Page 46 of Inevitable Destruction

I suck on the front of my teeth as I pull open the plastic baggie to grab another pill. After I place it on my tongue, I swallow it along with my self-deprecating thoughts because it’s here, sitting on the side of the road during this storm, that I can fully enjoy the tingling comfort these newer pills bring me.

With bitter resentment, I’ve come to realize I’ve built a tolerance to pain pills—especially my beloved Oxys. At least with these, it’ll take me a bit longer to become resistant to them, so for the time being, I’m going to take advantage.

My gaze lifts to the sky once more, and it’s as I watch the zig-zagging lightning that I fall into a deep unconsciousness.

* * *

A sharp,piercing ring blares through the cool, quiet morning, pulling me from my deep sleep. I crack my eyes open, coming face to face with wet blades of grass and piles of upturned mud. I stare unseeingly at the wet droplets of rain gracing the surface of everything in sight before I force my lids closed. As I attempt to clear the fogginess from not only my eyes, but my mind, the high-pitched noise cuts off.

A sigh escapes my lips, and my body sags forward in relief from the pounding in my temples. My ears are ringing and radiating through the back of my head. Add that to the pulsing coming from the front, and I feel like my head is going to combust.

When the shrill chime sounds again unexpectedly, I jerk up from my slumped over position. My head smacks against the mossy bark of the tree behind me as I press my entire back against it, hoping its stability will help keep me in place.

I scrunch my eyes shut as a wave of vertigo hits me, my mind swimming in the deep sensation like I’m crashing into wave after wave, threatening to pull me under. I pant heavily through my slightly parted lips as my body works through it, and when I finally make it out, I’m even more exhausted than when I first woke up, which seems like an impossible feat.

It’s not until the drowning sensation is gone that I recognize the noise piercing the air. I dig into the front pocket of my pants to find my phone which I can now feel vibrating against my leg. The name illuminating the screen gives me pause for a few moments before I decide to answer.

“Yeah?” I ask, my voice rough and scratchy.

“Dom?! What the fuck, man?! I’ve been trying to get ahold of you for hours. Are you okay? Where are you?” Jay’s voice is loud as fuck in my ear as he throws off rapid-fire questions. I pull the phone away from my face, still able to hear him clearly as he goes on.

“Gus told me he saw you walking down the road by yourself late last night, and I haven’t heard from you since. Look, dude, I know you’re mad at me but when it’s the middle of a big ass storm you can’t just ignore—”

“Jay.”

“Yeah?” he asks, the sound of his heavy breathing loud as it crackles through the speaker.

“Shut the fuck up; my head is killing me.”

He clears his throat, followed by what I presume is a swallowing noise. “Sorry. I’ve just been worried. Are you okay?”

I bring my free hand up to my forehead and rub the cut I can feel just below my hairline. The blood is dry now, crusted against my skin, but it’s a pretty deep gash, which explains the pounding sensation in my fucking skull. I vaguely even remember hitting my head, but I’m pretty sure it happened before I moved over to this tree.

“Dom?” Jay asks, his seemingly worried voice once again too fucking loud in my ear.

“Quit fucking yelling, dude. I’m fucking fine, I think. My head hurts.”

“Your head hurts? What did you do? Where are you?”

“Do you like the game 20 Questions?” I ask, my annoyance growing. Like Jesus fuck, I just want to sleep.

“What? No. I don’t know? What does that even matter?”

“Because you’re asking me a lot of fucking questions right now, man.” My hand falls back into my lap, limp and weak. In fact, my entire body feels that way, so I press my phone between my ear and my shoulder so I can rest both of my arms.

“Just tell me where you are so I can come pick you up. If you’re not home,” he adds. I swallow. My tongue feeling leaden in my mouth, which is filled with a bitter, acidic taste.

I glance around. The road is in front of me, raised a few feet above ground level, which explains the small puddle of water I’m sitting in. I’m surrounded by trees on either side of me, tall and green with moss. Other than that, there are no distinguishable land markers that I can make out, so I’m pretty much fucked.

“I don’t know,” I finally tell him.

“Fuck. Okay, okay. Can you send me your location?”

I pull my phone away from my ear. When the screen lights up, I look at the upper right corner before putting it back to my ear. “Yeah. I’m at two percent so my phone will probably die before you get here. I won’t move so you can find me.”

“Kay, dude. On my way.”

I hang up, and before I forget, I mark my location and send it to Jay before shoving my phone back in my soaked pants pocket. I’m surprised the thing even still works with how waterlogged my entire body is.

---