Don't Say You Love Me More

Part 6

George's POV

I was totally tired, like I hadn't been for weeks. But this time it wasn't because of tour or partying. No, it was because I felt so fucking guilty for what I did to Matty. To be honest, as all of this shit started and even as I slept with Juliette, I never thought this could become such a big deal. That she was so important for him. But of course this was no excuse; I should've known. And so I tried to drown my compunctions in cigarettes and weed.

It was the third evening since Matty disappeared and I was about to go to bed, as my phone rang. It was Julie. I didn't feel like talking at all, since she had been so angry with me just a few hours ago. Of course I could understand her, I deserved all the punishment, but I just wasn't in the mood for her addressing reproaches to me. So I simply ignored the call. A few minutes later Adam called me and this time I decided to pick up.

"George!" I heard a voice that obviously wasn't Adam's. "Why didn't you answer my call?".

"I'm sorry", I mumbled.

Then J stayed silent for a second.

"We found Matty", she said after that pause and I could hear her voice quavering as she kept on talking: "He laid in the grass and we found this pillbox and ..."

A strange feeling of uncertainty and anxiety spread in my heart. She stopped talking and burst into tears. Then I heard someone taking the phone from her.

"Hey it's Adam. We're currently driving to the hospital. As we found Matty we rather called an ambulance. Like Julie just said, we found his car and him lying in the grass just a few meters away."

He stayed silent for a second: "We...also found a pillbox with a complicated name. I'm going to send you a picture...maybe you know what all of this is about", he said that without a pause and in the background I heard sounds as if they were in a car.

A thousand thoughts came to my mind but most of them answered themselves as just a second later a photo appeared on my screen that Adam had just sent to me. I had to take a closer look, as the photo was shot in a bad light (in Adams car as I assumed) but then I remembered. And the memory literally froze the blood in my veins.

"Fuck", I said.

"What?" Julies voice again.

"I know what this is", I sighed and ran my hand over my face.

"Then tell us", Adam demanded.

I made a little pause, sorted my thoughts and answered then: "It's aquarust."

The other side of the phone line stayed silent for a second.

"What the hell is that?" Julie asked.

Now her voice sounded angry instead of worried.

"It's like...acid", I tried to explain. "But much stronger."

As they didn't say anything I decided to tell them a bit more.

"It especially influences your sense of hearing and is known for the extreme long trips you have when you take it. Matty and I took it a few years ago", I stopped here and walked through our apartment a bit. I suddenly had headaches and walked to the balcony door.

"George..."; Adam then asked. "What can happen if you take this?".

Well the fact that Matty is on his way to hospital should proof what this can do to you, I thought, but answered instead: "I don't know. As far as I remember we had four pills or so, but just took one. The impact was incredible, we were high for hours..." again I paused my explanation.

Then I opened the door to the balcony and walked over to the parapet.

"It felt incredible...but afterwards we felt shitty like never before. The side effects of these pills are at least as strong as the trip itself. Honestly, we both felt like dying. This is actually the reason why we decided to never take this shit again".

It stayed silent in Adam's car. I was still numb trying to understand this whole mess. There was no plausible reason why Matty should have taken these pills again.

"Why didn't you took the pills from him?", Julie suddenly asked with so much reproach in her voice like never before.

"I didn't know he still had them!" I fought back.

Then silence. "Should I come to the hospital as well?".

"No I'll manage that", Adam said.

"Bye George". Then he hung up.