The Tribuo - 61. Part V, chapter 14

- XIV -

December 25th

JESS

Fa-la-la, Jess. Fa-fucking-la-la! I’ve been trying to get hold of Landley for almost three hours. The son of a bitch is not answering his phone! This is bad, this is very bad… I feel like I am about to kill someone. I glanced at the clock. Crap, it’s almost five in the evening! “Well, maybe this is a perfect time to start that detox you’ve been planning…” someone whispered in my head and I gritted my teeth.

Screw the detox, I thought gloomily, pulling on my coat. I’ll just drive to that bastard’s apartment and do some serious physical damage. I mean, I paid him yesterday! I want my damn hit! I went outside, briefly wondering if Russell was at Lex’s place. He probably was. Ah, who cares. I slammed the door shut and walked to my car, cursing the snow that decided to start coming down a couple of hours ago.

I got to Landley’s apartment in almost half an hour. Usually it would take me ten minutes at the most, but thanks to all the snow today, I had to drive really slowly. Not that I cared much about getting into a wreck or some other nonsense like that, no -- I can drive, believe me. But I got stuck behind a whole bunch of idiots who thought that if there was snow on the ground, it meant they had to slow down to crawling speed. Ugh, I hate people, I really do.

I rang his doorbell for God knows how long. He didn’t answer. I knew that he was inside though -- his car was here. Finally, I tried the doorknob, and to my greatest surprise, it turned smoothly. The damn door was unlocked this whole time! Why didn’t I try this right away? Oh well, whatever…

I walked in and yelled out his name. There was no answer. Okay, what the hell is this? Is he hiding from me or something? I was getting very pissed off. I marched towards his bedroom and swung the door open.

“Landley!” I called sharply. “What the hell? I know you are here!”

His bedroom was dark and I couldn’t really see anything, but I could hear some weird gargling sound. I flicked on the lights, and almost screamed, when I saw him on the floor. His eyes were open, but I don’t think he saw me or his surroundings. He was shaking like someone who was suffering from epilepsy. I almost turned around and ran the hell away from there, but then I made myself stop.

“Landley…” I called in a shaky voice.

He didn’t react at all. I touched his skin very carefully. Holy shit, he was burning up like no other. Human torch, seriously. His breathing was really shallow and fast. Jesus Christ, what did he do?! Then I saw that damn light bulb crushed under his arm, and I knew the answer immediately. The stupid son of a bitch managed to OD on this shit. Oh my God…

I wildly looked around. I knew that I should be doing something, but I had no idea what. I thought of just leaving him here for his roommate to find him, but then I remembered that his roommate was not coming back until tomorrow morning. Well, shit. Calling 911 would be the only helpful thing to do right now, but I am not calling from my phone, no way! I can’t let them trace the damn number… I could call from Landley’s phone… I looked around. Crap, I had no idea where his phone was. Fine, I’ll call from a pay phone.

I jumped up and raced to the door, but then came to a screeching halt, after remembering why I came here in the first place. I went back into his room, stepped over his convulsing body, and started digging through his desk drawers. Finally, I found what I was looking for -- a nice, little plastic bag filled with white, crystal goodness. I wasn’t worried about fingerprints or other nonsense like that. I mean, this is a very clear case of drug overdose; nobody is going to bother with fingerprinting this place. It’s not like it’s a murder or something.

I shoved the bag into my pocket and left, making sure that I didn’t run outside like I just set something on fire. No need to attract unwanted attention. There was nobody around, and I managed to leave the place completely unnoticed. I stopped by a pay phone two blocks away from his apartment building and dialed 911. I muttered the address into the phone as soon as I heard the operator’s voice.

“Hurry up,” I added. “He looks like he’s dying.”

I hung up, got back into my car, and went home. It was weird, but I felt almost happy. I mean, sure, it sucked right now to be Landley, but it’s his own damn fault. I was happy because I’ve got way more of the stuff than I expected. That shit will last me for a full week! Merry Christmas, Jess!

I got home around six in the evening. Russell wasn’t there, of course. Good thing too, because I really didn’t want to deal with anyone right now. I all but ran into my room, throwing my coat on the couch and kicking off my shoes as I ran. I flipped on the lights, put the precious bag on the desk, smiled…

...and then it hit me.

I didn’t have anything that could serve as a pipe! I almost cried. You have got to be kidding me!

Then I told myself to knock it off and concentrate on the task at hand. How hard is it to make that light bulb thingy? I mean, Landley could do it… Then I realized that in my current condition, I would just end up breaking the damn thing, and then I would lose it for sure. Shit! Think, Jess, think! And then I remembered how Landley told me once that this stuff could be snorted as well as smoked. I almost cried with relief.

It took me almost ten minutes to grind some crystals into fine dust and pour it onto my table mirror. I carefully divided the dust pile into two even rows, rolled a piece of paper into a nifty little tube, and made sure that my hands weren’t shaking too bad. If I end up wasting this right now, I’ll kill someone.

I didn’t waste anything. The whole snorting thing felt weird, but it wasn’t completely unpleasant. Several minutes later, I was in heaven.

*****

It was 8:30 and I was in the middle of a very serious cleaning, when the doorbell rang. I straightened up and frowned. Who the hell is that? Did Russell manage to forget his keys? Weird, I thought he told me that he would be staying at Lex’s place tonight. I went to the door, wondering if shit hit the fan finally, and Lex kicked his ass out. For some strange reason, the thought made me giggle. I swung the door open, ready to see Russell’s gloomy face, and was totally dumbfounded when I saw some girl instead.

“Hi!” she smiled brightly. “Is Coleen here?”

I blinked, trying to figure out who the hell was Coleen. Then I remembered and felt stupid.

“Coleen moved out at the end of October,” I said, and the girl’s eyes became almost perfectly round and really confused.

“Hold on,” she muttered. “Hold on… October?!”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “She didn’t tell you?”

“I was in England,” she grimaced. “I came back a week ago. Wanted to surprise her for Christmas… Dammit!” she stomped her foot, and I noticed that she was holding a round cake box. “Son of a bitch! I flew all the way from New York… Oh, God…”

“Well, come in,” I said and stepped aside. “It’s cold outside.”

“No,” she grumbled. “I better go. I need to find a motel or something…”

My mood was great, it was Christmas, life was good.

“Don’t be silly,” I said. “It’s Christmas! And it’s too late to go look for a motel! You can stay here tonight.”

“No way!” she laughed. “I can’t inconvenience you!”

“Just come in!” I rolled my eyes. “I am getting cold. And you are not inconveniencing me. My roommate is not coming home tonight, it’s just gonna be me; and, to be honest, I wouldn’t mind some company. Plus,” I smiled. “You have cake!”

I couldn't care less about food right now, but she didn’t know that, right? And I wasn’t lying when I said that I wouldn’t mind some company. I wanted someone around now -- I got really tired of talking to myself. The cake part seemed to win her over and she sighed.

“All right,” she said tentatively. “But if I start driving you nuts, just tell me to get out, okay?”

“Not a chance,” I said seriously. “I will probably drive you nuts first!”

“Very unlikely,” she muttered and stepped inside. “You are cleaning on Christmas?”

I snorted at her puzzled expression when she looked at all the chaos.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “I was bored. Hey, I am Jess. What’s your name?”

I stretched out my hand, and she put the cake box on the floor and shook my palm.

“I am Rayne,” she smiled and closed the door.