text: Hi there, This story is by no means my best work, but I hope you enjoy it anyway! This is one of my first stories and is the first of them that I am posting. Feedback is much appreciated! Thanks! “Ow!” he exclaimed as he drove the needle’s cold point into his arm. This was his life as he knew it. His addiction had basically ruled him for as long as he could remember. Heroin was his drug of choice, but he had done every drug he could get his hands on since he was twelve. He loosened the belt around his arm and felt the warm embrace of the high as it overtook him. “No big deal,” he said to himself as he often did when he was coming up, “Just like a shot at the doctor’s.” In truth, he had no clue what he had just done to himself. He leaned back and tried to relax. His heart was pumping a mile a minute as his body tried to process the rather large dose of opioids now flowing through him. The alley he had chosen was not done so at random. He had observed it for weeks and knew enough about it to know it was safe for shooting up. It was in a relatively poorer neighborhood where people knew not to go out after the street lights were on. This meant little to no foot traffic and the police’s presence was almost nonexistent. For him, this was the most important part, as prison was the equivalent of death. Something wasn't right. He felt his muscles start to move as if they had a mind of their own, twitching and writhing violently as his body was overwhelmed by the massive amounts of heroin coursing through his veins. He was overdosing and he was very aware of it. In the midst of his violent seizures, his thoughts drifted back to the first time he tried shooting up. It was the most euphoric and relaxing experience he had ever had and he was instantly hooked. How can something that feels this good kill you? This was his last rational thought before he was completely gone. A rather foolish notion, but it had been his feeling his first time shooting heroine and ultimately his last time. His body shook even more violently as his mouth began to fill with a thick, frothy foam. He stopped moving rather abruptly as his heart finally stopped beating. He slumped over into a pile on the cold brick wall, another junkie murdered by The Shot.