~Renzo Ma, Class of 2026

87 steps. That was how many steps were from George’s kitchen to his car. He counted every single one. George climbed into his car and went on his way to his family reunion party. He was greeted by his mother at the front door, and when he came in, he shoved in earplugs due to all of the noise. George’s grandma, Jennifer, was having a conversation with Paul, George’s uncle, sipping on cheap wine. Over the sound of loud conversation Jennifer heard the doorbell ring, Jennifer asked George to answer the door. George made his way to the door, and as he opened it, he is greeted by a box. No mailman, no shipping address, just a plain old box. As George leaned in to take a closer look, he found that the box was filled with pills. Piles and piles of pills were just scattered into the same box, all labeled “life-strengthening formula.” 

George scoffed and tossed it back into the box. He looked back one more time, but there was a paper under the poorly slapped on label so he picked it up, and peeled it off, revealing the title to be “Meloxicam”. George stuffed a few into his pocket and glided into the room where his grandmother was. “Oh, those are my pills! They finally came!” Jennifer gave George a big hug and thanked him for grabbing it. Not wanting to ruin the night, George didn’t bring up what he found and went on with the party.

George woke up on his floor, hair everywhere, with his breath smelling like a swamp. He checked his clock, revealing the time to be 4:40 p.m. He stood up abruptly and felt in his pocket to see if the pills he shoved in there last night were still there. He felt a few capsules move around in his pocket followed with a sigh of relief. George got up, made his bed, brushed his teeth, like any other usual day.

But this day wasn’t usual. George had a gut feeling that something was wrong. And that feeling was enough for George to promptly get into his car and drive to the pharmacist. As he walked into the pharmacy, he smelled a faint, musty, and old smell. 

George approached the store clerk and asked her what kind of pill this was, and he lifted up his hand to show her the chalk-looking pill. “That is Meloxicam.” “A pill for dogs.” George, with a very shaky voice, said, “And what would happen if a human took Meloxicam?” “What kind of question is that?” asked the store clerk. “Well, I was just wondering if- ”

George didn’t see a point pleading his case so he bolted out of the store. He immediately jumped into his car and drove straight to Jennifer’s house. George’s hands stuck to the steering wheel like tree roots digging into endless dirt. Every single traffic light turned red. And every single traffic light George sped through. Great flashes of red and blue alerted George through the rear view mirror. George gave in and pulled over onto the side abruptly. It felt like the policeman was taking the tiniest strides in his walk to George’s car.

“Do you know why I pulled you over?” Said the policeman. 

“No sir.” George replied. “You were going 70 in a school zone and you ran through a red light.” There was silence in the air for a few seconds.

“Please step out of the vehicle.” George sped away going 90 miles an hour rushing to Jennifer’s house. George was weaving through cars and cars until more police cars just started pouring in. George promptly jumped out of his car to rush to Jennifer’s door. He tried getting in but had no luck. 

He peered through the window to see Jenifer’s body holding a bottle of pills laying there soaked in blood.