It only amounted to one, and it would always—in his fatigue-soaked corneas, grief fed on his psyche.
Suddenly, he was overcome by a violent heave, a primal urge rising in his liver. Bile stained his teeth, and the following retches were acidic, lashing the roof of his mouth with fury. It could never stop: his body rejected the substance over and over; he was hanging by a thread of sanity. “Not again. Please no-” Liam clenched his teeth, the crucial moment upon him; he had to keep the substance down, or the consequences would be dire. His eyes scanned the horizon with desperation before his lids slid closed, and he was wracked with shivers of resistance. Then, as the urge to be sick overcame him, a voice pierced through his fog of despair, a lifeline amidst his struggle. “Can you hear me?” the rough, concerned tone asked as Liam writhed against the concrete, groaning in agony. “Don’t try to answer that, just blink twice. Take it slow.” As he fought to drag his eyelids upward, the pain, like a coiling wire, constricted his blood flow in brutal retaliation. “Make it stop-No I mustn’t lose it,” he choked. If he expelled the violating drug from his intestines, his efforts would to amount to zero. Square one. In horror, the rising of the illicit substance wasn’t unlike a negative battery melting into a metal cylinder as his throat tightened.

He was at the end of a long night,his vision raw from never resting his eyes, the blood vessels all but ruptured and torn. The ingested substance had been a sinister mistake to accept, and if he threw up twice, the contraband would be purged from his system; he battled to hold it inside. All he had could never be enough, he countered, what ever could? Even his attempts to obey the voice , coming from somewhere above him, seemed in vain.

As Liam writhed in the dying sunlight, his skin erupted in feverish bumps, a crawling sensation exploring the surface of his skin. A sensation of depraved cruelty jolted down his spine as he screamed through his clenched teeth in helplessness . The nausea rose again, claiming his entire being, his heart continuing to pulse, counting away the seconds till he submitted.

“Help me—No. No,” he pled through his locking jaw as he fought another potent wave. The instinctive reaction of his body gripped every fiber as he felt his fight ending. He sank his teeth into his gag, screaming against the material bound across his tongue, taunting his strength and resilience.

Then, in one dreaded motion, the inevitable rise built within him, futile to resistance. His eyes widened with panic as his gag soon became saturated with the vile substance, leaving a bitter sting as he struggled against it; the retches that followed heaving through his chest.

Liam collapsed into the unforgiving embrace of the concrete, his ravaged body welcoming the end with resignation. “Shit,” he lamented in terror, mumbling in heartbroken defeat, “Twice… now it’s too late.” Liam’s heart was all over the floor, as he twisted his gaze away from the glistening pool of spilt contraband , not far from tears. In a mixture of pure shock and trauma, his eyelids slid closed with exhaustion. After his ongoing efforts and endless torment, he failed to hold down the implanted substance, and it was over.

But the voice persisted, causing Liam to force his eyes open, gritting his teeth in determination. “No, I’m still here Liam; you just had an intense vomiting episode—hang tight,” the voice reassured. Liam shook his head in disbelief, protesting, the fear tugging at his psyche like a fishing line as he cursed at his uselessness in the matter.

“No, you can’t help—”

As Liam fought to refocus his gaze, a pair of deep hazel eyes locked onto his own with concern. “Hey, breathe . I’ve got you. Name’s Ryan. Hold on while I get rid of this-” Liam flinched as his gag was torn from his mouth, and he gasped for fresh air, the invasive atmosphere embalming him with perspiration.

“Oh, God, I threw up the contraband—those bastards will kill me like a dog. Or worse-” Liam’s eyes enlarged with realization as he spoke, running a hand through his gritted hair. . “I’ll be, well you saw right? …” Liam’s voice was filled with sickened resignation, his resolve seeping from his pores and evaporating into the arid atmosphere.

Ryan clamped his hand down over Liam’s kneecap in a firm gesture of shared solidarity. “I saw everything they did to you, yeah. And I’m still here alright?. Not about to abandon you now…”

Liam, reaching up and gripping Ryan’s arm firmly, smiled against the warm twilight rays of daylight that clung to his flesh. “I’m sorry you had to see all this… how long’s it been?”

Ryan responded with a gun-metal hollowness, his words smoked out by his steady exhale. “Several weeks I’m guessing? Damned long enough for anyone, let’s say that.”
Liam wrapped his arm around Ryan’s shoulder, hoisting himself from the ground into a slouch, bracing his other arm behind himself. “Oh, God, it’s been a whole month hasn’t it?… How did I think it was only days?”

Ryan only whispered in reply, his voice thick with acknowledgment. “Yeah.”

The drugs in his vision burned with a harsh sting, and Liam shook his head to regain some clarity. “I don’t even remember how I got here.”

Ryan outstretched his lean, muscular arm and hauled Liam to his feet with an exhaustive grunt, wrapping an arm around his chest in support of his weight. “I can explain to you exactly how, but it’s not safe here. Later. Just try to walk with me; you look like hell, but we can get out of here.”

The air was unrelenting in its suctioning nature, stripping the moisture from their skin as they navigated the bare footpath, no roads or buildings in sight—a concrete ladder of deception that went on for hours, tracking their heavy footsteps. Liam, with his gaze fixated on the maze of concrete, pondered the elapse of time.