Reaper's Lullaby

Lucas: Siren Song

"The Siren waits thee, singing song for song."
- Walter Savage Landon

The sophomore's name was Matty Thompson. He was a tall, lanky kid who'd been held back in the eighth grade, making him almost seventeen. A known pothead, he was who most of the students went to for their weed. When he saw Lucas, he smiled.

"Hey man, what's up?" Matty asked as they smacked their hands together in the crowded hallway.

"I need a favor," Lucas said quietly, making sure no teachers were around to hear him.

"You outta weed?"

"Nah I got a ton leftover from last time. This time I want something stronger. Oxy?"

"Yeah I can get you Oxy," Matty said, leaning against the wall. "But it's pricey as fuck."

Matty got his supply from his older brother, who was a street dealer. His brother got his supply from a mid-level dealer, who got his supply from a dude in a Mexican gang. Matty was all the way at the bottom of that chain. He had to sell his drugs for whatever price his brother set. Then he'd get a percentage.

"How much?" Lucas asked, his stomach clenching with fear. What if he couldn't get them?

"Two-fifty for five pills."

"Two-fifty! For five fucking pills?" Lucas exclaimed. "You're shitting me! Tell me you're shitting me. I've been taking two or three a day!"

Matty shook his head. "Oxy's are premium. What can I say? They're hard to get these days. Doctors are stingy with them. I can get you heroin for much cheaper."

Lucas shook his head. "Heroin? Are you serious? That's the worst fucking drug out there! My dad overdosed on it! I'd never even TOUCH it! You think I'm an idiot?"

"It's the same as Oxy, but the high is cheaper. Your call. Either way I'm making money."

"Oxy is safe. Heroin isn't."

Matty laughed. "You're kidding me, right? Do you even know what you're taking?"

"It's a prescription."

"It's a narcotic. An opiate. Didn't you know that? Lemme guess, you feel all dreamy and cozy, then you start nodding in and out?"

"Well... yeah... but a pharmacist gives it out, so it can't be like heroin," Lucas said, but he was starting to feel uneasy himself. Was it really an opiate? What had he gotten Nora and himself into?

"It is heroin. I'm telling you. You'll move from Oxy's to heroin eventually. Everybody does. No one can pay for Oxy that long."

Lucas sighed, thinking about his father and feeling a wave of guilt and pain wash over him. "I won't ever be a junkie. Not ever. But I'll get you the money. Can you make sure they come from a real pharmacy though? None of that homemade pill shit. I need these to be clean and safe."

"Don't worry. I got you, man," Matty said.

Back at their picnic table outside, Lucas told Nora the bad news about the cost. Then he told her what Matty had said about Oxy being an opiate.

"I tried to tell you on Friday, Lucas. Those are the worst drugs you can do," she said. "A small amount won't addict you... but... you've been taking a lot for awhile."

"I'm not addicted! I promise you, Nora. I promise."

Lucas's heart was racing. He didn't feel addicted. Surely he would know if he was. No, everything was fine. It had to be.

"Maybe it's best if we just buy the five pills and then wait six months and buy a few more. That way, we keep addiction at bay. It can just be for fun, like weed. But two hundred and fifty bucks..." Nora said.

"That's what he said. Two-fifty for five," Lucas said.

"For only a few pills that'll last us two days at most? We can't pay that."

"Well... If I get a hundred twenty-five and so do you, we can pool our money."

"Yeah but from where? My parents sure as hell won't just hand me a hundred and twenty bucks!"

"We can sell some stuff. Clothes, electronic shit we don't use anymore. Stuff like that."

Nora nodded. "Okay, but that'll take awhile."

"So we start inventory tonight."

Nora nodded in agreement.

—————

Lucas decided to start easy. He would simply ask for some of the money.

"Mom?" he said softly that night while she and Brian were watching TV.

She looked over at him and smiled. "What is it, honey?"

"Could I maybe borrow fifty bucks?"

"For what?"

Brian, next to her, gave him a sharp look.

"It's for a concert ticket. Nora and I are wanting to go. It's one of our favorite metal bands."

The lie was partially true, but they had already bought those tickets back in July. The concert wasn't until November.

Sarah shook her head. "I do not know how you guys can listen to that screaming," she said, her eyes returning to the TV.

"But can I go?"

"Fifty... that's a lot, but I guess it's okay as long as you pay me back. There's cash in my purse. I expect you to pay me back with your allowance for the next few weeks. Got it?"

"I will. Thanks, Mom."

After stuffing the cash in his nightstand drawer, Lucas got his guitar and set to work writing more of Nora's Christmas song. He'd tried to find just the right words to describe how she made him feel; safe, warm, loved, like he was floating in a good dream. She was living Oxy. This was what he had so far:

"My siren girl

Wrecked my ship on her body.

Jumped overboard into the cold deep

Just to be by her side.

I drown in her hair.

My siren, my siren."

Lucas paused there and put his pen down. He added the new lyrics into the music he'd written until it felt right. Sometimes that took days. Sometimes it took hours. And tonight, it took only minutes. He smiled. He was proud of this song and knew Nora would love it. Very rarely was he proud of anything that he did, but when it came to music, he felt like he didn't fuck it all up.

When he fell asleep, Lucas dreamed about dirty water swallowing him into the depths. At two a.m., he woke up gasping, suddenly wide awake, as if he were drowning in real life and not just his dream.

The first thing he was aware of was how much his body ached. His sheets were damp with sweat even though he didn't feel hot. He shut his aching eyes again, sure that he was getting the flu. But he couldn't fall back to sleep. He was restless and tossed and turned on the mattress for an hour, kicking his covers off and then shivering and pulling them back on. And sweating, sweating, sweating. Finally he crawled out of bed to take some NyQuil. After a couple more hours of tossing and turning, he fell into a restless sleep. This time he didn't dream.