Pills for Thrills

“Profundity pills?”

“That’s right, three for a tenner, I bought six!”

“Wow, well done!”

Libby smiled, “Yes, they’d just got a new batch in, they sell out fast, I was lucky to get so many!”

The government had just licensed a new recreational drug with one eye on the national debt. ‘Profundity Pills – an exciting and safe way to relive your favourite books and films!’ said the ads. The pills somehow disconnected parts of the brain for a couple of hours, so that you had virtually no memory of anything you’d ever read or watched. A bit like a couple of bottles of wine but without the hangover. Consequently, you could watch a film, like Back to the Future, with no idea of what was going to happen when Marty plugs in his guitar at the beginning, even if you’d seen it ten times before!

Libby went over to a case of DVDs, running her painted red nails over the spines before plucking one out. Alien!

“Wow!” I felt a genuine thrill and some trepidation at the idea of watching it again for the ‘first time,’ unaware of the grisly surprises to come. “Then we could watch The Exorcist,” I said.

“Yuk!” she exclaimed, putting the two DVDs on a table.

It was the first time for Libby and I. She handed me two large green capsules. “This way we can watch both!”

I held the capsules in the palm of one hand and a glass of water in the other. “Here goes!” They went down quite easily, despite their size.

We sat on the sofa. After a few minutes, Libby giggled. “I was just trying to remember the name of that book, the one about … Jesus … is it?”

“Oh, you mean the B …, the B ….” I just couldn’t remember the name!

I went over to the case of DVDs and scanned the titles. Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jaws. Hmm, they seemed somehow familiar, but I had no recollection of ever having seen them, or what they were about, apart from a vague supposition sparked by the titles. I looked around the room, everything seemed familiar, including Libby, I could even remember getting up in the morning, but I just couldn’t remember watching any of those films. “I think we’re ready!”

Libby picked up Alien and took it out of the case. “‘In Space, No-one Can Here You Scream!’ This one sounds scary! What’s this other one? The Exorcist, well, we’ll watch that after.

“Wow, that was amazing!” I said, nearly four hours later. “When that monster came out of ….”

“Yes, and when that girl’s head turned all the way round and she ….”

“I’m not starting to remember properly yet, are you?”

“Not yet,” said Libby. “Maybe we should watch another?” She giggled.

Just then the phone rang. It was my sister, Morag. “Hi, how’s you and Libby?”

“We’re fine, just tried those profundity pills, they were amazing!”

“Oh, yeah, I tried one yesterday. I watched Groundhog Day, I honestly couldn’t remember it. Just so funny. Hey, did you see on the news about that idiot who jumped out of a window? Seems he never read the instructions and took two! Then he watched some horror films and couldn’t stop hallucinating!”

I turned to Libby. “Hey, did you read the instructions?”

She shrugged. “I dunno. Why? What’s the big deal?”

“You idiot! Seems like we could be in for some unpleasant dreams!”

“Oh, my God!” Her face was white. “Look!” She pointed at my stomach.

I looked down. Something was pushing against my shirt. From the inside.