Trapped (Caged #2)(67)

I wouldn’t feel anything.

There was a slight popping sound as I broke through the skin, then another as I broke through the vein. The edge of my thumb tapped the plunger back, and bright red filled the end of the tube. With the verification that I had hit the vein properly, I slowly pushed the plunger down. I let out the breath I had been holding as I ripped off the tubing and slid the needle out of my skin. There was a little blood but not much.

Apparently I hadn’t lost my touch.

Submerging the end of the needle into the bowl of water, I pulled back on the syringe to clean it out. By the time I had set everything down on the table again, the flood hit me.

Heavy warmth spread through my limbs, and I let myself slide off the chair and walk slowly over to the couch because the bed was just a little too far away. My skin tingled slightly, and I felt my mouth turn up into a smile. I wasn’t even sure why I had been feeling like shit just a few minutes ago. Now everything was perfectly fine again.

The world that was previously pulling me down now pulled me into a cozy embrace of soft light and perfect warmth. I wasn’t too hot or too cold, and I had a vague recollection of my mother calling me to wake up and get ready for school. I had been wrapped tightly in the blankets of my bed with sleep still covering my brain, far too comfortable and sleepy to listen to her.

I had been late to school, but it didn’t matter.

School.

I heard myself laugh.

With my eyes closed, I leaned back against the couch cushions and just let myself feel. It was a sublime, dreamlike set of images in my head—clouds and trees and the singing of birds even though none of that was really there.

I knew it wasn’t.

I wasn’t even really seeing it in my mind.

It just felt like I was…or I could have been…

It was perfection.

For now.

I didn’t think I was ever one to give up, but apparently I was.

End Part 2





Author’s notes


Oh, Liam…what are you doing?

Hang in there—you know this isn’t the end just yet! Caged: Book 3—Released will be available August 25, 2015!

Preorder Caged: Book 3—Released on Amazon.





Excerpt from Caged: Book 3—Released


Shivering in the doorway, I ducked my head between my knees and wrapped my arms around my shoulders. I tried to ignore the little voice in the back of my head that kept telling me how to make it all go away—all the hurt, all the pain—just for a little while.

She said she wanted me to be clean.

She said for the sake of the baby. There isn’t a baby yet. Just one fix. You can get clean again.

“She said…she said…” My voice broke, and tears mingled with the flow of rain over my head.

I don’t want to be like this…I don’t…I don’t…

The light rain increased, and heavy clouds blocked out the sun almost entirely. There was a bit of shelter where I was sitting next to the building, but I was going to be soaked before too long. Not that it mattered—nothing else mattered except getting Tria back.

I had to find a way.

I had to do something.

What? What could I do?

I glanced up the street where I knew I could score all the dope I wanted for a little indignity. My throat bobbed as I swallowed, and I ran the back of my hand over my face to wipe away the rain. I might not have any money, but there was always a way if you were willing.

Just one needle.

One time.

I’d only use it to get myself back together again, and then I could think straight and figure out what I should do next. A flash of a daydream became a potential future when saw myself telling Tria about the one last time I used. What I had to do to get the money for the drugs slammed into my head.

Fuck, f*ck, f*ck.

What else could I do?

My choices were becoming fewer and fewer all the time.

Could do it for the money instead of the smack…

No.

Fuck no.

Just one needle.

I pulled myself up using the door as leverage and then stumbled down the street. I tried to tell myself I wasn’t headed anywhere in particular, but looming ahead of me was a group of whores sharing needles and blowing guys as they pulled up in their cars.

Only a couple blocks away.

Gunfire startled me, and I looked to the opposite side of the street where two guys were running out of the alley. They jumped into the back of a rusted-out Monte Carlo, which then sped off down the middle of the road, nearly taking out one of the hookers in the process.

She flipped it off and screamed a few choice words at them as she stood in the middle of the street.

“Hey, man?” An elderly guy with tightly curled white hair on the top of his head stumbled from the edge of the building. “You got a light?”

“Uh…yeah…” I managed to mumble. I pulled my lighter out of my pocket and handed it to the guy.

“Got any cigarettes?”

Nice.

I handed him one, which he lit with a shaking hand before thanking me and dropping back to the ground near the edge of the building where the rain wasn’t quite as heavy. He crawled a few feet to a large cardboard box with a concave roof so he could smoke without the rain putting it out.

My attention went back to the junkies near the corner. They were all standing in the rain, shooting up and looking about as miserable as they could be. Except that I knew they didn’t feel miserable. They felt f*cking fantastic.