My Djinn Addiction

1: Bad Medicine

A/N: This is a rewrite. I think about this story a lot bc I remember when I came up with the plot (and didn't write it down) I was so excited it was brilliant. I started writing it and after a few chapters I completely forgot where it was headed. So, I found a note on my phone today that gave an outline for this story, I must've come up with it and written it up on the edge of sleep or something because I don't remember coming up with it at all. But I'm going with it!

"Weissman?"

"Yeah, it's fifty, you got it?"

"Yeah, come on, I gotta go."

I handed my dealer the money and we shared a nod before we went our separate ways.

My grandma will be expecting me home before midnight and its already 11:30. I turn round the corner of the alleyway, back out into the streets, and just then my phone buzzes. I whip it out and swipe to accept the call.

"Kirsten, are you alright? It's getting late, dearie," I heard the gentle tones of my grandma's voice, her concern for me obvious.

"Yeah, Grams, I'll be home in fifteen, I promise," I started into a jog, working hard not to let my panting go into the phone. She may worry I'm running from something or else rushing for her sake. She doesn't intend to give me a curfew, she just worries too much to be able to sleep. She stays up to see that I get home alright, and I try to get home at a reasonable enough time that we both get plenty of rest.

"Alright, I'll leave the door unlocked for you, hun, theres a dinner plate for you in the oven and I made your favorite homemade Oreo ice cream, its sitting in the freezer for you," I heard her shuffling around. Probably turning out lights, closing curtains and unlocking the door before heading to bed.

I thank her and send a kiss through the phone before hanging up and upped my jogging pace. I counted street signs as I went. After passing the fifth sign I looked up and read our street name, Downing Street. Always good to double check which road you're turning down, I've walked into the wrong house before. They all look the same out here in Richmond, Texas.

I slowed to a walk and realized I was still holding my product in plain sight. I stuffed it into the pocket of my hooded flannel jacket quickly and eyed my home down the street. The substance itself, I'm sure nobody would recognize as a drug, as it has a faint glow that makes it seem like some kind of prop for a halloween party. So, I don't exactly have a fear of flaunting it around, but as a drug user, as I'm sure you suspect, I am quite paranoid of being found out.

My little self-remedy looks like my grams favorite hibiscus milk tea, cotton candy pink and a little milky looking, though at some angles you could see some kind of blue shimmer to it. It came sealed in a blood bag, strangely, and I have no idea what it is or how my suppliers get it. I try not to think on it too much. It does what I need it to do and thats enough information for me.

I walk inside and I hear the door lock behind me. This happens to me a lot. I turn to the door and I see the lock turned. I shake my head but what I see remains.

"You're not locked," I tell the door.

I reach forward and unlock and lock the door myself. Just in case it really was unlocked, now I know for sure that it is in fact locked.

See schizophrenia runs in the family. My mom had it, my aunt had it, and when they were still alive we all lived here with my grandma. Shes the only one of us that has stayed sane all her life. She has always taken more care of us than we ever have her.

Schizophrenia is why I take these drugs. It started out as just a joint passed around at some high school party. It calmed me and I had to have more. They say marijuana isn't addictive, but the feeling it gives you sure is.

After marijuana came shrooms, which was a good time because I could make them into a tea and enjoy tea time with grandma that much more.

After shrooms came LSD. I was introduced to this at another party, this time after high school. I'm still unsure how I managed to graduate. The trip it gave... God. The things I saw, the things I heard. I felt like I was flying and everything was so beautiful and fluid. It was both terrifying and thrilling, best experience of my life. For a good while I chased that feeling and it kept getting farther and farther away from me. Until I knew I wouldn't ever be able to have that experience again.

Thats when he found me. These days everyone has their own unique style. Whether it be their lifestyle or just their fashion choices, it didn't matter to me. So when the guy with black eyes approached me, I didn't even flinch.

We were in an alley, one where my "friends" and I would go to live out our next high. He told me of a new drug that his "boss" had been working on. He told me that the high was just as strong every time. He enticed me with his words and when he told me to follow him to his car, I did.

He pulled out a bag. A blood bag. Filled with a light blue, almost purple, liquid. I thought it was sort of glowing or shimmering, but with my schizophrenia diagnosis, I decided it was just in my head. He was selling cheap, and I was in the market. I needed this.

It was new. It was potent. It was everything I had been chasing. The hallucinations it gave were so clear to me. Clearer than the hallucinations I had while sober. The things that happened to me while I was wide awake and clear minded were strange and confusing, and as bad as it sounds the drugs made more sense to me. At least I understood that what I was seeing and experiencing was caused by a drug that I had given myself. Thats what kept me coming back. It made me feel like I was in control of what my eyes saw, my ears heard, my skin felt.

And suddenly I was hooked.