Bad Trip

• Trang Dang, Grade 12
• Short Story
• 2013

It’s like Van Gogh’s Starry Night. The stars swirl and merge together in the centre of the sky in a wonderful meeting of beauty. I lie on the sand, feeling it slide between my fingers and under my back. It is cold, but the icy atmosphere is an apt addition to the serenity. The waves crash as I feel the occasional spray of water on my face. I inhale deeply gathering the smell of the sea, but stop when a sound catches my attention. The rhythm of the rolling waves becomes distant and its beat gradually transforms to one of panic, ringing in my ears, threatening to deafen me. My hair, intertwined with the sand it had collected, hits my back as I sit up. The moon and the lonely light shining from the lifesaver tower reveal an empty beach. Several of my friends are scattered around me looking dazed, unnaturally happy, paranoid or expressionless. I press the sides of my head and rub my temples vigorously feeling tiny grains of sand imprint onto my face as I do. The loud beating ceases.
My eyes trail to the horizon and the beautiful Starry Night has moved to meet the sea. I brush my palms onto my knees then bring them up to rub the tiredness from my eyes. The attempt is futile. Using the unstable sandy surface as support, I lift myself onto my feet and stand frozen for a moment waiting for the world to steady itself. The sand, water and large rocks barricading the beach are churning and morphing into whimsical shapes when something at my feet causes me to jump. One of my friends had rolled over exposing his face to my sight. It’s long and droopy, resembling wax melting from the top of a candle. The sockets of his bloodshot eyes and the corners of his mouth droop to his chest. Horrified, I leap away and begin to run. Running in any direction my legs would take me, distancing myself from the vile disease that has overcome my friend. I run along the beach, my eyes fixated on the sky where the stars remain swirling in their infinite beauty. Their synchronised movement hastens and they merge closer together forming a sharp point that hurtles towards me. My level of terror heightened, I turn back and race in the opposite direction, the stars stabbing my back and feet as I stumble across the beach. The sand becomes heavy, pulling the weight of my body into the ground thwarting my possibility of escape. My lungs are compressed as I fall to my knees gasping for the familiar smell of the sea. I beat at the wet sand violently as it sucks my hands and knees into the ground. Exhausted, I succumb.
I plant my face onto the surface of wet sand and taste the salty water on my lips. The stars stop pursuing me, the sand settles, the waves are rhythmic again and the LSD is gone.