Hex heard a knock at the door. He went and opened it, what looked back at him startled him. It was him, but with red eyes and the same mouth that Glitch had, only around it was torn flesh.
"P... Pestilence Machine? Is that you?" he asked.
"No, I'm no demon summoned by that man," the doppelganger said, barely moving his mouth.
"Who are you? What's your name?" he questioned further.
"You can call me... Fallen Hex. I'm here to warn you, Din has her hands on a dangerous drug. You can't let her take it. Not if you want to end up like me," Fallen Hex said as he pulled up his shirt to reveal stitched up wounds that looked like stab wounds.
"How many times am I gonna almost die before this shit is over?" he asked with a sigh.
"Not sure, but you need to tell her to toss that drug, it's called Ghost Fairy, and Turbuk is the sole creator of it. It makes it's users violent. The Forbidden Book is the only way to make that drug," Fallen Hex said.
"Well fuck me then, I'll have to ask her about it. Uh, do you want to come in? It's kinda cold out there." He swung open the door.
"Alright, but I hope I don't scare anyone," Fallen Hex said as he walked in.
"Why do you look skinnier than me anyways?" he asked.
"I suppose I lost a bit of body fat when I turned." Fallen Hex shrugged.
"I've seen someone that looks like you before, do you know Drake?" he questioned further.
"Yes, he's one of us, the Fallen I mean. His mother was the first," Fallen Hex said.
"So what's this drug about?" he asked.
"It's like meth on steroids basically, you just need to get it away from her is all," Fallen Hex said.
He went to Din's room, and opened the door. Din looked up from her laptop, and her eyes went wide.
"Who... Is that?" She slid her laptop onto her bed, took her headphones off, and got up.
"Just another ghost from the future that got stuck here, only it wasn't by Elaine's hand that I exist, it was her sister. I decided to use the time travel spell myself as soon as I learned it, which was when I turned," Fallen Hex said.
"What needs to happen this time?" she asked.
"Well for one, not leaving the house won't stop what needs to not happen. There's something you have that you shouldn't. You promised him you wouldn't try any hard stuff, now hand it over." Fallen Hex outstretched his hand.
"Is... Is that really what you're talking about? The new drug? The one that just hit the streets? I was told it was a harmless hallucinogen," she said.
"If it was harmless I wouldn't be here, again, hand it over." He made grabbing motions with his open hand.
"Alright." She bent down and grabbed a bag from under her bed, and brought it out. She walked up and placed the bag in his hand.
"Is that all you need to do?" Hex asked.
"There's one more thing I need to do before everyone is safe, go to the source of the drug and steal his drug making book away from him, Elaine can take care of the distributors, I sent her the list of all the dealers," Fallen Hex said, and walked out.
"You're going to fight Turbuk? That guy's terrifying though, he's insanely powerful and insanely sinister, I don't think you can defeat him," he said.
"I don't have to defeat him, just take his book and run," Fallen Hex said as he walked out.
"At this rate, you'll have a million undead clones of yourself by the time you retire." Din laughed.
"I'm going to go have a drink from the fridge, I only just turned nineteen but I feel like I'm too old for this shit." He went to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of Five Tulips Small Batch, popped off the top, and took a large swig. He let out a relieved yet exasperated sigh as he pulled his lips away from the bottle.
"You've been drinking so much lately, I think you should give your liver a break," Din said.
"My liver can go fuck itself is what it can do, I can't handle this shit without being shitfaced." He burped and put the cap back on.
"Are you sure about that?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm sure, I don't need anything but a drink, a tab, and a cigarette. Even a bad trip isn't as fucking bad as reality." He went over and sat down.
"Why do you say that?" she questioned further.
"Because I've almost died like twice now, staring my own potential death in the face fucking terrifies me, I didn't let him see it but I plan on drinking away this feeling as much as I can, so I don't have to deal with my own mortality without my express permission. I get to be morbid on my own time, motherfucker," he said.
"You sure that's a good idea? Just turning yourself off from reality?" she asked.
"I do what I want with my own body, if I want to turn on, tune in, and drop out I will, go ahead and try to stop me," he said.
"Alright, well, I'm going back to my room, I'll talk to you later." She turned around and walked away, leaving him in his red sitting lazy chair alone.
He felt like shit, he was waiting for the liquor that he had already consumed to take hold. He popped off the cap and took another long swig. Just then he had an itch for a cigarette, and remembered he had some Maniacs in his coat pocket. It was his favorite brand, it was a bit more expensive than the others by about five dollars, but he was willing to cough up the dough for the Amnesiac Grape flavor. He placed the liquor with the fancy tulip drawings scrawled on the bottle and got up.
He walked over to his coat, and rummaged through the pockets. The second one he searched was the right one, and he pulled out a familiar black box with white chalk design in graffiti displaying its brand name. Small purple chalk letters spelled out the flavor. He took a cigarette from the box and rummaged for his lighter in the same pocket. He pulled out his lighter, which was a flip lighter, it had a design of his favorite childhood cartoon, Arbee the Hedgehog, which looked like a slightly more cartoon version of a real hedgehog.
He smiled at it, and realized he felt a tad buzzed already. He frowned after an intrusive thought crept into his head that he would eventually die and lose everything he ever loved. He shook his head violently and tried to get the thought to loose itself from his mind. He walked outside and lit up.
He opened his mouth and put the cigarette in. He inhaled, and a familiar, soothing and smoky grape flavored smoke filled his mouth. He felt his anxiety lessen even more, even after he drank, a smoke really could nip his feelings of impending doom in the bud. He knew it was bad for him, but it made him feel better, so he thought at least then it would be fine. He blew the smoke out his nose, and the grape flavor licked the part of his tongue that was in his throat. He continued to smoke for about five minutes as he stared at the city, thinking of how unforgiving it was. Why did he have to fight to survive? Why did life have to be so hard on him? Like it wasn't hard already, being who he was? He blew a puff of smoke out his mouth slowly, he felt like he needed a break from everything. He was jonesing for more liquor, but he wanted to finish his cigarette first. So he stood there on the porch for a while longer.
Read the rest of the book here: https://www.moonquill.com/book/113