Tag: prevention

It’s 5 o’clock in the morning, the alarm goes off and the room it pitch black. I can barely see the floor. I slowly slide from my bunk, trying to make as little noise as possible because I don’t want to wake up my roommates. I have laid out all my clothes in the front room. I’ve got everything I need. I put on my clothes, collect my hair in a ponytail then put on my shoes, tying my laces in a tight double knot so that they don’t come undone. I quickly go to the bathroom to wash my […]

Since she was a child, Sara never played with dolls. She turned into a princess. She covered herself in veils and fabrics, and long trains that trailed behind her when she walked. She was in love with those beautiful dresses made from light cloth that billowed when she pirouetted, that flared into a wheel when she span Whenever her mother bought her a dress she always asked: “Does is it make the wheel when I spin?” She loved colour, she was comfortable when she was around other people, well behaved, always lively, creative and fascinated by astrology. Every summer at […]

The outskirts of town are a strange place. They seem empty but if you look close enough you will be able to see some signs of life. Barracks, all in their rows, like a human hive, where all sorts of people live: the poor, pensioners, dealers, immigrants, rats, the working class, families and junkies. We’re all there together, living amongst the rot and the human degradation, to which we all eventually become addicted. I was born here, the son of two misunderstood artists. For better or worse, they are my parents and I had to learn to live with their […]

I haven’t seen him for a year. I know he’s not well. He wants to know if we can meet up. He comes over at around 10pm. My mother isn’t home. It’s just the two of us. The moment I see him it doesn’t feel like any time has passed at all, and I suddenly realize how much I need him. He doesn’t speak, but he’s never been that talkative anyway. His eyes say it all. He’s changed a lot since the last time I saw him. The life he leads is written all over his damned face and I’m […]

My first memories are that of a huge cornfield. The immense beauty of nothingness. A warm wind that caresses my thoughts. The sky is grey, quiet, and I’m almost afraid to look at it. An inverted sea the depth of a thousand clouds. I hug my mother, I take in her perfume and touch her black dress, feeling the wind helps me understand the confines of my world: my mothers arms. I keep one eye open, I see only field, field sky, sky, sky, field. Golden fire and waves of rain. Where is the sun? There is no need to […]

I still haven’t quite figured it out. The same tired old refrain keeps repeating itself: “Lower your expectations of others”. I feel like I have a thousand razor blades caught in my throat, and in an instant everything changes. Anxiety. I start to gag, trying to spit it out. “I’m always the odd one out. A fish out of water.” I’ve always had to live with these thoughts of being less than everyone else and today I don’t have any way to escape the way I feel. No coke. No dope. Nothing. Now I’m left to reckon against myself, against […]

They have always told me that you should never look in the mirror when you are high on ecstasy because you can ruin your trip. I did it anyway, and seeing my own face was terrifying: I looked like a monster. Michele was a 14-year-old kid, and he saw weed as just a hobby. It was a way to become part of a group, one of the boys. The ones that seemed like they weren’t scared of anything or anyone. By the time he was 17, Michele was one of ‘them’. He had become the official supplier of ecstasy for […]

“Look out everyone, here comes the black belt!” My schoolmate was teasing me again, pushing me into a corner, making people laugh at me. “Show us what you can do, black belt!” He came at me doing his best Rocky impersonation, and punched me straight in the nose. He split my lower lip open, staining my mouth blood red. Everyone suddenly went quiet. You could hear a pin drop. They were all in shock. To break the silence, I started to laugh. Then they started to laugh too, as if nothing had happened. When I got home I went straight […]