Chapter 6 - withdrawal

Josh had his shower and crashed!
He was so tired that he slept all night and did not wake until Ruby brought him a cup of tea in bed, by which time it was after eight!
He sat up, pushed the duvet back and swung his legs out of the bed. Ugh! He felt rough! He was not hungover. He had not drank enough yesterday to get drunk. He suspected it might be the carb overload from all the food he'd eaten. He'd be fine once he'd snorted a few lines of his favourite powder. He'd not had any since yesterday morning. He ought to have a gram or so in his jacket pocket.
He reached for his jacket, but found the pockets empty. Maybe he had used it after all, but had forgotten about it. It would not be the first time that had happened. He called out to Ruby. She would have to ring the dealer and get some. She did not reply. He ran his fingers through his hair and gave his scalp a good scratch. His legs felt like he was wearing lead weight boots. He felt terrible! He staggered through the living room and into the kitchen diner where he heard voices.
He stood in the doorway and shouted Ruby's name again. She turned around and looked at him, but continued about her business of helping Julie with breakfast.
Josh's temper was very short this morning. This time he really yelled at her, "Ruby, get me some effing coke! He demanded.
Julie and Ruby both turned around and looked at him looking most dishevelled in his boxer shorts, but neither responded to his demand.
"Good morning, Josh!" Julie said brightly, "we were wondering when you were going to surface! Would you like to join us for breakfast?"
He scowled at them, "no I chuffing wouldn't! Where's my effing phone Rubes, I'll ring the bloody dealer myself!"
They both ignored him again.
He was getting nearly apoplectic standing at the door, furious that neither of them would do what he wanted.
"Why don't you come and sit down, Josh, " Julie suggested calmly. "Getting yourself irate like that is not going to do you any good."
He sat down, at the breakfast bar, but still had a pet lip on him. He refused to look at either of them, staring at the countertop instead.
"You'll feel better after you've had a bite to eat, won't he Ruby?" She pushed a large bowl of sweetened cereal in front of him, made up with whole milk.
Ruby agreed, but both of them were surprised at him when he actually picked up the spoon and started eating. There were no complaints about the sugar, no complaints about the carb content or the creaminess of the milk.
He shoved the bowl away without a word when he had finished, then got up off his stool and headed off into the shower without saying anything to anyone.

They heard him shower, they heard him get dressed. He had not brought an overnight bag, so he had to put the gravy stained shirt that he'd had on yesterday. He emerged from the bedroom with wet hair wad water stains on his shirt, where he'd tried to wash the gravy off without soaking the entire shirt. He had calmed down somewhat, but he was still miserable. He could not be bothered with the gym this morning. He decided to give it a miss. He saw Ruby and Julie enjoying a bacon sandwich each. He could just eat one of those himself, if the truth be told, but if he was skipping gym this morning he could not possibly indulge in one, or he'd end up looking like the back end of a bus in no time!
He looked over to them jealously. How long was it since he had eaten a bacon sandwich? How long had it been since he had really enjoyed his food? He felt his stomach growl. He had already eaten a full bowl of cereal. He could not possibly be hungry! Oh, but he was! He needed Charlie to put a stop to it but he was nowhere to be seen. Even a little bit of Charlie, would do. A few small grains would take the edge off...
Julie placed a large dinner plate in front of him, it was laden with a greasy, full English breakfast. He did not need to be told to eat, he was ravenous! He ate like he had never eaten for weeks!
Julie took full advantage of his binge, giving him some fizzy pop to wash it down with as well as a creamy, thick shake. Once he had finished that, she had a stack of American pancakes to eat, complete with lots of maple syrup.
Ruby had told her that if they deprived him of his cocaine and put him in the face of temptation he might gorge himself, but she had not imagined he would do it with such verocity and fervour. This was how Julie had wanted him to be like in front of the camera yesterday. If only they could put him in his outfit now and take him up into the 'throne room'. Julie advised more caution. There was plenty of time yet. In the meantime, she noticed the level of his shake getting low. She topped it up, it was important that he did not realise how much he was drinking of the sweetened, calorific, shake, which also had small amounts of appetite enhancers and weight gain powders in it. He would never learn the exact ingredients, but he would be more addicted to that as he had ever been addicted to coke.
After the pancakes, Josh finished off what was left of his fizzy pop and stood up. His trousers and his shirt was a whole lot tighter than they had been straight after his shower. He walked with an ungainly gait until he thought he was out of sight, then loosened his trousers. They saw from behind how much the trousers relaxed. He took another sip of his shake and lay down on the sofa. He was wrecked! He'd just have a little nap.
It was not long before he was snoring loudly!

While he was asleep, the two girls cleared up after breakfast and made Josh's bed. Julie showed Ruby how she wanted his shake to be made up, increasing certain ingredients by a half a teaspoon every day. He was to have his shake with him always. He would never ever get to finish one because it would always be topped up of replaced.

Josh woke up after a couple of hours, still feeling groggy. He shouted for Ruby. There was no reply. He picked the bottle up beside him. It had a lid and a straw now, he could have sworn it had been a glass before, but his mind was so fuzzy he could not really tell. He sucked the liquid through the straw. Mmmmm that was tasty stuff! Full of protein too, if he wasn't mistaken! (And fat, but he was not to know that).
He was about to get up, when Ruby walked in the room, with a bowl of nuts in her hand.
"Ruby, where's that bloody dealer? What did he say? Has the friggin' bastard let us down again? Have you tried Alfie down Queen's Street? What about Krish, oh no, his gear was bad news last time I effing had it. What about bloody Whatshisname... Rory, Roy, oh flippin' 'eck! You know who I mean, the
Ginger geezer with the dog! Give 'im whatever he wants. Double! I'm bloody desperate man!"
Ruby ignored him, put down the bowl of nuts and flicked on the telly.
"I've brought you some clean clothes," she told him quietly, they're all neatly put away in your room." With that, she walked back out and left him alone.
Fuck the bloody clothes, Josh thought! If she could go home and fetch him some fresh freaking clothes she could have fetched him some fresh fecking gear as well! Bloody women! He was paying her to do a blooming job! It was about time she did it right! He grabbed a handful of nuts and threw them at the door, where she had exited.
He had another suck on his shake. Mmmm yes, very tasty, he'd forgotten how good it was, despite him just having a mouthful of the stuff a few minutes ago. He had a bit more, picked up another handful of nuts, but this time started eating them mindlessly. He felt a little less crotchety after his outburst. He'd get up in a minute and see what clothes she had brought him. She had better have brought his workout gear. He was going to need that and his... he suddenly became fascinated by a bloke on the telly who had bought a dilapidated lock up garage at auction. The building was on a hillside that was so steep it could be called a cliff and he wanted to turn it into a house for himself and his wife.
He lay back once again, sipped on his shake and nibbled the nuts, then dozed back off to sleep.