Chapter 4 - False Explanations 5’8”
When I awakened the next morning I started to go through my normal routine as per usual, something felt off though. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. It felt almost as if I had to reach ever-so-slightly harder to touch my low bedroom ceiling.
Heading to the shower, it seemed as if my apartment had in some way changed from its original state. I blamed it on being groggy and got in the shower, hoping the hot water would snap me out of my fog. I spent fifteen minutes standing under the faucet as it rained hot water on my skin. I began to feel less of the effects of awakening, and decided to get out of the shower to continue my routine as I typically do.
I had picked out a pair of gray jeans and plain black t-shirt to wear that day, it was a Friday, and I enjoyed ending my school week as casual as possible to transition into my weekend. The clothing, which I had worn before in the past, felt as if it had been stretched. The jeans hung relatively loosely on my body, as with the shirt, which I dismissed as weight-loss, maybe an early side effect of the HydroDyoxiBenzine.
Walking out into my kitchen to grab my morning bowl of cereal, I made sure to take out a pill from the bottle. I grabbed a cup and bowl, and filled the cup with water from the tap, placing it on the false marble countertop next to the pill. As I reached to open the cabinet in which I kept my morning cereal, my shirt felt like it had slid up my torso more than it usually had when reaching. I had that strange feeling again that I was reaching higher than normal.
“Am I going crazy,” I thought to myself, “this is REALLY strange.” I had no idea how bad my situation would soon become.
Picking a box of Frosted Flakes I quickly thought off the slight strain I was feeling.
“Fatigue,” I thought to myself, “Fatigue is probably a side effect,” I poured Frosted Flakes into my bowl and returned the box to its original resting place in the cabinet.
I was trying anything I could to explain the straining to reach places that were once manageable to me. I extracted the half-gallon carton of 2% milk from the fridge and poured it into the bowl of dry flake cereal. I stirred the contents of my bowl around with my spoon, watching the remaining flakes on the surface become soaked in milk.
As soon as I had eaten my first spoonful of cereal, I picked up the cup and the pill, which were still on the counter in front of me. Placing the pill in my mouth, I took a sip of water. Down it went; the next dose of that terrible drug was in my system. After finishing breakfast, I grabbed my backpack and headed out for school.