Welcome to Rockwood Underworld

Story of a drug addict

 

  It was late night at the club. The place was packed with people smoking, drinking, talking, whatever. A jazz quartet was playing. Some folks were dancing in the middle. The club had a bluish haze about it. You could taste the smoke- it was so thick in the air. It stank of alcohol and cigarettes, yet the people kept on coming.

  Over in the corner, a man was standing, leaning against the wall. He was quietly puffing away, inhaling slightly. People danced past him. His head was bent forward, to hide his nervous sweating face. He was worried, afraid, nervous and....he was waiting, just waiting. And people still danced past him- not caring, not knowing, not noticing. He pushed up his hat, glanced nervously at the door and then sighed.

  A while ago, he was playing jazz on stage. He always played saxophone. It was his favourite instrument. Bottom line- the sax was his life. When he was playing on stage, all eyes were on him. The people loved him and he loved them. The attention was like a drug washing over him. They clapped and cheered and called for an encore. But that was earlier.

  Now he stood in the corner, waiting. And everyone ignored him. He slowly blew out a long plume of smoke and promptly dropped his cigarette. His eyes intently watched the doorway from under the shadow of his hat. His name was Leonardo Moschino, a young man in his mid 20s. He was tall and skinny. His clothes which had fit him a few months before were now way too big. He had bags under his eyes from lack of sleep and his hair hanged limply into his eyes. In other words, Leo was a wreck. But, hey, most of the people in this place looked like that.

  Leo had been working at the club for a few months now. When he started, Leo was a fit and healthy young man. But over the months, he began to deteriorate. He was disappearing before people's eyes. He'd stopped eating properly. He suffered from insomnia and once a month Leo would hang around after performing and wait like he was doing that day.       

  Leo slowly came out of his train of thought, thinking one thing and one thing only. "I'm dead!"

  Suddenly, another man appeared in the doorway, looking dark and devious. He beckoned to Leo, who had lit another cigarette and was presently puffing away. The man signalled to Leo and then disappeared. After a few minutes, Leo followed him out the door and onto the streets of the infamous Rockwood. The man, who had beckoned to Leo, now stood by the old abandoned warehouse on Chrystal Close. A warehouse used to store illegal products to sell off to the rich and sleazy.

  "Blade, what do ya want?" Leo called to the man stood by the warehouse, who was wearing a long, black trench coat. He turned around and smirked at Leo. His face was barely visible in the half-light.

"Leo, we need to talk!" Blade said in his rumble of a voice, as he indicated for Leo to come closer. Leo stuffed his hands in his pocket but he did not move an inch. He stuck his head up and tried to act tough.

"The name's Sax, everyone calls me Sax, not Leo. Leo's a nobody, Sax is a somebody. Sax is my name." Leo kept his ground, and gave Blade a cold stare.

  "Well, well, well, kid. To me you're Leo, just plain old Leo. Not a somebody, just another junkie in the notorious Rockwood Underworld." At that, Blade pulled out a long, thin, shiny object from underneath his long, black trench coat. Seeing the expression of horror on Leo's face, Blade laughed and started fingering the object almost lovingly.

"Now to business, Leo. My money!!"

Leo began to tremble, stared fixatedly at the ground and mumbled something inaudible. Blade stopped fingering the object and waved his hand under Leo's nose.

  "My money, Leo. I want my money!"

You could see the sweat cluster under Leo's fringe as he nervously fidgeted around. A faint gust of wind blew his hair into his face. Leo began to stutter.

"B-b-blade......I've.....h-had a.....b-bad...week!"

"Leo!"

"B-b-blade, p-please. I-I'll...g-give...you...the money.....n-next...w-week."

"Leo, you're beginning to irritate me-"

"B-blade, I-"

"Don't make me hurt ya Leo."

  At that Blade pointed the object he had pulled out earlier, at Leo. It was a knife! A long, pointed, six-inch blade. The very knife that had given him his name, Blade! Blade looked at Leo for a second with those cold, black eyes of his. He then laughed, slashing Leo across the stomach, making blood spill out in every direction.

  "B-blade! P-please! I'll g-give...you...y-your money. W-what was it? T-three th-thousand d-d-dollars!" Leo fumbled in his pocket as the blood poured out; he yanked out a thick wad of cash and threw it at Blade. Blade pocketed the cash, cleaned his knife and put it back inside his coat and all the while he smirked at Leo. He then crouched down to Leo and grabbed the back of his head.

  "What did I tell ya, kid? About messing with drug dealers, gangsters and crime lords. I told ya, you'd be all washed up. And look at ya now, you're lying on the streets of Rockwood, bleeding to death and no one will give you a second glance. Well, hey, maybe if you'd listened to your friend we could have avoided this whole situation. Yeah, ‘Don't Do Drugs!' that's the moral of this story. So, if ya survive this, which is very unlikely, you may have learned a very valuable lesson from this." Blade paused for a moment and looked thoughtfully at the ground. He then threw Leo's head back into the wall. Leo groaned in pain and his eyes rolled back into his head. Blade got up to leave and then took one last look at Leo.

"Well, ya know, kid." He murmured. "It was good doing business with ya."

And with that Blade walked off, leaving Leo, by the warehouse, for dead.

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   Rockwood Underworld is a terrible place. It's a hell-hole in the backdrops of society. A place nobody cares about. The government has given up on Rockwood too. They can't get control over it, so they've just left it to destroy it self. ‘Outside the law' wouldn't be the right word to describe Rockwood. Rockwood is so far from the law, that it's the exact opposite of the law. Everything the law stands for Rockwood opposes although to be fair, I could say that there is some kind of law in Rockwood but it isn't the kind of law that favours your average citizens. It is a law for outlaws, convicts and criminals of every kind. There are also big criminal organisations here such as the Mafia, Yakuza etc. It's a dangerous life living in Rockwood- to stay safe one has got to pay one of these groups for protection but it isn't always easy. You've got to think on your feet and think fast ‘cause it's always good to have a back up plan in case anything goes awry.

   You may think that I'm trying to give myself an excuse for going down the wrong path but I'm not. It may sound that way to you but I haven't even started to tell about all the corruption and the terribly high crime rate in Rockwood. All I'm trying to do here is explain the bleak situation in Rockwood so that you may understand a little of what goes down in this lawless town. And I can assure you, I wasn't always like this. I used to be clean, I used to be good, and I used to have friends who cared. The only reason that my life is so screwed up is because I was a darn imbecile. I was too stupid to listen. I could go on for hours blaming so and so and so and so for the turn out of my life but in the end it was me not them who chose to do that thus ending up in this situation.

  

   Growing up in Rockwood wasn't all bad. I had a pretty decent upbringing. My mum and dad tried their best to avoid all the bad things in Rockwood. But as a wise man once told me: "Once you're in Rockwood, there is no way out." Kind of reminds me of that song ‘Hotel California' when the guy says ‘you can always check out but you can never leave.' That's Rockwood for you. Only a few lucky individuals ever manage to leave. And that's in a hearse. Pretty morbid, eh?

    Well back to my life, my parents did try really hard but the problem with our life was that our family had some pretty hefty ties. My grandfather was a serious kingpin making a lot of money out of drug trafficking right across the world. And with a guy like that in your family- no matter how hard you try- you just can't cut ‘em off. My mum- Grandpa's little girl- can hardly stand to stay In the same room as him let alone look at him and my dad, well my dad is trying to keep it real civil and all, well wouldn't you- we're talking about a major mobster here. Heh, I know what you're thinking- aren't the mob all about family- well yeah sure they are, if you're on their good side but if you cross that line..........

BAM!! You're one dead sucker!

   But hey, in all honesty, I really liked my grandpa. He always had a big smile on his face and a warm hug to add to that. And he gave me my most precious gift. My saxophone. I remember watching grandpa play that sax and when he gave it to me. Man, I was full of this overwhelming sense of joy- I felt like a hot air balloon that was being pumped.  It was great!!

 

   Junior school was a breeze, I don't really remember much about it except that one of the teachers had one eye and this massive scar that had been carved around the side of his face and a small one through the missing eye. Looking at him was frightening to say the least. Oh and another thing, I didn't have any friends! I mean I did have some mates but I didn't have any real friends, that is until I got to high school when everything changed.

   I have to say my first day of high school was pretty weird, everything was so different. Like back when we were in junior school, nobody seemed to care if your father was so and so or if he was in the right side or whatnot but in high school that pretty much defined everything. I remember walking into class that morning, a little in awe of the alien surroundings when I find myself apprehended by a small guy wearing a woollen hat and a pair of shades.

   "'sup my brother, how ya doing?"

"Wha-? Who are you, man?"  The small guy laughed when I said that.

"Heh sorry, ya look like some dude I knew back when. Anyhow, I'm Sonny Baxter."    

"Leo Moschino. Nice to meet you." We shook hands and then he put his arm round my shoulders.

"Leo my new brother, ya lucky ya ran into moi. I'm gonna give ya an exclusive of everyone in our class. Come with me man."

    And so he proceeded to tell me everyone's name in our class, which I also found to be a who's who of Rockwood's finest.

   "And so, over here we have Viktor Gregorvitch, son of Russian mobster Mikhail Gregorvitch. And that brown haired girl, yea, over there her name is Lucinda Barret, her mother is the infamous con artist White Raven. At the back there is Giorgio son of the Mafia godfather. Yea, the godfather's son in our class, gawd!! Oh and don't ask for Giorgio's surname, ya got that. Nobody knows the godfather's surname. Ok, brother."

"Yeah." I answered.

"Alrigh'! And over there is Xiao Ling, her parents are the two most feared assassins in the whole of Rockwood, Fao Zu. And my brothers over here, Johnny, Rio, Card and Mustang. Hey guys, what's up. Their parents are all members of the Black Mambas!"

At that Johnny, Rio, Card and Mustang all said:

"Black Mambas." And clapped.

   "Yea, they're a little weird. So over here is the dangerous yakuza, Rei Takashi. Man, that is one crazy nutter. Dude, he will not hesitate to kick ya butt if ya get on the wrong side of him."

 

   I know what you're thinking; I thought the same thing on that first day- Phwoar!!! Well, it was pretty amazing. On that first day I met Christopher Alejandro Mariachi, an Italian guy with some pretty hefty ties. His father was a mafia boss and his uncle was one of the biggest drug dealers in Rockwood. Luckily, Chris's mum took him away from all that at a young age and taught him virtues. Chris would become my best friend throughout high school and on to university. He was a talented pianist and together the two of us formed a band, which we called the 'Jazz Brothers'. During high school we hired different people who we felt would fit in with our band, but whenever we thought we struck gold, it turned out that it was something else.

   First there was Michael Kayak. He was a pretty average singer. A few months after he started with us, him ad his parents moved up North.

Then there was Lorenzo. I have to admit he was good but to me Lorenzo was so full of himself.  He didn't give a darn about anything but himself, the lazy........ Anyway, he eventually moved to bigger and better things, Chris and I both breathed a sigh of relief.

After that there was Cynthia Ryan. Cynthia was gorgeous and she had one heck of a voice. For a while me and Chris thought that this was it. Cynthia was our ticket to the big time, but our hopes were short-lived. Shortly after hiring Cynthia, Chris and I found out that Cynthia was very different to whom we thought she was. Let's just say it didn't end nicely.........

 

   University was where Jayne Phi came into our lives. She was a very lithe girl with eyes as green as cypress trees and skin the colour of honey. If Cynthia was gorgeous than Jayne was something else. She was the missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle that we needed to complete our group. Our band name changed from ‘Jazz Brothers' to ‘Blue Streak'. And let me tell you something, with Jayne on our side ‘Blue Streak' was an instant hit. Jayne was a soul singer with a history. Jayne's father was behind bars for a murder that he did not commit and her mother was in her grave, having been murdered by some gangsters who didn't want a, ‘goody' as they put it, in their hood. Jayne was left alone having to fend for herself in a dangerous world. Instead of going bad like a lot of kids in her position, she decided to stick to what's right to honour her parents memory. By the age of thirteen she was top in her school, at sixteen top in all of Rockwood. Jayne couldn't afford to go to university but because she was so smart, she got in on a scholarship. She had a job at the Rockwood club as a singer to pay for the essentials. It wasn't much, but she was surviving.

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   Leo opened his eyes slowly. Everything was swimming in and out of focus and his head kept pounding like a drum. Yet, he couldn't help grinning to himself, despite the pain. Leo slumped back against the wall and started gasping for breath. He watched as people walked up and down the street, none of them giving him a care in the world. His wound was swollen and the blood kept seeping out but the pain was slowly ebbing away. Leo looked up at the night sky and wondered if he was going to die there on the street.

"Am I ever gonna see my friends again?"

  Everything was blurring in front of his eyes. Partly because of the loss of blood, partly because he was crying. Leo was delirious, there on the sidewalk, bleeding to death. If you looked at him you'd think he was insane because through the blood, muck and tears Leo was smiling happily as if someone had told a good joke. Why hadn't he listened? Why? If he did the three of them would still be together, calling the shots. Leo stopped smiling and resumed crying. These problems didn't occur just because he hadn't listened. They had occurred because he had been stupid. Because he had been too stubborn.

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   Tanya was the reason I started. Tanya and her troupe. If I had known then what I knew now, I would never had started. But back in Uni, I was a fool. I thought I was unbreakable, that I was on top of the world but I was wrong. Then, I had no idea what I was in for.

   I thought Tanya was cool. I wanted to be apart of her life. To see her everyday and have her smile at me.

"Come on, guys. What's the worst that can happen?"

"Leo, are you nuts. Do you know who the heck you're dealing with? Tanya and those guys are not who you think they are." Chris said.

"Yeah, Leo. I don't know much about Tanya but I do know this, she's a minx. And she'll use you."

Jayne looked at me worriedly.

"Leo, I'm warning you. Don't Do Drugs!" Chris called at my retreating back.

   Let me just tell you something. If I could turn back time, I would go back to this moment and beg forgiveness from Chris and Jayne, because it was at this point in my life that the seeds had been planted which would lead to the split of Blue Streak.

   So what was the catalyst- I hear you say? The catalyst was me and my stupidity. And in my desperation to impress those who I admired I'd managed to isolate those who really cared about me.  

    And so things started to go downhill when I got involved with the popular troupe. That group consisted of the gorgeous Tanya Minx and her friends, Alice, Carolyn and Zamia, and Mitchell Walker and his pals, Dwayne, Kais and Moe. At first, I thought that they were just a bunch of people who like me, Chris and Jayne, loved jazz and everything to do with it. But as I got to know them, I found that they were so very far from that. People nicknamed them the ‘Pill-ensemble' because of their dishonest activities. I didn't know what it was but soon I found out- by accident.

   One day, I was out looking for Tanya when I walked in on Tanya and Mitchell playing around with something.

"God, what the hell you doing?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Jeez, Moschino. Don't tell me ya didn't know." Mitchell glanced at me his eyes watery from the fumes. Tanya looked at me with those amber eyes of hers, burning into my eye-sockets.

"Ya wanna try some, honey." She said, sweetly holding out a spliff.

The first few times I resisted the temptation. But, and I'm not proud to admit this, I was weak and eventually yielded. It didn't take long for me to become another one of those junkies littering the streets of Rockwood.

                                                                      $$$$$$$$$$

  His stomach started to burn and everything was swimming before his eyes. Leo couldn't breathe properly. His heart palpitations were very irregular. Help me! Leo thought. Somebody, please help me! He couldn't speak, he could hardly see.  Please, somebody, look this way! The tears were pouring down, mingling with blood and sweat. Leo's hair was all matted. He was lying there on the streets of Rockwood, dying slowly and silently wishing for it all to be over.

                                                                      $$$$$$$$$$

  I was living the high life. The drugs, the party scene, all those nights out. I was living this and loving it. I loved the rush, I loved that feeling that I got from the drugs. I felt better than I'd ever felt in my life. But I was bitterly dependent on the drugs. I kept wanting more and more. Mitchell was shocked. He wanted me to slow down.

"Slow down, man." He said. "It's not going to go away."

Tanya, on the other hand, was amazed.

"This is what a man is supposed to be." Tanya slung her arm through mine. "A man is not afraid. He can take a risk. Isn't that right, Sax?" She smiled at me and my heart soared. We started to go out, as for Mitchell, well; he went to a clinic and stopped taking drugs. Sax was my new name. Everyone called me Sax except Chris and Jayne.  They weren't happy with me and my new lifestyle. A rift grew between the three of us, especially between myself and Chris. Jayne didn't like me getting into drugs but she, unlike Chris, didn't yell at me and call me a failure. Sometimes when we'd head to the Rockwood Club to work, I'd be taking my drugs.

  "You shouldn't do that." Jayne said, on a couple of these trips. "It's not good for you. It'll only end in trouble."

"Jayne, don't worry about me. I'm a man, I know how to handle my life." I said in return.

"Really, Leo. Can you handle your life?" Jayne had a subtle approach. On these walks, she'd slowly coax me into a conversation about drugs and the walk of life that I was currently treading on.

"What?"

"Is money a problem?" Jayne asked, getting to the point.

"Well, it is kind of tight at the moment. I have to get another job to keep up with the expenses of living alone." I answered, smiling.

"It didn't used to be, did it Leo?" She was quizzing me. I was getting kind of frustrated. It wasn't like Jayne to be blunt.

"The name's Sax, not Leo. How many times do I have to keep telling you?" I was not happy. "Come on, Jayne. You know that."

"Sorry, it's just that to me you're Leo and you'll always be Leo. Just Leo."

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  To me you're Leo. Just Leo. Leo was half-conscious lying there on the street. He remembered Jayne. She was the only person who stood by him, when things got really tough. Jayne! Help me! She was the only person who cared and he pushed her away. Leo was starting to see things that shouldn't be there. Fragments of memory. Mum, is that you. There was so much he regretted. It's funny, that when you have your whole life flashing before your eyes, you start to realise too late what you did wrong.

                                                                      $$$$$$$$$$

  The thing which ended Blue Streak was the fight between Chris and I that was doomed to happen. Everyone could see it coming. Tanya, my new girlfriend and her troupe of oh-so popular friends, kept encouraging me to quit Blue Streak.

"You're too good for them, Leo. You have what it takes to go the whole way. Those other two are just dragging you down and are keeping you from you're limelight." Tanya would say, whenever, the group went off for a spliff. By then I was a drug addict but I was still on the lighter drugs. The affects of the drugs weren't yet apparent. It wasn't until much later that you could really tell that I was a junkie.

  At first I was reluctant to quit Blue Streak. Chris and Jayne were my best friends. I couldn't turn my back on them. But as time went on, I started to really take what Tanya said into consideration. Jayne could see what was going on. She tried to act as peacemaker, because she could also see that I was really starting to irritate Chris.

"If he wants the big-time he should go for it." Chris would say, "He obviously has got what it takes. I mean, we wouldn't want to take that away from him."

"Don't be sarcastic, Chris." Jayne would reply. "Leo needs us now more than ever. Don't be so condescending of him."

  It was a bright, sunny day in early spring when it happened. I was with Tanya; we were out sitting in the sun, smoking slowly. I saw a crowd of people in the distance but I didn't take heed to it. Until, that is, it was right in front of me.

"Chris, don't do it." Jayne yelled from somewhere just before impact. Chris came out of that crowd and pushed me hard. He uttered some foul language and held me by my shirt.

"Stop it, come on. You're both better than this." Jayne again, I could barely hear her in the uproar.

"Go on, Chris. Beat the stuffing out of him."

"Leo, smash him to bits."

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

And fight we did. I was slightly out of it because I'd just had a fix but when I was provoked, I turned into a madman. And so it seemed did Chris. Now, if you told me a few years before that I was going to have a fight with Chris, my best friend, I'd say you're an idiot. But it seems that fate had other plans. That fight left me with more than just a few cuts and bruises. I had just lost my best friend. Chris and I were now no more. This also meant that Blue Streak, our band, our dream was over!!!

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  Inside the Rockwood Club, someone was looking for Leo. She was a pretty girl, very lithe and she also had an awesome singing voice. Her eyes were a bright green and her skin was the colour of copper. This girl was one of the only people in the Rockwood Club who wasn't drunk or high. She was perfectly normal, which meant that she was abnormal.

"Leo! Leo! Where are you?" She called. "Leonardo Pierre Moschino, where the hell are you?" She kept asking people in the club where Leo was, but no one seemed to know anyone by that name. Almost at the brink of despair, she went up to one of the musicians.

"Do you know where Sax is?" She asked.

                                                                      $$$$$$$$$$

  "How much is it?" I asked the guy clad all in black.

"Forty dollars." He answered.

"What? Forty dollars!? It used to be much cheaper."

"The price has gone up. You know, times are hard. So do you want some? Yes or No?" He asked.

"I'll take two." I said, handing the man eighty dollars.

"Thank you." He said, handing over the drugs. "It was good doing business with you. You know where to find me." The guy pocketed his cash and walked away. Vanishing into the night. His name was Blade, and he was the drug dealer I was getting all my fixes from. Over the past two months, the price had more than quadrupled. The price was getting more and more out of my reach but I was addicted. I would do anything to get the drugs. In Uni, I was the most popular guy on campus but as quickly as I'd got there, well, need I say more. I was getting exhausted and depressed. I kept running out of cash and was getting huge debts. My eyes were bloodshot, I was soaked in sweat. Tanya dumped me.

"You're a loser, Moschino. I don't know what I ever saw in you, but it's over." She didn't want anything to do with a junkie. Thinking about it now, I know that Tanya was just hiding from the truth. She was a wreck. She put on layers of make-up to cover up the effects of drug abuse. People were talking about her behind her back, calling her an assortment of words that all meant the same thing. To pay for the drugs, Tanya was selling herself to anybody willing to pay.

  I couldn't pretend that things were all sunshine and rainbows either. Not only was I no longer friends with Chris but I also pushed Jayne away too. I told her to get lost, and not one to go against others wishes she eventually left me alone, after trying very hard to help me. I wished like hell, that I could turn back time and stop myself from becoming this, a wreck. Blade was getting annoyed. I kept not being able to pay for my drugs and I could see that soon enough would be enough. I began to steal cash to provide money for my next fix. At first it wasn't much but as the price of the drugs increased the amount that I stole also increased. I kept telling myself that I'd pay them back but here I am and I still don't have enough cash to eat, let alone pay back my debts. But I couldn't stop. I was now on some very heavy substances, not just crack and cocaine but heroine, ecstasy, LSD- the list was endless and to be frank quite scary. It was surprising really that I wasn't in hospital connected to drips and heart monitors.........

  I found out that Tanya was in hospital, she was in critical condition. The doctors said that she hadn't got long to live. This was the effects of the drugs. Tanya's probably dead now and because of what. Yeah, the drugs. Mitchell was lucky. He managed to stop but for me the drugs meant everything. My mum hated me and my dad was dead. I fought my best friend and the only girl who really cared for me had left me. I could hardly afford money for food, I was facing eviction from my flat and......I was dead!

                                                                      $$$$$$$$$$

  "Yeah, I saw him go outside. He looked stressed." The musician said.

"Thank you!" The girl said, and went outside. She looked extremely distressed. Come on, where are you Leo. It was there outside the Rockwood Club that she saw a very familiar figure slumped outside the old abandoned warehouse on Chrystal Close. Her eyes widened in, first shock and disgust at the sight- the guy was sitting in his own blood, sweat and vomit- and then recognition as she realised who that person was.

"LEOOO!!!"

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  In the past few months my life has become worse than a living hell. I was constantly being bugged by Blade for his money and even when I paid him, my debts would still increase tenfold. My consumption of drugs, alcohol and cigarettes was sickening, not to mention extremely disturbing. I was changing so fast even I could see it. Before I started this habit, I used to be a good-looking young man who was full of life. Before I was so full of energy, I just loved hanging with my friends but now.......

  Now I am a gaunt, shadow of a man who was so dependant on these substances it was embarrassing. I had dropped out of university; there was just no point of me continuing. I was so tired, I could never get any work done and I knew that I was a very sorry sight, everyone at university was avoiding me and to save them from any more discontentment I left.

  I was practically homeless. With no place to go and no one to look out for me, I was dwindling away fast. My only escape came in the nightly performances that I gave in the Rockwood Club. My saxophone was my life and playing it on stage for as little or as much time I was given was a sanctuary for me from the nightmare I was engulfed in. While I was playing I would kid myself that none of this had ever happened. I hadn't started with the drugs, Chris and I didn't have the fight, and I hadn't pushed Jayne away. But as soon as the music stopped, everything came rushing back and I was drowning in my fears once again. I had lost all hope and for me the only way to end this nightmare was to say goodbye to the world forever..........

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  "LEOOO!!!"

The girl broke into a swift run and dropped to her knees beside Leo.

"Leo!" She whispered. "Leo, it's me. Jayne."

Leo's hair was plastered to his face and he had bags under his eyes. His clothes were wet, not only from sweat but from blood that was still slowly seeping from the wound in his stomach. The wound was infected, it had clotted slightly but had been ripped apart when Leo moved, there was also puss coming out of the wound. His face was sickly with a greyish-green hue. He was drooling uncontrollably and you could only see the white of his eyes. Leo's life was in the balance and it was slowly tipping towards death. Jayne was horror-struck. She started crying quietly and then abruptly stopped. She looked around frantically and saw people walking up and down the street and in and out of the Rockwood Club. Nobody bothered to glance in their direction, because nobody cared. When she looked back at Leo she found him smiling.

  "Leo, wake up. Come on, man. Do not go towards the light."

Leo just smiled at her, oblivious to everything. He glanced towards the street and started laughing.

"Oh come on, Leo. Don't go!" She swore loudly and then yelled. "COME ON! SOMEBODY HELP! CALL THE AMBULANCE! THIS GUY IS DIEING HERE!"

But nobody listened. Leo just laughed again and then he looked at Jayne intensely.

"Welcome to Rockwood Underworld!" He said and then he blacked out.

                                                                      $$$$$$$$$$

  White! That was all he could see. All around him was the oppressive white glare. It was blinding him. He closed his eyes and opened them again. White again. Who am I? Am I dead? Where the hell am I? ‘Beep! Beep!' The sound was very close. He tried to move, but he found that he was stuck. That he had no control over any limbs. That bright glare was still there but he started to become aware of other things. Noise on different levels. Something slammed, a shriek from around the corner, yelling down the hall, a low murmur from somewhere close by. He could hear snippets of different conversations.

   "I'm sorry."

"......severe brain damage...."

".....50% chance...."

 "..death.."

"Thank you...."

 "......all we can do now is wait."

Colour began to seep into that cold, whiteness. Browns, blues, reds, yellows etc. Things started to take shape. A door, some machinery, a window, a drip, people.  Hospital.... He tried to move again and felt something stiff at his neck. Pain swept over his system causing him to cry out except that he had no voice.....not yet anywhere.

"Leo."  Stirring from deep inside his mind.  Is that my name?

"Leo!" This time a different voice. The first was distinctly feminine, this one was very different, deeper,

more masculine. And both voices caused a similar stirring in his brain.  My friends...? Chris..? Jayne...? A gurgle sounded in his throat, he stopped and tried again......glug, gurgle!!!! 

   Leo felt pressure on his arm and glanced to his right. There a young lady stood, her eyes were red from crying but she was also smiling. Beside her stood a man, who was a least a head taller than the girl. He hadn't been crying but you could see the worry etched across his face. Both seemed so familiar.

Leo cleared his throat and tried to speak again.

"Ch-chris......J-j-jayne......that you." His voice was barely above a whisper. The man named Chris smiled.

"Yeah, Leo." He said. "We've come to check on a friend."

"How are you, Leo?" Jayne asked. Leo didn't answer, instead he started to cry, the tears flowing freely down his face. At that moment a tall fellow in a white coat walked in, carrying his clipboard.

   "This is Dr Patrick." Chris introduced the man in the lab coat.

 "Mr Moschino, I'm glad to see you're awake. You have a lot to be thankful for."

"S-so.. I'm not....dead." Leo's rusty voice wavered. The doctor smiled at him.

 "No, if it hadn't been for the efforts of this young lady here." He gestured to Jayne. "You'd be dead."

"Whoa!" The respect in Leo's voice was unmistakeable. Jayne had done it again. She had proved to be an invaluable friend, who had been by his side the whole time. He groaned and again, tried to move.

"No, no. You've been comatose for a few weeks; you won't be able to move for a while."

"Damn!" Leo said.

"Mr Moschino."

"Leo, don't try to talk. Just let the man say his thing." Jayne whispered.

"The wound in your stomach was quite deep but it should be fine. You may need to take something to stop any infections but otherwise you on the clear on that front. What I'm really worried about is your drug habit."

"...ha-bit."

"Addiction, Leo." Chris replied.

"You're very, very lucky. I have treated many who've been in the same situation and, well, some have not lived to tell the tale. You have dealt excessive damage to your liver, and all that smoking has had some serious effects on your breathing. You also have some damage to the brain but not as much as I'd have thought...... Anyway, when you released you are going to have to do physiotherapy and drug rehabilitation. You just managed to escape this time, next time you might not be so lucky."

   "Thanks, doc."

"I'll talk to you again." Dr Patrick looked at Jayne and Chris and then left the room.

"So how've you been, Sax.?"

                                                                      $$$$$$$$$$

   The story of my life. Well, the condensed version. Like the doc said, I was pretty darn lucky. If you'd seen some of the substances I'd taken, you'd have been shocked. Sometimes I'd wonder how I survived. Why I survived. I guess you could say that Rockwood ain't all bad, I mean as long as there are people like Christopher Alejandro Mariachi and Jayne Phi looking out for all the idiots like myself. But the moral of the story here is Don't Do Drugs. I managed to survive through this ordeal but that was a one off. I know what you're thinking: I'm only trying it. Well, let me tell you something. Once is enough to get anyone hooked and with some of the heavy-duty substances, once is enough to kill.

    Mine is just one of many stories about life in Rockwood, story of a cracker, story of a mugger, story of an arms dealer and so on. So don't believe what I have to say, you can always get a second or third opinion. But in the end, there is only one thing left to say:

Welcome to Rockwood Underworld!