It was a cloudy day. The walk to work was a trek. As I trudged across East Oltorf St, I felt my breathing become more labored. My mind was racing, but about nothing in particular. I felt myself getting anxious about nothing in particular, could it have been the coffee?
No...
This was more of an "anxiety flash back," for lack of a better term. A nickname I had given my random and sporadic flashes of anxiety that, while controllable, had the potential to snowball out of control in the blink of an eye. I began the usual procedure of taking a deep breath, and finding my happy place. I stopped on the sidewalk just across the street from my apartment, and had a seat on the ledge to try and relax myself. I closed my eyes and inhaled. I felt the wind dance with my hair. I entered my head space.
As I exhaled and opened my eyes, I lifted myself only to see my surroundings smear across my field of vision, as the figures around me began to lag and the world seemed to be in slow motion. I rubbed my eyes, thinking I must have gotten something in my contacts. When I re-opened them the illusion had faded.
That was weird I thought
I stood up and noticed the lights of the car in front of my had a familiar fuzzy aura about them that I found suspicious.
Gotta stick with my glasses
Only in the back of my head I knew it was not my contacts. As I looked ahead at the path towards my bus stop, the end of the street seemed to be stretching farther and farther into the horizon. I entered a familiar head space, and finally realized, this was not some sort of adverse reaction to my caffeine intake, nor was it my anxiety kicking in. This was the beginning effects of Lysergic acid dethylamide. LSD.
Fuck... what the fuck
I took a deep breath and observed my surroundings. The visuals were only just starting, but I could tell it was some powerful shit. I couldn't move a fucking muscle. I could feel a bead of sweat roll down the small of my back. The tactile high was unlike anything I've ever experienced on any psychadelic. I managed to move my head upward, my surroundings blending together as I did so. I knew I had to get back to my apartment somehow.
One step at a time... I heard echo in my head.
As I tried to turn to cross the street, I realized my senses were completely off. I tried to turn right, and ended up turning left and bumping into a passerby. A black silhouette. The ominous thunder clouds made my anxiety peak.
It's too late... I thought. Where the fuck am I?
It was too late for me. I was done. I took a seat on the ledge I had just been rationalizing on and decided I would just have to wait it out. Try to make myself scarce, and unnoticeable. I began to take control of my mind, through small breathing exercises and was able to embrace the visual hallucinations as they came. As I stared at the asphalt, I enjoyed the motion of the pebbles as they formed a TV static like pattern. Everything was slow. Then it occurred to me...
HOW THE FUCK DID I GET DOSED WITH ACID
It became my minds objective to figure out how this had happened. I could not wrap my head around the fact that only moments earlier I was one of the dark silhouettes in a dark and ominous world. Trudging towards my 9-5 job that I didn't give a shit about, trying to focus on things I enjoyed so I could deter the stabbing sensation of dedicating my days to something that I did not. Now I was in another plane of existence. As this thought crossed my mind I saw my bus pass me by.
I'm gonna be fired I realized. No call, no show.
As this dawned on my fragile mind, I balanced on the threshold of sanity. I realized that the only way I was going to make it through this unscathed was to be as positive about everything as possible. As all of this was going on in my mind, I noticed, in the very back of the bus, a man was looking at me. A man in a suit. He seemed to be the only figure that I could make out clearly.
You...
As I felt the blood leave my face, his mouth cocked to the side, forming a sly grin. He was staring directly into my eyes, as I was his. He knew something I didn't.
Did you do this to me? I thought Who are you?
The bus disappeared down the street. I closed my eyes. I felt the wind dancing with my hair. I entered my head space.
"Hello Nico." I heard a voice say. "Your Windows 10 upgrade is ready to install."