Days went by and I heard nothing from Doug, I tried calling Mike's apartment everyday but there was no answer.
I knew something bad was happening simply from lack of any news, Doug would never fuck me over and if he did that was bad enough. I didn't know Mike that well and I began to wonder if he had anything to do with the trouble. I was really concerned for Doug because the last time I saw him he had a gut full of 150 ecstasy pills.
After about 5 days I had a message waiting for me at the front desk of the hostel. It was from Mike asking to call him urgently, his number was changed.
I went to a nearby phone booth to call Mike and he answered on the second ring, he sounded relieved to hear from me. He began to recount what was happening the last few days.
Mike said that Doug had called him from Amsterdam shortly before boarding his flight, telling him when he was arriving to New York. Mike assured Doug that he would be home and to come right over. Doug was to be at Mikes house sometime in the evening of his arrival.
Mike waited for Doug and he never showed up, after another day of waiting Mike was so paranoid he changed his number and threw mine away. He thought he was going to get busted.
Almost two days later Doug showed up at Mike's apartment, he was filthy and not alone. With Doug was another man that was equally filthy but didn't appear homeless.
Mike was nervous and extremely confused, he was not expecting this odd company. Doug told Mike that everything was okay and that the other guy with him was his associate. This struck Mike to be odd since no other person was mentioned in all this, but invited the both of them in anyway.
Mike immediately regretted his decision when he saw how strange they were acting, it was very obvious they were on drugs. Mike began to wonder when Doug was going to show him the pills from Amsterdam, but didn't ask because of the other guy.
Not long after his arrival Doug went into the bathroom and started vomiting, retching so badly that Mike thought he was dying. The other man that came with Doug didn't pay attention or seem to care. That was an instant red flag for Mike. Doug wouldn't answer the door when Mike knocked, so he opened it to see what was happening.
Doug was prostrated over the side of the bathtub retching and fighting for breath, his body seemed to think throwing up was more of a priority over breathing. Mike was in absolute shock at what he was seeing.
Coming out of Doug's mouth were strands of plastic wrap and condoms, in a mixture of blue froth. The blue was from the coloring in the pills. Doug was fervently pulling at the mixture of plastic and rubber trying to clear it from his throat, trying to unblock his breathing. Mike watched in horror as Doug finally freed the mess from his throat and vomited some more. It was the same blue froth, and nothing else.
Mike didn't know what to do, he wanted to ask me for advice. When Mike exited the bathroom he saw that the strange guy with Doug was not there. A quick glance around and nothing looked like it was missing, but Mike didn't have anything of value to steal. A Sony boom box was his most valuable item, and it was safely in the bedroom
Mike instantly regretted changing his number because he quickly realized he had thrown mine out too. All ties of communication were severed and he needed to speak with me urgently.
When he went back to Doug to ask him if he knew the number, Doug appeared to be sleeping on the floor. He was breathing and a little restless, but much better than before. Mike took comfort that the puking was over and that Doug would probably be alright. He left Doug on the bathroom floor, where he laid for several hours. Mike checked in on him several times, but Doug was so out of it.
Finally after about 5 or 6 hours, Doug started to come around. He was still really confused about what was happening around him, Mike never cleaned up the mess in the bathroom. Upon realizing what happened to the pills in his stomach, Doug started to panic. Mike had another round of fear of getting into trouble, but manned up and asked Doug if he wanted an ambulance. Doug strongly refused the medical attention and asked for a glass of water instead.
When Mike asked if had spoken with me at any time before showing up, Doug told him no. Doug began telling Mike about everything that happened since he left Amsterdam. The story was incredible, sometimes childish. Doug was really, really high on MDMA, and he was lucky to be alive.
From what Mike could make out from Doug's story, somewhere over the Atlantic during the flight Doug decided to take LSD. The flight was about 6 hours long but it wasn't until he was at JFK International Airport when the acid hit, and hard. Doug still didn't make it through customs yet and he was tripping so hard that he forgot to get his checked bag. He walked directly in the direction of the pointing arrows indicating the exit, Doug needed to just get out.
To great credit to Doug, he was smart enough to understand that he was about to enter the country via customs, and needed to tighten up. When it was Doug's turn in line to see the customs agent, he showed his passport and was let into the country no questions asked.
Doug continued walking towards the exits, the airport was busy with travelers and other hub bub that was too hard to take.
Doug's story about the subsequent events upon leaving are vague and hazy. There was no chronological order and odd references to landmarks that aren't even in New York.
Apparently he got into a taxi from the airport and was dropped off somewhere in Manhattan. From there he met all kinds of friends and went on fun adventures with them, taking more LSD and handing some out to his new friends.
Sometime later Doug realized he was in New York, and that he knew Mike. It was never established if he knew that he was supposed to actually meet Mike, but he did remember Mike's address and wanted to visit. Somehow, after all that time, Doug managed to show up at Mike's with a new friend.
After the story and a lot of persuasion, Doug gave Mike my number in Amsterdam and begged him not to call me. He asked for a pack of tarot cards and some rosary beads instead, on that note Mike secretly called me from downstairs.
After some discussion about what was happening, Mike and I think that the condoms started to break during the flight. Instead of panic, Doug was getting really high. Why Doug wasn't killed from an overdose, we guessed the condoms acted as a slow-release mechanism because there were still a lot of semi-undigested pills in the puke.
Doug is a smart man, I've known him long enough to know that he wouldn't drop acid on an international flight. That's why I think the condoms were compromised during the flight, Doug started getting high and ready to party. Started to get stupid.
Since the next few days of Doug's story was so bizarre, we could only assume correctly that Doug was balls out candy flipping, high on a strong combination of MDMA and good Dutch LSD.
Before hanging up with Mike we agreed to just let Doug be, let him get through whatever weirdness he was going through. I apologized profusely and we kept in telephone contact for the next 24 hours.
About two days later Doug called me in Amsterdam, Mike told me he was going to call me so I was expected the call. Doug was extremely ashamed and began telling me what happened to him.
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