Addiction - Chapter III

The stuff…

Story will continue, but I want to get back to what happened...

It was always fantastic after a difficult day to return to my habit. I could clear my thoughts, prepare myself for certain challenges, and be confident enough to ignore my past.

But this stuff… Something was very different this time.

I felt the pain in my face.

I felt my flesh respond to it, even though it was like a call from very far away.

Nostalgia is dangerous when you feel like your life could have changed.

But that pain… It was different.

“Sir!”

A voice came back to me. A woman’s voice with that perfume that I knew because I gave it to her, and also created (one of many patents I have; should review that legal document…).

“Sir, please!”

My eyes opened and I could feel the light dancing around me.

“Laura… The stuff…”

“No, not the product, sir. Not this time.”

Always specific with language with her. Always “the product”, but never willing to just call it what it was and is. My confusion bothered her, but she had seen me before when I was in the middle of one of my sessions (my own funny word for it), or coming down from the bliss of those special moments. Why was she speaking this way and giving me pain that I could not ignore.

“You need to put this away, sir.”

I wondered what was being put away.

And then I looked around the room.

I did not like it.

The walls were white, with blinds that were closed. They seemed dirty, even from a distance. I could hear a machine beeping and guessed that I had something to do with its noise. A light green line flicked and pulsed on a screen on a rolling cart (my heartbeat was in sync). All I could focus on was that sound, and the fluorescence around me. No I.V. yet (there were needles about, so…) And Laura was right there, red-eyed, and staring down at me like a mother staring at her child experiencing pain.

A nice thought, right then…

“Sir, I have to tell you something.”

I had the only bed in the room, but I could hear the noise from beyond the door. Footfalls that were all contained in sneakers and flat, rubber soled shoes (you can hear the difference). At least I was not dealing with one of those miserable politicians again. Laura was there, right in my corner…

My Laura.

“So, tell me…something.”

I was smiling, even with the pain in my face. Her slap had been very hard and I wondered if she left a bruise.

“The…product, sir. There was something…”

My mind was beginning to focus, but I realized that I was still incredibly tired. Sleepy, but not from the need for a nap (the drugs should have taken care of that need). I was almost yawning through her speech.

“Laura, it is the same dosage…”

“Yes, but there is something…in it.” She wiped her faced with her bare hand (a very serious sign). “Something was done with your product.”

“Something…done.” I wanted to stay in that bed forever.

“The toxic screen was not the usual reading. There was something added…”

I was off to the darkness.

“There was a poison… Something nasty in the mix…”

Darkness felt good right then.

“Someone was trying to kill you!”

Laura shouted, but her voice felt very far away. More pain this time, and she was still shouting, shouting, shouting…

But I fell out...

*

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