Trigger Warning/s: Drug Addiction
I used to be a skilled mechanic who could fix anything, until I got addicted to meth a few months ago. It ruined my psyche, making it hard for me to follow orders and hold down a job, if I was even sober enough to attend work in the first place.
Nonetheless, the world keeps going round, and is span around by money, something which I really needed.
I saw an advertisement online, a guy was offering to lend strangers some money. “Perfect, that’s all I need”,”I just need 1000 dollars, I can fix my car, get a job, take one final hit of meth and go cold turkey”.
This guy would be my savior, banks had refused to help me due to my finances, and this guy would heal me, cure my addiction, and help me get a job.
I visited him on an alley, I handed him over my ID, he handed me over an envelop of cash “Here you go my friend, this is 1000$, lend me back 1200$ in a fortnight”, said the loan shark.
“Yes” I thought, “Time to get my life back on track” “But first, one little hit of meth”.
A few days later, after my high went down, I looked in my pocket. I only had 150$ left. “WTF, I looked around and seen tonnes of empty booze bottles, cigarettes, and !? more empty packets with meth residue, more than what I had bought”.
“Oh shit man, better get to panhandling”. I panhandled, I approached every person I could see. But nearly everyone ignored, I got 7$ in a day. “No worries, I could pay off 1200$ in 171 days. The loan shark will understand, he’ll make a 200 dollar profit in less than 5 months”.
It was now a fortnight after getting the loan. I got up early for the long walk to his house. But while I was getting ready, I heard a knock. It was him, the loan shark. He approached me said “Where’s my 1200?” I told him about my situation, about how he would get 1200 $ back in less than 5 months, or even a couple of months if I got a job again. He was angered “You now owe me 1500$ by next week”
“What the hell!”, I couldn’t afford that, the meth made it hard for me to get a job in the first place, the early morning starts, the pre-employment drug tests, my wasted muscles.
A few weeks went on, I now owed him more than 10K. The loan shark came to me with a final threat “You know, I have a business to run” “It would be sad if you were caught up in an accident” I asked him if I could peddle drugs for him. “Yes he said, I got 50 grams of meth to be delivered across the state, wanna do it? I’ll reduce your debt back to 1200$’.
‘Yes’, I thought, ‘This guy was kind hearted after all’. I saw the shipment, 10 small packets of meth. ‘Meth, hmm’ Just one less packet wouldn’t hurt anyone. “I woke up 3 days later, getting a phone call from the loan shark” “Hey, delivered it?”. asked the loan shark. I looked to my side, I had consumed all 10 packets of meth, “Shit”, I hang up my phone.
“OMG OMG, what am I gonna do, I’ll live on the streets and keep a low profile thats it, that’ll work. I only ever stole 1200 from the guy really” I would be evicted in a few days anyhow. But before that, I heard a knock on the door, and before I could answer it, a few guys broke it down. They approached me, staring me down. THUD, they beat me bloody. I woke up later, bloodied and in pain. I couldn’t see the loan shark, but some random thugs instead, “You mfer, those packets costed us 7k” “Tell me why we shouldn’t kill you” I pleaded if there’s anything I could do. “Nope, too late” I see one of the guys approaching me with a needle, “See this needle, it has enough fentanyl to kill an elephant” “an accidental death of a drug addict if one ever saw it” I was put in a chokehold, the needle inserted in my arm. My vision went blank.
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A few days later an associate of the loan shark approached the brother of the protagonist, “You know, your brother had a debt, an unpaid one, and it would be pretty sad if you had an …”
I was his friend and am submitting on his behalf, pay your debt kids.