It was a gorgeous, hot summer day. Lindsey was standing in the middle of a field, the wind gently blowing her long, red curls, her white skirt whipping in the breeze. The smell of the grasses and earth enveloped her and she inhaled deeply. She spun on the spot, reveling in the beautiful surroundings. She spun and spun and spun until she fell over from dizziness. A noise to her left caught her attention and she sat up, looking for the source of the sound.
Her eyes finally fell on a skeletal gray mare, her ribs and hips showing painfully through her skin. Blood streamed from her nostrils as she hung her head and looked at Lindsey warily. Each vertebrae in her back was like a spike, rising unnaturally beneath the dirty, pale hide.
"Eclipse?" Lindsey asked, standing once more. She hadn't seen the horse in years. She extended her hand and walked slowly towards the suffering animal.
Without warning, the horse bolted and though she tried to catch the halter that was hanging from the horse's face, it slipped through Lindsey's fingers. She chased the horse, calling her name softly, offering grass she plucked from the ground, but the horse remained just out of reach.
Frustrated and out of breath, Lindsey looked around desperately for help. She jumped when she saw Goku and Chichi standing there.
"Goku!" Lindsey called, hitching up her skirt and hurrying towards them. "I need help!"
Goku turned and fixed Lindsey with a disgusted look. She froze in her tracks, hurt at the expression on his face.
"Goku?" she asked.
"Get away from us," Goku said in a harsh tone.
"Wha-? I don't understand…"
"You think we want you as a daughter in law now?" Chichi asked in a scathing voice. "My son could do much better."
All the happiness seemed to be sucked from the environment at Chichi's words. Lindsey hung her head sadly.
"Now get out of here," Goku commanded. "Stay away from our family."
"Now this is much better," came Gohan's voice.
Lindsey looked up to see Gohan standing nearby, his arms around a slender woman with long, blonde hair.
"Gohan?" Lindsey asked, confused.
He either didn't hear her or had decided to ignore her, but either way it didn't matter. Pulling the blonde closer to him, he tilted his head and kissed her passionately.
"Gohan!" Lindsey shrieked, her heart breaking.
"Get out of here, Lindsey," Gohan said when he finally pulled away from the kiss. "You're better off with them."
"With who?" she asked, until she realized that Jonah and Cody Johnson were standing on either side of her. Before she could react, they each grabbed her by the wrist, their grip crushing. She screamed and struggled, trying to escape. Her feet slid out from under her and she would have hit the ground face first if the boys had let go of her arms. "Help me, please!"
"Eww, she's dirty," Sabriena said, standing before Lindsey. Lindsey didn't know where the girls came from or how they'd got there.
"Briena, help me," Lindsey begged.
Sabriena wrinkled her nose.
"Don't talk to it," Leelee told Sabriena in a hushed tone.
"Leelee!" Lindsey cried.
Catie was looking down her nose at her former best friend. "You're disgusting."
"I don't understand!" Lindsey yelled, still struggling. She could feel the bones in her wrists beginning to crack. "I'm your friend!"
Jenny tossed her head back and laughed harshly. "Why would we be friends with a filthy slut like you? Get her out of here."
"No! No! No!" Lindsey screamed as the Johnson boys began to drag her away. The sky was growing dark, her friends seemed to be fading away, the only thing she could feel was the vice-like grips on her wrists, the sound of evil laughter filling her mind. The horse was following her, its nose only inches above the ground as it watched her with a sad look in its eyes.
"Let's give her something she'll never forget," Jonah hissed at his brother.
Lindsey felt herself falling, falling, falling through darkness until she landed on the damp, cold earth. A square of light was above her as she looked up and she could see the Johnsons leering down at her as they closed the cellar door, trapping her once again.
"NOOOOOO!" Lindsey screamed and sat up, looking around frantically. Her legs were tangled in the bed sheets and she struggled to free herself.
Gohan was sleeping next to her, facing the wall.
Lindsey heaved a sigh of relief. A dream. It was only a dream. She stared at her fiancé for a moment before she spat, "Asshole." She knew she shouldn't be mad at him for what he did in a dream, but the image of him kissing that blonde made her furious anyway.
She rubbed her eyes with her fingertips, trying to clear the dream from her mind. She was so tired. But she knew if she went back to sleep, she'd dream about it all over again. Sighing, she pushed herself to her feet and walked into the bathroom. Pulling open the drawer of the intricately carved vanity in the bathroom, Lindsey pulled out a small wooden box. Setting it on the vanity top, she flipped open the lid to reveal a blown-glass pipe of black and red.
"It match your hair," Kolya had told her when he gave it to her.
Panic gripped her when she realized the small plastic bag that sat next to the pipe was empty. "Dammit," she hissed. She snapped the box shut and stashed it in the back of the drawer and turned back towards her bedroom. The small alarm clock was glowing red in the darkness and told her it was close to midnight. She glanced at Gohan to make sure he was still soundly asleep and then slipped out into the low light of the hallway.
She heard loud laughter from a couple rooms down and followed the sound, curious as to what could possibly be going on at midnight on a Monday night. She stopped outside the door of Tumbler's room, listening.
"Man, this is some good shit," came a voice.
Lindsey couldn't stop herself. If they had something to help her relax, she wanted it. She knocked on the door.
"Shit, shit, shit," came hurried whispers.
A minute later, Tumbler wrenched open the door to his room. "Hey," he said.
"What's up?" Lindsey asked.
"Aw, hell, it's you," Kip breathed a sigh of relief as he looked over Tumbler's shoulder.
"What are you doing?" Tumbler asked, eyeing her suspiciously.
"I can't sleep," Lindsey said. "Can I hang out with you guys?"
The two young men looked at each other for a moment.
"I'm not sure you want to," Kip said, blinking harshly.
Irritated, Lindsey said, "Look, I know you're doing something in here. Now let me in, or I'll blow the whistle on you."
Sighing, Tumbler stepped back and allowed her to enter the room. He nervously scanned the hall, then shut the door to his room, locking it.
"You need to keep it down," he told Kip.
Kip shrugged and sat at the desk again. Lindsey's eyes roamed over the desk, shocked at what she saw there.
"Needles?" she asked, picking up a small, thin needle, still in its protective plastic. "Where the fuck did you get these?"
"Viktor," Kip said, hunched over something on the desk. He looked up at her briefly. "He's diabetic."
"You guys are shooting up in here?" Lindsey asked.
"Don't tell Briena," Tumbler pleaded.
Lindsey debated for a moment. "I won't say anything if you guys share."
Tumbler and Kip looked at each other in surprise for a moment.
"But I get this one," Lindsey said, holding up the unused needle.
Kip nodded as Lindsey sat on the edge of the desk. "You ever done this before?"
"No," Lindsey answered.
"Well," he said, as he opened her needle, "get ready for a rush." Wrapping her bicep tightly with the long piece of rubber, Kip poked the inside of her elbow with his finger. "Got it," he said, and pricked her skin with the tip of the needle.
Lindsey's heart was pounding, her stomach twisting into knots. She was excited and terrified at the same time, wanting so badly to escape from her dreams, yet knowing she was taking desperate measures to do so.
There was a flash of red in the needle, signaling that Kip had hit the vein and he pressed the plunger, emptying the needle into her arm. With a snap, he removed the tourniquet.
She didn't expect the drug to hit her system so quick. Within seconds, an intense wave of euphoria washed over her. Booze had helped, weed was fun, but this… this was incredible. She felt like she could take on the world.
"Look at her," Kip laughed.
"Holy shit, why didn't you guys share this with me before?" she asked. "Wow. Holy shit. Holy shit."
Tumbler laughed.
"I should have come here weeks ago," she said, talking rapidly. "This is way better than fucking pot. Holy shit. I need a cigarette."
She grabbed a pack off the desk, not caring whose it was, and lit one, her hands shaking. She took a long drag. Oh god, even the cigarette tasted better.
"Is this Rammstein?" she asked as the foreign music rolled over the computer speakers. The gravelly voices sounded like heaven to her.
"Shut up for a minute and enjoy it," Kip told her, removing the tourniquet from his own arm.
Bouncing her knees, Lindsey closed her eyes for a moment, the music pounding in her ears. This was the best feeling in the world. She hoped it would last forever.
She soon found out, however, that the high was short lived. After about thirty minutes, she could feel the affects wearing off. She slumped back against the wall, disappointed.
"Well this is horseshit," she mumbled.
"Hit this," Kip told her, holding out a small metal pipe.
"What's this now?" she asked.
"Just weed," he answered, his voice strained from the effort of talking while trying to hold the smoke in his lungs.
She took a couple drags and felt her come-down lessening.
"Better?" Tumbler asked.
She nodded.
"So Viktor gives you those?" she asked, nodding at the box of needles sitting on the desk.
"Not exactly," Kip answered as he sat the pipe on the desk and turned to the computer. "You know how he is. Couldn't find his own ass with both hands in his back pockets. He thinks he misplaces them and orders more."
"You guys do this a lot?"
Tumbler shook his head. "Once or twice a month. That's all."
"So, ah…" Lindsey was trying to find the right way to ask without seeming desperate. "If I wanted to buy some from you…"
"I can hook you up," Kip said absently.
"Fuckin' sweet," Lindsey sighed.
"You wanna go again?" Kip asked.
"Oh, hell yeah," she answered.
A few hours later, Lindsey found herself wandering the hallways of the house, heading for Kolya's room. Without knocking she opened the door and walked in.
Kolya was sleeping face-first in his pillows, one leg hanging off the side of the bed, the sheets tangled around him.
She shook his bare shoulder, "Kolya."
Kolya jumped and sat up, pulling the blankets up around him. He cursed at her in Russian. "You scare me."
Lindsey threw her head back and laughed. "Hey, I'm out."
"Again?" Kolya asked wearily.
"Mm-hmm," she nodded, trying not to giggle.
Kolya sighed. "You getting expensive."
"Well, here, then," she said, reaching into her bra and pulling out some cash. She pressed it into his hand. "Will that help?"
Kolya eyed her suspiciously. "Why you haff cash in you pajamas?"
Lindsey looked away from him and scratched behind her ear. "Fell asleep with it," she lied.
Throwing his legs over the edge of the bed, Kolya stood and walked sleepily to his dresser. "Here," he said as he handed her a plastic bag.
"Love you," she crooned as she slipped it into her pocket, next to the small bag of white powder Kip had given her.
Without another word, Kolya flopped chest-first on his bed and yanked the covers over himself.
She left then, heading back down the stairs, never noticing the pair of warm brown eyes that followed her as she went.