Tag: drugs

Her Eyes

639158

Every city has an Oracle.
Every Oracle has a secret to hide.
The bartender with the bandage over her face told us some things should not be known.
“What color are your eyes?” asked Joe.
I elbowed him in the ribs. He laughed.
She put down the rag she was polishing the bar with and pointed to a jar on a shelf.
Blue. Her eyes had been blue.
“What color are they now?” Joe asked.
She sighed, reaching across the bar and putting her hand to Joe’s face.
“Whatever these are,” she said, and Joe screamed, his empty eyesockets bleeding.

Old School

639160

We’re at the bar, watching the ball drop in Times Square.
“I still write last year on my checks,” I say. “I always do stupid shit like that. What about you?”
She puts her drink down. “You still write checks?” she asks. “No online bill payment?”
“I like the feel of writing a check,” I said. “Pointing and clicking doesn’t feel the same.”
“What about using credit cards?”
“Nope. I’m really, really old school.”
She laughed, signed for her tab, and left.
I asked for my tab.
“Two chickens, Bill,” said the bartender.
I handed over the cage.
Old school.

Grooves

639171

Old man, asleep at the bar.
He’s never said a word in three years.
Nobody knows who he is or what his story is.
Let’s take him to the jukebox.
You can hear sounds of ancient times by running the needle along ridges in pottery.
It’s from when vibrations got embedded in them as they turned on the pottery wheel.
This old man’s got lots of wrinkles, so we put him in the jukebox.
He is instantly electrocuted.
When the smoke clears, we prop him back up at the bar.
To tell you the truth, he smells kinda better now.

Stoned Dead

639175

The five of us sitting around the table, her pacing back and forth asking us why.
It’s been less than an hour since she died, but her ghost is talking to all of us already.
Usually, if a ghost will show up, it takes a week.
When the spirit is strong or the death is particularly
violent, it’ll bounce off of Heaven and echo quickly.
Drinking a lot or smoking a bunch of dope makes it easier to sense them.
Her purse was full of weed. Couldn’t let that go to waste, right?
We’ll save a little for the funeral.

Taco and Tequila

639166

I sit at my desk, ignoring the noise, focused on that clock on the wall.
Both hands reach for the sky – It’s noon!
You see, I have found the key to happiness.
Every day, I have a taco and a shot of tequila for lunch. Oh, that sweet simple burn.
Sure, it can be rough on my stomach, but it makes the afternoon just fly by until it’s time to go home.
It’s time to go home? Let’s go home.
My buzz lasts through the bus ride.
Mom asks what I learned today in school.
I smile and say “Bliss.”

The Camp

639158

I saw him in a bar. He was the bartender.
Turned out he owned the place.
Thirty years ago, he had a gun to my head, laughing as he pulled the trigger.
The gun was empty, the bullets fired at my family.
All dead, there in the middle of the camp.
Here. Now.
I asked for a beer, he put a glass in front of me.
I drank, pulled out a knife, and stabbed him in the chest.
“How’s it feel to die in front of your enemy?” I ask.
He laughed and said “Ask yourself. The beer is poisoned.”

Deathface

639173

The law says three days.
The machines can do five.
With modifications, seven.
That’s how long Spencer wants.
He’s got Deathface. Sunken eyes and cheeks, grey skin, eyebrows gone, raspy breathing.
The law says not to send a Deathface down. Notify the police if one comes to your Coma Center. Or if someone asks for a week.
It can’t be called an accident because the wastebag has to be changed and the
morphine refilled. The inspectors will know.
No, I say. I can do five. Not seven.
Spence left and I never saw him again.
Nobody saw him. Just vanished.

She, Wired

635869

They found the girl in the last room, wires running from the console to a halo connector on her forehead.
Her once-white robes were caked with grime and dried blood.
A bony arm reached towards the console, her hand on a large red button.
Pressing… pressing…
Once every second, she tapped that button.
Aside from a dull green glow in her eyes, no other sign of life.
They couldn’t even feel her breathe.
“We need the machine,” said a technician.
“It can wait,” said the administrator. “Let her finish.”
They watched, until the girl finally stopped.
The green glow faded.

One Calorie

634302

I started off by ordering a Jack Daniels and Coke.
I like Jack, but it’s a bit to harsh on the rocks for me. Sweeten it up with Coke, and it’s perfect.
For my twenties, that was my drink.
Until, of course, every calorie counted. The body slows down.
Since I didn’t want to slow down at the bar, I went with diet Coke.
Tasted close to the same. But let’s face it – Jack trumps the Coke flavor.
Then out came Coke Zero. That worked a lot better.
The single calorie I saved, well, that didn’t matter for squat.
Cheers.

New Beginnings

636186

After your funeral, I met with the representative from the hospital.
They had the malpractice settlement ready for me. All I had to do was sign my life away.
So I did, and swallowed the pill from the Hemlock Society.
It tastes like… strawberries.
I could have been selfish and taken the first offer they gave me: growing a clone of you.
Healthy. Happy. Together.
But there would still be me, always knowing, resentful of how their incompetence took you from me.
Why make you suffer that again?
We will both be born again, fresh and innocent.
Healthy. Happy. Together.