The needle

The sun, coming through the large window next to her bed, was seductively kissing her naked body when she woke. Soon, the calmness surrounding her underweight figure disappeared and her red swollen eyes widened abruptly. A buzzing noise was ringing in her ears and she quickly stood up and started searching the floor for what she needed. You could see Ariadne's arms shaking as she looked underneath the clothes scattered all around the floor, losing her composure more by the minute. Her body, frail and exhausted followed her around passively, while her thoughts fixated on one thing: the needle.

Where is it? Where is it? Where is it? She yelled, when suddenly she was interrupted by a loud sound of ringing. What is this? Ariadne asked herself, confused and lost deeply in an abyss of darkness, swallowing her existence. Unable to form cohesive logical thoughts, she sat there, wondering, before she caught a glimpse of her phone on the floor, with the name of her sister written on the broken screen. She didn't dare to answer. To disappoint her again. To cause her pain.

Soon, a familiar notification came up and she clicked to listen to the new voicemail, longing for her sisters voice, calm and sobering, to stroke her ears and somehow save her from this pain. "Ariadne, please pick up. I listened to your voicemail from last night. Please Ariadne. Don’t say goodbye." Zoi caught her breath before continuing. "I love you Ariadne" She continued, sounding calm and composed with only the crisp aftertaste of her words revealing her pain.

Ariadne's expression didn't change. She hovered her finger over the call button for a few seconds before collapsing on the floor. Every cell of her body was refusing to move or fight anymore. "Maybe its better this way" she thought, tears streaming down her cheeks as she allowed her face to touch the cold tiled floor. And suddenly there it was. The needle.

She extended her arm, just enough to reach it, but once again the ringing on her phone interrupted her actions. "One last time", Ariadne told herself, sliding her finger across the screen.

"Ariadne? Ariadne? Can you hear me?..”

Silence. Silence overcame her.

“Please don’t do this to me.” screamed Zoi. “We can do this together. I am on my way to your flat. Just hang in there for me”.

Somehow her sister's words didn't comfort her. Ariadne was too far gone. Her mind, broken and tired had given up. Her chest felt compressed. Entombed but alive she raised her arm and brought the needle closer, the cold pin touching her skin, piercing her forcefully before she let her eyelids rest and allowed her being to be taken, at least for a moment, by pure bliss.