***Don't be scared of this lengthy prologue! SKIP IT IF U MUST (it is kinda optional)- The main characters show up in the next Chapter of this story!***
Sally shivered. The cold morning air was cutting through the thin coat she wore and brushing against her slim physique. She'd had forgotten to put on a shawl and left in a hurry when 'He' had finally answered her calls half an hour ago.
Hadn't been too excited by her call. In fact, he had sounded most displeased. Not that Sally had cared about that back then- she was desperate. She needed it. Badly.
Her heels clicked on the icy asphalt as she entered the subway passage they had agreed on as their meeting point. He was already there. A dark figure leaning against the chalked walls of the tunnel, unmoving and silent, like the rest of the town at this early hour.
It was 4:30am and they were alone.
Her eyes quickly scanned the surrounding area. Puddles of water dotted the ground, edges frozen overnight. The floor was littered with waste, wrappings of edibles, discarded trash, a single childrens glove. The usual, one might have said. What really mattered to her, though, was the man leaning against the moist concrete and so she made her way around the various obstacles, hastily closing the distance between them before she came to a halt in front of him. Her gaze upon the darkness that was his face.
Then, „God damn, are there any places worse than this one to sell that shit?", she murmured under her breath, nervously. A split second after she had said it a rough, annoyed voice was heard, echoing from the chalkstone walls: „The cops don't check here often, Princess. You know a better place for future meetings- you tell me, I am all ears! "
She squinted her eyes and stared into the darkness.
That had to be the guy people had told her about. The new one.
Fixxer.
An uncommon nickname. Even moreso, for a drug dealer…
The young man, whose question undoubtedly wasn't fishing for an answer of hers, stood in the middle of the tunnel, leaning against the cold wall. She watched him, as he slowly raised a hand to tug on the shield of his dark baseball cap, pulling it deeper down into his face. A black scarf covered mouth and nose and she was unable to make out his eyes in the dark.
„Got the cash? ", he asked. The words, muffled by the thick scarf, barely reached her ears.
This was the moment she had been dreading the whole time. No. She did not have the cash. Still, she had come here and she did not plan to leave empty handed.
"No money, no deal, dolly. Don't tell me you made me come all the way here at this ungodly hour for nothing." He was getting impatient.
No money, no deal. How often had she heard those words, and how often had she proven the ones that had spoken them wrong. There were other ways to pay a debt. She was a woman- he was a man. And at the end of the day, all men were the same.
Chapped lips slightly parted, moist with saliva. She tilted her head and stepped even closer.
„Hey, please…. I don't have that much, really!", a nervous smile appeared on her face," Can't I pay you back…in rates? Or maybe…something else? Yes, yes! Let me pay with something else…. ", shaky fingers crawled down the seams of his jacket and to the hem of his pants, tugging on the belt, „I could do something…for you….something nice…"
Loud noise boomed through the subway when a car drove towards the tunnel they both stood in.
The front lights only brushed past them for a second as it drove by but the light was enough to reveal his facial expression to her.
He looked down on the girl, eyes piercing, ice cold and full of disgust.
She didn't think too much about it-didn't want to think about it, maybe he was just one of the slow type. Maybe….
Her hands moved up again, to his neck, while she pressed her freezing, shaking body against his unmoving form.
Shaking, from the cold and from the withdrawal.
He was nothing like the men she preferred, but that didn't matter. It was not the first time she paid for her drugs in this way. And she needed a fix.
Fucking desperately.
Just as she was about to wrap her arms around him, considering herself victorious in her efforts, he sighed and roughly shoved her away. Dumbfounded, she stood there, while he pulled back the arm he had shoved her with to brush off his jacket in a demonstrative gesture. Like brushing off dirt.
„That's not how it's going to be, ok? Not today, not tomorrow, ok, is that clear, you cheap bag o'bones? Lemme see how much you have and let's get this over with! "
Frustration. Anger. Desperation. All of these flooded Sally's mind now, mixed with the pain in her limbs and the embarrassment of being rejected by this man.
"Seventeen." Her voice was a mere whisper but still loud enough for him to hear.
Laughter echoed through the tunnel. It climbed up the walls, came back, washed over them in waves, hollow and vibrating, as they stood in the middle of the underpass, face to face.
It sent chills down her spine. Yes, she had come bare. Seventeen Dollar was nothing. It wouldn't have gotten her anything and she had known it.
Fixxer had leaned on the damp wall this whole time. He took a step away from it and straightened his back. He was big now, bigger than he had looked before.
Bigger and a lot more intimidating.
Sally took a step back, nervously, and inhaled deeply. „So what now… ", she pat out the words, not daring to look at him. This was his fault. He could have taken on her offer. But no, he had to refuse and now both oft hem had come here just to leave again with unfinished buisness. Yes, this was all his fault.
She wouldn't have called him anyways if her other ‚friends' had answered her calls. Who was this guy even, thinking he was too good for her…
„Of course I could just send you home now - the more important question is: ‚Can you even make it there?' which I highly doubt when looking at you, kiddo…. "
The smile on his face, invisible to her, vanished as soon as it had appeared.
She was ripe. Desperate, hungry, barely standing from what he saw.
Perfect.
Silence. Weeping. In the darkness of the lonely subway Sally had started to cry.
This had already taken way too long.
Time was the last thing he had. And he knew pretty well that she didn't have time either. She was desperate and she needed something now to get her desolate body back in working condition.
All things summed up it was perfect. She was perfect.
Sure, he was disgusted by her very being- but all in all it couldn't have been going any better for him.
„Listen…I can't give you anything for less…. 'specially not for what little you got right there. Ya know…I have to look out for myself too, kid. So, why don't you try a little something else…just for now? "
He dug his hand into his pocket like before, only this time when he took it out again he was holding something.
Sally blinked a few times, unsure, then looked at what was between his fingers. A small blister pack filled with white, elongated capsules.
Her eyes widened. First with shock, then with suspicion.
„W-what is that? "
„Light. Don't know it yet, huh? Didn't think so, it's completely new. Quite hard to find but cheap in price as it hasn't established itself on the ‚market' yet. "
He held the package, which contained only four capsules, under his nostrils as if he was trying to inhale some kind of sweet scent.
It crackled promisingly between his fingers and from the corner of his eye he could see her following his every move, like hypnotized.
„This stuff is good. Better than Acid or LSD and probably also better than Heroin or Meth. Of course, nothing you would know. Anyways…", he brought the blister pack right in front of her face; „this is your lucky day, babe, because I have a whole bunch of these little fellas in my pocket. So, want some, or not? "
Sally hesitated.
She had never tried anything else than Acid, Heroin or Meth before. More importantly, she had no idea what this stuff was going to do to her.
And the number one question was still: what would it cost her?
„What exactly does it do, if it's so much better than all the other ones? "
A smile found its way around the corners of Fixxer's mouth and he simply shrugged while he stretched out his arms, fully aware of the fact that Sally's stare was fixed upon the little object in his hand.
She was hooked.
And all that was left to do was to pull in the line now.
„Find out for yourself, kiddo! But let me tell you this: These little guys will give you their very own special trip. 100% unique. No other drug can do this. It's….as if you throw in Meth, LSD, H and what have you in AT ONCE. Just, let's say…less deadly!"
His grin grew even wider at his last words, almost getting lewd in its intensity.
He licked his lips while he waited for her answer, then he thought of something and hastily added: „And all of that….for the unbelievably low amount of 5 Dollar…! "
Eyes full of doubt Sally stared at him, „5 Dollar? "
She might have been naive and a little, no, a lot more desperate than usually, but not stupid.
Five Dollar. The price was indeed unbelievable. Ridiculous even, for a drug that was supposed to be so overwhelming in its effect. It just had to be a testing price.
Yes, it couldn't be any other way. She was sure of it.
Depending on how fast Sally- and who knows how many others- would physically get addicted to this one and how fast the drug would get accepted as a staple on the local market, he would sell it to her at this low price for a few times. Then higher and higher like everything else.
That's how it always went. And that was where it came down to the same strategy that all the dealers used. No one was giving things away for free here.
She sighed and watched the white fog of her breath disappearing into the air around her. It was still cold and she wrapped her coat tighter around her frail body.
If she wanted to get through the day without any worse symptoms of withdrawal than the ones she was experiencing already she had no choice but to take on his offer.
It was the only thing she was able to pay for today and also the only thing he was offering her.
And if these things where as good as he claimed them to be….well then her money was more or less well invested at least.
For today. It wasn't like she could expect more than that right now.
Might as well take what you can get.
A last sigh, then: „Alright, I'll take them…"
Capsules and money changed owners in the darkness of the subway.
The girl stared at the unknown capsules in her hand while Fixxer slipped the money into the back pocket of his jeans.
Baited, lured and finally, trapped. It had almost been too easy. Like child splay.
Only one more thing to check off the list…
„Alright, princess! You have fun with your majestic meal and I am on my way!", he turned around, ready to leave as she grabbed his arm: "H-hey wait a second! How am I supposed to…you know…take these?"
„Oh, right!, he snapped his fingers and came to a halt, „Almost forgot about that…"
God, this had been taking so long already- but the girl was right, it WAS important that she knew how to take them. He had almost messed up- good thing she wasn't THAT far gone yet.
„It'd be best you just swallow them as they are. You know, without water! If you can't do that take a sip afterwards to get them down your throat- but not too much. Make sure you don't bite on them or anything- you don't want these to open in your mouth, you really don't. Trust me. Else they won't work, ok, got that memorized, kid? "
Sally nodded carefully, while her fingers played with the package, „I think so…"
„Good, good. I can leave you alone now, right?! Don't party too hard- those aren't gummy bears ok?"
He could barely stifle a yawn to keep up his credibility.
Sure, the job had been easy, but annoying as hell too. One way or another, this had been the last package and he wouldn't play the idiot and do boring work like this for Doyle again so soon.
Doyle, that bastard.
That filthy rich bastard, who paid him absurdly well for things like this.
In the meantime he had turned around and left the underpass behind him, hands dug deeply into his pockets.
Twenty meters distance, then fifty.
When he was sure that she wasn't following him and long out of earshot he pulled out a small, black mobile phone. Fixxer dialed the only number that was saved in the contact list and pressed it against his ear.