She's the Light and Heat Of Every Sun

Henry

The lights of the city flew past as Natalie, my girlfriend, dragged me down the street. She finally stopped outside the doors of another random night club. Natalie tugged at my arm, getting impatient.

"Come on, this is my favorite club, let's go in!" She whined.

I looked at her, puzzled. This wasn't the Natalie I knew.

"Okay, isn't three clubs a little much for a Tuesday night..." I pulled out my phone. 12:07 AM, the screen read. "...Wednesday morning?!" What was up with her?

Natalie moved closer to me. "Henry, baby..." She wrapped her arms around my neck and came close to kissing me, but instead whispered in my ear: "You wanna make me happy, right?"

I pushed her away gingerly. "Nat... You're high. What are you on?" I asked, completely aware the only drugs she would be willing to get her hands on were her mom's old set of meds.

Natalie stepped back a bit and started rummaging through her purse, pulling out a few bright orange pill bottles and showing them to me. "Adderall, and Xanex, and Valium, and... Robitussin." She grinned as she gave the bottle a little shake.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. I didn't know what to say.

"Now let's go!" Natalie shoved me into the club along with her.

Natalie

My vision blurred and the music blared. My soul was ablaze. I was the light and heat of every sun, the bullet from a magic gun. I felt really good. Drugs were my escape. Some days, Mozart just wouldn't get me high enough.

I do remember Henry making me sit down at one point, and then I closed my eyes. I woke up to see...

Mom? 

It was in fact my mother, hospital gown and all, standing before me. It had been a week or so since she had started her ECT treatments, which, - might I add - is a last resort only used on patents who are immediately suicidal. Apparently that applied to my mother.

She saw me too.

"Natalie, sweetheart! ...What are you doing in my electricity?" We walked toward each other at the same time.

"It's always about you, isn't it?" I smirked with a slight giggle. "I'm Robi-tripping! I can't feel my legs!" I exclaimed.

My mom scoffed in disbelief.  "You know, Natalie, I don't want you doing drugs!"

I turned away. "Oh, that's persuasive, coming from the Prizer Woman of the Year. You're the one who's hallucinating." I muttered sarcastically.

"It's my treatment. Everything is different now..." My mom replied, with a hint of... sadness in her voice. I couldn't really tell.

I sighed heavily. "I know what you mean." She was right. Everything was different.

I heard someone calling my name in the distance.

Henry

I'm not sure when I lost Natalie. I told her to go sit down while she rode out the high. I knew she had brought her phone with her, so I'd spent the last 15 minutes frantically texting her, before realizing I should actually go and look for her.

I turned down the alleyway that was next to the night club. I held out my phone for a source of light.  There Natalie was, slumped up against the wall, passed out. As I got closer, I noticed her phone was next to her.

"Oh god, Nat." I shuddered. She tried to call me.

I crouched down by her, checking her wrist for a pulse. Still beating. I did this every time I had to come find her. I guess it reassured me that I was doing the right thing, to some extent. It's not exactly 'boyfriend material' to leave your drugged up girlfriend out on the streets in the middle of the night.

I grabbed her shoulders and shook her gently. "Natalie." I shook her again, a little more forcefully this time. "Natalie! Damn it."

I hated this. I hated doing this to her.

Her eyes fluttered and she stirred.

"There are those brown eyes," I said softly, pushing a stray hair out of her eyes. I didn't like having to scold her right after she'd came down from a high.

"Henry..." She whispered, grasping for me, struggling to get up.

"Shh... Just breath." I told her, helping her on her feet.

I realized Natalie was literally wearing a short sleeve shirt and a mini-skirt in the middle of February, so I gave her my hoodie as we started to walk in the general direction of the Goodman house. 

I stopped walking after we'd gotten out of the bad part of the city. "Nat, this was the fifth night in a row I've had to come find you passed out at some random club, you know that?"

She glared at me. "Yeah?"

I put my hands in my pockets and shrugged. "Yeah."

Natalie was silent.

"Look at me." I lifted her chin so her eyes would meet mine. "I know, it's hard. But I know you don't wanna be like this forever. So you could at least try to stay clean, for me?"

Natalie looked away, and then she nodded. I saw a tear run down her face before she turned away and kept walking.

She finally figured it out. She knows how messed up this is.

I put my arm around her and pulled her closer to me. "This is good, Nat. It's a good start."

Natalie put her head on my shoulder and looked up at me, her eyes red from crying and bloodshot from the drugs. "Thanks, Henry."