Seeing the Red Bull

I felt weak and weary, my body being filled with anvils that are on the verge of plunging my flesh and bones to the ground.

"You look dead." Lukman tells me as we return to the shop. We both ran a carpentry business and often take turns driving. If it's not the carpenting and the wood carrying that makes me worn out, it's the idea of staying up all day til night falls.

"Try this." Lukman gives me a gray and blue can with Red Bull written on it. The can was cold, so cold that even my bones could feel it. "My nephew loves that stuff. It makes him shot up in the morning and so on."

He was right as I began dranking Red Bull.

Drinking the energy drink infuse a spark of euphoria inside of me, going through my veins and my body. For the hours I go through right after drinking my eyes were shot wide open more than usual, the gears in my brain making noises as they continue to drive my body and mind.

I enjoyed the euphoria during that first time of a dose of Red Bull, so I worked to the bone to raise money and bought some more.

I drank like there was no tomorrow, no missed opportunity. A can of Red Bull a day keeps the fatigue and laziness away. Okay, not necessarily laziness, but anything that has to do with being silent and not doing anything else.

The euphoria of the red bull was helping. I wanted it. I needed it.

Never has a drink made me continuously active for the remainder of my lifespan, from the day I wake up until I have to rest, and so I drank Red Bull whenever I could buy it.

I did not count how much cans I drank, but it was indeed a lot.

In the midst of my drinking one day just at the porch of my home, I could not help but notice something in the corner of my eye, something that was blood red. Turning back, I saw it.

The bull stood behind me for sometime, and all I could do was stare at it, for the moment at least. Red as blood with the eyes of a sunset, the bull huffed and puffed slightly, waiting for what was in front of it to make a move.

I made a break for it.

The sound of the door bursting open right after I went through it pierced my eyes, and the bull proceeded to bump into my house's gate for a moment before I knew its eyes were locked onto me.

I cursed at my sandals which didn't provide me enough ground like shoes, but my feet were still running. Panting, I crossed over the street during a busy day, cars were going left and right and some were constantly honking.

I ignored the people in front of me and pressed on.

My heart continued to beat and my veins started to tighten.

I held my hand across my heart, piercing from the inside. As I felt this, I began to slow down.

And I eventually took a fall to the ground. Nearby passerbys became shocked and came to my aid. It seems I had made the same mistake as drug users, addicts who ruin themselves for the sake of escaping the pain and reality of a harsh world. I did not want to escape pain through Red Bull, I just wanted to be more active in life, but even then that's no excuse to go over the limit.

I took my last breath as the bull hovered above me, looking at me straight in the eye.