Chapter 1: Foresight
The darkness began to fade into unrecognizable silhouettes, becoming clearer but still not clear enough to decipher who or where anything was. An overpowering muffled sound, similar to that of footsteps breaking into fresh snow, circled around his head, creating increasing anxiety and overwhelming confusion. It started to get to him, but he tried to push through to complete his life’s work and defining piece of scientific phenomenon. Despite his nausea, disorientation, and pounding migraine, the doctor continued to probe deeper into his subconscious to find what was ordinarily unreachable. As the previous experiment had proven before, the discomfort of clearing the smog like poison contained within the confines of a very protective mind becomes all too powerful; to the disappointment of Dr. Kelley, this instance was no exception.
No matter how much Dr. Kelley had prepared himself for the agony of the deeply invasive procedure, it once again took the same exhausting physical toll that it had previously instilled. Just like getting another tattoo after forgetting about how much it hurt the first time, this procedure left a permanent scar each and every time. Call it persistence, stubbornness, or sheer naivety, Dr. Kelley had put himself on a path from which he has refused to backtrack. A scientist’s career is only as good as his last discovery or innovation, and in the case of this determined scientist, his career might have been seen as a failed one-hit wonder.
Back in the optimistic and ambitious roots of Dr. Kelley’s scientific career, he had already achieved much more than his peers, leaving little room for growth. Always a ponderous individual, the driven doctor put all of his time into his projects, which leaves little time to be divided amongst trivial things such as family, friends, and social stability. Far from being the life of the party; fun, exciting, and pursuing new social occurrences that are usually sought after by most, Dr. Kelley was frequently left with a disturbing, fleeting sentiment that could only be matched by the thought of pursuing an attractive woman. In laymen’s terms, Dr. Kelley was a lone wolf of sorts and never took to marriage, but was always intrigued by the concept of intimate human relationships. Rather, he invested his thoughts into more tangible ideas, and has always been wed to the idea of furthering science to a point from which mankind would never dream of returning. Having felt as though his career could use some much needed revamping, he fell back on his principles of altering perceptions that had been ingrained within contemporary society.
Whether it was his fresh perspective on modern science or his yearning to manipulate the norm, Dr. Kelley started his career with an irreversible bang. He vigorously turned the heads of the scientific community by innovating the way humans functioned on a daily basis. Some say that the world would have been better off without this particular innovation, but Dr. Kelley pursued his insights until they were brought to light. What started with a simple observation on human interaction, the recently graduated doctor found a way of manipulating strains of synthetic endorphins and dopamine to control addictive traits and abolish one’s need for addictive substances. Of course, in this light, one would tend to see Dr. Kelley as having received the Nobel Prize along with a heartfelt thank you from every person who had ever had trouble controlling that pesky monkey on his or her back. In a good‑natured world, this might have in fact been the outcome for him, but, as many come to learn, the world has a tendency to cast a darkness over even the best of intentions.
After making his once in a lifetime discovery, Dr. Kelley had fully invested his world into his so-called cure‑all. On the cusp of becoming an infamous behavioral scientist, with the optimistic possibility of being remembered by future generations in the same light that embodies the greats, such as Pavlov or Skinner, he had vowed to himself to carry out this ingenious concept. As Dr. Kelley would come to learn, with great discovery comes great liability. Human nature triumphed, and this miracle medication soon turned into an abused substance that exceeded overdose rates unmatched by heroin and cocaine combined. The synthetic manipulation of endorphins and dopamine, when administered in large but dangerous doses, gave the recipient a surreal high consisting of sexual-like euphoria, perceived invincibility, endless energy, and, the most fatal; an erratically rapid heart rate that could out‑thump a professional drum line.
When the focus of Dr. Kelley’s innovation reared its ugly head into a devastating light, the FDA immediately banned the medication, followed by legal implications to those found in possession of the drug and, of course, social panic. Unable to contain the awareness of the powerful high, the producers of the medication and its imitators pursued entrepreneurial prosperity by bringing it across both borders and oceans. Public enemy number one was in the form of a single scientific breakthrough and, unfortunately, the only face to be placed in the world’s judging eye was that of the overly ambitious Dr. Kelley. Unlike the discovery and distribution of other addictive synthetic narcotic substitutes, like Methadone, this drug did not leave room for much error; statistically, if it were used off-label, “Dope-X” would cease the user’s cardiac function or would leave the user paralyzed indefinitely. The latter was usually the outcome of the more responsible junkies who chose to smoke the drug. Those who needed to escape from reality in half the time, on the other hand, would turn to old‑fashioned mainlining and would fade off into non-existence before the plunger hit the end of the syringe. The user would reach his or her ultimate goal and never return to reality again.
Despite the backlash from public figures and talking heads alike, Dr. Kelley stood tall and never lost his original desire to help mankind better itself, no matter how hard people tried to deter him. He persisted against the current and continued to experiment with the human condition in mind, relentlessly pursuing higher scientific enlightenment. Never satisfied with settling for a basic understanding of how people succumbed to the world’s temptations, whether psychosocial or biochemical, Dr. Kelley strived to understand the physiology of wanting to escape reality. More so than ever, the reality of death‑related substance abuse was nose to nose with that of the doctor’s. Unfortunately, the increase of tragedy was a direct result of Dr. Kelley’s concoction. What he wanted most was for people to get the chance to appreciate the clarity of sobriety and to not have to lose another second to the pseudo‑reality brought about by mind‑altering substances.
