THE SECOND MAKRI
The girls were tired of my many relocations and they didn’t pay much attention. They simply came and settled down in my new room. At some point, we remembered with Aliki that Steven had left us a lot of money in our bank accounts. After giving some of the money to Natalie and Alice D, we decided to do something creative with all that money. After a lot of discussion, we decided to create a record company. Everything Records. We had many famous musicians in our company who were tired of the record companies’ attitude and they wanted to do something authentic and independent. That was the concept of Everything Records. So we started to contact some of the musicians who were in our circle. Most of them accepted. The list of Everything Records soon became very long. Metallica, Iron Maiden, Slayer, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Dinosaur Jr., Kyuss, Deicide and Irel the band I had made with Patton were the first to join. The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, for example, were going to make an aggressive funk album. The rest of them came up with the idea of taking the best parts of their music till then and creating an original album, each one of them as they had thought of it. Time passed and in the first two weeks, we had the first recordings. The music they created was unreal. The fact that we were all friends made their music even more interesting. They were influenced by each other and this emerged in their music. In that period of time, other bands joined too, like Anthrax, the Foo Fighters and Weezer. Unfortunately, this didn’t last long because the assholes of the “conspiracy” hadn’t ceased their “work” and were planning their next blow. The only positive thing was that one of those days, the devil came and stated that he had left the “conspiracy.” He wouldn’t help me, but he left because he said that he was smart and he considered them idiots.
It seemed that the next blow of the “conspiracy” would be heavy. Without them having done anything, I felt it was going to be bad. That’s why I had stuck to the girls and my friends. With my parents, I didn’t have much contact through msn, especially because I didn’t want them to worry. I was sitting and thinking about the scene when my mother had buried me against her will and as I was starting to remember my childhood, I felt that I didn’t have such a memory. The burial memory was starting to seem fictitious. I ran to tell my mother through msn and I saw something horrible. 10,000 and Svensgar were giving “Bendels” to my parents. “You’re not going to survive this,” Svensgar said and immediately left. After that, my parents turned against me. The dose which they gave them was such that I couldn’t interfere with any anti-spell. From then on started the worst period since msn started, for me. My parents whom I really loved had started torturing me through Communication…The only thing that kept me was that during the torture I continuously told my mother, “you didn’t bury me.” And she nodded her head. The “conspiracy” assholes would cut communication with the girls sometimes and I would be alone for many hours. Things couldn’t be worse.
All the above coincided with my birthday. It was the 11th of September 2010 and I was becoming 23 years old. That day, almost magically, my parents stopped being against me…For the first time all the msn seemed to be fake for one moment. But then Alice D came and hugged me and reminded me that at least the good part was real. I tried to speak to my parents through Communication, but they weren’t present. That fact confused me, but also gave me hope that a part of the msn wasn’t real. That day my friends called and we went to a tavern in the port of Nea Makri. We started talking and having fun and for the first time I started to forget the msn. A little later, I felt bad that I hadn’t shared those moments with the girls, so I started to talk to the girls while I was with my friends. Their reaction was that it was ok not to talk to them since I was with my friends, but I insisted. At one point, I started ignoring my friends and started joking with the girls. I was laughing all by myself and my friends were looking at me strangely. “Don’t they understand that I’m with the girls?” I thought. “Haven’t they ever spoken through msn?” The girls understood what was happening, so they kissed me and left telling me to have fun with my friends. After apologizing to my friends, saying that I had remembered something and that is why I had laughed, we hung out till late and then we split. My birthday was a breath which gave me some sort of hope for the future. Hope for something different.
On arriving home, my parents were waiting for me with a birthday cake. They seemed happy about my birthday and we sat around and celebrated it for a little. The hope that my parents would no longer be against me made me feel really happy. After I said goodnight, I went to the girls to tell them the good news. They weren’t there and in their place were my parents freaking out, waiting to torture me against their will. “Noooo,” I shouted inside me and they started torturing me. When they had finished, I was in a very bad condition. Without really thinking about it, I collected my things in a big suitcase, took 70 euro from my father’s wallet and was about to leave the house with the purpose of living on the streets. My parents were asleep and it seemed easy to leave, but what I hadn’t thought about was that my brother was awake. As soon as he saw me, he blocked my way and started shouting to my parents to wake up. Terrified, my parents hugged me and we sat down to talk. I was confused.
Mother-Are you crazy, son? Where are you going?
Chr.-I couldn’t stand it anymore. I had to leave the house. Live alone.
Father-But… where would you go?
Chr,-…
Mother-You’re not in your right mind. You want to live alone?! Don’t you realize you’re in a bad condition…
Chr.-Yes, because you were torturing me all night, I said through inner communication.
She had a crazy look on her face through msn and she scared me. I had to get control of things.
Chr.-So from tomorrow, I’m going to look for a job. To live alone. I can’t stand it in this house anymore.
Mother-Why? What did we do to you?
Chr,-Torture, I said through msn.
She had the same crazy expression and I felt sad.
Chr.-Nothing…It’s just that I’ve grown up and I want to live alone, I said.
Mother-I can accept that. It’s your choice. Do you feel good enough psychologically to work?
Chr.-Yes, I’m fine. I believe it would help me.
The conversation continued for a little and then I lay on my bed. The next day, I would begin looking. Everything was turning in my head. The girls, the “conspiracy,” my parents all creating a dullness in my thoughts. A little later, the girls came and without talking much we fell asleep.
The next day would be devoted to looking for a job. The only job I had done till then was private lessons in math and physics to some junior high kids. I didn’t have any experience in any job and no training whatsoever. So, I decided to look for a job in cafes. So I went to Aghia Paraskevi and Papagou (suburbs of Athens). I went to all the cafes in the central areas and the result was disappointing. Most of them required experience, some of them gave me a cold ‘we’ll contact you’ and others didn’t have positions. I went to a total of twenty cafes and the result was that not finding a job. I had to leave the house because my parents’ torturing was terrible. The “conspiracy” seemed to have left all the dirty work to my parents and I wasn’t about to continue living like that. The girls were very supportive and the good thing was that we found time to hang out. Steven’s money in the bank account had disappeared and Everything records stopped abruptly like a idea which resulted in my falling into a deep depression. The situation had gotten out of hand and I had to find something to calm me down. I followed the first and the worst idea that came to mind…
The perception of time had stopped and I found myself in the subway going towards Omonia (a central Athens square). My internal world might have been undergoing changes, but I had only one purpose in my head. Like an obsession. To buy heroin. It was a wrong survival instinct and I followed it without being able to think. On reaching Omonia, my purpose was almost achieved since it was a given fact that I was going to do it. So, I bought heroin from some guys and returned home confused. My only experience with heroin was that I had smoked with a friend and his girlfriend. My plans were bigger, though…I wanted to shoot. To get rid of all the pain I had inside me. Without telling the girls, I went to the closest pharmacy to get syringes. The procedure wasn’t as easy as I thought. Entering the pharmacy, I started talking with the pharmacist.
-Good evening, I would like two syringes, I said.
-What do you want them for? the pharmacist asked.
-Our dog is sick and needs an injection.
-What’s his problem? the pharmacist asked suspiciously.
-Eh, he has leishmaniasis and our vet is abroad.
-Ah. Are you sure?
-Yes. Poor dog.
-Ok. I’ll give you these. They are exactly what is needed in this case.
-Yes…
-2.60, please.
-Here you are. I have the exact amount.
-Thank you.
-Bye.
-Are you sure you want them for your dog?
I didn’t answer and left.
Five minutes later I got home. My parents were awake because it was evening. I went to my room and started preparing myself.
As I had never shot before, I felt anxiety which then became impatience. Not knowing how to shoot, I took a spoon, a little iced tea instead of a lemon and I started breaking the heroin cube. I put iced tea in the spoon with the heroin, I warmed it a bit with the lighter and I put the mixture in the syringe. The time had come to shoot. With a lot of anxiety, I took a belt and tightened my arm so the vein would pop. The vein popped, but I didn’t shoot inside it. I missed and shot intramuscularly. The high came soon, but it wasn’t that intense due to the intramuscular shooting. After a while I went high to the girls.
Al.-What’s the matter? You look like shit…
Chr.-I did “bendels” just to try.
Nat.-Cut the shit…You did something else. I have never seen you like that before.
Chr.-I did heroin. Don’t say anything.
Al.-Are you fucking nuts?!
Nat.-Damn it, Christos. We have Alice D doing cocaine and now we have you doing heroin? Damn it! What else can happen to me? she said crying.
Al.-If it means anything to you, I have spit blood for you to be ok and you destroyed it in one day, she said and started hitting me in a rage crying.
Chr.-Calm down. I won’t do it again. Alice D does cocaine?!
Nat.-Yes, damn it. She’s overdone it. She feels pressured and she lets off steam there. And now you, heroin?! Fuck.
At that point, I felt high from the heroin and I didn’t answer. A little later, Alice D came strung out and crying. She hugged Natalie. It seemed that it had happened a lot of times. Alice D high and asking for hugs. Then I hugged them, too. Aliki couldn’t take it and broke down.
Al.Fuck you…fuck you…I can’t stand it anymore. I’m leaving the foursome. You ruined my life.
I was so high I didn’t react. Neither did Alice D.
Al.-I mean it!
Then I reached out my hand and Aliki pushed it.
Al.-I’m leaving. I deserve something better.
Aliki left and Natalie and Alice D stayed. What happened affected me so much that I wanted to shot heroin again. I had lost my Aliki. A little bit later, my parents came and influenced by “bendels” tortured me. The situation was tragic. As soon as things calmed down, Natalie brought a friend. Her friend’s nickname was Dils. Dils was a short , blonde girl with a really strong personality.
Dils made tremendous efforts to recover me and Alice D in that period of time. The result was inadequate since we continued our bad habits, but I gained a new love. Dils…When we weren’t high and when my parents weren’t torturing me, we had incredible conversations about everything. Once and a while I went to see Aliki, but she refused to join the foursome again. Dils gradually took her place. One of those days, in bad shape, I took a decision that would destroy me completely…
So, I woke up one morning and without saying anything to the girls that were sleeping, I tried to find money to leave home in a completely stupid way. In all the confusion I had in my head, I decided to rob a bank…My goal was to collected 3,500 euro and go to Holland. I would try to find a job there to support myself and to bring the girls to live there. I put on a sweatshirt, took a knife from the kitchen without having any intention of harming anyone and went towards one of the banks of Nea Makri. I was waiting outside for all the customers to leave and when they left I entered the bank without wearing anything to hide my face! I was out of control…
…
Chr.-This is a hold up! Give me 3,500 euro and I will leave. I have no intention of hurting you, I said to the employees of the bank.
They thought it was a joke because I was dressed like a tourist from California.
Cashier-Are you joking? Get out of here! he said.
Then I went towards the cashier’s desk, pulled out the knife, showed it to the cashier and told him to give me 3,500 euro. He gave it to me. I put the money in my pocket and started running. I threw the knife in the street and then I immediately heard police sirens. I ran to my house and terrified I went inside. I hid the 3,000 and told my father to come with me to buy an acoustic guitar with the 500. I wanted the guitar because I would leave my things in Athens before I left for Holland. After I changed sweatshirts, I went outside and the policemen were waiting for me outside…they told me to empty my pockets and they found 500-600 euro and my cell phone.
…
Policeman- Where did you find that money? Tell us, did you rob the bank?
Chr.-No, it is from my savings. I’m on my way to buy a guitar.
My father was stunned. A little later, one of the bank employees came and said: “It’s him.” They put me in the police jeep and interrogated me until we got to the police department. They told me that they would see who had done it from the bank camera and if I confessed I would get off with 4 months imprisonment. By the time I had got to the police station, I had confessed. “Don’t worry, we’ll help you,” the policeman said. “You are from Nea Makri.”
At the police station, they checked my identity, they asked me about the details of the robbery and put me in the police station’s cell. I was completely lost. Before they put me in the cell, my mother came crying and told me, “Don’t worry, we’ll stand by you in all this.” It was the most moving moment of my life.
In the cell, I was with another guy who was trying to make me a pot dealer. After I said no, I ate the souvlaki that my father had bought and went to sleep. Everything was turning in my mind, but I knew then that my parents were with me in reality from the sad look on my mother’s face who was sitting outside the cell.
After being held at the police station, they handcuffed me and took me to the courthouse. I was waiting for many hours in a waiting room where the policemen put my handcuffs so that my hands were in front so that I could lie down on a bench. My thoughts were blocked from anxiety and I didn’t speak to anybody in through the msn. Nobody knew anything from my inside friends. It was October 10, 2010…
A little later, the lawyer and his assistant came and tried to calm me down by talking to me. The lawyer was a metalhead and we started talking about Slayer. While we were talking, it was time to talk to the district attorney. The district attorney was a very pretty woman and had a look like, “What did that idiot do?” … She ordered that I be held in prison until my trial. My parents made an attempt to speak to another district attorney, but in vain. My next destination was Police Headquarters. They checked my identity and took a picture of me and it was time to go. The lawyer arranged for me to be put in the Psychiatric ward of the prison which was supposedly better than the central prison. They could have sent me to Psychiatric Hospital, but I would be in danger of confinementso my parents decided against it. The time had come to go to prison…