Ralph_P

Just say No...

This story has been brought to you as part of the Anti-Drugs campaign. All names and places have been changed to protect anonymity.

This is the tale of Andy, 34, Battermory.

Andy was a fun loving guy and enjoyed going out with friends and partying. One night in the early 90's he decided to go to an illegal rave at a warehouse with some friends. Once the party got into full swing, his friends started to take synthetic drugs to enhance the party experience. Even though he didn't want to, Andy felt that he had to join in to keep up with his friends. After that night Andy's life took a downward spiral into a world of drink and drugs. Many years later when the drugs began to wear off, Andy found himself living on the island of Battermory just off the coast of Scotland. Rising from his drug stupor, sober for the first time in years, Andy's initial impulse was to find the nearest mirror and see what had become of himself. Staring in the mirror, Andy realised that he'd taken to wearing a very silly hair-cut and an even sillier hat. He had also taken to wearing a kilt, even though he was blatantly English. His next urge was to explore his surroundings further. Soon Andy realised that he was living in a pink castle and that his best and only friend was a cardboard robot he had made and glued to the wall. Strangely while under the influence he had believed the robot had come to life. Clean and sober Andy decided to head outside and find help, what he found was to drive him deeper into the post-drugs depression. Over several years the inhabitants of the island had become mad and were obsessed with the islands pre-school nursery, even though only 2 of the island's population were of nursery age. While under the influence the sadistic school bus driver had forced him to help her with her many dodgy ploys to keep the number of children at the nursery at sufficient levels. Even when Andy sought help from the island's policeman, he found him to be a bumbling eegit more interested in singing silly Country and Western songs and looking for creepy crawlies, than doing real police work.

Andy eventually got the help he needed and is starting to rebuild the tattered wrekage of his life, even though he says he'll be keeping the kilt. He just wants the young people of today to know how damaging drugs can be. Just remember, say no to drugs, it's the grown up thing to do.

30.3.06 13:16