Seeing Wings of Green

Chapter 1: A Night Out Gone Wrong

Inspired by Upon Wings of Change by Crystal Scherer

New York, U.S.

I managed to refrain from rolling my eyes as my Roomate, Tess, ordered another drink at one of the local bars that we had gone to after a week of classes; her fifth or sixth drink that evening (I lost track after her third). My original drink- a rum and Coke- remained, for the most part, largely untouched in front of me for the entire hour that we had been here so far; save the several sips that I took from it earlier just to get Tess to shut up, as drinking wasn't really my thing (I detested the taste of alcohol and I got bad hangovers). While my dark-haired, fair-skinned Roomate chatted idly with the red-haired bartender as she prepared my now incredibly impaired Roomate's order, an uneasy feeling crept up my spine and made the fine hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up. I instinctively looked behind me and locked eyes with the tall figure of a man dressed in jeans and a dark green hoodie who looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties. Nope, nope, nope! I thought through the alcohol-induced mental haze that had begun to settle over me. Time to leave! I quickly broke eye contact with the suspicious stranger and leaned in close to Tess.

"We need to go." I hissed quietly to my Roomate under my breath.

"Why?" She replied with a frown as she gestured to my unfinished, half-full drink. "You've barely touched your drink."

"Because it's late."

"So? It's the weekend, remember? You're so uptight, Roomie. Relax and live a little!"

Annoyance pricked at my skin as I stood up on unsteady feet and tucked the bar stool that I was sitting on back under the sealed, dark wooden countertop. There was no way in hell that I was going to stay here while a suspicious creep visually drilled holes into my back. I reached into one of the pockets of my solid green army jacket and once I found what I was looking for, removed my hand. I grabbed the bartender's attention and slapped a wrinkled $50 bill onto the countertop for the drinks.

"Keep the change." I told her hastily with a quick, nervous, backwards glance over my right shoulder. "I need to get out of here quickly."

The bartender nodded in understanding once she laid eyes in the suspicious man who was still reclined seemingly nonchalantly against the wall behind me.

"Need me to call a cab for you and your friend?" She asked me worriedly as she accepted the $50. "I'll cover it."

"Please. Thank you so much."

The woman was quick to notify one of her coworkers of the situation, who then nodded and hastily ran off to make the call while the bartender remained with Tess and I and made idle conversation with me in an attempt to calm me down, which worked slightly. Several minutes later, the coworker returned.

"A cab has just arrived." He told me before his blue-grey gaze switched over to my Roomate, who was starting to slouch over in her seat. "Need help with your friend? Can you walk?"

"That would be great. I can... still walk." I replied, after which he situated one of Tess's arms across his broad shoulders, hoisted her up onto her feet, and began to follow me to the bar's front entrance while the bartender remained behind to prepare drinks for the other patrons.

When the waiting cab driver saw us, she put the cab in park, got out, and opened the closest back passenger side door so that the guy carrying my Roomate could have an easier time putting her into the car. Once she was draped across the back seat, the cab driver closed the door and returned to the driver's seat as I took my place in the front passenger seat.

"Where to, kiddo?" The mid 40-something year-old woman asked once I had buckled myself in.

I gave her the address of my dorm building, then we were off. My forehead hit the window with a dull thunk as a slight headache began to manifest. This is why I avoid alcohol. I thought dimly as I watched the world zoom by outside the car through the window in an attempt to distract myself from the fact that I was going to be in for a world of hurt tomorrow morning; though, I couldn't help but feel slightly unnerved. I barely touched my drink- and yet- I felt like I had downed three shots of tequila and polished off a couple of beers. Had my drink been spiked? My thoughts were too muddled to try to process how or when it had been and with what. All I knew was that my vision was starting to swim.

"Um," I began nervously as I watched the street that we were supposed to be turning on fly past us. "You missed our turn."

"I know." The cabbie replied, which sent a fresh wave of panic through me.

We pulled into a dark alleyway and the loud sound of the car doors being child-locked resonated painfully in my head. No, no, no, NO! Please no!

"It'll be better for the both of us if you remain calm." The woman said as she revealed a syringe filled with a sickly glowing orange liquid from the vehicle's driver's side door. "I'm sorry."

"WHAT?!" I screeched as I hastily fumbled around to unbuckle myself and tried feverishly to open the door in order to get away.

Had my drink been presumably not been spiked, I would've had an easier time with finding the car door's realeasing mechanism. As it was, I was currently seeing multiple copies of that stupid lever and I couldn't discern which one was the real thing. I hated to admit it, but my drunk, passed-out Roomate in the cab's back seat was the least of my concerns at the moment; as my instincts were pushing quite hard for self-preservation.

"It'll be quick."

A sharp pain manifested within my upper left arm as the syringe's needle was jammed into the muscle that was there, followed quickly by a heavy numbness.

"What did you do to me?!" I screamed as more panic set in. "What did you fucking do to me?!"

A warm feeling had now taken over and my muscles seemed to relax on their own accord. Tranquilizer. Of course. I thought as my mind became even more hazy and my movements became less and less. Fight it! Unfortunately, my mental battle with the tranquilizer wasn't enough. My head began to feel heavy and my already weak, pathetic movements stopped altogether.

"I'm sorry."

Those were the last words that I heard before the veil of darkness consumed me in all of its entirety.