We left our heroine hurtling through space and desperate for oblivion. Will she take a hit of Ether Bliss?
If you are new to the world of Roxie Vega, it’s not too late to join the adventure! Catch up on previous chapters here: (I suggest beginning with Roxie’s first love. Chapter 1)
Chapter 8
Battle High
by Angelique Fawns
Promising herself this would be a one-time-only deal, Roxie tucked the long nail on her baby finger into the bag, scooped up some of the powder, and held it under her nostril.
Then she paused…
She’d seen what Ether Bliss did to addicts. Trembling in the darker corners of the grandstands at the racetrack. Sleeping in bus shelters. Roxie had experienced some tough days as a kid, including hiding under her pillow while her dad hosted drug and alcohol-fueled parties. And she’d snuck a few bottles of booze from the liquor cabinet to share with her friends. But she always kept in control. Hardly touched drugs, and certainly nothing as strong as Ether Bliss.
If Buzz couldn’t be the parent, then she had to have her wits about her. Roxie by age six was taking money from her father’s roll of cash in his sock drawer to buy milk and cereal. Snorting oblivion, no matter how much she wanted to, would be weak.
There must be another way she could pass the time. She let the powder trickle off her fingernail back into the baggie, and then she tucked it back under the seat. The claustrophobia washed over her yet again, and she clenched her hands into fists.
If only she could have fought back against Simon and Viper. Swinging her arm, she feigned punching Simon in the face. The visual made her smile. This was something to focus on. Revenge could be just as intoxicating as any drug. With her mind’s eye, she envisioned a full fight sequence.
Simon would rush at her, his fighting style all street and no art. Those four arms meant nothing if you could move fast enough. Roxie saw herself watching his center mass, anticipating every swing and ducking like a dancer. When he swung high with his upper right, she’d drive her fist into his solar plexus. He looked like the kind of Oberian that smoked far too much wacky tobacco. He’d be wheezing like an exhausted thoroughbred horse in no time.
Viper would be circling, trying to drag her out of the fight and protect her. Thinking she was too weak for his massive friend. Roxie loved being underestimated. She would grab the collar of Simon’s jacket and yank him backward, sending him stumbling into Viper. The two men would go down in a tangle of limbs. She could almost feel it—the surge of adrenaline, the clean burn in her muscles. She would use their own shoelaces from their shitkicker boots and tie them up, hands behind their backs. To savor the moment she would raise her leg, and aim for Simon’s groin. She’d catch his eye and relish the terror she’d see there.
But then she’d drop her foot, and laugh.
This scenario was fun to imagine, and she thought about all the different ways she could send the two men flying. She let it get ridiculous. Throwing oil on the landing strip and watching them slip and fall. Blinding them with sparkle dust. Tickling them till they puked with laughter. Bitch slapping them until their heads spun…
This concept made for a fantastic reality show! Bully Beat Downs, or something. She could be the producer…
The space pod shook and her eyes flew open. The smile died on her lips. As satisfying as the fantasy was, it was just that a fantasy. Buzz was still in trouble and she was still in a tiny ship rocketing towards the muddy planet of Oberon filling the port hole.
FILLING the port hole instead of being a muddy dot in the distance. She was entering the gravitational pull of Oberon which was why her pod was shaking.
She was almost there!
What happens when she lands on Oberon? While Dana goes back to Earth to save Buzz, Roxie has a debt to pay off at the Big Rig Oil & Casino. Tune in next Wednesday, for a surprise NONE of us could see coming.
Looking for one-off FULLY self-contained Roxie adventures? (No prior knowledge needed to enjoy these reprint Roxie tales.)