Chapter 26: Girl With Red Eyes

Kiera had stepped her bare feet into the crevices of my mind. We went inside her room and she wanted to smoke me out now, returning the favor for our bathroom escapades, only this time… She pulled out a syringe. I repeatedly told myself I wouldn't partake. I would smoke and snort however many lines it took, but injection? I was never one for needles…

Kiera got her kit all set up and wrapped her arm in a belt. I kept my gaze averted, paying more attention to the bugs crawling across her walls and along the ceiling. I had the urge to write, so I started writing words inside of my brain with neon colors, but I could never remember what I just wrote down, so I just kept going and going…

I heard Kiera shaking and choking. She was convulsing on the bed with her eyes rolled into the back of her head. She looked demonically possessed.

"Kiera! FUCK! Oh my God, what the fuck?!"

She foamed from the mouth and let out her final convulsions. I screamed and cried for God to help me. I shook her body, her neck lifeless like it had been snapped. I shifted her onto her stomach, hoping it would help. I cried and cried. I reached for my phone and dialed 911.

The moment I heard a voice on the other end I shouted, "Help help help help! Please! My friend… She… Fuck!" I didn't think this far… The implication that I was snitching on her to the authorities paralyzed me. I cried out, "She's overdosing… Please help! Please…"

I told the operator the address and hung up before any further questioning. I was in a state of panic.

"Kiera, I called the police, I'm sorry! I don't know what else to do… Please Kiera, wake up, wake up. WAKE UP!"

"I'm okay," she said. I shrieked in relief.

"Holy fuck! Dammit! You scared the shit out of me! Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm okay," Kiera replied, her lips not moving. "Just let me lay here for a moment."

I patted her on the back while wiping away my tears. I couldn't stand to lose another person, not like this. It would shatter me. I stepped out into the dark living room and peeked out the window blinds for a few minutes, then went to take a piss. I left the door open behind me.

I stared at my reflection, as usual. I had to become presentable for the police, tell them this was all a misunderstanding. I sparked a cigarette and took a hit, the red ember illuminating my face. I saw two red glows behind me. I turned around and saw nothing. I looked back in the mirror and froze.

Two red eyes behind me in the mirror inside of black silhouette standing outside the door frame. I quickly turned my body around, but the entity was one step ahead of me and had turned and walked down the hall.

"Kiera! If that's you, cut that shit out! I WILL SWING!"

Silence. My cigarette burned my finger and I dropped it on the tile. I had forgotten about it as it burned itself down. I crept around the corner but was too afraid to go down the hall. I pulled out my cell phone. Notification sounds popped up, but I did not receive any messages or calls. I pressed my palm against the speakers, trying to conceal my position.

I heard a female voice behind me from the darkness of the bathroom. "Kashi."

I screamed and ran down the hall, tripping into the decor, knocking down whatever was on the counter. I held my fists up, phone in one hand. The entity was in front of me, those blood-red eyes moving closer. I realized it was Kiera… Or at least, it looked like her.

"Leave me alone! Go away! Please!"

She did not respond. She continued approaching me and I realized her feet were not touching the ground. I screamed and managed to run out the front door, leaving it open as I sprinted down the street.

I don't know how long I had been walking for. Surely the police had arrived to find Kiera and the demon. I had no more dope left, but it was the last thing on my mind. I was still the highest I've ever been. I wondered out loud how long I had been awake for. I don't know what happened to my skateboard. Probably left it at Jocelyn's… Fuck…

I teeter-tottered back and forth, walking down the black streets in a wide zig-zag pattern, dragging my corrupted shoes filled with blood from my broken feet. A broken mind, a broken body. I wailed as I wandered aimlessly, no care for anyone in the vicinity to hear my cries, no ounce of shame left in my soul, only despair.

I drifted down a dark alleyway made from a 3-foot brick wall. On one side was a trailer park 100 meters away. The other side led to a dirt field that kept going for half a mile before reaching the rest of civilization. Everything was dark.

Shadows followed me. I jogged to get some distance between them but they seemed to have teleportation capabilities. The alleyway opened up into what looked like a homeless camp with trash cans repurposed as burn pits, sleeping mats atop the dirt, shopping carts… Nobody except for me. I sat against the brick wall in between some trash cans.

The shadow people had discovered my location and formed a semi-circle around me. I felt I was safe if I didn't look in their eyes, so I kept my gaze directed at my shoes on the dirt. I didn't even care about the ants crawling all over my skin. I just let it happen…

I dreamt of a new life, an alternate reality where Jocelyn and I never started doing drugs. Why did we have to do that? Everything I worked for was flushed down the gutter with a single line. Even as I had these aspirations for a clean life, I knew that once I started to come down, my body would itch for a hit. My soul would bang against my earthsuit, screaming for its medicine, punishing me for disobeying. A part of me wanted to quit, but the rest of me knew this was impossible.

The image of Kiera's foamy mouth pasted over my eyes. I shut my eyes and still saw her, twitching, tensing, dying. She flashed into the girl with red eyes floating toward me, the tips of her toes hovering just about the floor. I screamed as I clutched my hair as tight as my grip allowed.

I felt something in my hand. A piece of glass? I don't know where it came from. I squeezed my thumb against it until I tore the flesh and smelled my own blood. The rush of pain brought me to a conclusion. This was the end.

I took that piece of glass and brought it to my left wrist, pierced the veins and dragged a gash vertically across the length of my arm. The cut was half-an-inch wide and stopped just before the dip in my elbow. My breathing hitched, like I was shivering and my body twitched a few times. I wept as I slashed a few more cuts for good measure, not looking where I was aiming.

I fell sideways, my face hitting the dirt as I wept to a God I didn't believe in. I needed help. I could not do this alone. Please, please, please, I mumbled as the dirt entered my mouth.

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