I am Costa by Costa Carastavrakis

Author:Costa Carastavrakis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bookstorm
Published: 2019-06-28T08:39:54+00:00

MY FIRST LINE OF CAT

‘Afta ta DRUGS, afta ta DRUGS! (These DRUGS, these DRUGS!)’

– ANOTHER DOUBLE WARNING FROM YIAYIA

A new freedom came over me. I was no longer in a controlling relationship, and had no more clients, business partnerships, and cash-flow and staff issues to worry about. I also had tons of cash from the sale of my house and my share in the business. It was time to celebrate this freedom. I booked myself a trip to see my sister and her family in the US, and to visit Mexico, and packed my bags.

Determined to live light and free of my past, I gave away superfluous stuff, and packed my life up into a small storage space. On one of the final weekends before I left, I went out alone, something I never had a problem doing as I always found it easy to make friends while I was downing a whisky.

‘Coming for a line?’ asked Steven, an acquaintance I had already shared a few drinks with in a popular gay bar.

‘Of what?’

‘CAT. I’ve got some good stuff on me,’ he said.

I had heard about CAT and knew some people who had taken it. I had only ever been offered it a few times, and had categorised it with hard drugs that were to be avoided at all costs. The very words ‘hard drugs’ are just loaded with danger. All my life, I’d been warned about them, and was really scared of them. I always reminded myself about my addictive nature and told others who offered me drugs about it. I managed to stay away and knew that, if I tried them, there was a serious chance I would become hooked.

CAT is a stimulant, a powdered drug that is snorted. It has similar effects to cocaine. It originally comes from a leafy green plant grown mainly on the Horn of Africa, called Catha edulis, or khat. Khat chewing has a history as a social custom dating back thousands of years in Middle Eastern cultures.

I wasn’t about to partake in an ancient cultural ritual, though – I was about to take the night into the gutter and use the street or artificial form, which was far more potent.

I’d heard that euphoria, sharpened senses and tons of energy would be the reward. Downsides? Who cared? I wasn’t interested. I told myself I had lived in the world according to everyone else’s rules for long enough. I had worked my ass off for years and played by the business world’s rules well enough. I had always paid people on time, done the right thing for my staff, and served my clients and business partner honourably and to the best of my ability. I had endured my personal relationship with Ronald and all its drama – the fights, the manipulation and the games. I had even stopped smoking once or twice over the past few years and cut back my drinking.

About to embark on a trip with no responsibilities in my home country or in real life, I felt like a cage had opened and let me out.

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