Blue Stars

It was the 1970s, do I have to say anything more? I’m pretty sure that everybody has that picture in their mind of some dirty hippie that was clearly on drugs, singing and dancing around with other dirty, stereotypical dirty hippies of the time.



Hippies were a large part of the 60’s and 70’s, mostly because they were different and misunderstood. Now I’m going to say right now that this is not a lecture about hippies. I’m just stating the obvious that most people think of them whenever the 1970’s are mentioned. And to be honest I wouldn’t blame them, I mean I grew up through this strange decade where stories of Hippies and their use of drugs frightened parents across the U.S. of the message it would send to their children. In fact they were so frightened that they would believe almost any story they heard about the drugs, or the sex, or anything that circulated around this group of people.



Well, I grew up in a small town in the New England area through the 70s. I’d say it was a pretty normal town, it had a church, school, a few things to do here and there, and all that. It was a pretty tight-knit community too, I mean almost everybody knew each other, and if I ever went out on a walk I would make a friendly wave to at least five people. As with any small town there was gossip, a lot of gossip. It seemed that if a man picked up

his daughter wrong, half the town would hear about it in a day. If I really wanted to hear any of the daily dirt on anyone all I would have to do is just get my hair cut down at the hair parlor.



   If you ever got a haircut there, you would more than likely hear some of the many stories about how either Eliza Dawson was caught in the cornfield with some boy, or about how Spencer Wolfington and his little gang of hoodlums lit a bag of dog shit on sheriff Godfrey’s porch. Oh the things I heard while sitting on that chair getting my hair buzzed would always make me leave wondering what really goes on in other people’s lives.



   Jonathan Cambel was my name, Jim for short, and life in the town was pretty normal for me. Being roughly 17 at the time I could drive, giving me a little freedom. But mostly my day consisted of me getting up in the morning, getting to school (Usually barely on time), just getting through the day from going through each class, never really attracted any attention because I was no major athlete, or some boy-genius. I was just a normal kid who averaged B’s on his report card and was nothing really special. After I got home from school there were a few things I would really do, either just watching whatever the hell was on television because I really wasn’t picky on what I watched. It was that, or just me playing baseball with the neighborhood kids. Other than that I really didn’t do anything special.



Now, before you think that I was some loner I just want you to know that I wasn’t. My friends and I just really hung out during the summer, because during the school year at least one of us would be busy and it wouldn’t seem right.

I mainly had just three friends out of an entire class of 21 people. The first one that comes to mind right away would be Jerin. He was a daring, rebellious type kid. The thing that stuck out most about him was his long dark brown hair, and his thin muscular frame. You could dare him to do just about anything and he would probably do it, as long as it didn’t go against his morals.

Secondly who comes to mind would be Erin, he was usually busy though. A short tempered, short haired blondy, he was cocky, kind of a narcissist but was a hell of a baseball player, if he wasn’t playing baseball he was probably screwing around with me or Jerin.



Lastly there was Tim, he was a pretty mild kid, not very daring but he still hung around with us. Hell of a Arcade player I’ll give you that. I don’t think any of us ever beat him in pong.

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<p class="MsoNormal">The three of us when together were as thick as thieves, and it stayed that way all throughout high school it seemed. But in the summer of 1974 that changed. Jerin went out of town to live with his cousin’s for the summer. So for Tim, Erin, and I it was a pretty quite summer, it was weird not hearing Jerin’s care-free voice mocking politics, or Eliza Dawson.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Soon, school started back up again. No sign of Jerin. Erin and I would often start joking saying we should start checking ditches for his body. Tim of course, didn’t find it funny. School seemed normal, except for that the new latest ‘Warning Fad’ had come back gain. It seemed that almost every year some kind of story about LSD would circle around the school and eventually the staff would get ahold of it and make a huge deal about it. We would get these daily lectures from my chemistry teacher about how LSD and all those other hippie drugs would fuck up our mind to the point that we would be burnt out druggies begging for another trip of acid.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Whatever, I didn’t listen to them. I had no opinion on drugs at the time, I just knew that they were there and that people were doing them. This new Warning Fad that the school took up blew up way more than I expected.

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<p class="MsoNormal">   The way that the story went is that there were these Mickey Mouse temporary lick-and-stick tatto

<p class="MsoNormal">os would be soaked in LSD, and obviously when one licked it to apply it to their arm one would get the effects of LSD. Some of the effects listed seemed a little blown out of proportion, but others seemed to match what I heard about the drug before. But there was just something about the picture of this mickey mouse dressed in his sorcerer’s apprentice or whatever it’s called outfit creeped me the fuck out. I would walk around the entire school and every time I turned a corner I would see the large ‘WARNING!’ then the mouse. I swore the little rat’s hollowed eyes would follow me as I walked down the hall, with that stupid smile and those blue stars that he was casting.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Whatever though, that’s probably what the school official wanted right? A poorly copied flyers hanging up all around the high school. Anyway, life went on, I went through school just like any other year. Jerin still wasn’t around, wherever he was I hoped that he was alright, and not actually dead in some ditch because to be honest, he has pissed a lot of people off in his life.

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<p class="MsoNormal">There was just some kind of void in my life, as if something were missing without him around. I could say that the man was like the brother that I never had. I guess that’s part of why what went down over the course of these next three days happened.

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<p class="MsoNormal">It was mid October, the leaves had all changed color; it wasn’t too hot out or too cold. Needless to say I think that October is my favorite season. And after a long wait, Jerin finally showed up at school after what seemed like almost a year. When I heard all of the people in the school saying that Jerin was back, I automatically went to go see him along with Tim and Erin. “What do you think he’s been doing this whole time?” Tim asked as we walked down the hall. “Who knows, he was probably fucking around with some college kids!” Erin said. The two of them were conversational, I was just anxious to see my friend again.

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<p class="MsoNormal">After what seemed to be a five-minute walk we finally found Jerin. Jerin was just leaned up against his locker, staring at the ceiling. The moment we saw him…I’d say that we were mostly confused and curious. His appearance was different from when we last saw him. His hair, was even longer, and his skin was very pale, almost sick looking. He looked even more scrawny, and was wearing all these arm bands and necklaces. When we finally got the sense to say hello to him he didn’t even look at us, he just looked at the wall and said “Sup dudes.”.

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<p class="MsoNormal">We asked him where the hell he was, and what he was doing this whole time. Jerin just said that he was just hanging around his cousins the entire time, and doing some pretty wild shit. He seemed to emphasize on the ‘wild shit’ part of his little story. At the time I didn’t know what that meant. If I did, I probably wouldn’t have gotten into the shit that I was about to.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Jerin was the talk of the school, some of the things he did while with his cousin’s soon spread. I don’t know how because apparently it was pretty far away. There would be so many tales of him hooking up with multiple women, smoking a bunch of dope, and just some wild things. There were even some tales of violence while he was high, about how he knocked some guy flat on the ground while he was tripping on acid. Personally I didn’t know what to believe, I had always known that Jerin was a wild, care-free person but I didn’t think he was this hardcore into the lifestyle!

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<p class="MsoNormal">During lunch that day, Erin, Tim, and I decided we should do something with Jerin just for old time sakes. We asked Jerin if we wanted to hang out after school and he kindly agreed to do so. Jerin told us to meet him behind his house, and so we agreed to do so.

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<p class="MsoNormal">So, after school I got into my car with Tim, and we started to drive to Jerin’s place. Erin had his own car, so he drove himself there. I remember while driving Tim just had this weird look on his face, like he was concerned, and he kept this look on his face the entire drive. “Jerin’s…different…I don’t have a good feeling about this.” He finally said. I just shrugged it off and told him that it would be fine, and that Jerin was always different. Tim then was wondering if all the stories they heard about him were true. I didn’t reply to that…I didn’t know the answer to it.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Eventually we arrived at Jerin’s house. I’d say his house was a normal house. I looked to see that Erin had already pulled into the driveway, so I just parked on the street. Tim and I got out of the car, and approached Erin. We heard Jerin’s voice behind the house calling us to the backyard. Jerin’s voice seemed to guide us to the backyard, and I slowly approached his fence and hopped over it. In plain sight in the backyard was a tent that looked very old and unreliable. It was made of an ugly green color, looked kind of like something out of the army. Anyway Jerin told us to go into the tent. Reluctantly Tim, Erin, and I looked at each other and entered into this strange tent.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Jerin quickly sat down in the tent on top of a suitcase, and so the rest of us sat down on the floor. “What the hell are we doing in here?” I finally asked. “Just chill…Relax man.” Jerin replied calmly. Jerin got up off the suitcase, turned around and opened it. Words cannot describe the amount of shit that I saw in there, I think I finally realized just what the hell Jerin was doing over the summer. Jerin took out this little pieces of paper, and tossed on to each of us.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Looking down at this little piece of paper I quickly figured out that it was a lick-and-stick tattoo. Almost fucking identical to the picture I saw on the warning pictures. “They call them ‘Blue Stars’” Jerin said. “I’ve gotten past so many cops with these things, they just think they’re tattoos!”

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<p class="MsoNormal">“Well what are you guys waiting for? Lick them.” Jerin said.

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<p class="MsoNormal">“Fuck this. I’m out of here!” Erin said, he quickly got up and opened up to the tent flap, and turned around to Tim and I. “Come on guys we’re leaving.”

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<p class="MsoNormal">“Don’t be a fucking pussy Erin. Are you scared of a little acid?” Jerin said. Erin just shook his head, he was clearly upset. He got out of the tent, and closed the flab behind it and we heard him run off, and then his car driving off. “What about you two? Are you guys gonna pussy out like Erin, and be a couple of fucking squares?”

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<p class="MsoNormal">“No…” Tim replied. I said nothing, I was just staring at the lick-and-stick tattoo. After sitting there for a couple seconds I finally just thought fuck it, and licked the damn tattoo.

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<p class="MsoNormal">I can’t really say what kept me there, besides the fact that I just wanted to be with my old friend again, and at the time I guess we were both now heading down the shit together. Words cannot describe my first trip of acid. There were just all these colors, I couldn’t feel anything, everything was just…slower, more peaceful it seemed. Although the whole time I was on the stuff, I had this feeling in the back of my head that this wasn’t right. Also, I could have swore that I heard this strange care-free laughing in the background. But, I assumed it was one of the neighborhood kids and shrugged it off.

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<p class="MsoNormal">I laid in that tent probably for a good hour, at least until the sun was setting and it was getting dark. Slowly, I pulled myself up, still seeing blury things, and strange colors. “Tim…come on, it’s getting late.” I said to Tim. Tim sat there for a second, he never blinked and he just had this blank stare like I wasn’t there. “Come on man…” I said to him. He finally started blinking, and I helped him up.

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<p class="MsoNormal">“Guys, take a few of these. I got plenty to go around.” Jerin said, and he handed us 4 blue stars each. I then opened up the tent flab, and walked outside. The air was cool, and the night was calm. Although I still heard some kind of laughing sound, but I shrugged it off, knowing I was still high. Walking across the yard, I saw that every little source of light stuck out to me, and they were all changing colors and before I knew it all of the streetlights in the neighborhood became some sort of colorful lightshow for me.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Tim followed very close behind me, he was so spaced out that I had to grab his arm and lead him into my car. I set him down into shotgun (The seat, not gun) and walked to the other side of the car. I opened up the car door and my eye glanced at the mirror on the side of the door.

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<p class="MsoNormal">In the reflection of the mirror I saw a window from the house next to Jerin’s. Staring at me through the window of the home that was reflected from the mirror was a black and white mickey mouse. He looked exactly the same as the one on the warning poster all around the school, and on the lick-and-stick tattoo. He just had that creepy smile on his face, and those hollow eyes that I swear followed me wherever I turned my head.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Getting the scared, empty feeling in my stomach I got into my car and shut the door. I kept staring at the mirror, and seeing the mouse stare right back at me. I slowly turned my head over to Tim. “Do you see him?” I asked him, while I was slowly shaking. Tim’s head just slowly turned over to me and he just stared at me. “It’s not real…it can’t be.” Is all that Tim said to me.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Tim made a good point, it wasn’t real. I kept telling that to myself as I pushed the clutch down, and shifted into first gear and drove off. I reached over to the radio and turned it on. The usual songs were playing, just care-free rock. I drove Tim to his house and dropped him off. He was still pretty spaced out, it looked like he could barely walk. The shit must have hit him harder than it hit me.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Right when I backed out of his driveway, and pulled out into the street the radio jockey started to do his normal talking of the news. I could swear though that I heard a high pitched laughing behind him, as if someone were sitting right behind him laughing at everything he said.

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<p class="MsoNormal">The laughing sent a chill down my spine, and I finally turned it off. This LSD trip was getting fucked up, but I could see the colors from the street lights fading away so I knew that the trip must be close to be over. I finally got home, and went to bed. My folks were already asleep so I didn’t have to worry about them seeing me high, though I would have some explaining to do in the morning.

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<p class="MsoNormal">The next morning I quickly got up, threw on a shirt and some jeans and walked out. When my folks asked where the hell I was last night I told them that I was with Jerin, Tim, and Erin. I left out the part that I got high on acid, and they seemed to believe me. School was quite that day, Jerin wasn’t at school, neither was Erin or Tim. As I walked down the hallway the chatter went silent, and I got the feeling that people were staring at me. Erin came to school right around noon, he looked like he barely got any sleep. I tried to talk to him but he just ignored me, walked right past me.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Finally, when I was determined to talk to Erin I finally cornered him in the hallway and asked him what the hell was up. I told him I understood that he was mad at me but he had no reason to ignore me. “You don’t get it, do you Jim? You, Tim, and Jerin are the talk of the school right now. Everyone’s saying that you guys do all this crazy shit and deal drugs!” Erin said.

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<p class="MsoNormal">“Come on, it was just one hit of Acid, I haven’t fucking done anything crazy or dealt out any drugs!” I said to him.

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<p class="MsoNormal">“That doesn’t fucking matter, I don’t want to be involved in any of that shit!” Erin said, he then pushed me aside and walked away. I didn’t speak to anyone in the school for the rest of the day.

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<p class="MsoNormal">I sat in my car for a bit, deciding what I was going to do next. My eyes slowly turned to my glove compartment, where I stored the blue stars. Just one more hit couldn’t hurt anything right?

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<p class="MsoNormal">Knowing that I could quit almost anytime that I wanted to I got down, opened up the glove compartment and grabbed one of the blue stars. This one didn’t have the fucked-up Mickey Mouse on it though, instead the Dallas Cowboys logo. I gave the blue star a good licking, then tossed it out of the car and drove off, heading straight to Jerin’s house.

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<p class="MsoNormal">As I drove, my chest started to feel fuzzy, and my vision began to blur. I could have sworn that I saw black shaded figures standing in the middle of the rode. I ended up slamming my breaks for one of them, and they just vanished right in front of my eyes. Every time I would see one of these guys out of the corner of my eye I would slam the breaks, eventually I almost got rear-ended by a car. Realizing that driving was too dangerous for me right now, I pulled the car off to the side of the rode next to the curb, and got out. It was a short walk from here to Jerins, and it wasn’t that bad of a day out but I kept fucking hearing this deranged high-pitched laughing, and then I would always see this shadow figure out of the corner of my eye that would be gone when I turned over to see it.

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<p class="MsoNormal">I saw this figure so many times that I found myself running as fast as I could to Jerin’s place, with this shadow figure appearing in front of me, behind me, to the left of me, to the right of me. He was everywhere, and I couldn’t escape him! With Jerin’ house in sight, I broke full sprint until suddenly the figure appeared right in front of me, just standing straight tall, and being as dark as a shadow.

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<p class="MsoNormal">I kept thinking to myself that it’s not real, and how I would never trip LSD ever again! Slowly, I raised up my left arm and tried to touch this thing, it just went right through it. It suddenly became all blury, and slowly faded away. Creepy shit it was, but I worked through it and ran into Jerin’s house.

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<p class="MsoNormal">The floor that I was on was mostly empty, it was obvious that his parents weren’t home. I could hear all these voices in the basement, and I followed them into the basement. “Jimmy my man! Come take a seat!” Jerin yelled up. He was sitting in the center of his basement, surrounded by at least 6 people from my grade that I didn’t especially know that well. I sat down next to Jarin and took a good look around. All of these people were either laying down on their backs staring at the ceiling, or licking the hell out of these blue stars. ‘Shit’ I thought to myself, I knew this wasn’t good.

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<p class="MsoNormal">“Have a taste man.” Jerin said to me, handing me a blue star.

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<p class="MsoNormal">“No thanks…I’m already tripped out.” I said to Jerin.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Jerin laughed hysterically. “Far out man, far out!” He said, talking like a hippie.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Sitting down there in that basement I don’t think I ever had tripped out worse than that. I could keep hearing these little whispers from all around me, I would ask some of the people around me if they said anything but they would always reply that they didn’t say anything. The walls of the room began to close in on me it felt, and the room seemed to shake, making me collapse on my back. I could feel my breathing getting heavier and heavier, the room getting tighter, and tighter. Soon, all the light in the room began to fade away from me. The laughter of all the people around me became louder, and louder.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Then, suddenly everything went black. And I was soon met by silence. I heard that deranged hysterical laughing again, and I opened my eyes after what seemed like only a minute. I got up, and looked around the room. All of the lights were off, and everyone was gone except for Jerin who was laying down on the couch staring at the ceiling. Clearly it had gotten late again, the sun wasn’t out anymore. Feeling like shit, I slowly pulled myself off the ground and headed for the stairs, trying to ignore this huge headache I had. “Where are you going?” Jerin asked me.

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<p class="MsoNormal">“Home.” I said, feeling droggy and like shit.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Jerin didn’t say anything, he just waved me goodbye. I walked up his stairs and out of his house, by now the acid had worn off so everything looked normal again. After walking five long, cold blocks I made it into my car. I got into the drivers seat, checked my mirrors and radio, and there was nothing creepy going on. Motivated never to do LSD again, I reached over to my glove compartment.

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<p class="MsoNormal">I pulled down the handle, and heard the clicks and the glove compartment opened. I grabbed the three blue stars that I had, and dropped them out of the car, deciding that I was done with that shit, I don’t want my mind fucked with anymore. Putting the car into first gear, then second I took my time driving home, I even took the long route that went past Tim’s house.

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<p class="MsoNormal">The night was dark, and it seemed that you could see even the faintest light through it. As I drove up Grove Street, and got ready to turn I noticed that there were flashing red and blue lights to the right of me, on the same street that Tim lived on. Curious as I usually was, I turned my car over and drove past them. In front of Tim’s house were three cop cars, all empty but with the siren lights flashing still. Lifting my foot off the gas, pushing in the clutch and shifting into first gear I slowly went by Tim’s house.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Tim’s yard and house seemed empty, when suddenly the door opened and Sheriff   Godfrey came out with Tim and 5 other officers, Tim being handcuffed of course. Why the hell were the arresting Tim? He had done nothing wrong, if anything I’d say Jerin would be booked for supplying drugs, but not Tim! All of these were thoughts that went through my head as I watched Tim be pushed into the back of a police cruiser. I drove off, looking as ordinary as I could, before shifting into 3rd gear and racing to my house.

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<p class="MsoNormal">I pulled the car into my driveway as fast as I could, then unbuckled the seatbelt and raced out of the car, sprinting inside of the house. I was immediately greeted by the yelling of my mother and father of them demanding to know where I was and what I was doing. Ignoring them, I grabbed the telephone, unplugged it, and went and locked myself in my room where I plugged it in. Quickly, but carefully, I dialed Jerin’s number. Listening to the beeping of it trying to contact Jerin’s house, seemed like hours until it was finally picked up. “Hello?” Jerin said. “Dude, I just saw Tim being arrested!”

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<p class="MsoNormal">“Dude, they think that we’re drug dealers or something man! Word’s spread around town and-“ Jerin’s voice was cut off by the sound of Police Sirens ouside. “Oh shit…Fuck this, I’m ditching man. Dude, ditch your home and hide! Meet me at Erin’s place tomorrow at 6 PM!” Jerin yelled into the phone, before I heard it get slammed onto the ground. I hung up, and got to work quickly. I threw on a sweater and Jacket, and a few snacks and escaped my room through my window. I could hear the police sirens slowly approaching my house so I ran as far, and as fast as I could through my neighbors yards.

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<p class="MsoNormal">I ran until I was out of breath, and then I just walked until I reached the edge of the woods. I just barely entered the woods, to the point that I could see town, but it would be hard for them to see me. Exhaustion had gotten to me by then, and I was all jittery and I still felt like shit from the acid. Looking up at the stars, I slowly closed my eyes and went to sleep.

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<p class="MsoNormal">I’d say that was the longest night of my life. Not knowing what was going to happen next, and being hunted by the police for something that I didn’t even do. For the rest of the night and day I just laid behind that tree, consistently checking my watch. Six PM was the only thing going through my mind, and what would happen at Erin’s house. I knew he wouldn’t be happy to see us, especially Jerin, but it was something that I had to do. When you’re alone, and in the dark of the woods you realize that being alone and scared sucks.

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<p class="MsoNormal">After waiting what felt like days, it was finally six PM. I began to journey through backyards to Erin’s home. After about 10 minutes I finally reached it. I went inside to see Erin sitting on his couch, looking pissed. “What the fuck do you want huh?” Erin asked me.

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<p class="MsoNormal">“Where’s Jerin?” I asked.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Erin told me that Jerin had gone back home to grab his hidden stash, and that he would be back soon. I wasn’t going to wait around any longer, so I decided to high tail it to Jerin’s house and see if I could meet him there.

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<p class="MsoNormal">I got to Jerin’s house, and went inside. The place was ransacked, furniture was thrown all over the place, there were broken lights, the table was broken in half, and all the drawers were thrown all over the place. I called out Jerin’s name, but heard nothing back. Everything was silent, but I heard was sounded like someone breathing weak, and painfully with this wheezing sound.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Slowly I approached the dining room, and walked into it. In the corner of the room sat Jerin’s mother, lifeless. Her eyes were closed, and her head was facing the ground, she had multiple knife wounds on her. “J…imm..y” I heard from the other side of the room, followed by that painful breathing and wheezing. Slowly, I turned my head over to the sound. Laying on the ground was Jerin’s father, there was a broken chair lying next to him and it looks like he had been badly beaten and stabbed.

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<p class="MsoNormal">I ran up to him and immediately asked who did this. Jerin’s father closed his eyes. “Jerin…he thought we took his things…we didn’t though…I tried to stop him.” he said. Just then, the wheezing noise stopped, and he stopped breathing.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Chills traveled down the back of my spine, and I was met with this cold, empty feeling. I had never seen anyone die before…especially like this. A fear soon came to me, I knew that Jerin did this, I always heard stories about how violent he was when he was on, or off his drugs, I just couldn’t believe he went this far.

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<p class="MsoNormal">“Erin!” I yelled, quickly realizing that my friend could be in danger. There was no time to loose, I ran out into the driveway and went into Jerin’s father’s car, it still had the keys in it. I turned on the ignition, backed out of the driveway and speeded to Erin’s house, every block went by fast, I didn’t even stop for traffic, I think the only thing going faster than this car was my heartbeat that felt that it could burst out of my chest any minute.

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<p class="MsoNormal">I sped into Erin’s driveway and slammed the breaks. The breaks didn’t slow down the car enough however, and I went right through the garage door. I got out of the car and ran into Erin’s house, met by the same silence that was in Jerin’s house. “ERIN!” I screamed as I ran down the hallway. I heard a window shatter, and I followed the noise into the bathroom.

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<p class="MsoNormal">There, Erin laid face down on the bathroom floor, with multiple stab wounds on the back of his neck. I remember screaming as loud as I could. I don’t remember what I screamed, I think it might have been Jerin’s name. Then, I heard the sound of Jerin’s car turn on, and pull out of the driveway.

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<p class="MsoNormal">I chased after the car, running out of the house and into the street. “Jerin!” I screamed, as I jumped onto the back of the car he was driving. He started to speed up, and then he slammed the brakes and I was thrown onto the hood of his car, and then into the ground. He then drove around me and sped off, heading north.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Luckily for me, I think that the car hood broke most of my fall, I had a pain in my back but it wasn’t anything serious. I knew, there was only one place Jerin was heading to if he was going North. We had gone there plenty of times in our childhood, and it was always our hiding spot if we ever were in trouble.

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<p class="MsoNormal">The old abandoned meat packing plant, it was shut down for at least 40 years due to the company going bankrupt, along with plenty of accidents in the factory. I’m honestly surprised nobody bought the property yet, but I guess taking out all that equipment and demolishing the building would cost too much. Anyway, I found my car at my home, and I drove off, I had to confront Jerin, it had to be me, nobody else.

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<p class="MsoNormal">After a 15 minute drive through the forest I finally came upon the abandoned meat packing plant. The building was old, and it was clearly falling apart. All of the white paint on the outside of it was all chipping off, and all the metal on the building was rusted. I’m surprised it’s lasted this long, and I’ve always thought the place was haunted. I entered into the plant through the front door. “Jerin!” I called out. I could hear the faint noise of music at the back of the plant. I started to slowly walk through the old, crappy building. There was crap all over the floor, from pigeon droppings, to rusty metal, to pieces of ceiling. I kept calling out Jerin’s name, and the sound of the rock music just kept going.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Jerin was probably in the manager’s office, that was the spot he liked to hang out at whenever we were here before. It would be simple enough getting to there, the only problem was that I didn’t know the exact way to it, and I had to enter though a maze of rusted and broken machines. The rusty beams that went across the ceiling looked like they could barely take the weight, and there was pigeon crap all over it.

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<p class="MsoNormal">I continued through this forgotten place, and I passed a few large wheels that went into the floor. Listening for even the slightest sound, I heard this loud banging noise, and then that fucking high pitched laughing! Knowing that I needed to keep calm, I tried to ignore it the best that I could. Ahead of me was a large box-shaped machine, I climbed on top of it and saw that I was almost to the end of the processing section.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Eventually I made it to the end of the room, and I entered through the meat storage part of the facility. Rusty meat hooks hung from these abandoned freezers, and they slowly rocked back and fourth, making this creeking noise of it rocking back and fourth, back and fourth. I kept hearing these footsteps on the floor above me, but when I finally made my way upstairs no one was up there. Was Jerin playing some kind of fucking sick game with me?

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<p class="MsoNormal">I called out Jerin’s name again, and again, still no reply. But I could hear that fucking radio growling louder each step, hearing this long guitar solo from this radio that was slowly dying. Eventually after walking through this section I found the staircase that led up a floor. Stopping to catch my breathe for a second, I heard whispers from the room to the right of me. Not wanting to stay on this floor any longer, I went up the floor where I heard the music directly in front of me.

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<p class="MsoNormal">The floor that I was on was in the worst condition, there was graffiti on the walls, holes in the floor. Every time I took a step I could hear the floor creak, and hear the beams below me sound like they were going to give out. I started to check each room up here, and in one room I even found shitty mattress with some bongs next to them.

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<p class="MsoNormal">The radio was as loud as it could be, and it was dying. The sound began to slowly fade, and come back, and fade, and come back. I followed it until I finally came to a room with some light in it. There sat Jerin, leaning back in his chair, smoking a joint and staring at the ceiling. I opened up the door and took a good look at him. He was covered in blood, his wrist had cuts all under them, and he had blue star tattoos all over him, on his face, arms, hands, and even on his ankles. On a desk next to him was a bloody kitchen knife.

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<p class="MsoNormal">“Jerin…” I said to him. His head slowly turned to me, and he moved the chair to face me. He just stared at me, and slowly got up, and reached for his knife. “Why did you do it…What the fuck is wrong with you!” I yelled at him.

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<p class="MsoNormal">He never said anything, he just stared at me. Jerin’s eyes were so glassy I could see my own reflection in them. I started to back up, as Jerin slowly treaded toward me with a limp. The blood from his wrist slowly dripped onto the floor each step. The radio on the desk suddenly had a jolt of life, and the song Helter Skelter by the Beatles came on very suddenly. I stared at Jerin as I backed up, his eyes soon got this angry, pissed off look and his teeth started to grind together. His breathing grew harder and harder each step. I backed out of the door on the other side of the office, that led to a catwalk that went above the entire production part of the factory. Below me, I could see all of the rusty machines, and the floor that seemed so far down.

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<p class="MsoNormal">The catwalk creeked every step, and I swear it could give out at any moment. Jerin was no longer limping, now he was increasing his speed. He finally lunged at me and tackled me to the ground. I let out a scream as my back hit the rusty surface of the catwalk, and the entire catwalk shook when we both landed, as if it were going to give out any second.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Jerin looked me dead in the eyes, and slowly raised his knife up into the air. “Don’t do it!” I yelled up at Jerin.

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<p class="MsoNormal">“It’s time…fucker.” He mumbled, and tightened his grip on the knife.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Just then a loud scraping of metal noise was made, followed by a loud screeching noise. The support beams of the front of the catwalk gave out, and Jerin, then me started tumbling down the catwalk that was now diagonal to the ground. I heard a loud ‘THUD’, and then I hit something softer than metal or concrete.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Realizing I was alive, I took a deep breathe, and looked up. I was laying against Jerin’s body, and next to Jerin’s head was a pool of blood. He had unintentionally broken my fall when he must have hit the ground head first. I got up, and I could still hear the radio blasting the song helter skelter in the background until it finally died. I swore I still heard whispers, and even a high pitched laughing, followed by the sounds of Sirens in the background.

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<p class="MsoNormal">Walking outside, I put my hands up, and got down on my knees. The sheriff quickly came out, ranting something and I was soon handcuffed. They asked me where Jerin was, and I told them that he was inside the factory, dead, and the entire story of what happened. As I sat in the back of the police car, I waited for them to bring a body out. They never did, I was told that all they found was a puddle of blood on the ground next to the lower section of the catwalk.

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<p class="MsoNormal">I was told that the reason Jerin attacked me was more than likely that he saw me as someone else because he was all fucked up on drugs. Honestly I can’t say what caused it…maybe it was the Blue Stars. Sometimes though as I lay down at night in my cell, I swear I still hear that high pitched laughing.