very interesting. I wasn’t sure if Eric was challenging me to do this stupid shot by using my favorite childhood story as some kind of manipulation, or if he was genuinely trying to get some kind of reaction from me. But how could this guy possibly know that I loved Alice in Wonderland? Was I letting all this paranoia get inside my head? There was no possible way that this guy could know how much I loved the story. Perhaps this was fate or a weird kind of sign that I should just go for it, be like Alice, jump down that rabbit hole.
I was still feeling the effects of my fight with Clint, and the darkness in me needed to find a way to vent, and even though a little angel on my shoulder was screaming, “Don’t you dare Norah!”, I lifted the truth serum shot, gave Eric a devilish smile, and said, “To following the white rabbit!” I downed my shot, throwing my whole head back and closing my eyes as I swallowed.
Eric’s fingers locked with mine as he leaned towards me, my head still tilted back. “I can understand why you are worth fighting for. Enjoy the ride Norah,” he murmured into my ear with smooth satisfaction. He then let go of my hand. I held my head back and let the sweet and sour shot flow down my throat. It had an incredible bite that stuck in my mouth, and when I brought my head back to its rightful position and opened my eyes, Eric was gone.
I scanned the bar to see if I could find him, but he didn’t return to bar service.
Where did he go?
And what the fuck did I just do?
Panic started to set in as I stared at the bar, waiting to find Eric. I had just stupidly ingested a substance given to me by a stranger, and the stranger who had served me had vanished into thin air. I stood paralyzed, just staring at the bar, waiting for Eric to reappear. The songs continued to play around me as I remained transfixed, watching the bar, hoping that I would see Eric and get some kind of reassurance I had not just made a very stupid mistake. I heard David Guetta & Sia chanting something about ‘falling to pieces’ that filled my ears and echoed through my body. I went to take a step away from the bar, and then the wave hit.
Whoaaaaaaaa!
Suddenly the ‘doof doof’ music that was blaring started to sound like ‘dool, dool, dool’. The blue lighting began to change into hues of purple, white, yellow and green, and I felt my feet lift off the ground as if I was floating.
I read an article once about how mind-altering substances can have an array of different effects on the brain. Some people’s minds get very clear and focused, others paranoid and crazy, while with some people, it can take them to the far corners of their mind to where dreams are made, and where imagination comes to life.
My mind had gone even further...
and it felt,
so
fucking
good.
I could feel the music. It had entered my toes and had moved from my ankles to my knees, shaking up my thighs, having a quick rest in my stomach before exploding through my heart and out of my chest. I was flying in the sky on a cloud of music.
“Noooooooooooooorahhhhhhhhh.”
Hmmm, that sounds nice.
“Noooooooooooooorahhhhhhhhh.”
There it is again. I know that voice. Who is on this cloud with me?
Samuel was standing in front of me, surrounded by all the colors of the rainbow. I jumped towards him in an excited frenzy.
“SAMUEL! You are here! On my cloud! I’m so happy to see you. How are you? Wait, can I ask you a question? If we dream within a dream, then when is a dream just a dream?”
His eyes went back and forth looking at me. He was trying to talk but I could only hear fragments of what was coming out of his mouth, which was also streaming rays of sunshine. “Norah...OK? What...wrong with…? Need…get you…help. You...find...Devon Lockley. Stop Clint.”
I giggled as his words echoed all around me. They sounded like bubbles popping in the rain and I stared off towards the lights that flickered around Samuel as his speech moved through my body, causing small bursts of shakes on my skin. I noticed the sunshine still streaming from his lips. “Your mouth is so pretty Samuel! It’s got pretty rays of sunshine coming out of