Stassi202
Bluelighter
Yes. Three times.
Hey guys, I’m currently writing a memoir. It’s a collection of short stories in random order about true events that have shaped who I am. Here’s a chapter I wrote about the time I overdosed on fentanyl. I’m using a pen name for publishing, if anyone’s wondering about the name lol.
White Knight, Black Tacoma
from Scorpion by Delilah Noriega
I’m alone in my room, stuck between two worlds—like Sylvia Plath. Maybe it’s just the Scorpio condition.
I’ve been staying at my grandparents’ house ever since the hospital released me after a joyride on GHB left me with a fractured spine. Now I’m laid up here, trying to recover a piece of myself.
I’m miserable.
Depression ain’t even a deep enough word to cut it. Every day feels like a gut-wrenching freefall. I’m hollow inside, numb to everything except the constant shame over my inability to exercise self-control. The guilt sits heavy in my chest—putting my family through the same shit year after year.
Something’s gotta give.
I stopped messing with heroin about two years ago, but lately I can feel my will slipping. The urge creeping back in.
I hit up AB.
He’s one of the only real friends I’ve got left. AB used to sell Xanny bars and I was a loyal customer.
But he’s not like most people.
He’s solid.
More than that—I trust him.
That’s more than I can say for just about anyone.
I shoot him a text.
Hey, what’s good with you?
He hits me back pretty quick, asking how I’m doing.
I’m in a world of pain, bro. I really need some painkillers. Oxy, heroin, anything. Can you help me out? I’m fucking desperate.
I see the typing bubbles appear.
Disappear.
Then appear again.
Finally he replies.
He says he knows someone who’s got fentanyl, but he doesn’t want any part in helping me cop. Says it ain’t for the weak.
Says he cares about me.
I almost believe him.
Maybe he just feels sorry for me—because I almost died in that crash. Because the hospital sent me home with nothing for the pain. Because I always end up with guys who drag me through the mud.
Because I’m broken.
But I know AB’s got a soft spot for me.
And I fully intend on taking advantage of it.
I lay it on thick until he finally caves and agrees to pick me up and take me to the plug.
⸻
AB pulls up in a lowered, blacked-out Tacoma.
My stomach flips with that familiar mix of excitement and nerves as I climb into the passenger seat.
Fetty is crucial right now.
He glances over at me, locking eyes. His voice is smooth, but laced with concern. His big brown eyes radiate a genuine kindness you don’t see much out here.
For a split second I actually feel bad for putting him in this position.
Just for a moment.
Then I shut that feeling down.
That’s something I’ve always been good at—turning my emotions off.
Compartmentalization is one of my greatest assets.
AB isn’t like that.
He wears his heart on his sleeve.
He gives me that look he always gets when he’s worried about something—one eyebrow raised, his forehead scrunching into a V.
“I just don’t want anything to happen to you, bro.”
A lump forms in my throat, and a deep pang of guilt settles in my gut.
I brush it off.
“Nah, I’m good,” I say. “You know I was on the needle, right? This is light work.”
AB doesn’t look too sure, but he leaves it alone.
“I’m good, I promise,” I say. “Trust me.”
⸻
We drive for a while in silence.
“It’s That Gas” by Young Mike is knocking through the speakers, but my thoughts drown it out. I roll the window halfway down and stare out into the desert twilight.
The sky stretches wide and black.
Stars sparkle like diamonds scattered across velvet.
For a moment I imagine grabbing the sky and pulling it down around me like a blanket. I imagine hiding underneath it like a child.
I think about the irony of the moment.
AB is scared enough for the both of us.
While I’ve spent years gambling with my life like it’s nothing.
Risk never bothered me—as long as the end result was pure oblivion.
Ain’t like you got anything to lose anyway.
⸻
We pull up to a trap house somewhere between Pelona Vista and Anaverde.
AB parks the truck and pulls a blunt from behind his ear, sparking it like it’s part of a ritual.
He always looks cool.
The front door swings open and a smoked-out white boy staggers toward the truck. He’s wobbling like gravity works different for him.
AB leans toward me.
“See this fool?” he says quietly, nodding toward the guy. “See how he’s moving?”
The kid sways like seaweed in water.
He shakes his head.
“He got a heavy tolerance too. Look how it still hits him.”
Then softer:
“Just be careful, bro.”
For a moment, regret flickers inside me.
Then the monster wakes up.
It starts as a whisper.
Then louder.
And louder.
Until it’s the only voice I can hear.
The darkness creeps back in, thick and hungry.
If you move through shadows like a ghost, you’re already dead.
Fuck it.
⸻
The white kid finally reaches the truck.
AB rolls down the passenger window.
“Hey, this is Delilah—my little white girl,” he says. “She’s never done this before. I just want her to be as safe as possible, you feel me?”
He hands over the dub I gave him.
The kid passes back a small baggie half-filled with off-white powder.
It looks completely foreign to me.
He carefully measures out an amount that’s suitable for a first timer, then drops it onto a piece of foil.
He passes me a straw and a BIC lighter. “Don’t hit it like heroin,” the kid says. “Fentanyl’s a different animal.”
But I’m getting irritated.
“I used to shoot heroin,” I tell them. “Y’all keep acting like this is some huge deal.”
They keep lecturing me anyway.
I roll my eyes.
As soon as I take the first hit, I start bitching.
“That was weak. The wind messed it up. Roll up the window, I need another.”
The second hit?
I rip that shit.
Hard.
There’s nothing left on the foil when I’m done.
“Woah, woah!” The guys are trying to slow me down, but it’s too late.
The last thing I remember saying is:
“Oh, fuck.”
⸻
After that, everything tilts sideways.
It’s like I’m watching the world from somewhere behind my own head. My body is still in the passenger seat, but I’m not really inside it anymore.
“Kiss me!” I hear myself say, leaning halfway across the truck toward AB.
He chuckles nervously.
“But you got a man,” he says. “And I got a girl.”
I laugh.
“I don’t give a fuck.”
Then everything fades.
Not peaceful.
Not dramatic.
Just black.
A darkness so thick it swallows everything whole.
No tunnel of light. No memories flashing.
Just silence.
And the feeling of falling.
down…
down…
down…
⸻
Meanwhile, back in the truck, my body is dying.
At first, AB thinks I’m just nodding out.
“Delilah,” he says, nudging my shoulder.
Nothing.
“Delilah. Wake up.”
My head is slumped forward now. My breathing slows.
Then stops.
“Oh shit.”
He grabs my face, shaking me.
“DELILAH!”
My lips are turning blue. My eyes rolled halfway back.
No response.
He throws the Tacoma into reverse and tears back toward the trap house, tires spitting gravel.
The truck screeches to a stop outside the plug’s spot.
AB jumps out and starts pounding on the door.
“YO! OPEN THE DOOR!”
No answer.
He bangs harder.
“OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR! SHE’S OD’ING!”
A light flicks on.
The door swings open and the same white kid stares out.
AB grabs him by the shirt.
“She’s not breathing!”
The kid sobers up instantly.
“Fuck—hold on.”
He runs inside and comes back with a small orange box.
Narcan.
They drag me across the passenger seat.
The kid tilts my head back.
Pssshhht.
First spray.
They wait.
Nothing.
My chest doesn’t move.
“Again,” AB says.
The kid fumbles with the second one.
Pssshhht.
Second spray.
Still nothing.
AB starts giving me CPR, pumping on my chest to get me to breathe.
Still, nothing.
“Bro…” The kid mutters, now completely panicked.
The silence in that moment feels endless.
“You got the shot?” AB asks.
The kid nods, digging through his bag.
His hands are shaking so badly he can barely prepare the shot.
“Hurry the fuck up,” AB snaps.
The kid misses the vial.
The needle clinks against the glass.
AB loses patience.
“Give me that.”
He snatches the syringe from the kid’s hands.
Then grabs my leg.
And jams the needle hard into my thigh.
⸻
Somewhere deep in the darkness—
my body gasps.
Air slams back into my lungs like I’ve been underwater too long.
⸻
“You really scared me, dude.”
The voice cracks through the void.
The darkness begins to lift.
I feel movement beneath me—the rumble of tires on asphalt.
Shapes slowly return.
Headlights.
Streetlights.
The clicking rhythm of a turn signal.
“Delilah… talk to me.”
My eyes snap open.
I’m back in the passenger seat of AB’s truck.
My lungs burn.
“What happened?” My voice sounds small, like it belongs to someone else.
AB glances over at me, disbelief written all over his face.
“You overdosed.”
The word lands heavy.
“I had to run back and bang on the plug’s door. We hit you with Narcan twice.”
He shakes his head.
“Then I had to stick you with the shot.”
Outside the windshield, the desert road stretches endlessly into the night.
I lean my head back against the seat.
The darkness I just fell through still clings to the edges of my mind.
down…
down…
down…
For a moment neither of us speaks.
Then AB exhales.
“Don’t ever scare me like that again.”
I stare out the window at the desert sky.
Stars glitter across the black like broken glass.
Somewhere out there in that endless night, I know exactly how close I came.
I should’ve died that night in the passenger seat of AB’s Tacoma.
Maybe a version of me did.
But something stubborn inside me kept breathing.
That’s the thing about scorpions.
They don’t die easy.
NarcanWhat was the shot?
Yep. This one did. Most of them do, the ones I’ve been aroundThe plug kept narcan injections?
Yep. This one did. Most of them do, the ones I’ve been around
The plug was a fentanyl addict himself, so he always had narcan aroundThe plug kept narcan injections?