Jaclyn Jane  

THE "HIGH" WAY

By Jaclyn Jane

This is a story about my best friend’s boyfriend who didn’t take life too seriously. He was affected by the addiction of drugs, like so many teenagers nowadays.  Yes, he took the ‘high’ way in life and this is a story of the dreadful outcome of drug addiction.

Rebecca and Troy started going out in the summer of ’97 when the days stretched out over hot sand, cool water, the smell of sunscreen and hot chip sandwiches. Byron Bay was a place for surfing and sun bathing. Many came for the swells and many stayed for them. People young and old would migrate onto a hot pile of granulated shells and rock, watching others on their boards attempt to ride the waves. All the oldies were hippies too; they understood the call of the water. They would tell you, there are people in the world that cannot live away from the water, away from the salty air. They cannot vacation anywhere that is cold, oh no, they need sun for their skin to soak, some swear by it as a deterrent for aging. The sun makes them feel younger but look older; their skin weathered and leathery. They had their shindigs and their weekend binge-fests back in their day, but they knew it was our turn now. They knew the young people of the town had many days and nights of drinking and partying ahead of them. So that was the summer, the summer where we drank and partied and surfed. The summer, one of our best friends’ died. The summer where drugs were tolerated by everyone and self-indulgent yuppies would get addicted to prescription medications of which their children had access to. It was not unlikely for us to get offered to take trips here and there, or something to snort. We never thought it was a problem, until it was too late.

Troy’s intake of methamphetamine started off as something to do at parties, not very often but still. Often, Rebecca would ask him not to get high but she wasn’t worried. She was convinced it was only a mild addiction, a stage which he would soon grow out of.
How wrong she was.

By winter, Troy had made sniffing speed a habit, possibly a daily event. He would call people he knew for hours and hours until he found someone with something. Something with a hit, anything that would make him feel safe, feel like a person, feel important, feel anything, feel everything and feel numb all at the same time. He had become completely oblivious to those around him. Ignoring his closest friends - his friends that didn’t want to get high. Instead hanging out with people he barely knew; people that had gear and used each other for their own needs and theirs alone. He had become completely unaware of the implications his lifestyle had on other people, particularly the girl who loved him. Rebecca had seen him less and less as his addiction grew and he knew she didn’t like him being ‘on it’ or ‘high’ when he was with her. So he began the lies and disappointment. He told her he had things to do or he had to help his parents or had to shoot hoops with someone. He was busy and tired and he didn’t feel like seeing her. Rebecca thought it was her and she thought he was going to break up with her because he had found someone else. However she soon learned the truth from some other girls at school, that he had been partying with their older brother’s who were dropouts. Rebecca was afraid to say anything to Troy, just in case he would get angry or break up with her. When she had spoken to his best friend, Trevor, he had said that he hadn’t seen Troy around lately, Trevor was also concerned.

Troy grew more and more distant from those close to him and soon drugs consumed every moment of his life. He was withdrawn, absent and no longer the fun loving, sun loving surfing guy that Rebecca fell in love with. He spent most of his time waiting and getting anxious, frustrated and desperate for his next hit. With addiction came crime and with crime came enemies. Troy became known as ‘that guy’. The one you would cross the street to get away from. The one who couldn’t, wouldn’t, shouldn’t be trusted. Nothing was beneath him. Lying, stealing and cheating became his means to an end. If only he knew what was ahead of him. “What a tragic loss of talent” people would say, but Troy didn’t listen, he didn’t care about reputation. He didn’t care about anyone, not Rebecca, not Trevor, not himself.

One day, Trevor was sick of being ignored and decided to go and confront Troy and find out what his problem was. Later that day, when the afternoon sun had gone over the hill, he arrived at Troy’s house where he found his best friend lying motionless in his room. Trevor was immediately scared, he had never seen Troy this strung out, he was speechless and he could not move. He didn’t know exactly what to do.  There were only five words screaming through his temples at that moment. “GET HIM TO THE HOSPITAL!”

Troy began shaking and a white formula started coming out of his mouth. That is when Trevor decided to take action. He knew that this was a serious situation. Trevor had never been so scared, except when he had night terrors as a child. But this was a different kind of afraid, this was real and there was no one there to help. He felt a deepness in his stomach like a hole, a vast empty space, a void where Troy once was. He realized he was worried for his friend’s life. He had to do something, and fast. Trevor lifted Troy over his shoulder and carried him to the car.

Trevor had never driven without an adult before nor had he ever driven under these circumstances before. Run through the steps, he thought. Keys in ignition. Reverse. Drive. “That’s not so hard,” he reassured himself. He looked over at Troy who had stopped shaking and was lying still again. “Come on buddy, stay with me, I’m taking you to the hospital, hang in there.” Trevor was saying to his mate in the passenger seat. Trevor’s eyes were frantically darting from the road to Troy to the traffic lights to other cars and in all different directions. Which is probably why he didn’t see the red glow of that traffic light.

CRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Trevor was bumped around in the vehicle, painfully until he came to a halt. All he could think about was his best friend. The only strength he could manage was to open his eyes. He looked around to be aware of his position. He saw Troy mangled on the other side of the car. Troy slowly opened his eyes and looked painfully into Trevor’s, “Thanks bro (gasp) tell her I (gasp) I love her (gasp).” His eyes rolled shut and he was gone. Trevor felt the blood on his face and then saw blackness.

Trevor woke up in a white room in a white bed. A nurse was standing nearby observing him. “Where is he?” Trevor was in shock and very alarmed by the silence of the ward. “Calm down, sir,” the nurse said quietly. Trevor felt numb. He knew he was in hospital, but couldn’t quite recall how long he had been there or even how he ended up in this situation. There was a painful throbbing in his temples that was too much to bare, his body shut down along with his brain and he fell asleep. Vivid flashbacks came back to him in his dream. He remembered the summer of ’97, surfing with his best friend, checking out hot girls on the beach. He remembered going to parties, his first taste of alcohol and dabbling in some drugs just to see what it was like. He remembered Troy taking that dabbling a little bit too far, then a bit further, until it was too late. If only he was able to help. Just then, the sound of the curtain opening woke him up and Rebecca walked in, she looked like death warmed up. Her mascara was running down her face and Trevor took one look at her and knew, he knew he would never see his best friend’s face again. Trevor’s face dropped and he fell into tears. They held each other and they cried for their loss.

“He didn’t deserve to die, he just had a problem and it got out of hand,” sobbed Rebecca.
“All I remember is watching my best friend die, he wanted me to tell you, that he loved you.”

THE END

Jacqueline Jane Spies 2002 ©