Limits

Chapter 2: Caught

         Vinyl sighed and rolled over in bed, yet again. No matter how hard she tried, or how she tried to sleep, she was unable to get comfortable. Octavia had fallen asleep long before her. It felt like she had fallen asleep hours ago, it seemed, while she was painfully awake. She finally groaned in frustration, and threw up her hooves, then climbing out of bed very gingerly as to not wake Octavia. She looked back at her lover, and smiled. Octavia always looked so peaceful when she slept; Vinyl almost giggled out loud, noticing the slightest bit of drool at the corner of the sleeping mare’s mouth.. Freakin’ adorable. She thought to herself. She tiptoed out of the bedroom, and headed towards the bathroom. She shut the door, and flicked on the light. An near grim visage that she almost didn't recognize as her own, stared back at her tiredly. She splashed some water against her face, looked in the mirror and sighed. Dark hanging bags were beginning to appear under her eyes, and her cerise eyes had all but lost their once vibrant and youthful shine. She turned away from the mirror, and turned the light off, quietly returning to the bedroom. After a not insignificant amount of effort, Vinyl fell into a fitful sleep, strewn with strange dreams and terrors.

         Vinyl awoke unpleasantly, the sensation of something like a hangover washing over her almost immediately. As Vinyl’s eyes cracked open a bit, not wanting to admit the sunlight streaming in from the window, she shielded her eyes with a forehoof, and rolled over to look at the bedside clock.

         11:35 PM, the little red numbers shined.

         Vinyl blinked a few times, and for the first time that morning, noticed the absence of warmth on the other side of the bed. Octavia almost never let her sleep late. For a moment, she wondered if she had forgotten a special occasion, before noticing a note on the bedside table, written in Octavia's crude but flowing script.

Vinyl,

I had to go to an unexpected rehearsal today. I didn’t want to wake you; I’ll be back around 4.

I’m sure you can occupy yourself until then.

Love you,

-Octavia

         Vinyl looked at the note for a moment before getting up, and walking into the living room. She cracked her neck and stretched; a series of ‘pops’ sounding out. She sat down on the couch for a moment.

         Her thoughts quickly drifted to a small wooden box tucked in an alcove beneath the bed in the bedroom, nestled into the wall. She rushed into the bedroom, and withdrew the box. She sighed in a mixture of longing and guilt as she went through the contents. Inside, there were several syringes, a bag containing a rocky substance, and a spoon.

This is wrong… She thought to herself.

         She groaned at the internal exchange, and got to work. It only then occurred to her how lucky she was to have a horn, as she used her magic to heat the substance. She loaded a syringe, and after a moment of apprehension, stabbed it in. She hissed in pain at the pinprick sensation, but soon fell into a state of ecstasy. Time soon became irrelevant, and reality became unnecessary.

         Vinyl groaned as the last residue of her high made it clear it was gone. Everything ached, like it always did. She felt soul-crushing guilt, like she always did, but strangely, she felt a sense of sick fulfillment, and a hunger in her mind was assuaged. She hated this tornado of emotion that always crept into her mind during this limbo-like period. She lied there in silence, for another about another 20 minutes, before sitting up at a familiar sound.

         She heard the door to the apartment beginning to open. She always cursed that faulty lock, but now its ability to slow Octavia down was a godsend.

         Ohfuckohfuckohfuck! She kept swearing in her mind, as she quickly put away all the offending objects, locked the small box they resided in, jamming them back into the hole, and lying down in bed, hoping against hope that it would convince her marefriend she had been asleep all day.

She heard the door click open, and relaxed, attempting to look asleep.

It apparently worked, as Octavia entered the bedroom, only to utter a soft ‘aww…’ and pull the covers up to Vinyl’s neck, kissing her marefriend on the cheek and leaving her.

Vinyl sighed softly, feeling bad about practically lying to her lover.  She relaxed, and eventually fell asleep. She awoke and walked out into the kitchen. She groaned as she walked and stretched. Lying in bed after that left her somewhat stiff. She looked up at the clock; it was past 10, she had to be ready to perform at her show in less than 30 minutes. “OH BUCK!” She said, much louder than she intended.

“Vinyl! Language!” Octavia scolded from the next room, before walking in.

“Sorry!” Vinyl said quickly, grabbing her box of records in her magic, and getting ready to head out the door.

“Vinyl, wait.”

“What?” Vinyl let out in a mixture of a whine and a sigh, exasperated and obviously in a hurry.

“Are you ok? You’ve been acting different lately. You’re coming home late, and you’re flighty. You look almost… sick, at times...” Octavia finished, with a forlorn expression.

On the outside, Vinyl was hardly fazed. On the inside, she hated herself. She hated lying to Octavia, but she felt like she had to, like she was protecting her from this. “I’m fine, Octavia.” She said, more curtly than she intended.

“Vinyl, love, I’m just worried. You know you can tell me anything, right?”

“I said I’m fine.” She said again.

“But-“ Octavia started.

“No buts. Seriously, I promise I’m okay. Now, I gotta go. I love you.” She dashed out, hiding the tears in her eyes as she heard Octavia call after her, “I love you too.”

All throughout the dark night of Manehattan, the bass emanating from Vinyl’s turntables shook the night club with impressive intensity as the DJ bobbed her head, her striped mane flying to and fro, and worked her magic. While heroin gave her a high, performing on stage gave her the same rush, more or less.

The crowd of ponies below roared in approval of the music and pounded their hooves as they danced to the  beat, and she flashed her trademark grin, causing them to go wild. Suddenly, a thought struck her, one that quickly erased the grin from her face, though her hooves never stopped their continuous movement.

‘I wish she was here.’

Octavia groaned as she sorted through the piles of junk that made up Vinyl’s side of the room. She had lectured her numerous times about keeping her side of the room clean, but as with many other lectures with that mare, it went in one ear, out the other, like always.

‘That mare… what will I ever do with her?’ She asked herself with a sigh.

As she moved a blue and white striped sock aside, she turned beet red, remembering just why it was tossed so carelessly aside. She shook her head, and went back to her cleaning. As she reached for a discarded battery, she slipped and fell, letting out a cry that she would certainly never utter in mixed company. She reached for the battery, which had now rolled under the bed, and bumped a rectangular wooden box.

“Hm?” She reached for it, and pulled it out. “What’s in here?” She wondered aloud, and then noticed the lock on the box. Her frown only became more apparent. She tried to contain herself, but the mounting fear only grew when she saw a small bit of plastic sticking out from the box.

‘Nononononono, she told me she was over that years ago, she couldn’t possibly… Maybe that’s why she’s been home so late lately…’ She kept saying to herself, fearing the worst. A whirlwind of conclusions went through her head, until she took a few deep breaths, and finally managed to calm down. ‘There is no need to get so flustered, Octavia. All you have to do is ask her about it when she gets home. Surely there’s an explanation for this.’ She nodded to herself, but was still incredibly nervous. She set the box on the bed, and went back to her cleaning.

______________________________________________________________________________

         Vinyl arrived home after her performance, yawning. She was home a lot earlier than she had been lately, considering she hadn’t needed to go, ‘run some errands,’ as she sometimes called it to herself. She sighed to herself as she entered the kitchen, noticing Octavia was still up, and she didn’t look Grade-A pissed off about something when Vinyl got home, for once. Octavia looked up from the marked up and scattered sheet music on the table.

         “Hi, Vinyl. Nice to see you home at a decent time for once.” She said, with teasing sarcasm, and what Vinyl could’ve sworn was a bit of an edge.

        “…You alright, babe?” She asked, with concern, and a bit of fear for her own hide.

        Octavia smiled, “Of course. Why?” The edge was gone. Maybe it was just her imagination.

        “Oh, no reason, I’m just wondering.” Vinyl lied, as she walked over and gave her marefriend a kiss on the nose.

        “Oh, how sweet.” Octavia giggled.

        Vinyl yawned and cracked her neck. “I’m a bit tired, I’m gonna go lay down. Care to join me?” She winked.

        Octavia blushed, then shook her head, smiling coyly. “Oh, you never change. I’ll be there in a minute, okay?”

        Vinyl grinned, and nodded. “Alright, love ya, babe.”

        “I love you too.” Octavia replied, cheery as ever.

        Vinyl walked into the bedroom. ‘Aw yeah, time to get it on.’ She thought to herself, but that and similar thoughts that all meant laying out her marefriend came to a screeching halt when she saw the wooden box on the bed. If she could be paler than her coat of ivory, she most certainly would be.

        “Why were you hiding that, Vinyl?” Vinyl practically jumped out of her coat, and turned to see an Octavia, somehow holding a gaze that was an odd but all the same terrifying mixture between an icy glare, and an innocent curiosity.

        “I…. uh…” Vinyl suddenly lost the ability to speak, to explain to the mare that was now staring her into silence, the mare she had let down, again. Vinyl’s silence only confirming Octavia’s fears.

        “What happened to giving it up forever? Our love being more important than some stupid high? What happened?” As Octavia’s voice rose, so did the tears in her eyes, and the cold guilt in Vinyl’s chest.

        “I….I…”

        “Open the box, Vinyl.” Octavia said, her voice practically radiating, ‘I’m not messing around.’

        “But…” Vinyl began.

        “Vinyl Record Scratch, open that box, this instant.”