Chapter One:
I don't know how it happened but it did.
One second I'm sleeping off a buzz and the next my phone is ringing—over and over and over again. I know who it is before I even answer it. My best friend Katya has a way of…getting into trouble. She likes to drink a little too much, smoke a little too much, snort a little too much and while that all seems like fun it usually leaves me picking up the pieces. Everyone in [Undisclosed] knows I'm the one to call when shit gets real.
At 3 A.M. it's clear shit has gotten real.
With a grunt I lean over to my bedside table and answer the phone, "Do you know what time it is?"
"Trixie, you need to go to Vegas. You need to go right now. Pack up your shit and GO GO GO like now. What are you doing? Where are you going? Vegas! NOW NOW NOW."
"Where are you? I don't care. Go to sleep."
"VEGAAAAAAAA-"
Click.
Did I mention that being her friend isn't a choice?
I had a tough time growing up—something I think about whenever I drink—so I've developed a certain personality. I'm funny but not like ha ha funny. It's more like an observational humor with an eclectic flair. Whatever it is, I'm off putting and Katya seems to be the only one in the universe that can stand me. By extension I am the only one in the universe that can stand her.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
"Seriously, we have work at seven. You can't bail again."
"I've been calling you at night and you aren't answering me! I need your help! There's something in my apartment!"
"What…? You just called and told me to go to Vegas…"
Crash!
"I'm coming!"
I've been through the before with Katya. Since high school she's been prone to wild fits of madness, psycho ex-boyfriends, and homeless stalkers and always it is Trixie that comes to the rescue. I'm still wearing the white dress from the party we got separated at earlier so all I really need to do is pull on my fuzzy boots, grabs my keys, and run out the door. For a second I think of calling the cops but I know that is a bad idea. Katya isn't exactly the most law-abiding citizen I know and she can get pretty mouthy with all the Russian swears her grandmother taught her.
My Sedan is still warm from coming home two hours ago so all I have to do is punch it in reverse and drive to the rescue. Nights like these I'm always taken back to the story of how I met the wild Russian girl. It was freshman year, girls will be girls, she was the upperclassman that defended me. Not as romantic as the average story but it's enough for her to earn my undying loyalty. Katya stuck up for me when everyone else wanted to watch me burn and for that I'm grateful. It's the only reason I pick up her 3 A.M. phone calls.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
"I'm already on the way!"
"Trixie, you really need to start answering my phone calls. Don't come to my apartment. You're going to be really mad at me. I did a bad thing and it is going to ruin your life. I'm too far-gone. I'm sucked all the way into it. Please don't come."
"What are you talking about?"
"Seriously, Trixie. Turn around. Go to sleep."
"This is too fucking weird. I'm around the corner."
"Please? For me?"
"You're scaring me."
"Just go home."
"I'm pulling up right now."
"You're not going to like what you see."
"What's wrong?"
"I'm sorry."
"Katya!"
Click.
My heart is hammering so loud and I'm shaking so much I can hardly breathe. She has her demons but she swore to me she would never…she would never end things because of me. She knows I need her to hold onto. If she…no! I punch the car into park and jump out of the driver's side.
"K!" I should as I storm up her walkway.
She lives in a two family home with the other tenants usually never home so I'm not surprised that no one else is bothered by the noise. Inside I can hear things thrashing and breaking and heavy metal blaring but my only concern is making sure she's alive. I slam the door open and look around the room with worry and fear.
"Katya!"
I have a weird feeling when I glance inside. The place looks like a mess. It looks like Jerry came and messed the place up again. It looks like someone she owed money too came to teach a lesson. It looks like…like she's back on that stuff she swore she'd never touch again.
"Tr-Trixie…don't…move."
My eyes zoom to the girl cowering behind the over turned sofa, "What the FUCK is going on, Katya. What are you on?"
"Don't move…stay very still…"
I disregard her and step inside, looking for the shit that got her this way, "You are TWENTY FOUR FUCKING YEARS OLD, KATYA. WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING WITH YOURSELF?"
There, on the kitchen table. Next to a box there's a syringe with thick black liquid inside. It looks like an insulin needle neatly packaged with a cap over it and everything. I've never seen anything like this before but I'm sure this is what has her over the edge. I pick it up and as I do I feel this weird anxiety flow through me. I drop the thing into my dress pocket. I'll ask Willam at work what this shit is and he'll give me a good answer—Willam knows everything there is to know about any kind of drug and how to get someone off of it.
"You said you were done with this."
"TRIXIE, RUN!"
Katya storms toward me, grabs my arm, and forces me out the door with such force I can hardly breathe. She doesn't stop running until we are at my Sedan and she jumps through the Driver's door and crawls to the passenger seat, leaving me to shout, "What the fuck!"
"Get in! Go! Go! Go!"
I listen to the girl but only because I want to get as far away from the scene as possible. I'm not worried that in her drug haze she'll attack me. The worst she's ever done is try to kiss me and the worst I've ever done is let her but that only because it's the only way she'll go to sleep. I pull on my seatbelt and start driving but I don't know where I'm going. I'm so angry and so disappointed in the girl beside me. She said she was done with needles and for the briefest seconds she let me think she had…
A dark laugh comes from Katya as she reclines the chair as far as it will go, "You don't know how close you were! You were so damn close, Katya. It almost got you."
"You are Katya. I'm Trixie, remember? The friend you swore to that you would never touch needles. The friend that you swore to that I would never have to come rescue you from a scenario like this again. I'm going to the fucking police station."
"No! Don't!" she screamed, throwing herself against Trixie, "Please! I just need some coffee. Please, let's go to Denny's or something! Please! They'll never understand and I just need you! You're my best friend!"
Inside my chest my heart is hammering, throbbing, storming as she heaves against me. The police station was a hollow threat. Her parents swore they would send her off to a rehab in the old county if she ever got in trouble with the law again. Her parents were good folks but good folks can't help against mental sabotage. If they take her I'll have no one in the world on my side and I just don't know how to live with that.
Katya seems to know this, seems to sense what I'm thinking because she relaxes into her reclined seat once again. She curls onto her side and it's only now that I notice what she's wearing. It is nothing like she was wearing at the party…
My friend has always had a special taste for clothing, ranging from poodle-like wigs on top of her head to an entire dress made of her favorite movie, but at the party she actually looked breathtaking. Since [Undisclosed] is a small town all types of people get together and hang out regardless of clique or class you fall into it. Seems after graduation everyone gets a blank slate…except for me that is. I've given up on trying to impress anyone but because Katya was all aces I decided to follow suit. I did my make up to the nines, styled my hair in one of those cute ballerina buns, and even wore my brand new lace white dress. We were two blonde bombshells walking out in our high heels until we actually got to the party.
Because of her skintight red dress I knew Katya would get the attention first but I thought I would at least get one look after the initial gagging went down. I'm not the jealous type but I really tried for once and it yielded no rewards. I was reminded that I'm still the same emotionally disturbed kind that I was three years ago.
"Trixie, you're beautiful," Katya mumbles beside me half-asleep.
"Those fucking crocs aren't though. I thought I burned those last week. Why are you wearing those? And who's shirt is that? It looks like you went crawling through the Crypt Keeper's treasure chest."
Katya moves to face me as she grabs her tits, "I'll show you a treasure chest."
I can't help but to laugh, "We'll save that for when you're sober."
The Denny's is 24 hours and it's not the first time we've made trips looking like two hot pieces of shit. I'm sure my make up is all over my face and Katya isn't wearing any pants so I know I'll have to tip the waitress good. I park the Sedan and grab my wallet and phone while Katya follows me. She seems a little more put together as we walk in and I'm thankful that her shirt is long enough to cover her twat.
I doubt she's wearing underwear.
We find a spot and the waitress comes with two menus, "Two coffees please and…two waters too."
She smiles, "Coming right up."
"You have to tell me the deal with that shit I found in your apartment and what the fuck is going on," I decide to crack down on her.
Katya leans back into the booth comfortably with that smile on her face that she only uses when she has no idea what the fuck is going on.
"Don't get me that smile. You have no idea what the fuck is going on."
Her smile drops, "Fine…I…I don't know what's going on. I'm freaking the fuck out, bitch."
The waitress sets down the waters and coffees and I smile. I realize that Katya is angrily shoving her hair behind her shoulder so I open my wallet and hand her one of the hair-ties I always carry with me, "Don't lose this one."
"Do you remember that Jamaican guy at the party? Out back?" she asks as she fixes herself.
"Not really. I stayed inside."
"That's right, because you're a judgmental cunt."
"Shut the fuck up."
"Fine. Anyway, the Jamaican guy, his accent is bullshit. Completely fake."
"Wait…I think I remember that guy when I went to the bathroom. I thought he was kidding. Did he do that accent the whole time?"
"Yeah, what the fuck?"
"He's fucking white."
"I know, bitch, I know."
"He told me I was going to die choking on my own blood."
"Wha…"
"Yeah, and I was like 'Whatever, dude' and just went to use the bathroom."
"Did he really say that?"
"Go on with the story!"
"Well…I had lost you and I didn't know where you were and I was hanging with the usual suspects at Tyler's house when this guy shows up. We were smoking some shit and all of a sudden he starts getting real weird. He starts guessing our birthdays and like when we lost our virginity and all of a sudden he looks to me and he says something that only I know and I was freaked."
"Bitch, you are a freak."
Katya bursts into that sudden laugh that brightens the seriousness of our conversation. Her blue eyes were getting a special kind of blue that they got when she was in her feelings and besides I was sure I had known all of her secrets. Whatever this serious one was must have been legit.
"Okay, go on."
"Alright…he pulls out this thing and calls it Soy Sauce."
"Soy Sauce?"
"It be opening doors to other worlds, mon."
"What?"
"It's what he said and he was right. We watched him do it and when he didn't die we did it too. I didn't see but he shrunk himself down to like three feet. Bitch. It was the funniest shit I had ever seen."
"And you still tried it?"
"Bitch, how could I not?"
"You said you'd stay away from needles."
"I know but I didn't take it in needle form. It was in a capsule and he poured it into my hand."
"What?"
"Yeah, it was like black and hairy and like alive!"
"Is this another sex joke cause I am not having it."
"No!" her bulging eyes are nearly out of her head, "It was on my hand and it like seeped into my skin. When the Jamaican guy exploded I grabbed a bunch of shit and ran out of there. I guess I took it and the wig monster with me."
"Hold up…Drop it low, pick it up slow. What the fuck did you just say?"
Katya licks her lips as she leans in, "The fucking guy exploded, Trixie. I heard screaming and I ran out of there. Everyone had their clothes on the floor and I grabbed what I could and ran out. I guess I took the needle by accident and that thing followed me."
"Why did everyone have their clothes on the floor?"
"It's a party hellur."
"Have you decided what you wanted to eat?" The waitress asks as she comes to the table.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
I roll my eyes, "I have to take this."
Katya orders for us as I answer the phone, "Two number fours."
"Hello?"
"Trixie, I'm sorry for freaking out. Good thing you didn't answer. I was being dramatic as shit. You're probably going to be getting calls from me for the next twenty years."
My heart is in my asshole.
The Katya before me furrows her brows, "Who is it?"
"Anyway, I'm just calling to let you know it's all good. Me and the wig monster came to an agreement and he's actually chill as fuck," says the Katya on the phone.
"Is it me?" the Katya before me questions.
"I don't think I'll be making it into work though so…yeah. Have a good night, Trix!"
"It's me," the Katya before me nods her head and smirks.
The phone is still against my ear as I look into those blue eyes of my best friend. It has to be a recording, something she did while she was at the peak. Katya is a crafty women when she gets her mind focused on something. They have those kinds of apps right? They have an app for everything…it couldn't be real.
The waitress sets the food down before them and I look up to her, "Can I have a to go box."
She winks, "Sure thing, honey."
"This shit is like fucking crack," Katya moans as she eats.
I look down at my phone and my heart drops all the way down into my uterus. My phone is dead. I'm going bat shit.
"You've always been bat shit, Trix, don't flatter yourself," Katya teases.
"I need to sleep."
The rest of Denny's we spend in silence. I pack my food up and pay for the meals, knowing that Katya has no money and that I really just want things to move on so I can get to my bed. She keeps talking about the universe and mumbling about memories and shit but I don't listen to one bit. I am too focused on trying to keep my head screwed on tight. Back at my apartment I lock the door behind us, changing into a new shirt, and wash my face. By the time I'm done Katya is already sleeping in my bed like she usually does.
I ball my clothes up to throw in the ham-
"Fuck!"
This burning pain courses through my finger and when I look I feel that sharp pain of terror. I pricked myself with the fucking needle. I feel this strange coursing through my body and instantly want to call the police but at the same time I'm exhausted. It wasn't a lot and if I die in my sleep, good riddance. I set the syringe inside my bedside table and put a band-aid around my finger. It wasn't a big cut but I'm also a baby like that plus I'm too exhausted to do anything else.
I get into bed next to Katya and put my phone on the charger.
Work is going to suck.