Cassandra was the young lady who lived in the unit across the hall from mine. In actual fact her parents lived there but she resided with her parents. She was a redhead, nice figure (very nice if you like a girl with large breasts), a bit of a temper (redhead, remember), reasonably fit, reasonably intelligent and a touch naΓ―ve. That last was to be expected with a young lady who had only recently turned eighteen. I was quite certain that life would strip some of the naivety away.
I might as well add that she was a reasonably well behaved young lady. She would get into mischief at times but never into any real trouble. Polite and well-mannered and a credit to her parents. I, personally, thought she had bad taste in boyfriends, but that was just me. Her parents considered them all to be fine upstanding young men.
To her I was Joe, the guy next door. We'd talk occasionally and that was about it. I was a few years older than her but was considered a friend. When with me she gave the impression that she thought I was older than I was. For some reason she seemed to put me in her parent's generation, maybe because if I caught her in some sort of mischief I'd growl at her, making me an authoritarian figure in her life.
I arrived home one Friday evening and Cassandra was in the hall next to her front door talking to some guy I hadn't seen before. He was neatly dressed and well groomed. His clothes looked as though they were expensive. He had a quiet elegance that was rather at odds to the feeling I got about him. I trusted him not one little bit.
Now when I turned into the hallway he'd been in the act of giving Cassandra something, talking earnestly. She seemed interested and was looking at whatever he gave her. Then she saw me, blushed guiltily, and put her hands behind her back.
Just like that I went from indifferent to as suspicious as hell. I strolled up to them, smiling.
"Afternoon, Cassandra," I greeted her.
"Joe," she mumbled, nodding to me. Oh, yes, definitely guilty of something.
"Show me," I said, nodding towards her hands.
"Piss off, Joe, or whatever your name is," said the gentleman by her side.
I ignored him, waiting.
"It's nothing, Joe, really," Cassandra assured me.
"Then you won't mind showing me," I pointed out.
"I mind," butted in the stranger. "I told you to piss off."
I just kept smiling and looking at Cassandra, keeping the man in my peripheral vision. I really did not trust him.
Cassandra slowly and reluctantly brought out her hand, revealing two little pills.
"And just what are they?" I asked, and the ice in my voice would have dropped the ambient temperature five degrees.
"Geez, mate, they're just ecstasy. Nothing to get upset about. I suggest you just keep on going and mind your own business."
This time I did pay attention to him, giving him a killing look.
"When I need your input I'll ask for it," I told him. "Why don't you see if you can hold your breath until I'm ready to talk to you?"
"How much did those set you back?" I asked.
"Nothing, Joe," protested Cassandra. "Mike gave them to me as a free sample. He assures me that they're harmless and non-addictive."
"Harmless and non-addictive, huh?" I asked Mike.
He nodded, watching me warily.
"In that case you won't mind taking them, will you?"
"Geez, what's all the fuss? I was trying to do the girl a favour. She wanted to do something new and different and I figured these fit the bill."
"Uh-huh. I notice that you're not taking the damn things, though?"
"I don't need to. I have my own supply. I gave those ones to her as a freebie."
"And if she wants more you start charging. The more she wants the more you charge."
"They're non-addictive," he snapped. "She can just stop taking them anytime she wants."
"Physically, non-addictive. Mentally is another matter. Did you warn her of the side effects?"
"Harmless, Joe," Cassandra hastened to let me know. "They don't have side effects."
"I dunno. I'd have thought the occasional person dropping dead would be considered rather a nasty side effect. It's been known to happen to first time users as well as long term users. Did you notice your sleazy little drug dealer hasn't taken the pills he's suggesting you take. He's got more sense."
"Fuck this. I was just doing a favour for a friend. If you don't want them give them back and I'll be on my way."
I reached out and took the tablets out of Cassandra's hand. I dropped them on the floor and crushed them, looking at Mike with a blank face the entire time.
I smiled at him.
"If I ever see you talking to Cassandra again I will break one of your arms. If I'm in a good mood I'll let you choose which arm."
His face looking ugly but he couldn't suck up the nerve to challenge me. Not really surprising. I was somewhat bigger than him and it was obvious that I had a muscular build. He decided discretion was the way to go and retreated.
I opened my door and jerked my head indicating she should enter. She did, still being careful not to look directly at me.
"Something new and interesting, uh?" I said.
"I wouldn't have actually taken them, Joe. I was just curious and Mike was very persuasive."
"You'd have taken them eventually. Either he would have talked you into taking them right then and there or he'd have got you to put them in your purse. Every time you opened it you'd have seen them and wondered and one day. . ." I broke of and spread my hands to show it was inevitable.
"The trouble is, Cassandra, that you may have taken them and had a very pleasant experience. That would naturally tempt you to try them again, paying for them. You may take them a number of times with no problems but, and it's a big but, sooner or later the law of averages catches up with you and you're in hospital or the morgue."
I let the silence go on for a short while. Cassandra was biting her lip and didn't seem to know what to say.
"Tell me, do you think your mother would enjoy a trip to the morgue to identify your body?"
Cassandra had gone past guilty, embarrassed, and upset, and was at the angry stage. I got in first.
"I guess you're dying to tell me that I'm not your father and have got to right to read you the riot act. You're quite right. You'd better scoot before I forget myself and be really rude to you."