Ecstasy

Chapter 4

Tyson:

"Hey, Sonny!" Thomas cried as he opened the door to me. "Come in, come in brother, how've you been?"

I stepped inside the door of his small apartment. I looked up at my tall friend. He looked surprised to see me. Dishevelled even.

He had someone here.

"Sorry. I should have called." I took a step back to the front door.

"Nah, don't worry it's fine." He lowered his voice, "Just be cool." He winked.

I shrugged my jacket off and hung up it up on the coat stand. Thomas was in his usual attire; an old dressing gown that made him look as if he only just got out of bed. His thin hair was receding on his pale skinned skull and his twenty-three-year old face looked older than the last time I saw him. His left forearm was littered with fresh tracks, and his right looked bugged, covered in sores and abscesses from dirty needles.

"Dude, you gotta get that checked out." I pointed to his arm.

He laughed. "My boy, you are funny, come on."

He wound his arm around my shoulders and steered me into the kitchen. A clean woman sat at the kitchen counter. Her dark hair, caramel skin and clean cut suit looked out of place in the filthy house. Thomas's paraphernalia littered the bench; bent spoons contorted into small 's' shapes, a sealed plastic bag of cotton balls, and a few eye droppers. I stared curiously at the woman on the bar stool, she looked too virgin to be a dealer.

"Mary," he started, "meet my all-star Sonny. Sonny, this is Mary, my author."

I studied the women. She didn't look like a doctor; she was too cold, but writing illegal prescriptions probably earned just as much as a surgeons salary. Especially if she dealt harry along with it.

She nodded curtly at me and then glared at Thomas. "Can we get on with it please?"

He jumped and walked around the bench to seal the exchange. I stood and watched as he bargained. He politely led the woman out the front door, as if all they had been talking about were magazine subscriptions. He paid less for purity and a far more expensive product than I did for ecstasy. I was glad I stole from Mikey, served him right for ripping me off.

"Oh, hey?" I followed him into his study. "Do you mind if I leave some things with you?"

I watched as he knelt down in front of a large safe embedded in the wall. He was the only mate I could trust.

"Yeah sure, what type?" He knew exactly what I meant as he swung the door open and deposited his new bounty. "Not those piss-ant designer tablets again?"

I frowned, and pulled out the bags of E from my pockets.

He whistled. "Well you got enough didn't you? You're pushing now?" he asked, looking up at my face.

I shook my head. "It was an available opportunity." I shrugged. "It's not like I could let it pass."

He raised his eyebrows. "You better be careful Sonny, I don't want you to get in trouble. That's a lot of money there in your hands."

I didn't know how I expected him to react. Proudly, maybe? "It was just sitting there. It's not like Mikey was even looking after it, anyone could have taken it. He short changed me too." I tried to explain, but I knew a lecture would come.

"Mikey? Aw shit Sonny, look out for yourself 'kay?" He held his hand up and I dropped the bags into it. "I want you to stay here for a few days until things blow over. I know what that Mikey's like and you don't want to be stuck on the end of his stick." He put my bags into the safe and closed the door, spinning the lock.

I collapsed in an armchair. "It's not like he's gonna come after me–"

"He might," Thomas interrupted. "Tyson, mate, you're like a little brother to me. I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Relax Tommie, he didn't even see me snatch it. He was passed out, it was lying all over the floor; anyone could have taken it. He can't know it was me," I finished, drawing a deep breath. "Besides it's shit stuff anyway!"

He started to laugh. I just glared at him. "Come on!" He punched my shoulder, standing up. "You love the stuff anyway," he teased.

I childishly gave him a one fingered salute. He just laughed harder.