The Addict

[MyWorld08]

Ok, here goes. This is a rather long story in several chapters that I have been working on. Posting a story always makes the author a little vulnerable (you can't please everyone) so please be kind. On the other hand, I do want constructive criticism in order to make my writing better.

Enjoy --
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The Addict
Chapter 1)
After a seemingly eternal and miserable childhood, life was finally taking a turn for the better for Toby. At 19, he was half way through his first year of college, didn’t live with his parents (whom he loathed!), and was loving every minute of his new-found freedom. True, his school was just a community college, but it was cheap, meaning he didn’t need his parents for tuition, and they were poor enough that he got scholarship money. He planned on doing this for two years, then transferring to State, then the world would be his oyster. Toby went to school all day, worked at a bar all night, slept occasionally on the weekends, shared a piece-of-crap apartment with 3 other roommates, and PARTIED every free moment he could.

Life was good at last.

Not surprisingly, it didn’t take long to discover other aspects of the good life, the parts that go along with heavy partying – namely drugs. He started out with a little marijuana, followed by an ecstasy kick, then moved on to crystal meth. He only did it on the weekends, and couldn’t afford to do much. He couldn’t afford to be an addict, so he thought. Still, it was all he could think about in class, and his grades were slipping just a bit.

That didn’t bother Toby tonight as he stepped out of Casey’s Pub on a Friday night. It was only 1 AM, Casey had let him out early and he knew about a party just down the block. The January air was cold, crisp, and invigorating but not as invigorating as what awaited him.

“Hey Toby, you’re just in time. Party’s just starting to kick!” It was Justin at the door standing guard, and taking money.

“It’s cool,” said Toby, slipping Justin a twenty. This was his fee for keeping a sober eye out on the street for the “wrong” sort of people.

The rush was as intense as usual, like taking off on the Space Shuttle. Toby had just taken his first X-Meth of the night. His heart raced and his mind exploded in awareness. He joined the other dancers on the floor in a frenzy of chemical energy. Toby loved the dance floor like this. It felt like flying. Yes, he felt he was literally flying through the air.

Life was good, better – no, great!

“HEY MAN, YOU SHOULD TRY THIS.” It was Justin. He had been replaced at the door so now he, too, could party. He had to yell to be heard over the deafening music.

“WHAT THE **** IS IT” Toby yelled back.

“JUST TRY IT. SMOKE IT.”

What the hell, he was invincible now, so Toby took a puff. Now he was the Space Shuttle with a nuclear bomb under its ass.

“WHAT THE **** WAS THAT?” he screamed back.

“CRACK. YOU JUST SMOKED CRACK.”

Toby was only slightly pissed, but he pretended to be really pissed. “GODDAMN IT JUSTIN, I SAID I DON’T DO THAT STUFF.”

Justin shrugged. “WELL, NOW YOU DO. WHAT DO YOU THINK?”

Toby couldn’t go on pretending. He smiled from ear to ear. “I LOVE THIS SHIT. GIVE ME SOME MORE.” Justin handed over the pipe. The next few hours were spaceships and explosions.

And life was better than great…until re-entry.

About 5 AM, Toby wasn’t feeling so good. The explosions, instead of launching him higher into space were now blowing up in his head. He vomited a couple times (everyone was too high to notice) but it didn’t make him feel better. Now his eyes were blinded by the explosions, and the dance floor kept racing up to meet him. Suddenly he was on the floor looking up. His friends now noticed, but were laughing their asses off at him. Toby tried pushing himself up from the floor, then BANG! One final thermo-nuclear explosion cleared the room, his friends, and Toby’s consciousness away.


Toby awoke in a bed. He recognized it as a hospital bed but didn’t know where he was or the day. He had the worst sore throat of his life and he felt almost too weak to lift his arms.

“You have a visitor,” his nurse told him. She looked to be about middle age, but still slightly attractive in Toby’s mind.

“Wha…Where am I?” He croaked. His voice didn’t work well either.

His nurse patted his shoulder reassuringly. “You’re still at University Hospital. You had a drug overdose. You were in the ICU for a few days, now you are on the Floor…remember?”

Toby shook his head. Everything, even this imagined conversation with his nurse earlier that day, was a fog. “Sorry, I can’t remember much.”

“Not to worry. You’re memory will get better in time. But right now you have a visitor. Is it ok if he comes in?”

Toby shrugged. “Sure.”

A few minutes later, a man much older than Toby’s nurse walked into the room and sat on the corner of his bed. He looked to be taller than Toby, heavier set, too, and he was wearing a dark blue business suit. “Hello, my name is Director Miles. How are you feeling?”

Toby shook his head. “Weak and sore.” He couldn’t remember a Director Miles, but then again he couldn’t remember much of anything right now. “Where am…No, I know where I’m at. But, how did I get here?”
“…And who are you?” he almost forgot to ask.

The man answered in a serious tone. “Well, you arrived by ambulance. They found large amounts of methamphetamine and cocaine in your system, a really bad combination to have.”

“My nurse told me I overdosed on drugs, I know. Man, I feel like death warmed over.” Toby could barely lift his arms to hold his aching head.

“Funny you should say it like that,” the man continued. “After all, you died in the ambulance.”

Toby’s eyes popped open wide. “I What?!”

The man smiled weakly. “Yes, you died. They obviously got you back, but for about 10 minutes according to the record your heart stopped and you were dead.” He paused for a moment to let this sink in. “You were then in intensive care for about 5 days and have been on the regular floor for about 3.”

Toby continued to be shocked. “I’ve been here over a week?!”

The man nodded. “A week of your life taken from you forever and maybe more than that. You probably have some level of brain damage, being without oxygen for so long. Only time will tell.”

Was this why his memory was not working so well? What hospital was he in? He was afraid to ask that question yet again. “Tell me again, who are you?”

The man leaned closer. “Ah, now for the purpose of my visit. As I said, my name is Director Miles. I am the director of a special drug rehabilitation center called Forever Safe. I was given your name as someone who might benefit from our program.”

Toby held up his hand. “Hold on, who told you about me? It wasn’t my parents was it?”

“Ironically, not directly. You see, the University contacted your parents but they didn’t seem interested in your recovery. They said something to the effect of ‘it would have happened sooner or later’.” Director Miles let that last bit sink in.

Toby was visibly upset. Yes, he hated his parents, but they had raised him after all. They should care a little. Instead they had abandoned him. His voice shook on the verge of tears, “They’re not my parents anymore.”

“I understand.” The Director continued. “So the University asked me to come see you. We have a very special program that helps—“

“Stop!” Toby cut him off. “I don’t need rehab, that’s for pushers and addicts. I just had an accident.”

The Director gave him a scolding look. “But you’ve been in trouble with drugs before.”

“Dude, that wasn’t even an accident, it was my first time, and it was just pot.”

The Director scolded again. “They have an excuse for everything.”

Toby was getting angry. “Hey buddy, **** off, okay. It’s not an excuse, it’s the truth. I’m not an addict and I don’t need rehab so just get the **** out of here.”

The Director leaned away from Toby. “Such colorful language they teach in college these days, ‘**** off,’ ‘get the **** out,’” he was mocking Toby’s voice. “But I’m not going to do that. I’m going to give you a dose of reality. You see that man, just outside your door.”

Toby had to lean forward, then he saw the guy sitting on a chair outside his room. “Yeah, so what?”

“That nice gentleman is a cop, rather a detective. After I leave, he is going to have a little chat with you. Seems your buddies have placed the blame on you. They testified that you sold them the drugs. There was a nice sum of money in your pocket when they found you as evidence. As soon as the doctors discharge you from this place, that nice gentleman will immediately escort you to jail.”

Toby was too stunned to react. How could his friends, who he couldn’t remember at the moment, stick this on him?

“That’s right, jail. You are 19, not a kid anymore. You go to the BIG house.
I can make a deal with the Judge, he knows me and the success of our program. If you agree to enroll, you won’t go to jail. He may just give you a suspended sentence, he may even let you off considering it’s your first offense and considering the reliability of your buddies.”

The Director handed Toby a business card. “Think about it, but make up your mind before they discharge you. You have to go straight from here to rehab.”

“Or else what!” Toby felt like a little child daring his parents to punish him.

“Or else jail, and no parents to bail you out or send you cookies in your cell.”
With that Director Miles stood and walked out of the room. The detective looked into the room but didn’t come in. He had plenty of time. Toby looked at the card, then tore it up and tossed it on the floor.

“No way, man. I don’t need rehab. I’ll get a lawyer. They can’t throw me in jail.”


A woman joined the Director as he walked away from Toby’s room. She was dressed in a business suit as well. “Don’t you think he’s too young?” she asked.

Director Miles chuckled. “Of all things, why would age make a difference? They all end up the same anyway.”

“We’ve never tried it on someone so young. We don’t know if it will work. What if it goes too far? What if he gets hurt?”

“Silvia, didn’t you hear me in there. His heart stopped for 10 minutes. He died. I don’t imagine he could get more hurt than that. The way his life is headed, I’m sure he is in for worse.”

They passed the hospital information desk and headed out the door. “Well, I still have my doubts. We need to be cautious with him.”

“We will treat him like all our clients. He will be safe.”

“I certainly hope so,” Silvia stopped at their car and unlocked it with her keyless button. “But do you think he’ll agree to come? Toby didn’t sound enthusiastic.”

The Director paused. She had a point. “I have no idea. I think he tore my card up as I was leaving. Maybe all of your concerns are for nothing.”

Once in the car, Silvia changed her tone. “Toby. It’s kind of a cute name.” Now she was smiling.

Director Miles grinned. “Yes, you always fall for the cute names. He is a good kid, I can always tell. He deserves better. He deserves what we can give him.”

“Toby, Toby,” Silvia kept repeating the name. “He’ll make a good client. It will be better for him if he comes.” The two drove away from the hospital. “Toby, little Toby. What a cute name.”
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[NARU]

Holy shi*! You didn't make me want to throw up! I congratulate you on this magnificent feat.

[Manveru]

This is great! I'm already hooked!

And I bet that rehab center is going to involve forced regression.

[MyWorld08]

Thank you for the positive feedback so far. I realize my story is VERY long compared with other stories I've read here. My story is more like a novella, but I can break it up in shorter chapters if needed. Just let me know if it becomes annoyingly long. I'll give people a chance to read this before posting the next chapter. I will also provide a summary of the previous chapter when I post a new chapter, so I guess you could cheat and just read my summaries, but I don't mind. Writers must always remember that we are primarily entertainers, so what ever works for you.

Oh, one more thing. I was just re-reading my story and noticed some of the more colorful language has been edited out. That's fine with me as I try not to use the F- word too often. Nevertheless, it is something an angry 19 year-old college student would say. Am I aloud to type "F-" or "Sh-" instead of the full words in my story?

--sorry,
MyWorld

Try to edit your posts instead of making another. -FullMetal

[NARU]

Originally Posted by MyWorld08

Oh, one more thing. I was just re-reading my story and noticed some of the more colorful language has been edited out. That's fine with me as I try not to use the F- word too often. Nevertheless, it is something an angry 19 year-old college student would say. Am I aloud to type "F-" or "Sh-" instead of the full words in my story?

--sorry,
MyWorld

Everyone would prefer it if you did that. Although it wouldn't actually be breaking the rules if you typed the whole word.

[Mesmerale]

Wow, this is really good!

I was actually starting to leave the page as I read, but I couldn't stop reading. =)

It's great, I can't wait to read the rest.

[Dave]

I think the only reason you might avoid cursing is for the younger members. Although most of us are mature enough to read it, some are not. However I really like what I have seen so far. This story kinda seems like it could be the result of putting a few of my favorite stories in the blender with a little ice and vodka overall it makes a pretty sweet smoothie.

[genbaby]

Originally Posted by MyWorld08

Oh, one more thing. I was just re-reading my story and noticed some of the more colorful language has been edited out. That's fine with me as I try not to use the F- word too often. Nevertheless, it is something an angry 19 year-old college student would say. Am I aloud to type "F-" or "Sh-" instead of the full words in my story?

--sorry,
MyWorld

It's nmot ageinsty the rules to do that in a story as it makes the story more relistic. like if you were writing about crabers or fidhers and had no cussing then there is something wrong with the story because it just wouldn't seem right a 19 year old collage student would normally say those world but please use f*** instead of the full word.

[BabyGrizzy]

Eh...It's OK... Not much criticism I can give because this is only an introduction.

[MyWorld08]

Ok, thanks everyone for the support so far. Guess I'll keep going, so here it is, Chapter 2.

But first, a recap of Chapter 1. We are introduced to Toby, a 19 year old college student who overdoses on crystal meth and crack at a party and spends a week in the ICU. The director of a Rehab Center, Forever Safe, offers his services in exchange for avoiding charges from the police that Toby was dealing. Toby doesn't seem interested, doesn't believe he has a drug problem. Director Miles discusses his case with a colleague, Silvia.

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Chapter 2

“Hello, I’m Lisa, I’m 38 years old, and my parole officer said I have to come here – you know – or go back. So, that’s why I’m here…and I also do crack, marijuana, Percocet – you know – alcohol, everyone does that. Anyway, that’s why I’m here.”

At 38, Lisa was so far the youngest person in the group other than Toby. It was Toby’s first session at Forever Safe and it was off to a very bad start. They had heard from a 45 year-old man named Jimmy who was on parole for robbing a liquor store while on PCP; a 50 year-old man named Bubba (yeah, that’s what he called himself) also on parole for too many offenses for Toby to keep track, and a 58 year-old man named Frank who looked like a prune from smoking for 50 of those years and doing more time than Toby had been alive. ALL of them old, ALL of them on parole or having done Time, ALL of them loser addicts.

Then there was 19 year-old Toby, in college, a bright future ahead, and no record – yet. It was his turn to speak.

“Ummm…my name is Toby, I’m 19, I’m a business major in college, I got busted at a party but I’m not an addict, and I DON’T belong here.” He stood up from his metal folding chair and headed for the door. “You all can go on talking about the 1950’s or wherever you’re from - I’ll be getting a lawyer.” With that he was out the door, and suddenly face to face with Director Miles.

“Leaving so soon?” he scolded.

“I said I would give it a try, and I did and it didn’t work. I don’t belong with those old people, they’re total losers.”

The Director shook his head. “You were in there for all of 15 minutes, I would hardly call that trying. Besides, if you would listen to them, you might be surprised by how much you do have in common.”

“No way, I’m not hanging out here any more. I’ll take my chances with the cops. I’ve got a buddy who has a friend in law school – I’ll take my chances.” He was, of course, referring to the pending investigation of his alleged drug selling at the party which was a total crock of sh-- as far as he was concerned.

Director Miles pretended surprise. “Wow, you have a buddy who knows someone in law school – you’re VERY connected I can tell.”

Toby caught the sarcasm, but it also stung with truth. He had no clue about getting a lawyer.

The Director put his hand on Toby’s shoulder inviting him to walk. “Please, let me have one more chance. I would like to explain a little more about what he offer here at Forever Safe. Would you do that? Just sit down for a few minutes and let me explain?”

Toby reluctantly agreed. Miles let him into a small conference room where a desk and two chairs nearly filled the entire space. The Director sat on one side of the desk and motioned for Toby to sit at the other. Toby elected to keep standing.

“Suit yourself,” he said slightly annoyed. “Where should I begin?”

Toby let his anger lose, “Well, for starters you can tell me why someone my age is in room full of old drug addicts. I mean look at them! They’re losers. Burned out, old losers. I totally don’t belong.”

Director Miles just stared at Toby. The silence grew uncomfortable. “What! What are you staring at me for.” Toby was irate, “Aren’t you going to say something?”

The Director took a dramatic breath. “Are you finished with your tough guy act? Because if you aren’t, keep on talking. I have a lot go over when you are finished.”

Toby lowered his head just the slightest. “Yeah, go ahead and talk, but 5 minutes, that’s all you have.”

“I have a story to tell you, a rather long one, so I hope you might forgive me if I go over the 5 minute limit. Can you listen to the whole thing? Listen without the constant commentary issuing from your mouth?”

Toby caved in a little more. “Sure, man. Just talk. Just tell me what I’m doing here, okay.”

Director Miles leaned back in his chair. “Tell me, Toby, do you believe in time machines?”

Toby had not expected that. “Am I allowed to speak?

“Only when asked a question, yes.”

“No way, man. That stuff’s just in movies.”

Director Miles nodded. “I didn’t think you would. But let’s just pretend, for the sake of my story, that we actually have a time machine here at Forever Safe. Now let’s say that our ‘hypothetical’ time machine doesn’t actually take a person back in time, but rather ages his body backward to any age we choose. A client comes to us – an ‘old loser’ as you put it – his life ruined, helpless to his addictions. We age him backward to a time before he became addicted. Sounds like it would work, doesn’t it? A 100% cure, right?”

Toby shrugged, “Sure, whatever.”

Director Miles’ expression dropped. “Unfortunately, it failed. You see, we could successfully age a person backward, but his mind and memories remained intact. We couldn’t erase the memories of all those years of addiction, even if we could put a 50-year-old back into his 20-year-old body. It wasn’t like starting over, as we had hoped.”

“Then someone said, ‘Why not keep going back just to see what happens?’ So we tried it, more of an experiment than anything. We took our clients thru their teens, even into their childhood. And what do you think happened then?”

Toby threw up his hands, he didn’t have a clue, nor did he care for Miles’ game playing.

“Well, they still retained the memories of their past but we began to see something new.” The Director paused a moment, then continued. “How many times have you been told to ‘act your age’?”

“From my parents? Like, every other sentence.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. But to our surprise, that’s exactly what people do, they begin to act their age. You make someone 10, and before long he is acting like a 10-year-old. He may still remember his past life, but he handles those memories as a 10-year-old would. So, how do you think our clients did with that?”

A blank stare from Toby.

“I see you’re dying to know. Well, they were miserable. Not only were they still addicts with all the drug seeking behavior that addicts have, now they REALLY acted like children. It was the worst of both worlds. We took terrible adults and made them into even worse children. We began to believe that our experiment was a failure. We almost ended the project. We let all of our clients go, except one – Timmy. He had come close to death several times, kind of like where you are headed.” Toby rolled his eyes. “We were sure he would end up dead in less than a week if we let him out.”

“We had reached a dead end. Then someone – that same brilliant someone who had suggested taking our clients back to childhood – suggested ‘why not go all the way?’ I mean, we could take a person to ANY age, so why not give them all a try?”

Toby’s eyes were wandering, he obviously didn’t care what this crazy man said at this point.

The Director’s expression finally cheered up. “What an incredible idea that was. We finally had success. You see the very young brain is physically unable to retain its adult memories. If you go back far enough, even language begins to go and soon you don’t have the words to describe those memories. Very young children live in the moment. They can hardly remember what happened yesterday, much less weeks or years ago. Timmy was finally cured. He had no memory of his drug addict years. He was happy again.”

“But, we had a new problem. What to do with Timmy. After all, this was an adult rehab center, not a child daycare. We couldn’t just put Timmy up in an apartment and get him a new job. He had to be taken care of like a small child.”

Toby couldn’t help it, he had to say something. “Look, I know what you’re talking about and it won’t work with me.”

The Director was surprised. “Oh,” he paused, “I know what I’m talking about. What is it that you think I’m talking about? I’m dying to know.” A hint of sarcasm.

“Hypnosis,” Toby said. “You can make people bark like a dog or cluck like a chicken. You hypnotize them to think they are kids. Big deal, it won’t work, you can’t hypnotize me.”

“Hmmm…hypnosis. There’s an idea. Maybe we should try it sometime. Which would you prefer to be, a dog or a chicken?” Unmistakable sarcasm.

“Listen, I said it won’t work on me. I don’t know why you’re telling me all of this crap.”

“I think that counts as an interruption. If you will let me finish, maybe you’ll understand.”

“Whatever makes you happy,” Toby rolled his eyes.

Director Miles cleared his throat and continued. “So where were we. Oh yes, what to do with Timmy. In retrospect, the answer was obvious, but once more our man with the brilliant ideas came up with the solution. We would become a daycare center. Actually, more like an orphanage since our clients would live here all the time. We re-opened the Rehab side of our business, and one by one we transformed all our clients over to daycare.”

Toby tried to stare the Director down. “I suppose you are the brilliant guy who imagined all this crap.”

This made the Director laugh. “Oh no, no. I wish it was me, but it wasn’t. However, that man has now become one of our clients.”

“You hypnotized him, too. You’re story is crazy. It doesn’t even make sense.”

“Toby,” Director Miles was shaking his finger, “surely you’ve been to the movies – the old cliché ‘He knew too much. He had to be stopped’.”

Toby’s face registered shock. This guy was really sick.

“Don’t worry. We didn’t harm him. Like I said, he’s one of our clients, now. He’s very happy. In fact, he is one of the happiest people I know.”

Toby abruptly stood up. “Ok, that’s enough. I’ve heard your story. I’d like to go now. This sh-- isn’t for me.”

The Director pointed to the door they had entered. “There’s the door. You are, of course, free to leave. I had hoped to give you a tour of the facility. Maybe that would convince you of our sincerity.”

“I’m convinced you’re a loon, old man. I want to go.”

The Director pointed again. “There’s the door. Go.”

Toby put his hand of the knob, expecting it to be locked – it wasn’t. He opened and slammed the door behind him, glad to get away. Director Miles was giving him the creeps. Then, to his surprise, he ran into a wall. What had been a hallway only minutes ago, was now a small closet sized space. He turned to go back into the room with the Director, but now the door WAS locked.

“Hey!” he yelled. “Let me out of here.” He beat on the door. No response. He gave it a kick – it didn’t budge. He then backed up and ran at the door with a kick. Still, it didn’t open.

On closer inspection, the room not really a closet, but rather a hexagon shaped room only about 4 feet wide. There was a square shaped window looking into what looked like a control room. Toby beat on the window. “Hey! Let me out of here.” He saw Director Miles walk into the control room. “Hey, A-HOLE! Let me out now before I come out there and f--- you up.”

Director Miles spoke through a microphone. Toby heard his voice from a speaker above his head. “I don’t think you are in a position to do that at the moment.” He appeared to be busy touching switches on a console.

“Where am I! What the F--- do you think you are doing!” Toby was getting scared, panic was in his voice.

“Why, isn’t it obvious,” he heard the Director’s voice from overhead. “You are standing in my time machine.”

Toby went ballistic. “Don’t F--- with me or I’ll kick your A--! A-HOLE!!” All he could do was beat on the wall and scream his insults.

The Director gave his usual scolding look and waived his finger. “Such limited use of adjective. You really should read a dictionary sometime. Well, I guess it’s too late for that. Pretty soon you won’t have much of a vocabulary at all.”

Toby pounded on the 5 inch thick plexiglass window with all his strength, to no avail. “You can’t do this! This is illegal! I have rights!” he screamed. “I told people where I was going. They’ll come looking for me. They’ll throw your a-- in jail if you do anything to me!”

Director Miles made his final adjustments, hardly aware of Toby’s ranting. Then he spoke again into the microphone. “Toby, I want to tell you what’s about to happen. Don’t be frightened, I promise it won’t hurt. You are about to go on a time trip. It will feel warm, and you will see a blinding light before it is over.”

“F--- YOU!” Toby screamed again.

“I promise it won’t hurt. After it’s over, you will have a new life – a better life – a safer life. You will eventually be happier.” The Director slowly lowered his finger onto a button as if saying a count-down to himself. “We are taking you back in time now, Toby, WAY back. You’re going all the way back to diapers…”

With those last words, Toby felt a warmth swelling up from his stomach, as if he was being lowered into an invisible hot-tub. This was followed by a light that seemed to radiate from inside his own head. Gradually the chamber became brighter and brighter. All sound vanished. The light began to blind him, though strangely there was no pain. It was too bright to see the Director through the window. It was too bright to see the chamber. Even with his eyes closed, the brightness was blinding. Just like the explosion in his head the night he overdosed on crack, everything was gone, and Toby lost consciousness.