The Cold Darkness of the Night: Chapter 7

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Chapter 7

As he waited on the elevator, Michael’s thoughts drifted toward going home and relaxing with his family. They continued when he stepped out of the machine, but shifted gears as he walked through the lobby. His footsteps echoed loudly off the dark brown brick walls and high, stuccoed ceiling.

Now that he was a little more focused on his environment, everything seemed a lot more vivid and surreal. Was it the Dilopyroxine? Maybe. But he also felt these emotions any time he focused intently on any setting, even if he hadn’t taken the drug in a couple days. His senses were enhanced as long as he paid close enough attention to them.

Sights seemed more beautiful and elegant, and smells felt clear and scintillating. His hearing was sharper, making sounds extra potent. Even his senses of taste and touch were more in tune. Sweet foods were mellifluous, and salty confections were unusually saliferous to his palate. Each flavour was subtly more concentrated. Everything he made physical contact with felt truly real. It was as if he connected with the very nature of things if he touched them. He could literally feel energy emitted by people and objects when he came in contact with them. Everything around him reached out with invisible tentacles of vibrating energy, desperate to gently caress his soft skin. All these effects made him feel relaxed and elated.

The euphoria began to wear off. He marvelled at life’s pure, unadulterated beauty. Serenity and tranquility burned eternal fires within his mind, permeating all his senses. It made them sharper. He processed everything around him without judgement, accessing some kind of esoteric, ethereal force.

When he told Doctor Mctiege about this, he half suspected the man to politely inform him that he was talking like a hippy. However, the doctor actually understood where he was coming from. He told Michael that most of his Dilopyroxine patients felt the same way. They described those emotions in similar ways as Michael.

Michael noticed these effects when he exited the hospital, invigorated by the smell of the fresh outdoor air as he walked to his car. He was completely serene as he unlocked his vehicle and got in.

The car was a white 2008 Mazda 3. It was nothing special, but it got him from point A to point B, which is all he cared about. He bought it second hand from a dealership a few years ago, and had no major issues with it. There were just a few small problems that were easily fixed, and are to be expected from almost any vehicle. He couldn’t afford an expensive one, and he didn’t believe in purchasing flashy cars anyway. He partially understood that, but it seemed like a waste of money to him. Michael always wanted whatever vehicle was the most reliable. He didn’t care about what it looked like, or the price tag.

As he drove home, his thoughts drifted again to relaxing with his family. He got a lot of enjoyment out of simple things in life, like sitting on the couch and watching a movie.

When Michael arrived at home, he parked his car in the driveway, walking across the cement path in the grass of the front yard. He moved up a couple steps to the door, and put his key in the keyhole. He greeted his wife as he opened the door.

“Hey Babe,” Michael said with a smile on his face.

“Hi Hun,” Haley responded in kind. The fiery-maned woman stood about 5’4”, with shapely curves in all the right places. Her striking green eyes shone like deep wells of affection. With her naturally tanned skin, you could almost notice her mixed heritage. Her, dark red, full, luscious lips completed her image of perfection. She wore form-fitting white yoga pants and a low cut sleeveless, body hugging top, which was slightly darker than her hair.

“Natasha gets home from school at around 3:00, right?” Haley’s husband asked.

“Yup,” she replied without hesitation.

Michael leaned toward her, and kissed her. “Wanna blaze? Natasha won’t be home for another 3 hours.”

“Sure,” Haley followed Michael into their office, just down the hall from the living room. Michael pulled the Volcano vaporizer off the top shelf in the corner of the room, placing it on the desk.

After plugging it in and turning it on, he unlocked the top right desk drawer with a key from a pocket in his pants. He took out his blue grinder, then retrieved the plastic vaporizer bag from the top shelf in the corner. Then he grabbed a small black part for the vaporizer, and emptied used marijuana from it into the toilet. Returning to the office, Michael put a pinch of weed from his grinder in the empty vaporizer compartment. The middle light on the vaporizer turned off, so he put the top metal piece into the black compartment, on top of the weed. Then he put the whole thing onto the tiny heated hot plate on the top of the Volcano.

Michael sat on the black leather couch against the wall across from the desk, putting his arm around Haley. She snuggled into him, as naturally as a newborn baby clutching at the breast of its mother.

“So what did you do today?” Michael asked his wife as he glanced down at her. She turned her head to make eye contact.

“Well, after I dropped Natasha off at school, I did some yoga and went for a run,” she replied cheerfully. “Then I had an early lunch, went grocery shopping, and I just got home about half an hour before you did. I was catching up on Breaking Bad when you got home.”

The middle light on the vaporizer turned off. Haley, seeing this in her peripheral vision, looked up to make sure. She moved so Michael could go to the desk.

“So how many episodes do you have left in the newest season?” Michael questioned as he got up. He grabbed the vaporizer bag, and removed the black nozzle from the bottom. Then he attached the bag to the tiny container on top of the vaporizer as he pressed the green button on the front it.

While the plastic bag inflated with vapour, Haley exclaimed, “I just have four episodes left now!”

“This is a really good season, isn’t it?” Haley’s husband asked as the vaporizer bag filled up. He pressed the orange and green buttons on the front of the device, turning the power off.

“For sure! The transformation of the characters throughout the show continues to amaze me, especially Walter White.”

As she spoke, her husband pulled the vaporizer bag off the device, detached it from the container, and snapped the black nozzle onto the bottom of it.

“It amazes me too. Let’s go in the back yard, Babe,” Michael offered his hand to Haley.

“Breaking Bad is a little bit like a very long and more detailed version of the godfather,” he said. They walked down the hallway, passing the bathroom, guest bedroom, and their personal library. Exiting their house through the back door in the kitchen, the couple sat on a long white wicker deck chair for two.

As Michael took his first hit from the vaporizer bag, Haley responded. “I completely agree. The story is so compelling! It’s addictive.”

“It definitely is,” Haley’s husband agreed with characteristic measured tranquility. He blew out the cannabis vapour and passed the bag to her.

Michael’s wife took a big inhale. They sat on the chair in silence as they each took a few more hits and emptied the bag.

When it was empty, Haley asked, “Do you want to watch the newest Zeitgeist documentary that we haven’t seen yet?”

“Sure, Babe. Those first two were fascinating,” Michael replied, smiling. “I’ll go put all the weed stuff away, and you set up the movie, okay?” he asked rhetorically.

Michael went back to the office. Haley walked into the living room, grabbed the remote and Xbox 360 controller, turned on the TV and Xbox, and entered Netflix. As she found the movie, her spouse appeared in the entryway of the kitchen.

“I’m gonna make one of my sandwiches. Want one?” asked Michael, his dilated pupils looking excited at the prospect of a delectable meal.

“Sure, Babe!” Haley exclaimed. “But remember to make mine about half the size of yours please.” She smiled gratefully.

“Yeah I remember,” Michael grinned as he disappeared into the kitchen.

Michael began to construct the works of art. He laid out four pieces of honey and flax bread, and spread unsalted butter on them. Next, he put pieces of boneless, skinless chicken breasts on both sandwiches, marvelling at how little Haley ate. He cut up four pieces of pepper jack cheese and placed them on the chicken. His stomach growled as he put the four slices of bread in the toaster oven. The final mouth-watering ingredient in his creations was a generous amount of bacon. It sizzled in the pan, the aroma pulling him in like the song of an ice cream truck beckoning the neighbourhood children. He filled two large glasses with coconut milk, and another two with water.

As Michael’s oven-mitt-clad hands pulled the tray out of the toaster, the bacon sizzled for attention. It was done, so he placed the tray on the counter, retrieving the spinach and garlic chilli pepper sauce. After laying out the bacon, with twice as much for him, he put a generous helping of spinach on all the bread. The amateur chef finished these delicious confections by distributing garlic chilli pepper sauce on each side of his sandwich, and one of Haley’s. Then he combined the halves of each sandwich and pressed them down.

Michael brought the meal to the living room on a tray. The couple feasted while watching the fascinating documentary, until Natasha arrived home from school.

Zeitgeist: Moving Forward was so captivating because it expanded on ideas discussed in the first two Zeitgeist documentaries. It delved into details of why the global monetary system is fundamentally flawed. Haley and Michael learned how it is extremely harmful to both humanity and our planet. The documentary proposed a plan for how people can switch to a structured and monitored resource based economy. The system would use alternative energy sources and production methods. This would give humans happy lives with all the necessary resources, without ever having to worry about money, or hurting the environment. If only such an alternative would work.