Seven Days of Madness

Before you read through my recollection of transpired events, I should make a few things clear: I am writing this blurb almost a decade after I graduated college but the day-by-day parts were all written a week or so after they transpired. I left out a few key details to perserve anonymity (my friends' real names, places, locations, etc.)

The prominent members of our little gang all know their real names, but here is a little rundown for future reference:

John, who was probably the self-imposed alpha dog of the group because he was always confident and had a natural leader mentality. Steve, a quieter and more down-to-earth guy to balance out all the big personalities. Landon, observant and definitely the funny one of the group. Jacob, the older wild card who also happened to be my dorm roommate. Nathanial, who was primarily our dealer but was nonetheless a key part of our group. And then finally there's me. Obviously, it's hard to label myself in relation to the group, but I probably acted as the omega pack member who helped maintain group cohesion. With all that said, we'll start from the beginning.

Saturday, November 28th

In my old hometown with my friend Carl, with whom I had been good friends for 6 years. We were smoking in an old spot of ours behind a water tower, in the woods. There was an old, abandoned couch there, which we sat on with a pipe in hand.

“Carpe Diem,” we both said, as per tradition. I inhale the smoke into my lungs and exhale it into the crisp winter air. It felt like home. I was only staying here for my Thanksgiving break and will have to leave tomorrow, which is why I am out here in the woods with Carl, smoking weed.

“Do you remember that this is the same place we smoked before you left in the first place?” Carl asked me.

“Yeah, I sure do, it’s fuckin’ crazy.”

“Well, you come back in a couple weeks.”

“Yup, and when I do, we are gonna do some amazing shit,” I told him, assuredly.

Carl laughed and took a hit from the pipe. I was going to miss this. Carl was a cherished friend of mine. The new people I have met in college don’t know all the shit we have been through together. As cool as some of those people are, they don’t share the same experiences as we do. Carl and I made the best of what time we had left that day until I went to bed. The next day, I had to take a plane back to college.

Sunday, November 29th

The plane was a bitch, but nothing I hadn’t experienced before. Getting off the plane was what I remember well. I had to wait for a bus to take me home, and it turned out someone I knew from school was waiting for the same one. His name was Michael, and he could drink a lot, being in a frat and all. We exchanged our stories about our break before the bus finally arrived. When we arrived at the halfway stop, we were confused why there weren’t any other buses at the station. It was very cold, windy, and icy outside, so we went inside to figure out what was going on. Apparently, Michael and I missed the last bus home by 10 minutes. Now we were stuck upstream without a paddle. It was 3 am now, and 3 hours away from home, which meant a taxi would cost up the ass. I thought about sleeping at the station tonight and getting a bus in the morning. I knew I wasn’t gonna make my first class anyway. Things looked pretty bleak, but sometimes the kindness of strangers can catch you by surprise. One guy there offered Michael and me a ride home. We were extremely thankful because it meant he had to drive for a total of 6 hours to take us home and then back to the station. At the time, I felt fortunate, but I had no idea of what was to come...

Monday, November 30th

After we were dropped off at the dorm, I couldn’t thank the guy enough. I had a smoke with Michael before bed. It was too fucking cold to be out here any longer. When I went inside my room, it was dark. I could hear my roommate, Jacob, snoring, so I tried to keep the noise to a minimum. That was difficult because I couldn’t see, but thankfully, Jacob sleeps like a log, for the most part, so I turned on the light. Finally, once everything was in order, my head finally touched the pillow. I fell right to sleep and didn’t even wake up for either of my classes. Getting up so early was hard for me; not the early bird in the slightest. On the other hand, I just got off a plane and arrived home at 6 in the morning, leaving two hours to rest before class. Yeah, fuck that.

The first thing I did when I woke up was look for weed. I was jiving to have something in my system after that plane trip. Weed always has a way of calming the nerves, at least for me; it did. So the search continued for a while, and I finally got my sack. My good friends John, Steve, Landon, and Jacob all came with me to celebrate our reunion. All our best moments happened in Steve’s car. The almost-daily pattern of walking out to his car to smoke is unforgettable. The Native Americans would smoke to bring people together; I wanted the same thing. It really does bring you closer, so I don’t see anything wrong with it. Sharing silly stories back and forth about how fucked up we got.

“Back to the same old shit,” John said.

“Well, you know there isn’t anything better to do in this shithole,” Steve replied.

“You got me there, Tim got the weed. Won’t last long,” John said as he looked at me.

We all laughed, “Fuck it, I got plenty of money. We’re all gonna have a good time,” I said.

We chuckled on as I started the bowl. School was just in the back of my mind at the moment. The intense apathy I was feeling after getting a taste of home again. I just liked not giving a fuck, about a lot. It was more fun for me then.

Tuesday, December 1st

Nothing out of the ordinary at school, except I totally forgot to go to my second class. I hadn’t even remembered I had another class until late that night. Nothing to do after the fact but that carelessness will bite me in the ass. Steve, John, and Jacob were all in my dorm. The TV was playing my video game console with Steve and John, behind the controllers.

“Oh, ok. That’s good,” Steve said after John kicked his ass.

“I still don’t understand the controls. Got lucky, I guess,” John said. We all had a good laugh. Out of the blue, a knock at the door. At first, it was worrisome, but when Landon opened the door, it brought me joy. An odd but good-hearted friend of mine, Nathaniel, who was also my drug dealer for the most part. We had no idea what to make of his sudden appearance at my door, or at least I didn’t until he sat down and told us.

“So I got these really good zan’s, I think they are pharmaceutical grade. Good shit, I got it from a guy, Landon introduced me.”

“Oh yeah, I know who, he’s cool,” Steve said.

“But yeah, they are 20 a bar.”

I was already holding out 40 dollars in a just-take-my-money gesture.

“Yeah, I definitely want some of that too,” Steve said.

“For sure, for sure. Come to my room.”

We did the deal, and that was that. Steve and John had already planned to do some of it tonight, with the vodka that Michael (the same guy from the airport) brought for them. Steve and John popped theirs, but I held on to mine. Landon was working at the cafeteria tonight, but we got a text saying he was gonna bail. Then we knew we were going to smoke. We had a surprise for him along with the already obvious, green one. We all waited for Landon to get to the car, I recall, already smoking before he got there. Landon opened the door, and heaps of smoke blew out.

“Fuck that job. It’s so shitty,” Landon said in a fit. Steve chuckled.

“Yeah, I’m sure working at the [cafeteria] is amazing,” Steve said with a laugh.

“You didn’t stay the whole time? You just said fuck it?” I asked him, laughing with Steve.

“Yeah, seriously, washing all those dishes is a bitch. And the trays—don’t get trays because they’re so hard to clean. The dishwasher just overflows with those fucking things.”

We all laughed at Landon’s shitty job. But at least Landon had a job.

“Well, we got something for you, Landon,” Steve said with a grin.

“What, weed? I sure as fuck need it.”

“Not just that, but some zans too,” Steve chuckled. “I’m feeling it already. John took a half too.”

“Oh fuck yes! This shit is from Nathanial, right?”

“Yup, because you hooked him up with Cody.”

“Exactly what I need right now. What is there to drink it with?”

“Well, Michael brought over some vodka,” John answered. “But yeah, this is some good shit. I feel great.”

“Ah, I can't wait. Let’s smoke this bowl and get to it.”

After we finished our smoke sesh in the car, we walked back to the dorm. It was hard for Steve and John to stand up straight. They were in no-fucks-given-land and loving it. Those two won’t remember shit the next day, I guarantee it. Once we arrived at the room, Landon had his half and a couple of swigs of vodka and Tang. Then we were headed out to the truck in no time to do “moles”. A “mole” is essentially a bowl filled with half weed, half tobacco. You put the weed at the bottom, the tobacco on top, and then smoke the entire bowl at once. Those moles always had a way of putting us on our asses. I had never done one before and really wanted to try it. And once I did, holy shit. There was so much smoke, and it felt like my lungs were on fire. But the buzz felt comforting. Like all was right. Then we talked for a while and enjoyed our moles.

“Jesus, fuck. I am definitely on Mole Island,” John said after taking his giant hit.

“You finally finished that one, took you long enough, pussy,” Steve said back.

“Hey, dude, shit is hard on these zan’s,” John answered, and we all laughed.

“Oh, I think I’m finally starting to feel my zan,” Landon said.

“It’s a good feeling, isn’t it?” John asked him.

“Oh my God, it’s fantastic!”

We all laughed and finished taking our moles.

“I don’t remember. Did you take a zan too, Jacob?”

“Yeah, it’s like, I took one when Nathaniel got back.”

“Oh yeah, so you have been fucked up for a while,” John said with a chuckle. We laughed as Jacob smoked the entire mole in one hit. Jacob always took the biggest rips, and he was the only one who could contain himself the best after those moles.

“Oh yes, the nic rush is so good. I never get a nic rush except on mole bowls.”

I knew what he meant. Since both Jacob and I have nicotine addictions, we both have a higher tolerance for it. I couldn’t imagine what it must have felt like for Steve and John. I just know what we said to describe it: “Mole Island”. After finishing that, finally, we went back to bed. I fell asleep thinking about what all of the guys would be like tomorrow.

Wednesday, December 2nd

Today, I at least managed to make it to one class, but I couldn’t make it to the second one. More important things were on my mind. I finally met a beautiful, intelligent girl whom I could relate to. I met her online, but I’m not ashamed because I haven’t had much luck just meeting girls in person. A lot of the girls here seemed pretty closed off to random dudes approaching them. I was also kind of picky. Which is why I decided to skip class and go on this particular date; I thought it was important. After that, I had a lab which I knew I had to go to. It was the last lab, and it was a pain in the ass. I was just looking forward to the smoke session with the gang afterwards. Finally, we met up in the car and smoked, per usual, to talk about last night.

“I hardly remember anything that happened last night, Jesus,” John said.

“Yeah, it’s definitely a blur,” Steve replied with a chuckle.

“Oh yeah, we went to Wal-Mart and got some desserts!” Robert yelled. Then the car shook with laughter.

“Yeah, that’s right, you guys passed out in Jacob’s car while we ate ice cream,” Landon said.

“What did I even get?” Steve said, still laughing.

“Well, Jesus, we got in bed at some point,” John said.

“I thought I lost my keycard last night and fell asleep on the couch,” Landon said. Everyone laughed.

“Well, I couldn’t find it and just slept on the couch for a while. I found it in my wallet later and got into my room.” Everyone laughed again.

“Yeah, those were some good zan’s. I didn’t even make it to class today. I couldn’t do it,” John said.

“I tried but couldn’t make it either. I was so damn tired,” Steve said, laughing.

“What else do you remember from last night?” I asked. They chuckled at the question.

“Well, we came out to smoke weed, right? Steve said. “Yup, twice,” I said.

“Oh really, was it twice?”

“Yup, you were just really fucked up. Don’t you remember we did moles?”

“Ooh yeah, we did moles,” Steve replied with a laugh.

“Yeah, now let's do some more,” I said, making the whole car laugh.

We had plenty of weed and were undoubtedly going out again later. However, there was more exciting stuff on the way.

“We are gonna play hockey later,” Steve said.

“Hockey?” I asked.

“Yeah, we need to go to Walmart. We’ll teach you how to play.”

Then we were on our way to Walmart to pick up beer. Apparently, you need beer if you're gonna play hockey. Also, Landon happened to take a Walmart gift card from a prize table in their dorm lobby. There was $30 on it, and we were about to spend it all on a 30 rack. I personally am not a fan of shitty, cheap beer, so I wanted to get a bottle of vodka or even gin.

“Don’t take a zan with the hard stuff,” Jacob told me.

“Yeah, that’d be too much, you won’t need much for these bars,” John inferred.

“Ok then, I want a six-pack of Redd’s Apple Ale because I can’t stand Keystones.”

We stopped by the liquor store across the street afterwards. We loaded a bowl while Jacob went inside to get my beer.

“Ok, so how are we gonna take this all into the dorm?” John asked.

“I forgot about that. How are we gonna bring this in?” Steve replied.

“I guess you guys are gonna hide it in your jackets,” John said.

“Oh fuck that, there is a cooler in the back,” Steve answered.

“That’ll work. But where are we going?”

“I need to get some shit from my room,” Steve said.

“I guess we can go to Orr Hall, then go through the basement to get to my room,” Landon said.

“Ok, that’s a plan,” John said.

Steve and Landon took one end of the cooler and hauled it from the car to the dorm. After stopping by the room, I carried it down to the basement and into Landon’s room. I took my Zan in the car when Jacob was in the liquor store and was starting to feel it. When we got into the elevator in Landon’s dorm, we approached the 1st floor lobby. Someone else hopped on, and I was sitting on a cooler with other Walmart bags.

“Yeah, just had to get some groceries,” Landon said to the person who got on.

Then the elevator closed and started moving.

“Nah, actually, there is a 30 rack in here,” Landon said, and everyone in the elevator burst into laughter.

I could tell right away we were gonna have a good time. I carried the cooler into Landon’s room, and we all took a seat. We set up a table to finally start playing hockey.

GENERAL BEER-HOCKEY RULES:

-Each person has a beer in front of them

-One person has a quarter to spin

-The spinner calls out the name of another player

-All the other players guard their beers with just their index and pinky fingers

-The spinner will then flick the quarter while it's spinning on the table

-If the spinner hits the person’s beer successfully, then the spinner will spin the quarter again, and the person who got hit drinks until the quarter stops spinning

-If the spinner doesn’t hit someone’s beer, then the player who got called out spins next

-The person who just drank now spins the quarter and repeats rule 3

*Extra rule* -If the person who scored stops the quarter on its side, then that person finishes the drink, but if they fail to stop it, then they have to drink

That’s the gist of how to play beer hockey, and obviously, the goal is to get fucked up. And I could feel that Xanax kicking in already after only getting my beer hit once. I got scored on a lot and even got a penalty for accidentally flicking the quarter into the trash. A penalty means you take a spin while you drink; the same rules still apply. Of course, fucking Landon caught the quarter on the side, so I chugged it. The rest of the memory from that night is blurry.

Thursday, December 3rd

Today I somehow managed to wake up in time for class. And I wasn’t even that drowsy. But I never really talked in that class anyway. After that class, I had a good smoke session with the gang, then a hearty meal at Taco Bell. The day was going pretty well until I walked into my second class. Since I missed this class last time, I had no idea the final was today. I was still a little high and had a fucking panic attack with that test in front of me. It was hard to breathe, the air so tight it was suffocating. Regurgitating as much as possible, while being totally unprepared, only made it worse. I tried to relax and got through it. The experience hurt my head, and probably my grade, and I realized how little integrity I had in my academics. I reconvened with my friends to try to forget the test today. We had a little dinner at the cafeteria, and I told them about my shitty decisions. They weren’t very supportive, so I just went to my room and hit the bed early. There was no keeping my eyes open once I lay down with my computer. I awoke a couple of hours later to Jacob opening the door.

“Hey, what’s up, man?” I asked him

“Well, it’s like, not too good,” He said

“Why? Where are the other guys?”

“They got in a little trouble.”

I sat up immediately.

“What happened?”

Apparently, Steve, Landon, John, Jacob, and Michael were all having a little fun in Landon’s dorm with some drinks. All of that came to a screeching halt when a couple of campus cops showed up at Landon’s door. They were being too loud and got busted—three hundred-dollar tickets for each of them, except for Jacob, because he was 21. Steve was the most drunk out of all of them, but John and Landon blew low numbers. Steve was a skinny guy, so he could get fucked up pretty easily. Now I just wanted to meet up with them so I could hear their side of the story. We went out to Steve’s car to smoke and discuss all the events that had transpired during my nap.

“We got lucky with how much we got caught with. That could have been so much worse. But seriously, fuck Sarah, she was being way too loud,” Landon said in the car.

“Holy shit, I dodged a bullet tonight,” I said.

“Fuck, this is horrible. I’m gonna have to go to court for an MIC and tell my parents,” Steve said with a sigh.

“Yeah, I’m not drinking anymore. Or at least not in the dorm. That’s officially over,” Landon said before taking a rip off the bong.

“I’m scared of the cops now. I’m sure smoking is fine, but I can’t drink anymore,” Landon said after he finished his hit.

I couldn’t make up the words to make them feel any better. At least I could provide them with a little herb to ease their stress, even just a little. In that moment, life felt a little depressing for everyone. Still, I couldn’t help but feel a little lucky I wasn’t with them at the time. It got late, so we all went back to the dorm to sleep it off. Before I went back to sleep, I tried to think of ways we could have fun tomorrow.

Friday, December 4th

I had a great feeling about today, despite waking up at 1 pm and missing my classes. It was still Friday, and the girl I had been seeing earlier this week hit me up for dinner. Tonight I’m going to take her out, and hopefully get to 3rd base later. I didn’t expect to hit a home run, but maybe I could get pretty close if I didn’t act like a fool. After what happened to my friends last night, I did feel a little bad about choosing to hang out with the girl instead of them. But I bet they would all choose the same way if they had a date too. That night, I took out the girl and smoked a little weed with her after dinner. She came back to my dorm to watch a movie. She picked out a movie, and halfway through, I made my move and kissed her. And I did it passionately with my hands around her face. So she scooted closer next to me and made herself comfortable on my chest and shoulder. I stroked her hair and paid no attention to the movie. It all felt really nice. Pure excitement was coursing through my veins. We made our way to my bed, where I could feel more of her body, gently and intimately.

We didn’t go all the way, but it was some hot fun, and I ended up putting her to sleep while I read her one of my stories. I didn’t take any offense to that, but I did want to smoke with my friends. That meant she had to leave, so I told her “goodnight” and walked her to the elevator. This might make me sound like a piece of shit, but her time with me was up. I wanted more excitement. I craved all the dopamine I could get, all the rushes in the world for me. After she left, I met up the gang back at the car for moles.

“So you kicked her out to do moles with us?” Steve asked with a chuckle. John laughed as well.

“Yup, sure did. We weren’t gonna fuck tonight anyway. But I do feel kinda bad about it,” I replied.

“I mean shit. Not the call I’d make, but it’s your choice,” John said, and we all laughed.

“It just means she will want me more, man. Women, you know?” Everyone laughed. We all had a good session until it was time for bed. Not a bad Friday.

Saturday, December 5th

Today I can wake up as late as I fucking want. Saturdays are always the best. And I had a grand idea planned for today. Nathania, the guy who sold us the Xanax, told me he just got his hands on some very pure cocaine. That was going to be my key ingredient in my grand plan. I told him that I would pay good money for even just half a gram, since it will all go up our noses tonight. He said he would do what he could and let me know. The drugs were uncertain, and that didn’t sit well with me. My plan wouldn’t work without them. I needed the snow for my friends and me, with my girl as a possible participant. But it was still only the afternoon, so there was still plenty of time for Nathanial to get the coke. There was a home basketball game today. We got there after halftime, and it was supposed to be a good game with both teams pretty close. I got some food and came back to see us in the lead. The lead was short-lived, and the other team came back to win the game by a close margin. Fuck it, no skin off my back, I thought. Then I caught a glimpse of Nathaniel, and he yelled back to me,

“Meet me at the dorm!”

And so I immediately got back to the dorm and waited for him to get back. After what felt like an hour, he texted me saying to come over to his room.

“So you wanted some of this good shit?” He asked me.

“Yes, I really do, I can give him sixty for half a gram.”

“Ok, I think I can do that for you. But it’s gonna be later tonight.”

“No problem.”

At around 7:00, we heard a knock at the door. A wave of relief ran over me when I opened the door to Nathanial, holding the precious goods.

“Alright, man, I got your line right here for you,” Nathanial told me. I came over with a rolled-up Andrew Jackson and snorted the entire line. The rush was instant, the shit was good. The drip came in, and I felt great.

“How is it?” Steve asked me.

“Goddamn I said, goddamn. That is some good shit,” I said with a grin. Nathaniel scoffed, realizing the Pulp Fiction reference.

“You took a big one, alright,” John said.

“Well, who’s next? C’mon, boys, time to go skiing!” I said.

“I have to roll, but I’ll see you later,” Nathaniel announced.

“Can I come with you? I prefer not to stay here with them all coked up,” John said to Nathaniel. He told us before Nathanial got there that he didn’t want to snort any but was fine putting a little on his gums. John left with Nathaniel while the rest took their lines. After Landon, Steve, and Jacob all had a taste, we all agreed that it was indeed good shit. Once everyone was done, there was an empty feeling of “what do we do now?” Coke makes you want to move, but we were kinda stuck in the dorm. None of us is old enough to go to a bar (except Jacob) and is not willing to find a party. So we defaulted to smoking moles in the car. We felt like we could smoke forever, being all coked up. It was all just a waste of weed, but we got to talk for a while. I started texting my girl and came up with my own plan for finishing the night. And she agreed that we both wanted to finish the night out with a bang.

When my friends went back to their rooms, I snorted up the rest of the coke and met up with my girl. I told her I was going to fuck her like an animal, and she liked that idea. If only I weren’t such a goddamn fool, I would have known that cocaine makes you impotent. There was absolutely no getting it up with how much cocaine was in my blood. She took it as a sign that she wasn't pretty enough for me. But I couldn’t have that on my conscience, so I told her the truth. That didn’t really help the situation because she hated the idea of having sex while I was on hard drugs. So in the end, my grandiose plan recoiled in my face, and my crazy week ended with a limp dick. I was only left to reflect and learn from all the decisions I made over this entire 7-day span.

Epilogue

At the time, writing about all of the chaos that ensued during that eventful week was cathartic. My life hasn’t been the same since, and I’m glad I wrote it all while the memories were still fresh. And I can safely say, seven years later, that was the craziest week of my college career.