The acid had starting taking affect a several hours ago.

They had left the pad around 6 and gone over to Chip's to shoot the shit before heading to Denise's. They'd listened to some records, smoked some pot and played with the puppies that Chip and Gina's Blue Healer, Molly, had had a couple weeks ago.

Finally Davy had gone over to the corner and gestured to Peter. He'd fished in his pocket and discreetly brought out a wad of tinfoil. He unwrapped it and handed a sugar cube to Peter.

Mike took notice. "Hey shotgun, what you got there?"

"Nothin' just a little sugar. I got a sweet tooth."

"Uh huh." Mike said doubtfully. "You know I got a sweet tooth too. Why don't you share?"

"I am sharin'. I'm sharin' with Peter."

"Well why don't you share with me too?"

"Why?"

"Why? Come on Davy, you've got three more cubes there. Let me have one."

"But I wanted all of them."

"You want them all?"

"Yeah."

"That's a terrible idea."

"Why?"

"Well, you'll get diabetes. And beside you've never taken sugar like that before."

"Why does everybody think that?"

"Because it's true." Peter said.

"Because it's true." Mike agreed."

"What's true?" Chip asked not following the conversation."

"That Davy's never done acid before." Peter said.

"Oh, yeah, that is true." Chip said.

"You know what? Screw you guys. Screw all you guys. You don't know what you're talkin' about."

"Uh huh, whatever. Give me one." Mike said.

"Hey, me too." Chip held out his hand.

"What? But then that would only leave me with one."

"One is plenty. And besides, there's a code to follow here." Mike elbowed Peter.

"Oh..oh yeah. There is a code Davy. Don't you know the code?"

"No."

"Oh well, you should know it then." Peter turned to Mike. "What's the code, Mike?" He said under his breath.

"Oh you know the code. The code where you have to share with your friends."

"I've never heard of that code." Davy said.

"Well….you know 'all for one and one for all'?"

"What does that have to do with me sharing my acid with you?"

"One for all. It means you have one for all. One for each of us. So you have to share."

"Oh." Davy said.

"Come on. We'll all trip together."

Davy looked doubtful. "Well, I guess if it's in the code..."

"Yeah it's in the code."

"Okay…fine, since it's in the code." He said handing a cube to Mike and Chip.

.

So they dissolved their cubes and headed over to Denise's.

That was about six hours ago …although now, it seemed like it was in another lifetime.
Peter could almost swear it was in another lifetime. But the watch on his wrist said otherwise. It was his link…his portal back to reality. It connected all the dimensions.

It should be worshipped.

He slid the watch off his wrist and laid it beside him in reverence. He looked around.

Where the hell was he? It seemed he was in a small enclosure. He looked up and saw a bunch of glowing blobs hanging above him. What the hell were those? And where was everyone? How had he even gotten here?

.

When they'd first arrived, everyone had been in the backyard. They'd passed an old guitar around and played a few tunes. That was when the early affects of the acid began to kick in.

It was very chill. Very peaceful.
It was nighttime but suddenly the sky was alive with color.
Everything was.

The music coming from the old guitar took on life. An energy that Peter could actually see and taste.

This was what 'the trip' was all about.

Then Davy had started mumbling to himself and laughing. He'd laid down face first in the grass and stayed that way for what seemed like hours. When they tried to get him to move he'd freaked out and told them to go away…that he was working on his breathing.

.

After that things got weird.

Peter wasn't sure exactly what happened or when. But he saw flickers in his mind.

Mike and Chip square dancing… only it wasn't in a square. It was in some sort of pyramid.
Davy crawling around on his belly like a worm, latching onto Peter's foot, forcing Peter to drag him along as he walked.
Hanging out in the bathroom with Mike and Gina, laughing hysterically at toothpaste on the mirror.
He saw Davy running through the house, naked with a scarf wrapped around his head…screaming at the top of his lungs.

Bright colors and flashes everywhere.

The air was thick with something that looked like translucent powder. It was shooting off in all directions. Then it merged and became a stream, flowing through the house, bouncing off the walls.

He chased it.
He danced with it.
He followed it into the kitchen where he found Mike attempting to cook some sort of slop consisting of Cheerios, vodka and butter on the stove.
He'd laughed and then the stream had vanished.
He'd looked at the people around him and seen them multiply before his very eyes becoming a sea.

He saw their faces take on animal forms. Spirit animals.
Mike was a bear…which was funny because Peter always thought he would be a wolf….or maybe a coyote since he was from Texas.
Davy was a turtle.

Music was constantly surrounding him. Some of it was real but some of it probably wasn't.
Music from the ages. Music from the pores and pulses of the life around him. Music from the seasons.

Autumn….Autumn, Denise's friend. The one Davy said Micky would like. She had music. Music that he was drawn to.
She'd laughed when Peter had apologized for his strange behavior. Her laugh carried a melody.
So did her heart…...
So did her slender frame…
…and so did the natural curls of her hair.
And the long lashes,
The small pouty lips and high cheekbones….almost Cherokee.

She was filled with so much music.
A tune that he felt was very familiar to him….although he couldn't place it.

.

Later he'd found himself alone in the living room. He'd sat down and looked at the end table. The grain in the wood drew pictures for him. He laughed and poked at them. Suddenly Mike was sitting on his lap.

"We have a problem."

"Huh?" Peter said not understanding the words. He knew that he knew the words. He just wasn't sure what they meant…or what they meant when combined into a sequence.

"Davy locked himself in the bedroom upstairs. He pulled the screen off the window and he keeps saying he's going to fly."

"He's gonna fly?"

"Yeah."

"Mike I don't think he should do that."

"I don't either. I don't think he can fly."

"We should probably stop him, huh?"

So they went upstairs. They knocked a few times on the bedroom door but Davy told them to go away.

"Please Davy, we just want to say hi to you."

"No, go away. I'm buildin' my anti-gravitational fields. I need to concentrate."

Eventually Denise got a screw driver and took the lock off the door.
Davy was standing by the window, still naked but now the scarf was wrapped around his neck instead.
Mike walked up behind him and picked him up.

"No! What are you doin'?! I'm tryin' to fly man. I wanna fly."

"Well, you can't fly in here." Mike said as he slung him over his shoulder.

"Why the hell not?"

"Because there are rules."

"Oh." Davy looked terribly disappointed…and terribly indisposed on Mike's shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'll take you downstairs. You can fly down there."

"Okay." He immediately seemed to brighten.

When they got downstairs, Davy did indeed try to fly. And as Peter watched he was suddenly convinced that maybe human flight was possible.
Every time Davy jumped, he seemed to obtain more and more ground and stay in the air longer. In fact, he seemed to float.
Well, maybe human flight was farfetched…but human floating? Peter was a firm believer.

.

After that he was pretty sure he had joined a pot circle in the backyard. The guitar was still being passed around. The people he saw were still in their animal spirit form and the moon had grown to the size of Jupiter.

.

That was the last bit he remembered.

And now here he was in an enclosed space with glowing blobs.

There was a faint light filtering in through a crack in the ground.
As he touched it, he realized it was the bottom of a door.
So he was in a room?
A small room.

He sat up and traced the door frame with his hand. He found the handle and turned it.
Suddenly there was an immense light and the blobs glowed even more. But they also took on shape. He reached out to touch them and realized that in spite of the sensation that they were made of liquid, in realty, they were, in fact, probably just dresses.
He must be in a closet.

Suddenly a hand reached across him and closed the door.

"Huh?" Peter said not knowing if the hand was real or not.

"Shhh."

The hand pressed against his chest forcing him to lie back down. It moved towards his belly and then up under his shirt.

Whose hand was this?

He reached out and touched hair. Curly hair.

Micky.

Then the hand was traveling back down and into his pants.

"Mick?!"

Micky didn't say anything. Instead he wrapped his fingers around Peter and began stroking him.

"Oh my god, Mick." Peter breathed. "What are you doing?"

Micky still didn't say anything.

Then Peter was stripped of his pants and Micky was straddling him…just like a couple nights ago.
Only this time Micky was naked. He slowly sunk down, impaling himself on Peter's cock.

Peter couldn't wrap his head around what was happening.
He breathed out heavily as he felt Micky's inner warmth. He gripped Micky's thighs.

Then Micky was moving against him. Up and down and up and…
down.

"Oh fuck….." Peter whined.

"Fuck me Pete."

"But Mick…"

"Please!"

Peter began thrusting.
Micky began moaning.

Peter saw a flame ignite between their bodies.. He saw the flame grow into a fire.
Out of the fire Micky's face emerged. "I want you so bad Pete. fuck me… OH, god, Fuck me Harder!"

And Peter did.

He fucked him and fucked him until they both came….

Then Peter lost consciousness.

It could have been days or hours but it was probably only seconds.
When Peter came to, Micky was still on top of him. He looked up in the dim light and saw Micky's eyes.

They were closed.
His long lashes lay gently over his high cheekbones.
Peter's eyes traced down to those small pouty lips. They were opened slightly, sucking in air.

He reached out and touched Micky's shoulder. He ran his hand down Micky's body.

"Jesus, Mick. I can't believe that just happ-"
Peter cut himself off when he touched a breast.

Micky didn't have breasts.

Peter looked again at the face above him.
It had to be Micky. The lips. The cheekbones. The eyes…

But then the eyes opened.

Those weren't Micky's eyes.

And then Peter noticed the freckles.
And then Peter noticed that the curly hair was long…and possibly red. Although it was difficult to tell in this light… and besides colors kept changing.

He looked at the breast he was still touching. It was indeed a breast. A small one. But a breast nonetheless.

He traced his eyes further down to a patch of hair between slender thighs.
There was no penis.

Peter was pretty sure Micky had a penis.

This wasn't Micky?

Peter was stunned. "What?...Wait, I thought …"

The being who was not Micky sighed and fell forward on top of him.

Peter ran his hands through curls that apparently weren't Micky's.
"Who are you?" He asked, trying not to let his disappointment show.

The being looked up at him, confused, and laughed.
The laugh sounded like a melody.

…."Autumn?"

"Yeah."

"Oh my god. I'm sorry….I just thought you were someone else…." He immediately realized how that sounded. "God, I'm sorry…I didn't mean it that way."

Autumn laughed. "Yeah, you kept calling me Mick or Meeka or something."

"I did?" Peter suddenly felt panicked. Autumn didn't know Micky but what if she put two and two together?

"Yeah, Meeka… I guess? Interesting name. Is she your girl?

"My girl?" Peter's heart was pounding. He needed to get himself under control or his trip would start to go south. "No, she's not my girl. I mean she is a girl but..."

Autumn laughed again and rolled over next to him. "It's fine if you don't want to tell me about her.

Peter sighed in relief. "Thanks. It's just that I wouldn't even know how to tell you about 'her'."

"I understand."

Peter doubted that she did.

They lay there in the dim closet for a while.
Peter watched as the arms of the dresses seemed to take on life and snake around each other. He watched as they seemed to caress each other and make love.

Make love like he and Micky just did.
He struggled to let the memory go…. It wasn't real.

Finally he asked "Why are we in a closet?"

"Because this is where you brought us."

"I brought us here?"

"Yeah." Autumn looked amused.

"Why?"

"I don't know. I thought it was a little odd myself…but then again, everything has been a little odd with you so far."

Peter contemplated that for a few moments. "How did this even happen?"

"Wow, you really are fucked up aren't you?"

"I guess."

"You know you are lucky that I'm such an easy going girl. Most girls would be very put out to be called another girl's name and then not be remembered at all."

"I remember you...I just don't remember how we hooked up."

"You were singing to me. You said you knew the song of my spirit. Things just sort of happened after that."

Peter looked at her. The song of her spirit...or was it the song of Micky's spirit?

She smiled at him. Then she sat up and began dressing.

Peter leaned up on his elbow to watch her. She was so agile. So soft and lithe. "You know, you're really beautiful."

She blushed. "I don't know about that. Lots of people say I have a boyish figure."

Peter's mind processed as he looked her over. "Yeah." He finally said. "You do have a boyish figure. But why do you think that doesn't make you beautiful?"

She blushed again.

Peter grinned at her. There was something about her he liked. And it wasn't just because she reminded him of Mick….although that was probably most of it.
He reached for his pants and put them on.

"Well," Peter said. "I'm sorry I brought you to a closet. I haven't been much of a date have I?"

"I don't know. You did serenade me and call me beautiful and you were pretty good in the sack."

Peter laughed. "I guess you're pretty easy to please." He said as he stood up. The dresses seemed a little irritated at the intrusion. A couple of them jumped off their hangers.

Autumn picked them up and re-hung them. "Well, life is too short not to be pleased easily."

Yeah he definitely liked this girl. She had insight. Insight like Ty.

Ty.

He suddenly felt guilty.
Not for sleeping with Autumn necessarily but for being attracted to her.

"Uh, Autumn, maybe we should go back out to the party."

.

They went back downstairs and found Mike on the couch making out with Gina.
Chip didn't seem to mind or even notice though.
He was busy walking an invisible straight line with a toaster under his arm.

There were a few partygoers passed out here and there on the floor or in chairs.

Davy was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Denise.

Autumn spotted a couple girlfriends. They were eyeing Peter carefully. She kissed him on the cheek and went over to talk to them.

Peter wandered outside and sat by a small bon fire that was burning in the yard. He was alone.
As he gazed at the flames he saw Micky' face come forth again.
He watched with fascination.

Every detail was there down to the laugh lines around his eyes and the stubble on his chin.

A sudden loneliness gripped Peter. He desperately wished Micky was here with him.
It was overwhelming.

Why had Micky left? Why did he have to be so selfish? Micky said he needed him but didn't he realize that Peter needed him too?

Peter needed him now but all he had was a false memory of lovemaking and a fire with Micky's features.
It was better than nothing.

.

He watched it for hours. Even as the fire died down and the hallucination began to fade…he watched…. and wondered where things were headed for them.

Finally the earliest light began to creep across the sky.

"Whatcha doin'?"

Peter looked up, startled.

Mike was sitting beside him. How long had he been there?

"Just thinking I guess."

"I've been looking for you. I didn't know you were out here."

"I've been out here for a while." Peter said still watching the embers from the fire.

"What's on your mind?"

"Mick." Peter looked up. "I wish he was here."

"Yeah."

"I just really miss him." Peter said looking away.

"Look, we're gonna take off pretty soon. I'm sure he's home by now."

"Yeah."

"Hey, cheer up. We had fun didn't we?"

Peter smiled weakly and nodded.

"Of course we had fun. And you know what?"

"What?" Peter asked.

"I'm glad you came. We haven't hung out in a while."

"Yeah." Peter smiled again, only this time it was genuine.

"Alright, well, let's go round up Davy. I hope he finally has on some pants."

Peter laughed. "Yeah, I don't think he should be allowed to take acid anymore unless he agrees to some sort of pants policy."

.

They found Davy and although he didn't have on pants he had the next best thing.
A sarong. They'd take what they could get.

They persuaded him to get in the car while they went back for Chip.
He was a little more difficult.
He'd grown attached to the toaster he'd had under his arm and didn't want to leave it.

"Come on man, you have your own toaster at home." Mike said.

It did no good. They tried to pry it out of his hands but he threw a fit.
Denise reluctantly agreed to let him borrow it…but only if he brought it back later in the day.

They finally left around 6.

Things were a little hazy and, now with the sunlight, way too bright. It was a little disorienting. Peter was glad Mike was driving.

When they got to Chip and Gina's, Gina leaned over and gave Mike a kiss. Chip still didn't seem to notice.
Then she got out of the car followed by Chip and the toaster.
Mike licked his lips and waved good bye.

The rest of the drive was quiet. Everyone was in their own heads.

Last night's events kept playing through Peter's mind….especially the part where he'd had sex with Micky….or hadn't had sex with Micky. It was so confusing.
Reality was one way. His memory was another.