Junkie
CW: Drug Use, Overdose. A twist on the microfiction heist challenge. DISCLAIMER: This title is ironic. It's meant to represent the ways in which society shoves addicts to the back of the room and dehumanizes them with language. I have never and would never refer to someone with addiction as a "Junkie". Please do not misconstrue my intent. If you are ready to get help for your addiction, call 1-800-662-4357. Recovery is possible.
She didn't dream of being this way as a little girl. Life threw obstacles her way, and sometimes she was able to avoid them, while other times, they smacked her straight in the face. It's hard to find somewhere to lay the blame. But she faces it, every day, and trust, this cruel world never made anything easy. So she lights the match. She heats the spoon. And she sails away to lands unknown, hoping, just for one second, to escape. Because in her dreams, she's a dragon slayer and a princess. She can touch the clouds and sing with the stars. She can be anybody besides who she is now.
That sweet brown liquid, warm yet uncaring. It doesn't judge. It didn't judge her 10th-grade teacher. It didn't judge the lawyer down the street. Nor the pro basketball player who came to speak during high school. It welcomes everybody in with open arms. And then it becomes suffocating. A chokehold. She knows it's bad. She knows she shouldn't touch it anymore, but it's the only thing that makes life worth living. It's too bad that it's so good at being lethal.
The Great American Heist claims yet another life.
About the Creator
Ashley Lima
I think about writing more than I write, but call myself a writer as opposed to a thinker.
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Do You Remember?
”Do you remember?” “Remember, what?” “Do you remember how we met?” “Of course I remember when we met.” “But do you remember HOW we met?” “How? How. Well, yes.. what exactly are you goin’ on about, Vera?” “It’s been decades since I’ve thought about it” “Go on.” “Well, don’t you remember, Oscar? We were two very lost souls. So lost in the rubble we couldn’t find our own feet. “Ah, yes.” “Our hearts were shredded into the finest confetti, it’s a miracle they could even hold a beat!” “Mm, It’s coming back to me.” “Meddling on lonesome blues and cheap whiskey.” “Merely kids, we were.” “Down by that old river, some nights so misty!” “Oh, yes. That sure was a mighty beautiful river.” “and the bands would play until sunrise for all our lonesome souls to vanquish into spiritless nothingness.” “They knew we needed sleep at some point, just to wake up the next evening to do it all over again.” “A small light in the darkness.” “Hm, I am still not understanding why this faint memory has arised in you, Vera, are you okay?” “Do you remember when you looked at me? From across the dock?” “Well, yes. I saw a sad girl sitting on shore, digging her toes in the sand, curly dark locks drifting with the wind.” “Yes, and I looked up at that exact moment.” “A picturesque moment, a sight to be seen.” “That was the first time I smiled in months.” “Truly?” “Truly.” “Hm. Why is that?” “Well, I saw a handsome young man staring right back at me, with a hungered look in his eyes, a look I couldn’t quite read.” “and that made you smile?” “No one had ever looked at me like that in all my young years, if they ever even looked at me..” “You were… dauntingly beautiful, Vera. I couldn’t look away.” “I was not!” “You were! I saw a lost soul, like mine, toes so deep in the sand you couldn’t see them. An aching heart so shredded it was like fire works going off around you.” “and that made me beautiful?” “It made you real. It meant you could feel, deeply. And when you can feel, deeply - well, that’s the purest of beauty.” “and you saw all that just by looking at me?” “I felt you in my soul, and it made me feel.. not so lost anymore.” “Oh… Oscar.” “What is this all about, Vera?” “Well, to be honest, I was beginning to feel a little bit lost again.” “Oh, Vera..” “When you looked at me from that rickety ol’ dock, something in my soul ignited.” “You felt it too?” “Very much so.” “Hm, you never made a mention of that.” “Well, growing up crushed by the weight of endless trauma, you learn to hide such feelings.” “Fair.” “I just… I just needed that reminder, of what ignited my soul in the first place.” “You mean.. by giving you this look?” “Yes! Oh.. Yes, that look!” “You will always be the girl of my wildest imagination, Vera. Without you, there would only be darkness.”
By Kendra J. Anthony5 days ago in Fiction
Comments (45)
I love how you throw in the double meaning of open arms. Heart wrenchingly beautiful. Congratulations!
Hi Ashley, about these three possibilities for the Vocal Writing Awards, in the Flash-Fiction category,
Such a powerful story! I love how much you conveyed in such a short text… this is impressive and something I want to try 😇✨
WOW!! the world truly needs this
Powerful and original. Well done on your win!
Wow, that was powerful! Really loved the different angle you took on this challenge. Congrats on placing too!
Love this! Tragic but beautiful! 😪
I loved this from the start; I'm so pleased you got placed. Well done!
Wtg, Ashley. Congrats.
Oh congrats, Ashley on placing in the challenge - so well-deserved! Delighted for you!
Ooof. That last line rightly convicts our society, well done. Great piece!
Very powerful.
The disdain is rightfully strong at the end. I applaud your lateral thinking with this challenge and I hope this piece places! Fantastic writing, very compelling social commentary.
Wow! This is really deep and I'm glad you pinned it to your profile. I personally like to relate my writing to music I feel goes along with it basically, and here I think NF's music video "Happy" is a great fit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhumOLNSSJY
real shit sis. great american heist. clever take. 🖤
Very intense.
You gave me chills. A prize-winning piece. Stunning in its clarity.
This is beautiful as it is haunting. Society loves its labels, everything must fit neatly into the pre-constructed box. When it doesn't, Society does its best to destroy any and all signs of it. Thank you for this beautiful piece..
Nice story. New to Vocal here. Enjoying the read and writing up.
A truly thoughtful and haunting piece. Excellent writing And congratulations on your top story!
Timely topic terrifically told!!! Left a heart!!!💖💖💕
This is definitely a “spin” done right. I read really well on its own merit, but connecting to the challenge made it all the more impactful. Great Job
A very unique approach to the challenge. And yes addiction doesn't judge... It can catch you no matter who you are...
This is so sad, but so important. A powerful piece and I love the way you took a different approach to the challenge and what a heist means to highlight this important issue. Congrats on getting Top Story for it, it is thoroughly deserved! Well done, Ashley. Also, I've just subscribed to you!
This is so beautiful