drugs and cripples (1150 hits)
Category: NoneLabels: goodfiction
Rating: 1.67 on 30 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Corn Nugget (View user info) at 2006-02-22 20:13:05 EST
There was this paraplegic named Ruth who had a meth lab in her basement. Back then I was pretty heavy into meth, and as it happened, I got connected with Ruth.
When I was 16 I had a body like a grown man and the mentality of a 16 year old meth-head. I wanted that meth, and I needed food, and like a rabid dog, Ruth recognized an opportunity within me.
The first guy owed her $1500 bucks, so she sent me out with a baseball bat and told me to teach him a lesson. Any money I recovered was mine.
I'd just as soon crack a few bones than slave over some machine at a factory, so I took her up on it, as she knew I would.
I stood outside of his apartment door for a minute, listening to the chimes and clangs of a video game that someone inside was playing. I knocked gently, innocently, unobtrusively, and when he answered, I pushed my way in.
I swung the bat hard, both of my hands griping the smooth wood. One blow to the side of his head laid him out, he collapsed on the linoleum floor with a hard, heavy thud. His eyelids fluttered and his left leg twitched, and the sounds from the video game stopped. I looked over, across the room, and found myself eye to eye with a young boy.
Adrenaline still pushing it's way through my veins, my heart thudding in my chest, I found myself approaching the kid. He sat on the floor, his big watery eyes locked on mine, like prey who catches the scent of a predator.
I snatched the controller from his motionless hand, and with one solid pull, I jerked the cord from the system. My rage boiled over, and I threw the controller against the wall. A monsters voice came up through me, and I roared at him, telling him to get the fuck out. Go.
He was on his feet and running for the door. I kicked the gaming system, turned and swung the bat against the television, somehow reveling in the sound of the shattered glass.
I looked everywhere for money. I upturned drawers and checked under mattresses. After all of my searching, I came away with a crisp fifty dollar bill.
I jammed it in my pocket and went back to see Ruth for a quick high.
This happened again and again, different circumstances, same result. Even though I tried, each time, to be a bit more gentle, to "teach them a lesson" without killing them. Each time I found out later (sometimes a day, sometimes a week), that I had taken it too far.
Whenever Ruth sputtered the words, "They didn't make it", she had a lopsided grin on her face. Whenever I heard her say that, I felt disgust and hate wash over me. I hated her pink sweat-pants. I hated her blackened teeth, I hated the drugs and the money and my mother and the cigarette smoke that hung in the air between us.
Then she would send me out again. In spite of my hate, I'd do her bidding.
I knocked on the door. I didn't care to hide the bat or look kindly towards the peep-hole. I heard a shuffling inside, and he came to the door.
"Mike?" he said as he swung the door open, towards him. "Man, it's been a long time, come on in!", he turned his back to me and walked to his kitchen. I followed him, the bat resting on my right shoulder.
As he was bent over, reaching for a few beers from the bottom drawer of his fridge, I popped him with the bat. I hit him on the left side of his face and his body spun around, falling against the open fridge.
His mouth was open, a bit of blood collecting along his lower lip, and his eyes were on me.
"Mike?" he whimpered. "Mike."
Then I felt a blow. I felt a surge run through me. My eyes filled with water and terror.
It was the blow of my conscience, finally catching up with me. It was the blow of every man I had killed, every drug I had done, every move I had made.
Now, years later, the only hate I have is for myself.
User Reviews
Submitted by knucklesnelson (user info) at 2006-02-27 22:29:41 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
meth is bad
Submitted by xanderd (user info) at 2006-02-27 08:28:12 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
yawn
Submitted by BranDo (user info) at 2006-02-27 07:30:25 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
No Comment
Submitted by corn_nugget (user info) at 2006-02-27 07:13:39 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Something about me? I know, I know, I have such lush, supple lips.
Submitted by kimmy02721 (user info) at 2006-02-25 21:51:34 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
there is just something about you
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2006-02-23 16:31:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
isn't this a Guns 'N' Roses song?
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2006-02-23 16:30:09 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by TigerLilly (user info) at 2006-02-23 13:52:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by ruthless (user info) at 2006-02-23 11:46:25 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Submitted by fried-green-potatoes (user info) at 2006-02-22 22:39:59 (#)
Ranking: 2
Ending felt a bit rushed, but nice flow and fine details.
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2006-02-23 11:40:44 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
I only got semi-erect.
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2006-02-23 11:32:06 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Man this gave me some wood.
Submitted by MickGinny (user info) at 2006-02-23 07:46:57 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Hilarity_Ensues (user info) at 2006-02-23 06:50:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by ozzy (user info) at 2006-02-23 06:20:23 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Very nice, but I agree that the ending felt kinda rushed.
Submitted by Avals (user info) at 2006-02-23 03:12:53 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Crugs and dripples is a goddamn good name!
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2006-02-23 00:33:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
a quaint and interesting vignette
Submitted by the_lone_stranger (user info) at 2006-02-23 00:00:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I woulda called it crugs and dripples
Submitted by maiorano84 (user info) at 2006-02-22 23:45:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
There was something missing, but it was still great.
Submitted by fried-green-potatoes (user info) at 2006-02-22 22:39:59 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Ending felt a bit rushed, but nice flow and fine details.
Submitted by HadToBeDone (user info) at 2006-02-22 22:21:02 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Submitted by shandythedog (user info) at 2006-02-22 20:25:03 (#)
Ranking: 0
porn!
we've got a puppy!
i'll email you some pics
(not going to put them online - who knows what sickos might do with them)
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I giggled like a retard at this comment.
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2006-02-22 22:20:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2006-02-22 20:49:37 (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Saxon (user info) at 2006-02-22 20:35:25 (#)
Ranking: 2
I like how i felt the violence without the graphic detail.
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Agreed. Very good.
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Also agreed.
How have you been?
Submitted by ConorJS (user info) at 2006-02-22 21:18:06 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
It's okay. So why hasn't Shlongy -2ed it yet?
And I can't believe you broke that kids xbox 360!
(P.S. - If you don't hit 'em in the head, the don't generally die.)
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2006-02-22 20:49:37 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Saxon (user info) at 2006-02-22 20:35:25 (#)
Ranking: 2
I like how i felt the violence without the graphic detail.
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Agreed. Very good.
Submitted by Kale (user info) at 2006-02-22 20:46:44 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Saxon (user info) at 2006-02-22 20:35:25 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I like how i felt the violence without the graphic detail.
Submitted by ripple (user info) at 2006-02-22 20:35:08 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by firefly (user info) at 2006-02-22 20:31:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by shandythedog (user info) at 2006-02-22 20:25:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
porn!
we've got a puppy!
i'll email you some pics
(not going to put them online - who knows what sickos might do with them)
Submitted by weasul (user info) at 2006-02-22 20:24:33 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I don't have words for how awesome this is.
Submitted by Malachewaii (user info) at 2006-02-22 20:17:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
fucking sweet.. but he should've porked the cripple.