“He often wondered whether it were possible to be more possessed by desire for any other woman. The fact was that they functioned well together, and they had a connection as addictive as heroin.” ~ Stieg Larsson, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

The withdrawal symptoms left her body wracked with pain. Her days were foggy and disoriented, and at night she tossed and turned in her bed, and dreamt of getting another hit of theta-kappa (street name: TK2).

It had only been a few days, but it might as well have been an eternity. She had grown accustomed to taking large doses of TK2, and the sudden detoxification was something for which she had not been been prepared to experience. She had been so sure that she could stop ingesting this potentially lethal element, but she had not been aware of its addictive properties.

She could not forget the feel and taste of it. She licked her lips every time she remembered the euphoria she felt after she had had a dose of it. Her mouth goes dry from the perpetual hunger and thirst for it.

She had heard stories of others, and had even seen pictures of those who had previously tried to kick this particular drug. There was L, who kicked the habit about nine years ago, and was seemingly close to falling off the wagon and starting to use TK2 again. There was E, who danced around the idea of picking up the habit again just a short while ago if she had been given the chance. And of course, there was V. TK2 had disappeared off the black market and had become scarce and difficult to find, but V was relentless and looked anywhere and everywhere to get close enough to even just get a whiff of the powerful substance. She had even been willing to drop whatever substance she was currently using just so she could get another high off of TK2.

TK2 was dangerous, addictive, potentially lethal and had left behind damaged lives in its wake.

She was not sure how she would recover from this addiction to TK2, but just like any other addiction, she knew the road to recovery would be a long, lonely and painful one.