True Happiness

They say that there is a pill that lets you experience true happiness. They say that it releases your heart's desires, and makes you lose sight of the world. When I first heard of the "miracle pill," I thought that it was too good to be true.

I first heard about this "happiness" drug from the news, as I was sitting in the living room with my husband. The reporter, who had just been talking about some new-fangled androids that could behave like humans (something only the rich could afford, really), began to talk about the latest story in breaking news. A man who had been missing for weeks had been discovered dead. The police found him drowned in the river. No surprise, missing people don't often turn up alive. But then came the strange part: he was found wearing a huge grin on his face, like a child's. This was not the first time such a strange event has happened, there had been at least 5 other similar cases in the last two weeks. Roger, my husband, stared at the TV, a worried look on his face.

"Things are getting worse every day, it seems," he said, taking a sip out of his drink. For such a boring person, he was rather observant.

The following day, I went to the office where I worked. As I stared at the pile of paperwork that awaited me at my desk, I felt very tired. Tired of everything. Tired of my job, tired of my life, tired of my insipid husband, tired of the idle gossip of the office, everything. I just didn't really know what I wanted. At one of the desks behind me, I hear some of my co-workers talking to each other, in hushed tones.

"Did you hear about that man on the news?" whispered a woman excitedly.

"Yeah, the one who overdosed on Euphoria?" replied a young man.

"My cousin said she knew someone who had acquired some," claimed a middle-aged man.

"Pah! With all this chaos that's been going on, who has time for drugs?" snarked an old woman.

"I don't know, I've heard it feels good when you take it," replied the middle-aged man dreamily.

"Taking some unknown drugs, next thing you know, you'll wind up as ashes in some who-knows-where!" said the old woman, with disapproval.

At that moment, the supervisor passed by, which made them hush up immediately. Still, the name still rang in my head. Euphoria, what a perfect name.

After my shift ended, I decided not to go home. There was no reason to. The only thing that would see when I arrived would be Roger waiting at the door, eyebrows furrowed, arms crossed, and endless nagging, things I simply couldn't deal with right now. And I was curious.

It was a rainy day, no trace of the sun in sight. With an umbrella in hand, I walked down the street in the opposite direction. The rain is pouring down heavily, washing away the grime and filth from the streets. As I walk, I tell myself, it's only going to be once, this once, and then never again will I repeat it, use it, look at it, go near, or even think of it. Only this once.

I didn't know how far I walked, I was in a daze of sorts, only to be interrupted by the sound of my phone ringing. It was most likely Roger, and I saw no point in answering, so I ignored the ringing and continued moving. After what felt like half an hour, I finally arrived at an alleyway, where I saw something that caught my attention. There was a middle-aged woman and a younger man, and the woman seemed to be buying something from him. As I took a step close, the woman immediately darted her head towards me. Her eyes widened, and then took off running, a small plastic bag in her hands. The man watched her run for a second, then turned towards me.

"What do you want, miss," he said, examining me. "You wanna buy something or do you wanna stir up some trouble?" He was observing me, analyzing my intentions.