Chapter Text
“Bye Eda! See ya later!” Luz announced as she damn-near slammed the door behind her, merely out of her usual excitement. Eda waved a lazy hand up in a salute, not bothering to look up from her newspaper as her pupil left for school.
A few seconds later King ran toward the door, jumping a few feet into the air before bonking his boney head against the impenetrable wood, falling back to the floor in an unsatisfying flump.
“No! LUZ! You didn’t hug me goodbye!” he called out, paws cupped around the small opening of his snout to focus his words. He pounded a fist on the door a few times for emphasis.
Eda snorted.
“Why don’t you just open the door and chase after her?”
King pondered her suggestion for a few moments.
“Eh…” he waved his arm around as if dispelling the problem. “Not worth the energy…”
Eda expected him to turn back around and wander off. Instead, King laid down at the foot of the door, staring expectantly ahead as he wagged his tail to and fro.
“She’s… not gonna be back for a while, King,” Eda reminded as she realized that King was not intending on moving from his position.
King waved her off.
“Shush! If I stay here patiently, Luz will be excited when I’m the first thing she sees as she walks in!” he explained, tail picking up its pace as he worked himself up in apprehension, as though merely by being enthusiastic he could materialize Luz into being.
He stayed waiting by the door.
…
Waiting a bit longer…
…
He could do this all day…
After about 20 minutes of just lying there, King took notice of his tail, immediately becoming enraptured in trying to catch it.
Unbeknownst to King, his fluffy tail knocked into a tiny little object on the floor, rolling it a little.
To the larger world, it would have been imperceivable.
Unnoticeable.
Undetectable.
“Hold it. What’s that?” Eda pointed out, getting up from her chair with a few creaks of her tired old bones as she made her way to King.
Yes, to the larger world, the tiny little object would have been lost forever. But to Eda’s impeccable ears…
King turned around, following Eda’s gaze as she bent down to rest on the heels of her feet. She picked up a tiny object off the floor, pinching it between her fingers as she brought it closer to her eyes for closer inspection.
She nearly dropped it as she realized what it was, eyes going wide.
It was a pill.
A tiny little pill no longer than the length of her pinky nail, half opaque white and half translucent orange.
King peered up curiously at the tiny object.
“What is that?”
Eda’s features became scrutinizing as she more closely inspected the capsule for any information regarding its purpose.
Aside from tiny little strings of numbers, Eda couldn’t gleam anything from sight alone. She tilted it left and right, watching as the dust inside moved like sand.
“It’s a human realm drug,” she explained, voice low as she continued to test out its physical features, lightly squeezing it without breaking it.
King’s eyes widened, though he didn’t know what to make of this.
At least, he didn’t like the thoughts conjuring in his head.
“How do you know that?”
Eda sighed.
“My trips to the human realm haven’t always been the nicest. The trash piles where I find my money makers are often inhabited by the homeless. One time, a struggler offered me some capsules that looked an awful lot like this in exchange for money. I declined, obviously, but…”
She’d never been one to mess around with these kinds of things. Even if she made illegal potions from time to time, she never made anything that would devolve a person into the confused, tweaking victims she sometimes encountered in the slums of the human realm.
Indeed, Eda had never brought anything like this into their home.
That only left one option.
“So you think that… that Luz…”
Eda put her hands on her knees as she aided herself in standing.
“I can’t be too sure, buddy. Before we can figure out what this drug really is, I need to test its guts and see what it's made of.”
King got up from his position by the door, following Eda as they walked into the kitchen where her potions brewery was.
Eda took a book from a cabinet, blowing the dust off its cover before plopping it down onto the table. She magically flipped through the pages, highlighting the book in a dull yellow as she did so.
Eventually, she got to the page she needed.
With a pot of boiling water, Eda rummaged through her drawers for the ingredients.
King struggled to see what she was doing from his position by her legs, jumping up and down in an attempt to overcome his challenged height.
Eventually, he remembered that he could just… climb.
Scouring up Eda’s body took no time at all, but it was all the time Eda needed to finish her concoction.
“It looks the same as before. What is this?” King asked, noticing that the boiling water was still clear.
“I put a few liquids inside the water that should react accordingly to whatever is inside this pill,” she explained. Picking the pill off the counter, Eda held it above the pot as she separated the two sides from one another, eyes watching closely as the white dust fell into the brew.
“According to this book,” Eda pointed at the open page as she explained, “the brew will turn different colors depending on the function of the drug. Red means it has healing properties. Blue means it’s a sleeping agent. Yellow means it’s a laxative. And…”
The water turned bright bubbly green.
…
“What’s that mean?” King asked.
Eda could scarcely believe it.
“G-green means it’s a…”
How could her sweet Luz possibly…
“It’s a…”
How long had she been hiding this?
“It’s a stimulant.”
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Luz laughed as her friends began walking into the classroom, though she lagged behind. Willow took notice of this.
“Luz, you comin’ or what?” she asked, holding the door open for Luz to enter. Her human friend shook her head.
“I’ll be there in a moment, just a little thirsty,” she gestured to the fountain around the corner. Willow nodded.
“Sure, sure. See you in a bit!” she waved her off, walking into the classroom and letting the doors shut with a thud. Luz breathed a sigh of relief.
She walked toward the water fountain, situating herself in front of it.
She pressed the long bar button on the front, watching as the water sprouted from the tap, creating an arc for the user to drink from.
She had, in fact, intended on drinking the water.
Though not for thirst.
Luz fumbled around her pocket.
Her smile fell as she realized it was missing.
No.
No no no!
She checked her back pockets, her inner pockets, and even her hands as she sometimes would lose things in the most obvious places.
It was nowhere.
Ay dios mío, this was not good.
Breathe.
Just breathe.
Luz took a deep breath, in and out.
She’d be fine!
This wasn’t her first time going cold turkey.
Well, ‘cold turkey’ was a little harsh of a phrase for what was simply forgetting her medication, but still.
She’d done it before.
She could do it again.
Luz splashed water on her face to calm herself.
She’d be fine.
Just think, there’s no way this could impact her learning today, since she actually cared about the subject being taught!
…
Right?
…
Luz walked away from the fountain, opening the classroom doors before making her way to the open seat between her two friends, Willow and Gus.
As she sat down, the bell screamed, indicating that she had just made it to class on time.
Mx. Irsoz, the red lizard teacher at the front of the classroom cleared their throat, preparing to begin the lecture.
She could do this.
She’d be fine!
.
.
.
20 minutes in, and Luz was realizing that this would not be easy.
Her legs tapped up and down with restless energy, mind everywhere and nowhere all at once as she struggled to pay attention.
“As you’ll remember from page 82 of…”
…
…
Were those markings always on her desk?
“The Battle of the Left Clavicle took place in 1964, when the pilgrim…”
…
…
Tick tock
Tick tock
Tick tock
Tick
Tock
So went the clock.
“That’s the soundest theory we have to date as to why the former governor of Snotsville decided to…”
Luz didn’t realize, but the collar of her school uniform had found its way into her mouth.
…
…
God, she felt jumpy.
“Luz! Can you answer the question on the board?”
With a jolt that flung her from her inner thoughts, Luz’s eyes snapped to attention.
The question on the board read, “What are the names of the 3 sons of Elliot Shlotenhower?”
…
Oh fuck, she had no idea.
“U-umm…”
…
“Any day now, Luz,” Mx. Irsoz was growing impatient.
“Was this for the reading we were supposed to do? I didn’t… do it…” she chanced. Mx. Irsoz shook their head in disappointment.
“I explained this not 10 minutes ago…”
They did?
…
Luz felt hot, all of the sudden.
“I’d suggest getting your head out of the clouds and taking this class seriously. Midterms are coming up soon and I’d hate for you to fail because you can’t bother giving me the time of day,” they reprimanded, turning their back to her to write the answer on the board.
Shit, that was so embarrassing.
She went back to staring at her desk, understanding that she should be gazing up at the board to write down the information, but not having the will to do it, for whatever reason.
With the pencil in her hand, Luz began drawing random doodles directly onto her desk.
“Luz, are you…” Gus started, noticing the strange behavior of his friend.
Tap tap tap went her pencil on the table.
Squeak squeak squeak went the old dusty chairs.
Hum hum hum went the failing air conditioning.
Chirp chirp chirp went the birds outs-
“Luz!” Gus whisper-shouted, successfully garnering his friend’s attention at last. She seemed really out of it.
“Huh?”
Luz’s attention was momentarily diverted to her friend.
“Sorry, what’d you say?” she asked, realizing that he might have been talking to her while she was off in Lala land.
His eyes were full of concern. He gazed down at…
Her chest?
Luz, feeling self-conscious and a little weirded out, moved her arms to cover herself.
Wet.
…
The front of her shirt was soaking wet.
Startled, Luz peered down at her shirt.
The front was bunched up and wrinkly, soaked clean through with her saliva as the extra weight turned the normal curve of her neck opening into a deep V.
Oh…
…
“Luz, are you… okay?” Willow asked, noticing that her friend’s breathing was picking up.
Luz tapped her leg up and down.
Up and down.
Up and down.
Up and down.
It wasn’t enough. Things were too slow and too fast all at the same time.
She peered at the clock on the wall.
Time seemed to crawl, yet her thoughts ran rampant.
The birds outside went chirp chirp chirp.
The joints of her fingers went crack crack crack.
The pulse in her ears went thrum thrum thrum.
Luz stood up quickly from her desk, knocking over her chair as she rushed to escape the noisy, far-too-stimulating classroom.
She speed-walked out, opening the doors and paying no mind to the confused blubbering of her teacher, likely asking her where in tarnation she was running off to without permission.
She didn’t care.
She had to get out of here.
She can’t believe she’d forgotten to take her medicine.
She can’t believe she thought she’d be fine without it.
Ba-dump ba-dump ba-dump went her heart.
Huff huff huff went her breaths.
Drip drip drip went the tears that rolled down her cheeks.
She needed to go back home. She just… couldn’t do it, today.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
“What’s a… stimulant,” King asked, not liking the tone of Eda’s voice.
She sighed deeply, looking up at the ceiling as she gathered her thoughts.
“It’s… not pretty. It’s a type of drug that puts certain parts of your inner systems into overdrive. Think of stuff like Moontickle, Fuzzdust, and Killjoy,” she offered examples of the stuff she warned King to stay clear of. The type of substances that, if a stranger were to ever offer King, he was instructed to decline and run away.
He felt a shiver go down his spine.
“So you think… that…”
“King. Go bring me Luz’s backpack,” Eda instructed. King reluctantly nodded his head, hopping off the counter and running out of the kitchen.
Eda could scarcely believe this.
Luz was taking stimulants?
But why?
…
When, even?
Eda had never seen any hints or warning signs or clues that would imply that Luz was… taking drugs.
Perhaps she should have paid more attention?
King clambered back into the kitchen, struggling to carry Luz’s heavy backpack.
Eda took it from him and hoisted it up to the table, opening the zippers to begin rummaging through it.
It took a few minutes, but upon opening a small compartment on the side Eda found what she had been looking for.
It wasn’t something she’d have wanted to find.
A small plastic ziplock bag with dozens and dozens of those little pills inside.
On the outside of the bag, written in sharpie was, “30-day supply of Adderall”.
…
What... sick freak would supply this to a child?
How long had Luz been... sneaking this into her system?
Cuz she certainly never talked about it.
Never brought it up.
Never… anything… to imply the existence of these things.
Eda wanted to give Luz the benefit of the doubt. She really did, but the fact that Luz had been hiding this from them…
It didn’t speak of innocent intent.
Suddenly, the front door squeaked open, revealing Luz, looking worse for wear.
She was shaking.
She was crying.
The front of her shirt was dripping with… sweat?
Her eyes were red.
They went wide upon seeing the bag in Eda’s hand.
“There they fucking are!” she exclaimed in indignant frustration.
She marched up to Eda, intending on taking the bag from her when Eda held it away at arm’s length.
“Not so fast,” her voice was stern. Luz looked up in surprise to see Eda’s face twisted in hallow disappointment.
Luz’s current state was the textbook example of someone who was going without...
“Hun,” her voice was soft, as if going any louder would scare away the human. She forced herself to calm down. She needed to be strong and collected to handle this appropriately.
She’d get Luz help.
“Do you mind telling me how long,” she shook the bag, drawing Luz’s needy, desperate eyes to the drugs, “you’ve been hiding this from me?”