. But you were right.”

“About what?”

“I do care.”

“So why don’t you show it?”

“Because I’m still angry at my mom. Y’know Sara found her dead in the bathtub? My mom was selfish.”

“Was she a good person?”

“Yes. Are you scared?”

“Of what?”

“Of what you’re doing.”

“Yes.”

“Do you want to fuck?”

The high made it even better. I thought about Cody for a second but didn’t care. Andrew was bigger. It was better. Andrew was relentless and didn’t slow down one bit. I don’t know if it was the Winter or his own shit but I felt him come multiple times.

I could feel myself going back to the ground. That’s when I noticed it had been raining. I was laying on the back of this car completely naked in the middle of the night. Andrew was outside smoking a blunt letting the rain completely soak him.

Andrew came inside after a while. “You awake?”

“What happened?”

“You passed out after. I left you to calm down.”

“It was good. Thank you.”

“Are you going to tell Cody?”

“No.”