That night, Ally feels a craving for drugs. She runs away to her room and reaches into her nightstand and finds a bag of mushrooms and proceeds to eat them. She immediately sees herself in a Snow White dress running through a dark, scary-looking forest and proceeds to scream like she's screaming for her life. Trish hears her from the other room, feeling terrified to hear her best friend screaming like she's screaming for her life.

"Ally?"

she asks her.

"ALLY! ARE YOU OK?"

"I'M IN A DARK FOREST AND A MONSTER IS CHASING ME!"

Ally shrieks at the top of her lungs. Trish lays next to her and gently rubs her back and says,

"Things are going to be OK, Ally. I'm here for you."

Trish puts a pair of AirPods in Ally's ears and plays the Calm App.

"Here you go, Ally. I hope this helps."

Ally eventually relaxes after listening to the Calm App.

"That was probably the scariest acid trip I've ever been on,"

Ally says.

Trish says,

"I can imagine. Acid trips can be scary sometimes."

Ally says,

"I'm talking to my doctor on Zoom tomorrow. I think I should start going to rehab."

Trish says,

"I think that's a very good idea. I can't pretend to know what you're going through, but I'm always here for you, Ally."

She locks her best friend into a tight embrace.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I just decided to divide this chapter up so you can get to know Austin as well as Ally. So here's Austin's side of the story!

Austin Moon proceeds to go into the break room at his job after being attacked by a homeless customer. He takes two Xanax pills and some weed gummies. Kira, his shift supervisior, comes in and asks him,

"Austin, I saw what happened out there. Are you OK?"

He says,

"I hope so. I'm shaking."

Kira gives him a paper bag and tells him,

"Take a couple of deep breaths in here."

His boss, Roy, comes in and bellows,

"Starr, get back on the floor. MOON? ARE YOU IN HERE?"

Austin's hands are sweating and shaking and his heart is beating and looks up at his boss.

"You're supposed to be on the floor, Moon. We always put the customer first."

"I'm sorry, Roy, but I didn't know what else I was supposed to do. I had to ask her to leave because she punched me in the face and she was vaping in the store."

He looks down at Austin's shaking, sweating hands.

"Are you on drugs, you little bitch?"

Austin says,

"Sir, you don't understand. I took Xanax and weed gummies because they help me cope with my anxiety."

Roy says,

"Go home, you little tranny Ken doll. You can come back when you're not high. Next time I catch you doing it, I'm writing you up."

"Yes, sir."

Austin frantically packs his belongings up and runs out of the store. He absolutely loathes his job. He works as a sales associate at Spencer's. He barely makes enough money, the benefits are awful, he is treated horribly by his boss, and at times, he is usually treated badly by customers. He takes out his phone and texts Dez Wade, his best friend, and roommate,

"Hey, buddy. Could you give me a ride home?"

Dez texts back,

"Sure. I'll be there in 10 minutes."

Dez comes in, driving his Scion XA and Austin climbs into the passenger seat and his roommate asks him,

"You OK?"

He says,

"No, I'm not. I had a scary incident at work and I took Xanax and weed gummies to help calm my anxiety and my boss sent me home."

Dez says,

"Why don't you just quit? You don't need Xanax to get through a day of work."

"You know I'd love to quit my job, but the economy sucks right now and it can be difficult to find a good job."

"At least you called me for a ride home when you were under the influence of dope."

The two males arrive home and Austin wants to get high. He grabs some NyQuil and drinks it. It helps to calm him, so he drinks more and chugs the entire bottle. Once he has finished downing the bottle, he doesn't feel as though that is enough and stumbles to the kitchen. Dez is binging The Walking Dead in the living room where Austin is rummaging through the refrigerator, in search of alcohol, and almost instantly forgets that he is searching for alcohol. Dez pauses the TV and asks,

"Austin, what are you doing?"

The blonde boy is clearly drunk and says in a slow, slurred speech pattern,

"I don't know. I'm looking for something, but I can't remember what it is."

"Are you…"

"Am I what?"

"Austin, I know you're drunk."

"You… you can't prove that."

"Yes, I can. Your speech is slurred, you're not standing up straight, I smell it on your breath, and your eyes are red."

Austin looks to the left for a pregnant period and yanks out a bottle of tequila. Dez reaches over to attempt to take the bottle from him and says,

"Austin, I've been your best friend for over 20 years. I can't let you drink."

"But… I wanna drink. I'm craving it."

"Austin, I understand you've gone through a lot, but drinking and drugs are not the answer."

Austin ponders this for a second.

"Please, Dez. I need it. Let me have it. I promise I'll only have a little bit."

"You promise only a little bit?"

"Yes, Dez."

"OK. But I think you should really look into getting some help."

Austin doesn't hear this as he opens the tequila bottle and chugs it. He has been suffering from substance abuse since he was sixteen years old. His trauma started when he was twelve and lasted until he was fourteen years old and he was bullied mercilessly at school for his acne and because he was the skinniest and weakest boy at his school. At fifteen, he had his first romantic relationship with a girl named Brooke, and then they broke up because she had cheated on him by having several "secret" sexual relationships and not long after they broke up, Brooke catfished him on FaceBook and pretended to be a girl named Melissa. "Melissa" had asked him to meet her on a date at a hotel and then pretended like she stood him up, dropped a roofie pill in his drink, and then she raped him while he was unconscious and asleep and when he woke up, Brooke revealed herself and her actions.

At fifteen, he started to harm himself with a razor after all the trauma he went through, and eventually one day, his father caught him in the act of doing so and brought him to the ER immediately. At sixteen, he started turning to alcohol and drugs as a way to cope with his seemingly never-ending trauma.

"Austin, it hurts me to see everything you're going through and it hurts me to see you drink and use. I really think you should get help."

Austin says,

"I'm sorry, Dez. I want to get help, but I don't know how to."

Dez says,

"That's the first step. I can help you out. Didi works as a nurse for Miami Rehab Services and she can probably get you in."

Austin says,

"Sounds like a great idea. I definitely trust your sister."

He gives him a card with Didi's number and he calls it, setting an appointment for Monday from 10:00 AM-11:00 AM. He also asks for paid time off from his job. Austin has wanted to beat his addiction and has admittedly tried to get help for his addiction a couple of times, but he always ends up having terrible withdrawal symptoms and ends up relapsing and giving in. After all, no one ever said that giving up an addiction was easy.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

2nd Chapter down! I have never suffered from substance addiction, but my father has. I should state that I do not agree with punishing people for drug possession or drug addiction, or alcoholism. Addiction is a mental illness and we should help people who suffer from it, not punish them. This may be unnecessary but I just wanted to get that off my chest and it's also why I'm writing this fic.

Also remember, this fic deals with some heavy topics so only read it if you feel comfortable doing so.