Story 14
i wrote this story.
my name is jose.
i'm from ottawa , canada
In September
My first ever hit of acid was dropped on a cool September night in
1998. I had been curious for over a year now on what kind of experiences
and trips it could produce. I'm not a 'druggie' or a 'stoner'. I fall
under none of these cliches and neither do my friends. Perhaps you can
blame it on boredom or whatever else there is to blame but trying drugs
and curiosity can help you discover who you are. I'm not trying to sound
corny ...it just happens.
At about 9pm on a Saturday night I get a ca ll from my friend Tim
telling me to meet him at a gas station just outside the suburbs of
Barrhaven. He decided on this because apparently he had been stopped two
times that day by the cops. Just routine checks. I think its because the
suburbs have become infested with petty drug dealing and the police want
to shoosh nagging yuppie parents. I too live in a suburb. My close friend
Chris would be my only companion that night and we'd soon be revelled with
a million thoughts puzzling us with really confusing imagery.
We dropped at about 9:30 pm and we walked towards the park near where we
live. Sounds were minimal and we just wanted to feel 'something'. Chris
and I are pretty strong headed bright young minds. We take care of each
other ..especially in situations like these. We got tired of swinging
around and decided to take the bus downtown. Chris sat in front of me
since the bus was empty. The first thing I said to him was , " We better
not see anyone we know!". The bus waited for two minutes and then more
people got on. Fuck. I see two faces I already recognize. Probably from
Highschool. Chris turns around with a big smile on his face and I start
laughing. It takes about 15-20 minutes to get downtown with all the stops
the bus makes. By the time we get downtown my mind is on the brink. Not on
the brink of insanity. Not yet.
I didin't even have to ask Chris if he was feeling any 'symptoms' yet. I
could tell by his face he was getting a great body buzz just as I was. We
head into the Rideau Center which is the main shopping center there is
downtown. The lights and the reflections off the mirrors have never seemed
so brighter before. The mall had never felt like a maze before either. We
keep walking through to reach the other end of the mall so we could get
outside to the market. The Market is were the bar scene and coffee shops
are located. We walk over into the Mc donalds and the lame music in the
background seems to be drifting in and out of tune. This particular
location had a green 'theme' I guess. Everything was green. Chris was
hungry and bought some fries. Then we walked outside and this body buzz
was getting stronger but I still managed to fight off any external signs
that I was on 'something'. Then I got hungry....we headed over to the
Burger King and I bought some fries. As I stood at the cash I noticed that
everything was getting really intense and slow motion. I paid for the
fries and then we got moving. Since we both had food in our hands we
decided to sit somewhere and eat. I thought of one of the many Mom's and
POp's pizza joints off rideau street and luckily they had patio furniture
laid out. The night was cool but with no wind to give you chills. No wind
to hit your fac. Not yet. The big neon sign hanging on the window reminded
me of the lights at a Radiohead concert. I mentionned this to Chris and he
just shrugged it off. The bastard was experiencing visuals! You could tell
by his face. His pupils were dilated and his afce was doing weird things.
Or was it me? shit!.
"Chris are you seeing things yet?"
" No, but i'm very fucked up!"
He said this with a smile of course. No panic. Not yet. We started
laughing at silly things. Suddenly every little noise out there was making
a difference. We just sat there like two tourists checking out the
scenery. (play the tourist by radiohead now :P~) Just out of nowhere two
familiar faces are dangling above us. It happened to be the two most
annoying people that I came to know in Highschool. Its funny they were
actually together..probably trying to fill the void in their empty lives.
Atleast that's what I like to think. Sometimes. They stood there chatting
and tryingreally hard to strike up a conversation. You'd think they'd get
the point by us not asking them to sit down. I mean these were people we
haven't seen in a year after graduating. This next part struck a chord in
both Chris and I. One of them starts talking about running into this gurl
we know who lives in BArrhaven. Supposedly she had told him that the
highlight of her summer was running into us at night as we were trying to
find our friend's house. Bringing that up was insinuating that we were on
drugs that night wandering around aimlessly. We weren't even on anything.
Not yet atleast.
Anyways...as he kept talking I started to see tracers and cars passing by
zoomed by me leaving nothing but hazzy lights behind. Finally they left.
It seemed an eternity. Chris checks his watch and the conversation had
only been five minutes. Yeah...this is when we noticed our concept of time
is completely haywire. We decide to get up and walk around. We notice
ravers across the street waiting for shuttle buses and then we get the
urge to go to Atomic. A rave/bar club that's highly recommended if you're
ever in Ottawa. Its nice. Its peaceful. We both had left money and
cigarrettes at home. all we had was change and house keys. We kept
walking...and then we decided to sit again. We couldn't help but stop and
gaze at all the action going on. (play comfortably numb by pink floyd
now!) Too much was going on. Time slowly reached its next peak and we just
couldn't help but sit and watch people walk by. We finally got up and
decided to walk back to the mall. The atmosphere was getting crazed. We
reach a stop light and happen to stop on the corner where all the street
kids hang out and where the preachers and evangilists want Jesus to save
you as well. I spot on the corner of my frame of vision...a black man
wearing a mexican sombrero , black and white suit with a silver radio
hanging from his neck. I couldn't quite make out what the radio was
playing but i'm sure it was someone preaching or reading excerpts from the
bible. When i looked at the radio ..it seemed like the sound waves were
making silver spirals and sucking everyone in.( play blackhole sun by
soundgarden now!) The man was in his 40's and he just had a big fucking
grin on his face. It made me giggle but it was then when i started to get
worried. I had no idea if that man was real or not. his appearance seemed
so fake. I looked at chris and he noticed him too and we both giggled. we
entered the mall and the distance of location and objects were completely
distorted. Everything was distorted. We started to walk to the other end
to get the bus home. I turned around to notice a man behind us and i kept
turning around. Chris and I became paranoid and were positive he was after
us.(play Karma Police by radiohead now!) We take an unexpected turn and so
does he. We start running and the escalators were getting further and
further away. We get to the second floor and finally reach the bus stop. I
turn around and there's that man again. Fuck! go away you nutbar! We panic
some more and just as the bus arrives we stall and let him get on first.
The doors close and he goes away. Phew!
we decide to stay dowtown so we walk along the bridge and find the stairs
which leads us near The Westin. A fancy hotel. we sit across the street
and gaze up at the rooms. For some reason there was a party going on in
every room. Shadows of people against their windows. I looked over at
chris and we both were in awe...just gazing ...capturing the excitement
and frenzy of downtown Ottawa. We decide to keep moving and the cars are
barely visible now when they speed by. We make the same route as we did
but without stopping...seeing that man in his mexican attire again. Just
to assure ourselves that our minds aren't fooling us. We make it back to
the bus stop and get on the bus for home. I started to panic as I looked
outside the window and I saw us going by the same street repeatedly. Chris
just assured me that if we stay on the bus we'll get home. ours was the
final stop. JUST stay on the bus! I tried to calm myself down and just as
we knew it we were back in the suburbs. We started walking along a bicycle
path heading towards our homes. We notice someone walking behind
us...still experiencing that paranoia. We sit down on a bench and let them
walk by. We finally keep walking. It was now 11:30 or so. We still had
about 4 or 5 hours left i think. Something to that effect. We walked until
we reached the park where the skaters hang out. We wanted to sit and chill
but we didin't want to be around other people. We kept walking thinking we
were okay to go home now but as soon as any noise was heard we fell back
into that space in time. We walked back towards the park and luckily the
skaters had vanished. we sat there for a while and then the wind picked
up. Every moment seemed like it was cut and pasted. We saw some other kids
from a distance. they were headed towards us but then they vanished into
thin air. Chris kept looking at his watch and we began having our famous
philosophical discussions. Yes, they are famous. They will be. Some people
are educated with great knowledge. Its your own duty to filter out any
nonsense that you can spot in it. Yes and just like this...just out of
nowhere those fucking kids apear! They are obviiously drunk or stoned.
They introduce themselves one by one. I just remember the gurl Allie. You
see there's a person who writes poetry on a wall of a tennis court near
our house and they sign each poem, Allie. This was her. They asked what we
were on and slowly checked down a list......pot? no. shrooms? no. "oh
shit....ugh...acid? who'd you get it from?" (flashback to Tim: "don't
tell anyone where you got it from")
" Ummm i got it from this guy...."
ENd of conversation.
They wander off like they had appeared. Right out of the dark. I guess
they didin't want to ruin our trip so they walked away but not without
flashing their asses and shouting..." hey acidheads" just as they slapped
their butts.
We laugh uncontrollably and then realize that whole conversation had
lasted two minutes. Time was definitely playing with our minds. we sat
there for a while and then a police car parks itself on the street right
across from us. He/she sat there for a really long time. We were just
sitting there. We weren't even smoking so they could not suspect anything
of us. It just bothered us to have him sit there. they just want us to
react in an odd manner so they can approach us but we just sat there
staring right back. I think there's a law prohibiting people from bugging
cops so then we looked away and just sat back and glared at the sky. When
the car finally moved .theyturned into the bike path and drove through
what i thought was too narrow for a car to drive along. They vanished and
we sat there confused and tried to make something out of it. We later
realized that it did zig zags around the telephone poles and made a turn
before the dead end. *for a car that is*
Since the police car had gone off to apprehend Allie and her friends we
took the opportunity to leave the park. We crossed the street and just as
a car passes by the stoplights and crossing lights became plastic as if
they were made for a toy set. I noticed this stop sign along the bike
path. It wasn't meant for the cars. I looked at it and got really
confused. I had never seen that stop sign before. I asked Chris if he was
seeing the sign and he laughed to mimself because his visions were being
distorted as well. He stood beside the sign and kicked it..." I kicked
it!..I touched it...its real!" I was convinced. Apparently the sign had
been kicked many times before because it was tilting to the right.
we walked towards Chris' house and agreed to get some of my cd's and then
go to his house for some fine trippin'! This idea was a result from us
spotting a rabbit hopping along us. It just automatically triggered the
line....."run rabbit run...dig that hole forget the sun!". (play breathe
by pink floyd now!) we finally reached my house and chris sat across the
street on top of those green power boxes. I entered my house and
grabbed my cds. i noticed my my mom sleeping and glanced at the clock. it
was nearing 2am. i walked outside and this scene will always be inbedded
in my mind. I looked over at Chris sitting there and the wind was making
this paper flap and it kept hitting the wall of a newly built house.
everything was fake and plastic. everything. the houses. no one was around
and for that moment it seemed like it was just Chris and I wandering
around in a fake plastic model of a town.(play fake plastic trees by
radiohead now!) Everyone was asleep on a saturday night. Just like I had
mentionned before..the wind made each moment seem like it was cut and
pasted to realign each moment together. Very trippy. I laughed and Chris
hopped off the box and we headed over to his house. The story really ends
here but not really. We put on Pink floyd's 'Dark side of the moon'. For
those of you who don't know it......it starts off with a heart beat but
not right away. It slowly gains volume but for some reason the heartbeat
wouldn't start...and Chris said the cd was playing....the volume was on...
then it started....This cd has a spacey feel to it. Very atmospheric and
very relaxing. we then put on wish you were here by pink floyd. The album
starts off with shine on you crazy diamond and then ends with the last
parts(different ones) of shine on you crazy diamond. It throws you off
making it feel like one whole song. its a great peice of music. the lyrics
are crazy as well since that album was written about syd barrett, the
founder of pink floyd who went crazy after taking too much lsd. I just
recall the music making thewalls shift from to side and the images on the
posters in chris' room moving around taking different forms. When I closed
my eyes i could see the sound waves vibrate from my eye lids. Chris' just
said....." i'm making videos inmy head".
this is basically our experience with acid. it was fun but it was too much
fun. I have grown up since then.
I do remember this though......" Funny how its this tiny little square
that is going to fuck us up."
was it too long? sorry