RED HOT. (t. lee)

09. you only live twice.

December 23, 1987
Franklin Plaza Hotel
Los Angeles, California

Heroin is a bad drug.

A real bad drug.

Did Nikki care? No. Why should he?

They were staying at the Franklin Plaza Hotel, and everything seemed to be moving in slow motion.

As always, Mick had disappeared and only emerged for shows.

Vince was at his Redondo Beach mansion fucking some random lady. What a shocker.

The rest of them were at a gathering at the Franklin Plaza Hotel. It couldn't have been referred to as a party, as everyone was nodding off on their drug of choice.

Tommy sat on the couch half-asleep with Chrissy daydreaming in his arms.

Nikki sat on the floor at the other end of the room, taking a swig from his drink, when some random man approached him and sat next to him.

"Did I miss the party? the guy asked Nikki. "You look like a man in need of some sweet, sweet Persian." he continued, while holding up a baggie of heroin.

"How is that Perisan? Is there even still a Persia?" Nikki questioned.

Heroin made you think about weird things like that. That's why it was so addictive. It made you think about things you never would if you were sober.

"There has to be. It's where all the cats come from." the guy responded while pouring the heroin into a spoon. "Persian. The cross eyed ones, like in Lady and the Tramp. Remember those evil fuckers?"

"They're Siamese cats." Nikki said. "You don't fucking know shit about Walt Disney."

"I know he's a perv, man." the guy said while putting the lighter flame to the bottom of the spoon. "He used to like to lay beneath glass and have hookers take a shit right on the glass."

"What are you taking about? That never happened." Nikki said.

"How do you know?"

"Because I'm a fucking perv. And i've never even though about anything as fucked up as that." Nikki said, his eyes wide.

"You want some or not?" the guy asked, fully loaded syringe in hand.

"Yeah...but, but you do it." Nikki said, rolling up his sleeve and extending his arm.

He wrapped the tourniquet just above Nikki's elbow, and shot the drug into his veins.

Nikki sort of swayed his head from side to side, and hit the ground, his head smacking against the wooden floor.

Tommy and Chrissy jumped up upon the sound of his head smacking against the floor. When they found Nikki, they saw the guy who gave him the heroin smacking his face and calling his name.

"What the fuck? Nikki?" Tommy asked, nervously.

"What the fuck happened, dude?" Chrissy asked.

"I don't, I don't know. He just, I helped him shoot up and then he passed out."

After ten minutes of chaos, an ambulance showed up.

Chrissy and Tommy were the only people allowed in the back of the ambulance.

They watched as one of the EMT's placed an oxygen mask over his face.

They listened to the machine monitoring Nikki's heart.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Beeeeeeeeepppppp.