The Peer Factor

Another timed exercise of mine, this time 5 minutes. Topic: Used.

And slightly disturbing.

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"oh, god, my head..."

George woke up in another hotel room - what the hell happened the night before? Where was he? All he knew was that he had the headache of a lifetime. He'd never done anything like that before.

He was 19. He jsut turned the legal drinking age. His friends promised him the ride of his life. Everything. First, they took him to a local drug dealer. "Everyone does it", they said. "Now, it's your turn. You're beyond your parent's boundaries. They have no control anymore."

he didn't know why, but he just couldn't say no. There was the heroine needle. It was like some other force inside his body. He picked up the needle and injected it into his right arm. His body didn't know what hit him. It seemed like a wall of pleasure.

He remembered some sort of bar. "Drink, drink," his friends encouraged. "You're in control of your own life now." He didn't feel like it after the heroine shot. His friends forced a beer down his throat. After that, he couldn't help himself. He had another one... and another one... and another one.

George got up... very slowly. His head was pounding like a giant metronome. He spotted a used condom on the floor. He remembered... someone... in this room. "I must have had sex..." he thought. Although... he just couldn't remember what happened.

He slowly made his way to the bathroom, limping all the way. There was another needle... a half-burned joint. "Man..." he thought to himself. "What the hell did I get myself into here?"

He made it into the bathroom and took the longest whizz of his life. It burned. Bad. The place reeked of smoke and booze. He washed his face in the sink, then looked up in the mirror. There was a note, in blood."

"Hey, George. Welcome to the world of Aids."