Tripping

 I have to write this down to now, because otherwise I’ll be laughing about it too much to remember the details. And it’s not like there’s anything else to do in here. I’m still coming down so I hope this make sense cause I’ll be pissed if I have a page full of gibberish.

This weekend we went out to Tom’s parents cabin. It was me, Tom, Joe, and Neil. We figured this would be the time to trip, we hadn’t done it since college. Joe hit up one of his sketchy friends and bam, we’re driving out here with a huge bag of shrooms. Neil gets tested for work so he agreed to babysit us, thankfully. We didn’t need a repeat of the MOMA.

So Saturday morning we make some smoothies and down em with breakfast, then hike out to the river and wait for them to kick in. I swear, that hour when they start to hit but you don’t trip yet is perfection. And today when we were looking over the water and the sun was twinkling on it and the trees were so green, AHH. We’d all go silent for a while just appreciating the beauty, or at least those of us that weren’t sober would, Neil probably just watched us and laughed.

Once we really started going we decided to hike up to the nearest “peak”, its not really that high but supposedly the view is great. We were on the way and couldn’t stop giggling, when Neil shushed us pretty aggressively. I was so mad, he always tries to fuck with us when we’re messed up. But he did it again and pulled us close.

“I hear footsteps, so someone’s coming. I’ll do the talking but just act normal until they’re gone,” Neil instructed us.

After that we kept going on the trail, trying to have fun but the moment was lost. I swear the sun went behind some clouds or something because it got darker. A few minutes later we all heard some rustling behind us and turned around. Neil approached the area, and a guy emerged from the brush. It may have been the drugs exaggerating but he looked terrible. He looked sickly and his clothes were all torn up and I think he was bleeding. We couldn’t hear what Neil said to him but the guy charged Neil! He got out of the way and threw him down but the guy kept coming at him.

“Guys back to the cabin now!” he yelled at us while continuing to keep the guy at bay.

He didn’t have to tell us twice (lol), we took the widest circle possible around the guy and started walking back towards the cabin. It felt like we were in an adventure movie, it was so much fun. None of us even thought much of the guy, in that moment it all made sense. Neil finally caught up to us about halfway back and quickly took the lead. Whenever we asked him about what was happening he wouldn’t really respond.

We stepped through the clearing and saw the cabin and it really hit me. Anyone who’s done psychedelics knows what I’m talking about. You’re tripping then you’re TRIPPING. My grasp on reality was pretty tenuous, and my motor skills really started to fade. I began walking super slow, taking it all in while the others went up to the front door. A blur of movement got my attention, and to my right was the guy who attacked Neil. After studying him I realized it wasn’t the same guy, different colored shirt, but boy was he also in terrible shape. I approached him slowly, he was making funny noises and shuffling towards me, I didn’t know how much of that was real.

My name began echoing through my head, and I turned to see Neil running at me screaming. Next thing I knew I was on the ground and the guy was on top of me scratching and gnawing. Before I could get him off Neil tackled him and began wrestling with him. I enjoyed watching them duke it out but went back inside and sat with the others. A few minutes later the door opened and Neil walked in, locking it behind him. He kept asking me if I was ok, to which I’d sort of nod, I couldn’t really talk much at that point.

We kept enjoying our trip, while Neil paced the cabin, looking at the windows. Finally I got over the peak of the drugs and began returning to normalcy. There was this pain on my arm that I hadn’t noticed until just now. I went to show Neil and he pulled my sleeve back. It looked bite marks. How weird is that! I don’t even remember biting myself or anything. He poured alcohol on it then put me in the guest bedroom and told me not to leave. He said he didn’t want it getting infected, and that he’d get me in the morning. For some reason he locked the door, but that’s probably so I don’t wander. When I sober up, I’m gonna want to get out of here though.

Today was so weird but so much fun, maybe we’re too old to handle this kind of stuff haha. I hope this makes sense tomorrow!

John