36 hours of no sleep and the fact that I had a 40 minute drive from my college back home made me a little worried about driving myself home. Luckily the coffee shop across from our campus stays open through the night to serve the police officers on night patrol. I walked into the door lifting my nose to the wonderful smell of roasted coffee beans. I felt more awake just standing there. I groggily opened my heavy eyes surprised to see that the usual barista at this hour wasn't here. Instead there was a nervous looking teenager with huge glasses and scruffy sandy blond long hair.
"Where's Ashley? She's usually the one that works nights here"
"Uh umm.. she wasn't feeling good so she had me fill in for today"
"Ah i see . Well in that case give me a cup of the strongest thing you got, then add a shot of espresso."
"You sure?" he says trying not to make eye contact. "You must be pretty worn out."
"Yeah I knew I shouldn't have taken night classes."
"It's only ten, not much of a night owl?"
"No it's not that, I just haven't been able to sleep with all the essays that were due today."
"You do any good on them?"
"I sure hope so, if not that's gonna be another year till I start teaching."
"Well I hope you did good then," he finishes fiddling with the lid on my cup and hands me my coffee "Extra extra strong like you asked, have a -" he stops mid sentence and just stares blankly at me. He takes a deep breath and gives me an creepy smile, as if he's a completely different person than he was a moment ago "Safe night." The sudden change of character sent chills down my spine and I was now very uncomfortable.
"Umm, okay" I left a ten dollar bill on the counter left.i didn't want to be in there any longer than i had to. I sipped my coffee as I crossed the street coming to the conclusion that my drink was definitely strong enough to get me home. On the second drink I tasted something odd. An aromatic bitterness that was almost acidic flooded my mouth. I instantly spat my drink into the grass nearly gagging. Confused as to why my drink tasted like coffee one moment then something close to ammonia the next I very cautiously took another sip surprised to find that my coffee tasted just like a normal cup of coffee. I considered it a fluke and continued to drink trying not to pay it much mind.
Walking up a slight incline I started to feel a little light headed and out of breath. I stood there for a moment trying to regain my balance. I began to walk again but after a few steps I felt all the blood in my body rush too my head. My vision began to blur, I started to feel a shortness of breath, barely able to keep myself upright. My fingers began to tingle and my lungs felt like they were on fire. I stopped walking and just tried to sit down in hopes to regain myself but before I could do much I passed out.
