by Sarah Barrie
‘So…?’ Jordan asked when they reached the house.
‘Got any munchies? I’m starving.’
‘Help yourself.’ Jordan waved at the pantry and took a seat at the table, gave Madi her attention. ‘So?’
‘So?’
‘Madi. A minute ago you had the world’s most exciting news to tell me and now you’re so hungry you can’t remember what it is?’
Madi opened a packet of chips. ‘Drink?’
Resigned to waiting, Jordan grabbed the Coke out of the fridge and poured two glasses, draining the bottle and tossing it in the bin.
Madi sat, her composed face evaporating into a beaming grin. ‘Matt proposed!’ she squealed.
‘Oh…that’s wonderful!’ Jordan leapt around the table and hugged her friend hard. ‘Really wonderful. Details?’
‘Of course. We —’ A beeping from her phone indicated Madi had gotten a text message and she checked it and groaned. ‘That’s Mum. Honestly, the rate her car dummy-spits she really needs to do the kind thing and have it crushed. Apparently she needs mine right this minute. I’ll call you tonight when I can tell you properly.’ On impulse, she did a quick dance. ‘It seems so much more real now I’ve told someone!’
‘It really is the best news.’ Jordan smiled and hugged her. ‘We’ll celebrate later.’
‘Okay. Got to go.’
‘Finally!’ Jordan sat and digested the news. It was good to see Madi so happy. No one deserved it more after what she’d been through.
She picked up the untouched drinks and skulled hers down. And because Madi’s was sitting there, she took the second glass of Coke out on the veranda and sat, sipping slowly. The late afternoon heat clung to her skin, but the breeze made it tolerable. Before long she’d have to drag out the irrigator and pump from the creek to keep the pasture lush.
Some mornings she still woke up unable to believe the place belonged to her again. No banks, no overdrafts, no pressure. And then there was Reid and he made everything that much more perfect. Now Madi and Matt were getting married. Everything was finally on track. Everything was finally right.
Mack appeared and flopped at her feet. So she sat there awhile, enjoying the afternoon and planning her weekend with Reid. The backhoe chugged its way out of the shed and Matt turned it off before jumping out. Knowing the men would be after a beer, Jordan got to her feet and pulled a couple from the outside fridge.
‘Let’s go, Mack,’ she said to the sleeping dog, who immediately rose and trotted out behind her.
She felt a little strange. ‘Sugar rush,’ she mumbled to herself. Surprised at the kick, she headed down her front steps…and missed her footing.
Matt and Joel saw Jordan plunge awkwardly from her veranda steps and both rushed over. ‘Jordy, you okay?’ Matt helped her to her feet.
Jordan thought about it for a minute. Was she? Come to think of it, she felt great. Actually she felt better than great and giggled.
‘Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Clumsy.’
‘You’re sure?’ Joel asked when she simply stared into the distance, fascinated with something he couldn’t see. ‘Jordy…have you been drinking?’
It was strange the way the ground was turning to water, rippling, flowing, such a pretty pattern, now colours; a kaleidoscope of them…everything was so bright, so alive, so extraordinary.
Joel gave her a quizzical look. ‘Jordy?’
Matt frowned. ‘Something’s wrong.’
‘Jordy?’ Joel asked again, taking her by the shoulders now. ‘Jordy, what’s wrong with you?’
‘Nothing. I’m good, I’m great, I’m…’ She felt herself being shaken. It made her feel light and rubbery. The two men were talking now, but they may as well have been conversing from the other end of a long tunnel. Besides, she was too concerned with what was going on around her. She felt an incredible surge of energy and the need to run, but an irritating pair of hands refused to let her go.
‘Jordan, answer me!’ Joel demanded.
‘I think I want to swim. It’s so hot.’
‘What? Come inside, Jordy.’
She felt the strong, unyielding hands, heard the firm command. The energy around her changed. Suddenly it felt negative, and it folded in on her like a heavy, dark cloak.
The beautiful, spinning colours faded into black and grey, the people, once friends, darkened into threatening black figures, their faces contorting, snarling. Now she was struggling to get away for an entirely different reason. They wanted to kill her, she could feel it. As she began to struggle, Mack growled, dancing around as he tried to figure out what was happening.
Reid arrived in the middle of the confusion and saw the two men struggling to keep hold of a now hysterical Jordan.
‘What the hell?’ Panic shot through him. What had happened? The dog leapt, snapped. ‘Mack, get down!’ By some miracle, the dog crouched obediently.
There was another one, Jordan noted, and from around him more dark figures swirled. On a renewed burst of energy, she broke free and ran.
Joel ran after her but Reid overtook the man easily with Mack on his heels. He was catching her on the hill but it wasn’t easy. ‘Jordan! For crying out loud — wait!’
Jordan risked a look over her shoulder because the voice had sounded familiar for a moment. But it was a trick. The thing was gaining, reaching out its horrible, black tentacles, twisting and snapping, clutching at her. She went down hard as one snagged her, caught her leg, but she didn’t feel pain, just mortal fear and desperation. Screaming herself hoarse, she fought hard, tooth and nail, felt the adrenaline pumping through her body like liquid fire. She clawed, kicked and gouged at Reid.
‘Bloody hell, Jordan. Stop it!’ The monster slapped her face, stunning her silent. And then there were three.
‘Get off me!’ she screamed with a raw throat.
‘Grab her legs Matt! Hell, I don’t want to hurt her. Mack! Get down! Don’t let her kick you off, Matt! Joel, bring the car up.’
‘What’s wrong with her?’ Matt wanted to know, wide-eyed and fighting to be heard over the noise she was making.
Reid didn’t want to think about that. Right now it was all he could do just to hold on. ‘Let’s just get her to the doctor.’
He was too busy fighting with the arm she’d managed to get loose. Besides, he didn’t want to think about it — not at all. Before he could restrain it, the loose arm swung hard, catching him along the cheekbone. It stung viciously but the move had her secured again.
‘Let me go!’ Jordan continued to threaten, demand, beg as they half carried, half dragged her writhing figure down the hill to the car. As they struggled to get her in the back seat she cracked her head on the door.
‘God, Jordan,’ Matt swore as blood trickled down her hair then flew over them when she threw her head around.
‘Just get her in!’ Reid ordered between clenched teeth. ‘Go, Joel — get to the surgery.’
Between them in the back seat, Jordan stopped fighting and began rocking, shaking, and gradually she regressed into her own small reality. The world was fluid, frightening — the monsters were all around. Her body was so full of energy that she couldn’t keep still. Nothing made sense except the fear.
‘She’s bleeding.’
‘Don’t touch her!’ Reid commanded when Matthew would have brushed the hair from her face. ‘Just leave her be.’
‘What’s wrong with her, what’s going on?’
‘She’s tripping,’ Reid admitted in bitter resignation. ‘Whatever she took — probably a methamphetamine — she’s had a bad reaction.’
‘Jordan doesn’t take drugs!’ Joel erupted.
‘Got a better explanation? I’ve seen it before. Let’s just get her seen to. We’ll deal with the whys and wherefores of it later.’
What were they doing? No, no, no, no! This was all wrong! Tallon wasn’t supposed to be there. The others were supposed to have gone home, and his angel was supposed to be alone. He dropped the gun he’d brought along to tak
e care of the dog and sat, head in his hands. They’d taken her away. She hadn’t wanted to leave him, she’d been running to the forest to be with him. His beautiful angel had been wrestled and abducted and there was nothing he could do.
‘She was coming, she was coming!’
Where were they taking her? Tallon wouldn’t be happy. He didn’t like drugs. He’d be pissed. No, he wouldn’t be happy with his angel at all. They might even fight.
The idea took hold and suddenly thrilled him. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad thing after all. This could solve all his problems. Tallon wouldn’t want her if he thought she liked meth. He’d leave! Yes! But he’d have to make sure…he couldn’t have his angel convincing Tallon she’d been drugged. No. He checked his pockets, nodded to himself, and with a victorious laugh, headed back down the mountain to set his trap.
Devastated, Reid watched the trembling, twitching figure beside him chewing her fingernails to nothing, while staring intently at a spot on the floor of the car. He knew exactly what this was because he’d seen it too many times before. Why would she be so stupid? Had she been using all along? Was it possible she’d been lying to him? Had she sucked him in with her stories? Drug users were liars. He had gone through this with his sister and lost her. He couldn’t watch someone else he cared about go through it. He didn’t think he had it in him. It was already killing him to see her like this — to see the way she’d looked at him with that expression of pure horror on her face at whatever demon her drug-induced hallucination had conjured up.
When they reached the surgery, he breathed a sigh of relief that it appeared they had the place to themselves. ‘Go inside first, Joel. Explain to Tim.’
‘Explain what? It’s not possible.’
‘Just…go get him.’
Joel got out of the car and a moment later appeared back with Tim at the window, looking unusually sombre and concerned. ‘Reid, Matthew,’ he greeted quietly. ‘Let’s get her inside.’
Jordan was listening to the whispers in her head but she couldn’t quite make out the words. It was taking all her concentration but she just couldn’t get it. The colours were back, her vision contorting. When Reid scooped her into his arms to carry her into the clinic, this time she cuddled in, looked nervously around, waiting for the dark creatures to find her. She held on tight, making herself small. She felt sick, hot and groggy now.
‘Are they here?’ she whispered.
‘Who, Jordan? The shadow people? Probably,’ Reid replied impatiently.
‘Shadow people?’ Joel echoed in confusion.
‘Lots of people that have a bad experience with meth or the like experience what they describe as “shadow people”. Scares the crap out of them. She’s got the classic signs of paranoia and hallucinations.’
‘She was happy enough when we found her,’ Matthew argued.
‘That’s not unusual.’
They reached the consult room and Reid sat Jordan on the examination bench. She seemed calm now, but he wouldn’t take it for granted.
Tim began his examination as he talked to Reid. ‘You seem very well informed. The reaction you’re describing is more often linked to long-term use: psychosis. None of you know anything about this?’
‘That’s not possible,’ Joel defended strongly. ‘I would have known.’
‘Have you noticed Jordan at one moment being excessively full of energy, euphoric, overly confident, then the next experiencing lows, depression?’
‘Jordan hasn’t been depressed a day in her life! As for the rest, well, that’s just Jordan. She’s always been full of life, energetic, self-confident. She’s had some lows lately but they’re explainable, surely?’ Joel answered as honestly as he could. How could this be happening to his Jordan? Had he been that blind? His heart broke as he watched her sitting there, obviously scared, completely unreachable.
‘There is another possibility. Maybe she mixed drugs, or just got something nasty? It might be worth having a look around her place. Heart-rate and blood pressure are elevated, but not dangerously.’ He turned his attention back to Jordan and held her face in his hands. ‘Jordan? Jordan, what did you take?’
‘Take?’
‘Yes sweetheart, what did you take?’
Jordan’s brow furrowed. She was suddenly too tired to think. She had to think. She shook her head, knotted her brow. It was becoming hard to focus. No, she didn’t take anything. She was hot, she had a drink…
‘Coke. I just had some Coke.’
‘Cocaine,’ Dr Andrews murmured. ‘Okay…’
So that was that, Reid acknowledged, feeling as sick as Jordan looked. She admitted it. Didn’t even pretend. Something inside him turned off like a light. He wasn’t doing this again. She was just like all the others. He’d allowed himself to fall in love with a junkie. All of a sudden, he was disgusted.
‘Think you can handle it, doc, or should we take her in to the hospital?’ he asked flatly.
‘Leave her with me for a little while just to be sure, but then you can probably take her home. Obviously she’ll need to be watched.’
‘We can do that,’ Joel replied, rubbing his hands over his face. ‘But what are we going to do after that?’
Jordan awoke with the morning sun pouring through her window. She felt strange, hungover, and light-headed. She knew something wasn’t right, but couldn’t quite make out what it was.
‘You’re awake.’
‘Hi.’ She turned her head and frowned in confusion as she saw Reid sitting in a chair across from her bed. He looked tired and miserable. ‘What happened? What’s going on?’
‘You don’t remember?’
‘I don’t know…I…’ As images began flooding in, she sat up, frightened. ‘What happened to me?’
Reid got to his feet and shrugged. ‘You had a bad trip, that’s all. Sometimes getting high ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.’
‘What?’ She looked so confused, so convincing.
‘Save it, Jordan!’ He pushed to his feet, the combination of exhaustion and worry severing his temper. ‘You admitted it. Where’s the coke?’
‘Coke?’
‘I found meth in your bedside drawer and hidden at the back of the pantry, but you said you took coke. Where is it?’
‘I don’t…the only Coke I have is in the fridge! What meth?’
He pulled two sachets out of his pocket and tossed them on the bed. ‘You hadn’t hidden them very well, but then, you weren’t expecting me back so soon, were you?’
‘I…those are not mine! And I don’t deserve —’
‘As far as I’m concerned you deserve everything you got. Hopefully it might even make you think twice before abusing yourself like that again. I have to go.’
Reid picked up the drugs she was staring at in confusion. He needed to get out before she dragged him in again. It would be too easy to go over there, comfort her; pretend everything was going to be alright. He hadn’t wanted to believe it, had almost convinced himself it couldn’t be possible. When he’d found the other stashes of meth she’d had in her house, he felt like he’d been gutted.
‘Wait!’ She didn’t understand. She didn’t take anything. What the hell had happened? ‘Reid, please — you have to believe me! I didn’t take anything!’
‘I said save it! I’m taking these with me. Get help, Jordan. Until you do, I’m done.’
‘What do you mean? What happens now?’
‘That’s up to Harry.’ Turning his back on her, he closed the door.
Jordan sat, stunned, staring at the stitching on her quilt cover as she attempted to piece together the events of the last twenty-four hours. Drugs, he’d said. She’d been drugged. That was impossible. Where had those pills come from? The only other person who had been in her kitchen yesterday was Madi. Madi didn’t do drugs.
She remembered Joel being there. She threw off the covers and got to her feet. She’d call him and talk to him about it. There had to be an explanation.
Whatever it was, R
eid was furious with her. He’d left her. I’m done, he’d said. Then he’d threatened her with the cops. Oh God, why would he do that?
Closing her eyes, she fought against the panic threatening to take over and picked up the phone. ‘Joel?’
‘Jordan? Are you alright?’ Joel’s voice sounded flat but there was relief, she noted.
‘I don’t know what happened.’
‘Apparently that sort of thing can go bad, love. You’re going to be fine…this time.’
‘Joel, you know I don’t take drugs…you know I don’t!’
‘Thought I did, but Jordy…you did.’
She couldn’t stand the disappointment in his voice any more than the accusation behind it. ‘Damn it, Joel, I didn’t!’ The silence on the end of the line told her everything she needed to know. ‘You don’t believe me?’
‘I want to. You can’t possibly know how much I want to. So maybe if you could explain to me how the pills ended up in your house…or how they got themselves in your mouth?’
‘I. Don’t. Know!’
‘Would you just stop lying?’ His voice began to rise in frustration, ‘Bloody hell, Jordy, we just want to help.’ She heard him take a calming breath. ‘And I want an explanation, but not now. Now I need to go before I say something I told myself I wouldn’t. I’ll talk to you later.’ The phone went dead.
Slowly, she replaced it on the receiver and dropped back on to the bed, curled into a ball, and cried.
When she had recovered enough, she got herself up. There was work to be done. Then she had to go see Dr Tim. There had to be another explanation for this and she intended on getting to the bottom of it. She picked up the phone again, this time to make an appointment.
Two hours later, Jordan emerged from Dr Tim’s office with mixed emotions. He’d said she had drugs in her system, and he’d given her the lecture. There was nothing else wrong with her, she was otherwise perfectly healthy. It was just what it looked like.
Except it wasn’t.
At least she’d also discovered the doctor-patient confidentially agreement regarding drug use. But what about Reid? He’d said straight to her face he was going to leave her fate to Harry. How could he just walk out on her like this? What the hell was going on?