I woke up to a text message telling that it's time to get ready. I had about 20 minutes to start the day and I still needed to shower and get dressed. Today was the day of my first journey, I thought as I escaped the cold bathroom air into the warm water running over my body. A floor mate of mine was expecting me in his room any minute now, ready to meet Lucy face first.
I knocked a couple times, but opened the door instantly knowing that people don't just get up at 11 am on a day without lectures. As expected, he was getting dressed by the time I walked in, giving us some time to exchange the usual meaningless chit chat. By the time he was done he spun in his tracks with a surprising amount of purpose and locked into my eyes with an energetic glare - "I think it’s about time".
He opened his drawer and pulled out four aluminium wrapped sugar cubes - unwrapped them patiently with an air of satisfaction. It was clear that his previous memories were accompanying his anticipation with a warm blanket of nostalgia. I definitely wanted that. So by the time he was done snapchatting the image to his friend - as is customary in a 21th century social group which more than enthusiastically dabbles in debatably harmless drugs - we went straight to business.
He handed me one of the cubes, giving me a look of intended reassurances, which ended up looking more like the unaimed smile of a toddler. I didn't care. I knew almost as well as I could what I was getting into, and those exact ideas were swirling through my mind as I slowly let the cube of sugar dissolve in my mouth.
A friend of mine once told me about that feeling you get just after you ingest a drug. Its this feeling of anticipation and submission mixed in one, which most adequately is summarised by the expression "well, here we go…”.
And so we did go. Quickly, we rolled up a couple joints. Mine mixed with tobacco. His stuffed to the brim with as much bud as possible.
We took the stairs out of the building. The day wasn’t warm, but a solid 5 celsius after a week of Russian-like winters is more than acceptable. At this point, the acid must have been slowly creeping into our system. But we didn’t feel anything yet, as it usually takes more than an hour to start having clear effects.
As we reached the secluded tennis and baseball fields that are hidden beneath the thick natural fencing of trees and bushes we could already start seeing our destination. It’s a squash course and has some very professional Graffiti decorating its front side. So the both of us went to the back side and puffed away at our joints while talking about what we might soon experience.
The plan was to get high to develop an appetite, so we would eat before the Acid hits us and we have something to digest for the rest of the day. My friend made a point of the hunger leaving you while tripping, and I could remember that feeling from the Truffles I had tried in Amsterdam half a year earlier.
I usually don’t enjoy ordering a sub, and this time was no better. Some unknown feelings were starting to surface, and the fact that I didn’t recognize their meaning made it clearer that I had to get out of that deli as fast as possible.
As I stepped outside, I looked to my right to spot my friend’s mouth stretch to edge of his face in such an unaccustomed amount of childlike gratification that it could only be his reaction to the drug. In a sense it was only natural that it started hitting him before me, as he took three of those cubes as opposed to my one. Either way, I was glad that he was feeling it, as it meant that I was going to have fun, but strained to get back to my dorm room before things got too hard to handle.
There was a slight miscalculation in our plan, because the Acid started hitting us by the time we were in the dorm eating our sandwiches. I started feeling different. And as much as I would like to explain the emotion that was starting to flow over my body, I can mostly only relate it to the color white, and the feeling of purity. It also didn’t change instantaneously, as I think the change that came upon me resembled more the recession of light during the setting of the sun. Slow and steady, however by the time it is over, obvious as can be.
To be continued...