Short Stories

Recovery - One

Effy had been mostly clean for 8 months. Norman had worked hard to keep her away from the parties she used to frequent that became a source for narcotics. Instead, she only had two drinks in the past 8 months and that was at a holiday gathering.
Effy had been clean.

As a reward, she and Norman went to a party some Thursday night. It was bigger than expected, but that was okay. After awhile, the two split up. Norman needed a break and Effy saw some friends she hadn't spoken to in awhile.

While in a back room, Elaine pulled Effy aside.

"Hey, Ef, there's this new stuff out there. Called dust or something, I dunno. Anyways- it was super expensive and it didn't even get me a little high."

"That's great, Lain. Why are you telling me this?"

"Well, it's your first party since they made you get sober! I thought you might want to eeeeease back into the game."

"What- no. No. First of all, nobody made me clean up. Second of all, I'm not getting started again."

Elaine scoffed. "Please, you say that now, but everyone has their first relapse. Why not get it out of the way with something weak?"

Maybe it was the bone vibrating bass or multicolored strobe, but Elaine was starting to make some sense. Nobody would have to know about it. I bet Norman wouldn't even be able to tell I had any if it's so lame, Effy thought.
She accepted the small bag of white powder from Elaine and stuck it in her pocket.

"Elaine, this literally looks like coke. I don't even like coke. Cmon."

"No, seriously!" Elaine insisted. To prove it, she put a line on her fist and snorted it swiftly. "See? Nothing. You know coke fucks me up. And here I am."

"Alright... maybe you just paid a shit ton for powdered sugar."

"......."

"A joke. It was a joke." Effy peeked around the corner. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom. Just so Norman doesn't see. If he's looking for me... tell him I got sick or something."

"Yeah, no problem. And hey!" Elaine grabbed Effy's arm as she turned away. "Congrats on the first relapse! They really do say it's a step of recovery."

Effy rolled her eyes and made her way to the bathroom. Once she entered, she locked the door and pulled out the small bag. It really did look like cocaine. If it was, Elaine had quite the talking-to coming to her.

Effy set down the bag on the counter and dug out a five dollar bill. She then dumped a tiny line on the counter and rolled the bill before inhaling it. She coughed a bit at the brash powder in her sinuses that had healed over the last few months. But Elaine was right. It wasn't cocaine. And it wasn't powdered sugar. It wasn't anything really. Effy wasn't even sure if she could call this a high.

That is, until she collapsed onto the bathroom floor.

~part two coming at some point. maybe tonight. maybe not. we'll see.~