When the dealer told Jack he had something very special, Jack was interested.
“I’m telling you this is some fucking heavy shit man. It’s called Drug 13. The KGB developed it back during the Cold War as a truth serum, but the high is just fucking unreal. You gonna fly places you ain’t never been, my man, believe me!”
Jack didn’t need any more convincing. He had the funds and he had the recreational habit. He handed over the readies, put the fix down the back of his pants and rode the tube to Danny’s squat in a run down tower block in Bethnal Green.
By the time he reached the garbage can of an inner city estate he decided he needed a little boost before he faced Danny’s speed induced paranoia. He headed down into the urine stinking basement of the tower block and found a dark corner to inject Drug 13.
The high was instantaneous and momentarily Jack was convinced he was levitating and being crushed against the concrete ceiling of the basement. He struggled to breathe and was certain he was about to suffocate to death. Then as he steadied and began to buzz inside he shook his head to clear it. It was certainly a fucking weird high but there was nothing too special about it. He’d have to have words with his dealer when they next did business.
Rushing slightly still he ran over to the elevator. Inside he went to press for the 8th floor when he suddenly noticed a button for the 13th. That was fucking weird. He shagged a junky tart up on the top floor, but he knew for certain that was the 11th floor. It was an 11 block building, so how the hell could there be a 13th floor? Shit, it had to be an after-effect of the fix. Curious, he decided to press for the 13th.
The doors closed and, without warning, the elevator shot upwards at gut wrenching speed. Jack found himself being thrown back and pressed against the metallic walls of the elevator by the sheer force of the ascendancy. The dull fluorescent light began flickering like a strobe above him and he suddenly felt extremely nauseous. Lurching forward he began heaving and, to his horror, began spewing up a thick bloody mucus onto the elevator floor. Then, following a heave he thought was going to suck his insides out, he vomited his own heart out. Momentarily he stared in disbelief as it sat still beating in a pool of blood at his feet, before he began screaming uncontrollably and pulling at the elevator doors trying to escape the horror engulfing him.
Suddenly the doors opened automatically and Jack scrambled out onto the 13th floor. For a moment he lay on his back, sobbing and taking in deep breaths. As he began to calm down he realised he was still awake and conscious. How could that be with no heart beating inside him anymore?
“Hello Jack,” said a deep resonating voice somewhere in the darkness. “I’ve been expecting you.”
Jack sat up and stared into the blackness around him. He could see nothing. In fact, he could feel nothing and realised there was no floor beneath him either. It was as if he was suspended in a black nothingness that was pressing down upon him.
“Who are you?” he whimpered, his voice cracking with fear and panic. “And where the hell am I?”
The voice in the nothingness laughed. “Amusing you should mention hell, Jack. But, well, you are here and yet, at the same time, you are nowhere.”
“Am I dead?”
“No, you’re not dead Jack, not yet anyway,” said the voice more sternly. “But you might wish you were.”
“Stop fucking messing. Who are you? What do you want?” screamed Jack angrily into the blackness.
“I am you Jack. I am your conscience.”
Suddenly a dazzling light flickered on, blinding Jack who recoiled back attempting to shield his eyes. Eventually, he was able to open them and found himself staring at what appeared to be a large silver screen. On it a girl was sobbing hysterically as she slowly carved a bread knife through her wrists. Jack recognised her. It was the girl he had been sleeping with. A girl he saw as just a quick fuck, a piece of meat into which he ejaculated once in a while.
“See what you have done to her, Jack. Didn’t you realise how fragile and unbalanced she was?”
Jack watched in horror as the girl lowered herself into a bathtub, her blood turning the water a cloudy pink.
“Stop her, make it stop!” he sobbed as the girl’s life began to flow away before him on the screen.
“Too late Jack. Only you could have done that. Now watch as your mother is raped and beaten by another of her punters. She is trying to earn enough money to try and save you from your wasted life Jack. Face up to the truth Jack!”
Jack screamed hysterically as his mother appeared on the screen, her face twisted with pain as a stranger forced his way between her flabby legs. Jack closed his eyes and continued screaming. “No, for fucks sake! I’m sorry! Please, stop it! I can’t take this anymore! Just let me die. You can have anything. Just let me fucking die!”
Suddenly the darkness closed in around him again and he felt himself freefalling through the nothingness, screaming and crying-
When the paramedics reached the elevator, Jack was slumped in the corner of the elevator, the syringe still stick out of his arm. He was covered in vomit and his eyes were wide open with terror. He was certified dead moments later.
Lucifer watched the ambulance drive away and chuckled. Then he turned to the pathetic looking junky stood waiting patiently before him and showed him a new drug.
“I tell you man, there’s fucking nothing like this Drug 13.”
Darren is 38 years old and lives in south London. He has had flash fiction published at Flashing In The Gutters. He also writes a short story everyday on his Short Short Fiction blog. He is also a photographic artist and has had work exhibited in Europe, as well as on the web.
Great twist.