Zombie Juice (flash fiction)

Here is a one-page writing challenge that I did in 2007. We didn't call it "flash fiction" then. The challenge was to write a one-page story based on a first-line prompt, "Zombie juice is an acquired taste." Here is the result. 

"Zombie Juice" 

By L.L. Heberlein

(copyright 2007, published 2015 by L.L. Heberlein. All rights reserved.)

"Zombie juice is an acquired taste," said the old man in the dirty lab coat. "You may not like the feeling of your first dose, but by the second or third, it's quite soothing."

I shrugged as I looked over the vials of purple and green liquid. I was trying to pick a color. The doctor had assured me it didn't matter. "I really don't care," I said. "As long as it does what it's supposed to."

"Oh, yes, miss," he said. "I assure you, it works exactly as advertised."

"Then hit me up," I said, grabbing a purple vial.

He took the vial and inserted the purple liquid into some gun-thing with a long needle. He looked very professional with the latex gloves and the lab coat. It did nothing for the fact that we were in a damp, brick-lined basement and not an actual hospital. It made no difference to me.

I sat on the gurney and took off my black sweater. My tank top alone did little to protect me from the cold. "Can we hurry?" I asked. "I'm freezing."

"You're about to get much colder," the doctor said. "Now sit back and close your eyes."

I lay back on the table, but kept my eyes open as he wrapped the thick rubber band around my upper arm. "My, we are veiny!" he said as he tapped the inside of my elbow.

He didn't ask if I'd changed my mind. Having already paid the thousand dollars, I wasn't turning back. 

I'm sure he was used to that. The needle went in with a sharp bite, then cold spread up and down my arm. It traveled into my chest where it seemed to explode freezing cold throughout my body.

"How are we doing?" The doctor asked. We, as if this involved him, too. I just nodded my head and closed my eyes.

The sensation was chilling, not just to my body, but to my brain, my emotions. Slowly, I felt that painful spot at the center of me, that place that had felt like a giant hole for so long, slowly disappear. Not that it was gone, I just couldn't feel it anymore. All that heartache… gone. I tried to make that pain react, tried thinking of all those images that hurt me. Names. Places. Certain songs. Things that had always made the pain worse, like I was bleeding inside.

Nothing.

I opened my eyes and smiled. Shivering, I smiled the biggest smile I had in months. But it wasn't a real smile. The truth was, I felt nothing. Not happy, not sad. Not in pain. Just… nothing.

"It works," I said. "Just like you said."

The doctor smiled back with that same untrue smile. "See you next month?"

I nodded, grabbing my things. I walked up the steps, out into the rainy night. I felt nothing. Blissfully numb.

I'd be back.