Introduction

     It’s Tuesday, sometime in August, and I’m in Jack’s house, the dirty slums of New York pounding at the house from the outside. There’s a party going on, I know, but I’m not here for people. I’m here for my addiction, the beast in my body that needs to be fed with an almost constant dose of gutter glitter, literally anything drug-like. The pot had been broken out hours ago and that was my entrée. Now it was time for the best part of the night. The little square paper stuck to the inside of the plastic bag, wet with Acid. The bloated picture of a purple pyramid with pink wings watched me, it’s giant eye unblinking, silently urging me to take it. The couch underneath me was worn almost through and packed with people, sweaty couples sucking face. Everyone was high, the younger more hesitant people having left earlier. Now it was just us, the scum of the drug world. The serious hitters. My marijuana high had run off already, leaving me with the longing for something to lay back into. That’s when Jack pulled out the Acid. Twenty tabs, all soaking wet, all but five gone. It was these five that looked at me like animals in a pet shop. I reached out and slid the plastic bag off the table, holding one side so it hung open. My long thin fingers pushed into the clinging plastic folds and gathered three tabs, making sure they were soaked, like dipping meat into a sauce before eating it. Make sure you get all the good stuff. The little papers clung together when I pulled them out, all of them saturating my finger tips. I opened my mouth and stuck the two wet fingers on my tongue, depositing the little bits of paper and licking the remaining juice off my fingers.

The uptake was quick. One second I was staring at the carpet, tasting paper and acid, and the next I’m awash with color. My head is lighter than air and I smile, falling against the back of the couch. My whole body seeps back into the fabric and I become the couch. My arms curl into arm rests and my legs are pegs pressing into the carpet. I can feel the couples sitting on me, smothering me, sucking each others organs into their bodies in a mixture of spit and sweat. Breath laboring, I watch as the fluids leak out the sides of their mouths, soaking into my clothy body and making me weigh a thousand pounds. The disgustingly warm liquid explodes into each fiber, crawling down my innards and making everything plump with moisture. I’m heavy with liquid and I feel the floor break underneath me. Asphalt splits and I fall in the cracks, into the apartment below me. It’s filled with water, like a giant goldfish tank. I can breathe now. I’m not so heavy. Again I feel weightless and I look up to see the couples floating on top of the water, still stuck together. Having shed my couch skin, I began to swim to the top, intending to eat the couples like fish flakes, but something’s pulling me back. At first it feels like I’m getting closer, but when I look around, the walls are still. Panicked, I shut my eyes and when I open them again, I’m on the couch. The couples around me are yelling and trying to push off the couch, but they can’t escape the intruders. The cops have busted the door in and they’re filling the room, jumping on people and yelling threats that I can’t focus on. One of them hits me and I grunt, the Acid telling me I’m going to die if he manages to cuff me. Filled with a new power and chemical determination, I pull myself from under him, twisting out of his grip. The shouting increases as I climb over people, trying desperately not to let the cop get me. Sounds escape my mouth as I fall off the other end of the couch and push myself up onto my feet, running the four feet to the other side of the living room. The sliding glass door is suddenly before me and for a second I’m sure I can go through it, but this proves impossible and I crash through the glass out onto the cement on the other side. Little shards of glass embed in my shoulder and hip, screaming pain at my extremely sensitive mind. I think I yell, but I can’t be sure. Before I can right myself, an officer is on top of me, his weight pushing the glass deeper into my skin. Now I know I scream. My arms are jerked behind me and a new pain explodes in my shoulders. My mind can’t grab on to any reality and the world seems to melt around me. The cop’s words take up the blended color of my sight and suddenly I can’t see anything except revolving blue and red lights.

Author's Note

This is just an introduction, to give you a taste of Callum's behavior and to show how exactly he comes to live with his brother.

Reviews

[Elizabeth]

I'm still swimming in visuals... gutter glitter, couch skin, giant goldfish tanks. This is intense and accurate. Anyone who has tripped will instantly tune in and say "yes. Been there." And anyone who hasn't will get it, too. I always love the way you end your pieces. The last sentence has a kick to it and I dig that. I'm excited to see what happens next.

[Jack The Rabbit]

This time the name 'Jack' has nothing to do with me. It's referring to another character of mine, so it could be a girl. Maybe.