My first time tripping I ate two 250ug tabs with this kid I knew from middle school. A day prior to this, I had decided I wanted to leave home and go where the wind blows. I was sick of being nagged by my parents at home, doing nothing everyday. No motivation to get a job, I just wanted to have fun. So, I made plans with this dude to get a train ticket to Philly, cop some tabs, buy some bud and dip out. He had had his fair share of experiences with lsd and mushrooms—drugs in general, so that gave me the idea I could trust him to help walk me through it. Stupid. 18 years old. One of the most moronic decisions I have ever made.

Off the first train from Penn Station, we sat waiting for the second one at a huge station in NJ. We had dropped the tabs 25-30 minutes ago. Fives more minutes and we’re on. The station starts glowing and pulsating. It uncannily resembled Hogwarts’ dining hall, I was ready for the owls to start swooping above us. I was feeling good and confident, just in awe and amazement at the visuals and increasingly succulent emotions.

So we’re on the train, with both our headphones in listening to music—really just vibing. Super content. The ride goes by in what feels like ten minutes. We get to the Philly station and I’m like, “this is our stop we should get off now?” He said something on the lines of, “nah let’s just ride man, let’s just go as far as it’ll take us.” I felt like an excited child so I was just like, HAHA Bet, right on man. This class of 9th graders get on our car and spread out all around us. I was fine, not thinking much of it but we did not have tickets for this ride.

15 minutes of smoothness, and all of a sudden my friend starts making these really weird, pretty terrifying faces doing crazy shit with his tongue and eyeballs. He starts talking gibberish (english, I just had no idea what the fuck he was talking about). As well as doing weird movements with his hands. He then turns to the kids and starts communicating, saying some inappropriate things. (Inappropriate mostly because they are children and he’s a grown human on drugs.) There was some talk of sex and drugs, asking them questions but nothing one could really make sense of. I’m still completely coherent but full on tripping now, and I’m trying to lowkey get his attention to tell him to stop. He continues. You would have thought this would scare me… no. Five minutes into him being scary to these children, the teachers had been telling them not to look or speak to him. Finally they yell at him, “STOP TALKING TO THEM”. I think that nudged his brain a bit so he stopped talking to them, looked at the ceiling and started saying more weird shit that no one could understand. Finally the conductor walks up to us and asks for tickets. I, who appear to be normal and not on drugs, tell him that I think we missed our stop and we were supposed to get off in Philly. This kid is still acting like a fucking retarded alien, clearly on hard drugs of some sort, and the conductor says “you guys need to get off the train right now.” I immediately grab my shit and stand up. “BRO GET UP RIGHT NOW WE HAVE TO GET OFF. WE’RE GETTING KICKED OFF.”

The whole car was silent but packed with these kids and their teachers, and a few other randoms. He didn’t acknowledge anything. I kept at it for a minute or two I’m not sure how long that took to get off the train, but finally he understands we are in trouble and grabs his big ass suitcase (smh) and we walk to the exit of the train. I walk off and then he walks off. I turn around and I’m like “now what”. He’s not saying anything, just standing still, petrified, but with a blank look on his face staring out into the middle of the dark street. The conductor stays standing on the ladder of the entrance we just walked out from. We’re in the middle of nowhere in PA now, at 12am.

“Come on bro let’s go we need to find a motel or something”. At this point he was starting to scare me and I began to realize I was now pretty much utterly alone. He was not my friend I had left the city with anymore. Now, he was just this inhuman creature hosting psychedelic rabies with an elastic face and a dangerously unsound mind. The train starts to move. My friend, without his luggage, starts running along side of it to jump back on. The conductor brings his shiny boot down on the kids chest and he falls. Cant believe he actually tried to jump back on. We had just been kicked off… but then again, of course I can.

Long story short, “…we don’t need this baggage” he said, then drops his clumsy big red suitcase in the middle of the road and walks away. I start to lose all hope now and grab it, realizing I should definitely call my mother. Two minutes go by, I’m on the phone with her crying, explaining everything that’s happened thus far, so scared. For those few minutes I didn’t think about having to watch over him. He was nowhere in sight. I look through a dark window of this bar/restaurant and I see some commotion going on inside. A cop then comes out from this drive way next to building. “I’m guessing you’re here for my friend”. “I guess so, tell me what’s happening.” For his own safety, and him being a tall scary enough looking black kid and us being in Downingtown, PA, I told him and the other three white cops who would then come and question us, what happened. My friend was praying underneath some painting in the food space. They take him outside and violently sit him down at table outside where I’m sitting. (After I had explained everything to them.) They’re holding him by the shoulders questioning him but he’s completely incoherent. He starts acting like a drug boss. Throws his feet on the table, talking to them like they’re the feds, like they’re trying to get information on other people out of him. He can’t cooperate so they have this massive ambulance come to where we were and they start to place him under arrest. He resists and did not stop the entire time. I was helpless, I felt so bad I was just sitting there. About 9 or 10 cops came to the scene, I spoke to all of them tripping balls off 500ug for the first time ever. I don’t know how I was able to stay so calm and collected through that whole situation. I have a video, the police on top of him while he’s screaming “MOM! MOM! MOM!”… they’re trying to restrain him in a stretcher. The officer I had first spoken to told me they were taking him to a hospital, which they did but then threw him in prison 24 hours after suicide watch because he was the one carrying our tabs which they found. Another officer followed, offering me shelter at the police station as I waited to be picked up. Within a flash I thought up a scenario where someone notices my massive pupils and connect the dots, so I decided to wait at this incredibly bright iridescent diner across the street. This cute waitress, pregnant and flirty, who served me my 12 cups of black coffee saw the whole thing. I waited for five hours (still tripping and now tweaking on caffeine) in the diner for my mother to pick me up. I’m lucky for that.

A year later I found out that my “friend” was diagnosed with schizophrenia. I wonder, what could have triggered that?