Skylar met Crimson when he was fifteen.
Skylar and Wes were outside of a convenience store, trying to get passerby's to buy them alcohol. They were sophomores in high school, and Wes had been invited to a party. He was tasked with bringing the liquor, and Skylar tagged along for the chaos of it. Skylar didn't even like parties, and had no intention of going.
Most people ignored them, threatened to call their parents or the cops, or gave short lectures. However, eventually, a man only slightly bigger than Wes, with dark umber skin and a red button down, was walking by.
"Hey!" Wes whisper-yelled at the guy, who didn't hear him. He had to do it again, and only then did the man stop and give him his full attention.
"Hey, we'll, uh, we'll give you money if you buy us some booze," Wes told him articulately, visibly nervous. It's not like they'd gotten the best responses up to that point, and at first the man frowned at him. Then, his focus turned to Skylar.
Skylar wasn't a huge fan of alcohol, or anything of the sort. He tended to already get himself in enough trouble as is. He felt no desire to add even more reasoning for people to worry about him. He tried to stay away from substance abuse, and wasn't really an active participant in all of this, he mostly just found it entertaining—again, he wasn't even going to the party.
The man agreed easily, something that kind of put Skylar off. He didn't think much of it, because it was getting kind of late and he was ready for this all to be over with anyway.
When the guy entered the store, Wes was so excited. He was unbelievably happy, and even more so when the guy left and had purchased even more than asked. Wes was over the moon, always so obsessed with having everyone's approval. He thanked the man profusely, then jumped in the car he'd borrowed from his mother. He pulled out of the parking lot immediately—already late—and Skylar prepared to walk home.
"You're not going to the party?" Skylar heard from behind himself, and he turned to face the guy, who still hadn't left yet. He quirked an eyebrow at him, something about the atmosphere feeling off.
"Uh, no," Skylar replied dumbly, feeling confused. Did this man not have somewhere to be? Skylar contemplated pulling the stranger danger card.
"What kid doesn't like alcohol?"
This guy was fucking freaky, and Skylar was quite aware of it. However, he also had a strange... air about him. Like he had all the answers, and honestly, Skylar could use that. At that point in his life, Skylar was pretty lost.
Skylar wasn't the happiest person—he had a horrible relationship with his parents, which seemed to get worse every year. Also, his real best friend (his brother, Jessie) had been spending all his time with this fucking asshole named Ashton. Skylar wanted to punch that guy every time he saw his stupid face, because he had no right to steal Skylar's brother away. Skylar was here first. Ashton was so cocky about everything, too, which made it way worse.
"I don't know, not my thing." Skylar replied, but he was pretty invested in the conversation. He didn't show it, pissed off at how this guy seemed to be drawing him in. "I'm kind of fifteen, dumbass."
Skylar's attitude didn't seem all that appreciated, but the guy moved on quite fast.
"You strike me," The guy began, and he took a step closer. Skylar narrowed his eyes, fully ready to fight him if needed, even though he'd probably lose. "As someone in need of direction."
Skylar took pause at that. He thought about his life at that moment. His dad was never home, his stepmom couldn't stand him. His mom never talked to him, and all his friends ever wanted to do was shit that would get him put up for adoption. Sure, Jessie was awesome, and Skylar still considered the guy to be his best friend. However, he didn't even really see Jessie all that much anymore.
Jessie was always locked away in his room with Ashton, or out driving around and hanging out with Ashton, and even when he was in a more public area of the house, guess who was fucking there? Ashton.
Skylar hated that guy. Oh, he fucking hated that guy.
"What the fuck does that mean?" Skylar asked him, the thoughts going through his head only putting him in a worse mood.
The guy sort of... raised his hands up in surrender. He had this strange look on his face, like he'd already won at something. Skylar kind of wanted to punch him, too.
The man pulled something out of his pocket, and set it on a flat area of the lamppost next to him. He gave Skylar a smile—quite literally the only time Skylar would ever see this man smile.
"Let me know if you want to start living." The man told him, before finally taking his exit. He got in a shiny, sleek black vehicle that appeared to be quite nice. Skylar didn't know shit about cars, but he was pretty sure that if they were pointy then they were expensive.
Skyler only left his spot to check out what the guy left behind after the man had already pulled out of the parking lot and was long gone. Upon closer inspection he found a pill bottle, with the word Crimson and a phone number scribbled on it. The name was written over where the title of the prescription was, so Skylar was unsure what was in the bottle.
Skylar began walking home as he examined the container a bit longer, trying to figure out what the fuck Crimson was. Was it a drug? Was it a name? Did it literally just mean the fucking color, for whatever reason?
It took a moment for Skylar to realize that there was actually something inside the pill bottle. He frowned, and the cap was childproofed, which unfortunately still worked on him at the ripe age of fifteen since he was fucking stupid. So, it took a minute for him to finally get it open.
Skylar paused in his tracks, staring down at the luminescent yellow pill inside the container. He felt drawn to it, for whatever reason, and didn't waste time before digging it out and holding it between his thumb and forefinger. He examined it for a few moments, trying to figure out what it was.
It looked familiar, and it was enticing, but Skylar had an impending sense of danger that wouldn't go away. Somewhere at the back of his mind, he recognized what this was, and he knew he should stay far as fuck away from it. However, it just wasn't coming to mind. Aren't all drugs dangerous? Maybe he's just being dramatic, it's not like danger had ever dissuaded him from anything before.
Let me know if you want to start living.
Skylar was already living—he was never bored, just kind of sad—but he knew that still wasn't enough. Skylar wondered if this was a taste of the life Crimson had promised.
At this point, he didn't feel much sense of purpose and he had no plans for his future. He figured he'd die before he had to make any serious decisions, since even at that moment he was injured. Skylar was always wounded somehow, he had no self preservation, and his next choice only nailed that in further.
So, he took the pill without putting much more thought into it, and inadvertently changed the trajectory of his life. Forever.
Skylar dialed the number only a week later, because he was hitting the first signs of withdrawal. He didn't know it at the time, he was just seeing weird shadows out of the corners of his eyes, which was how it always started. He also had an impending sense of doom that refused to go away. Most of all, he just knew he was miserable.
Crimson answered the phone, and he was no longer the salesman. He knew Skylar had made the wrong choice, and he had yet another person who had placed their life in his hands.
"What the fuck was that pill?" Skylar asked him without introducing himself.
Crimson replied easily, without hesitation or shame, "cytozine."
Skylar's heart dropped. He knew what that was. Every adult talked to him about drugs, but cyto was set apart from the rest. Adults tended to warn their children about drugs, and tack on an especially cytozine at the end, because that was the true life ruiner.
Skylar wanted to scream at the man, accuse him of being a piece of shit and ruining his life. He wanted to berate him for preying on kids and being the stereotypical man in a trench coat that they have in movies. Skylar wanted this fucking guy to pay for doing this to him, because one pill truly was all it took.
However, there was one thing in that moment that Skylar knew would make him feel better than venting out his frustration and rage. He chose that option.
"How do I get more?"
Comments (1)
See all