English Reading Practice

Drug Education Story Number 3:
LSD, Part 3

1. Watch the video at the top of the page.

2. Continue reading the story below it.

This is part 3 of the story.

• Click here to read part 1.
• Click here to read part 2.

3. Do the exercises at the end. (The exercises are located on a separate page, after the final part of the story.)

The exercises practice: vocabulary, expressions, grammar, comprehension, and essay writing.

4. Check your answers.

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Here is the video. You can watch it in your own language at The Foundation for a Drug-Free World.(Simply click the word "language" at the top right corner of that page.)

Help to educate others so they know the truth about drugs. Click here for drug education tools for teachers and educators.

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A Week with LSD, Part 3

Over the next few days, Max and I get closer and closer. We go to a movie together, Max takes me to dinner, and we even go salsa dancing. It is so much fun! I have no clue how to dance, but Max shows me the steps. I didn't even know he could dance. The more time I spend with him, the more he seems like the Max I met online, the Max I can trust. So I agree when he suggests I try LSD again.

I cling to Max as we walk into the party. Loud music plays as people dance all around us. I saw someone post about the party on Facebook and Max said it would be the perfect time to try LSD again. Normally I hate parties, but he said it would make it fun.

We took the LSD on the way to the party, so I'm already starting to feel it when we get to there. Max promised me the dose was much smaller this time, so the trip will be much shorter. The music drills into my brain. I see ten copies of each person, all crowding around me. I can't breathe. I reach out to Max for help, but when I look around, he's gone. I can't find him anywhere in the sea of people around me. Where is he?

Lights flash in red and green and blue and I don't know if they actually exist or if I'm just hallucinating. I feel my pulse starting to rise. My face feels sweaty. I want to get out of there, but I don't know how to find the door. Why, why did I take that hit? Now I have to spend God knows how many hours losing my mind.

I keep looking around the room and, after what feels like a few hours, Max is standing next to me again.

"Where were you?" I ask him.

"I wasn't feeling well. I went to find the bathroom," he says. "It's getting pretty late. We should probably go home." I look around and the sea of people is gone. Only a few remain, but I don't know how many of them are real.

I can't believe it. I can't believe he left me and I can't believe I spent the whole party in the corner, popping in and out of reality, praying and wondering when it is going to stop. I thought this was supposed to be fun. I thought it was supposed to make me enjoy myself, not hide in fear.

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I barely sleep that night either and I know I won't make it to my classes. I'm too sore and tired to even leave the apartment. I'm so spaced out I forget that I have a midterm exam in one of them until an hour after it's over.

I walk to the living room and see Max sitting on the couch.

"Hey, babe," he says. "Did you have fun last night?"

"Are you serious?" I ask. "Not at all. Unless you call scary and out of control fun."

He frowns, then says, "Really? Well that's just your body getting used to it. You just need to try it again."

I sigh, realizing what a fool I've been for trusting him. "I don't want to try it again. I don't need to chemically alter my reality and senses to be happy. I thought you could make me happy, but I was wrong. I can find happiness in other places."

"What's that supposed to mean? I'm not happy?" He sounds angry. "I can't believe I was so wrong about you. I didn't think you'd be such a judgmental prude."

I don't care about his insults. I just want him to leave. "You need to get out of my apartment, and take this with you." I reach for the sheet of LSD sitting on top of his suitcase, but he grabs it first. He stares at me as he bites it, consuming twenty or thirty hits.

I don't know why he does it. I guess he wants to prove a point or something. He seems fine for a few minutes, and mostly I'm just annoyed at his childish behavior, but then he pukes all over my couch. My pulse quickens as he starts shouting about seeing things around him, coming for him. He says they're getting closer. I'm terrified. I don't know what he sees, but I worry he's going to attack me. His body starts shaking and I think he's having a seizure.

Mostly, I'm just scared of him, but I'm sad, too. It's heartbreaking to see this person I cared so much about suddenly lose control of his body and mind. My hands shake as I call 911. Max continues to shake uncontrollably and I feel completely helpless. There's nothing to do but wait. A few minutes later, they take him away in an ambulance. I explain about the LSD to one of the paramedics and give him Max's sheet, just happy to have it out of my apartment. I can deal with the legal repercussions later.

The next day, I visit him in the hospital, mostly just because I want to know if he's alive. One of the doctors tells me he has permanent brain damage and will have to be moved to a mental hospital. They don't know how long he'll be there. It could be the rest of his life.

When I get home, I have emails telling me I am failing my class because I missed the exam and I lost my internship because I am failing the class. I feel completely lost. My grades and my internship were the best things in my life and I threw them away. I hate myself for being so dumb and easy to manipulate.

Over the next few months, I try extra hard to save my grades. I think if I can bring them up by the end of the semester, I might be able to get the internship back. It's a lot harder to study now, though. I have LSD flashbacks sometimes. I never know when they're going to come. Sometimes I'll just be in class and start hallucinating again or I'll be studying and black out.

It makes it more challenging, but I'm not willing to let a week with LSD ruin the rest of my life.

The End

And now, practice:

Click here for the exercises: vocabulary, expressions, grammar, comprehension, and essay writing.

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