Shroom Stories

A Trip to A & E

Dave said good night to Amy, who smiled back at him. “Have a good trip” she said. “Let me know all about it in the morning”. Adrian, who was being led away by Amy, also wished them luck. And like that that they were on their own in the kitchen.

Dave picked a few of the shrivelled dry mushrooms out of the box. They were really small little things, almost insignificant. Most of them still had their shrivelled dry stem attached. Dave was usually so meticulous when counting out shrooms. He knew that a good dose for him on this mushroom amounted to between 120 to 170 mushrooms. After counting ten out, he found the process tedious. For someone who was of sober mind, it wouldn’t have taken that long to count out three hundred mushrooms, but for Dave, eight pints later, it was just a job too far. He grabbed a handful of the shrooms guesstimating an approximate figure. Judging shroom amounts when pissed is never advisable, but Dave swelled by a false sense of his own judgement under the alcohol was undaunted.

He looked at the bowl that he had separated for John, and then measured himself up a similar amount. He got up and grabbed a saucepan from the drainging board, and took out a couple of mugs from the cupboard. He filled one up from the tap, pouring it into the pan before repeating the process and doing it again. He then sparked the hob on and left the water to boil, returning to the table to finish his wine.

Soon the water in the pan was boiling. Dave took the bowls emptying the contents into the saucepan. Immediately some of the mushrooms began to hydrate. Dave always enjoyed this moment. It was like opening up a time capsule. The mushrooms began to swell, and much of their original colour returned. For a moment they looked exactly as Dave remembered when he picked them from fresh all those years ago in the field. 2001 – “What a year” he thought to himself. He could clearly see the nipple that most of them possessed, and their lovely olive colour.

Then the smell hit him. It was not something Dave could admit he enjoyed. He always likened it to the smell of swamp water, which pretty much wasn’t too far from the truth. The colour of the water was changing to tea brown now. He stirred the mushrooms to ensure that they were all well saturated and un-clumped, and then lowered the dial of the electric hob, leaving it to simmer.

He and John passed the time chatting about the forthcoming festivities and sipping their wine. Fifteen minutes soon passed, and Dave did the duty of preparing the tea. He found a sieve that had conveniently been washed and was lying in the draining rack, and carefully poured the pan’s contents through it until each mug had an equal amount.

For most novices this would have been it. But Dave still had one last thing to do. He grabbed a handful of kitchen towel from the sideboard, and then poured the wet mushrooms in the seive into it. He then wrapped up the shrooms and squeezed gently. This was the most powerful contents of the tea – the true eye of the hurricane – the liquid from the mushrooms themselves. He squeezed every last drop from them, just as he would if squeezing an orange dripping it out equally between the mugs until not a single drop was left.

“Got any Honey” he asked John.
“In the cupboard” John said pointing with his finger. Dave got it down putting a big spoonful into each mug and stirring it well. That was it. The tea was finished.
He put John’s in front of him, and then sat down at the other end of the table with his own. “Cheers” he said to Dave raising his mug to him.

“Cheers” John said, then grimaced as he got a whiff of the tea. It smelt awful. John raised the mugs to his lips and sipped it a little cautiously – it tasted pretty bad too. The honey lightly disguised the dank and complex taste. Swamp water, was pretty much the only description that fitted.

Down the other end of the table, Dave wasn’t fairing much better. The taste always set off an involuntary spasm in him, setting his hair stand on end. “Just take big gulps” he said “and try and get it down within 15 minutes”. Dave always liked to give himself a time limit to drink the shrooms in. If you took too long, there was the danger the come up would put you off finishing the tea, thereby limiting its effectiveness. Drinking a mushroom tea was just something you had to commit to and get the job done as soon as you could, (obviously without throwing it back up – a problem he knew a few people had. Some people just simply couldn’t stomach it at all).

They drank in silence between them, moving up to bigger and bigger gulps. Eventually they were both reaching the last dregs. This was always a honey sweet, sediment filled experience which was pretty unpleasant. Dave took one last mouthful, putting the empty mug back down on the table. There was no going back now. John finished soon afterwards still grimacing slightly with disgust. “That was f@*k’n awful”. Dave nodded in agreement. Still they had managed to do it.

Already Dave was starting to feel light-headedness about him. He recognised this as different to his normal drunk state – he knew the mushroom’s power was starting to work. He felt his face flush a bit. He never liked to mention what he was feeling at the start in case the other people couldn’t feel anything and felt alienated. The mushroom was coming on fast, taking him a little by surprise. Dave was used to waiting half an hour to 45 minutes before any of the effects made themselves apparent.

John got up from the table. “Let’s go to my room where we can chill out” he said. Dave followed. His light headedness was quite acute now. He could almost feel his head lolling on his neck. John switched on his TV then got onto his double bed, getting comfortable. Dave dropped into a large inflatable armchair. Already the light was dancing in the corners of his eyes, creating a distraction for him. He closed his eyes, straight away realising that the phantogasma in his mind was already kicking off. Colours were flashing in his mind, and distracting swirly shapes seemed to reach out of his consciousness. He opened his eyes. Shit this was coming on fast. He looked over at John. John widened his eyes, indicating that he also was feeling the effects now.

The come up on shrooms can be many things. It can be a little intimidating at first. If not accustomed to how the trip unfolds, user’s can feel as if they are rapidly losing control in ways they don’t understand. The feeling is so intangible, yet overwhelming. Like you are being pulled into another world far removed from you normal every day experience. The feeling wasn’t just 3 dimensional it was four.

The power swept through Dave’s body, alien and strong. He had done shrooms many times before but the power he was experiencing now was astonishing, taking him by surprise. He was feeling overcome by it, and out of control. He felt a pang of fear strike through him, as his mind raced away. “What had he done” he thought to himself? Had he put too many shrooms into the tea? He got up trying to keep calm. The feeling accelerated, pulsating huge waves of energy through him. The lights began to dazzle and everything became pulsating with colour.

“Water” Dave thought. Water was a critical part of taking shrooms. Water was something that fuelled the buzz, and his body was crying out for it. He needed it to calm down. Without saying anything he opened the door walking out into the hallway, heading for the toilet on the landing. He turned the taps on splashing the water into his mouth. The movements his hands made felt weird as it smacked against his lips, like he was removed from the whole process. The water wasn’t helping. The power pulsating through him was phenomenal.

Dave moved from the toilet into the lounge next to John’s bedroom. It was empty with large white couches and a large TV. Dave tried to lie down, but couldn’t settle. He couldn’t keep his hand still. He felt terrible, and a little panicky. “Keep calm he said to himself”, but barely able to concentrate. He got up pacing around the room. He walked out, finding another spare room.

An ironing board with a iron caught his attention. It became alive, full of personality, and animation, like a cartoon character. Dave felt in awe of it. It pulsated beautifully in front of him, as if crafted from the finest ivory and jewels. The whole thing was a spectacular sight. Now everywhere Dave looked, was a glittering, sparkling, pulsating, bejewelled dreamscape, where every surface became an extravagant work of neon’s and solid colours. It pulsated and swirled across his mind a bedazzling sight. It was like one of those deep sea jelly fish that ripple spectrum colours along their edge. If Dave wasn’t so overwhelmed he would’ve stopped to appreciate how beautiful it was – it was awe inspiring. But the alcohol that was also coursing through Dave’s veins was fueling the high to even stronger, more intense levels. He’d never seen power on a scale like this.

In a moment, making a mockery of Dave’s experience his first thought was that he needed to get help. Every rule about mushroom tripping he’d ever learnt he abandoned. Whenever someone reaches a level that scares them on shrooms, the best thing you can do, is not to panic. To stay calm and lie down. Dave used to use the 15 minute rule technique whenever this had happened in the past, and it always worked perfectly. The rule involved looking at the time and fixing it. This act alone helped him attempt to gain control, but it also meant he could fix the experience to a known point. Then he would simply fall back, allowing the experience to wash over and through him. Often he would talk aloud to himself “Use it, use the experience. Go with it. Let it show you what you need to see.” This mindset was also helpful in allowing the experience to be appreciated differently. Often this simple act alone was enough to transform a trip and put it on the positive path. When this point was reached on shrooms it was almost impossible not to have an amazing fun time.

Tripping on shrooms was all about your state of mind. Often the best way to appreciate it, is to submit yourself fully to its spell and let go. This was the drug equivalent of a leap of faith. It was exciting and scary at the same time. Also the point about the fifteen minute rule was that eventually when you looked at your watch later, you’d often see 15 minutes had past and now you were enjoying yourself. The time just gave you something tangible to hold onto, whilst the top edge of the experience burnt off, and your body got accustomed to it.

But at that time, the alcohol just clouded Dave’s judgment. The combined affect gave the experience and added intensity. Nine pints had been a reckless amount to drink before such a strong trip. What would otherwise have been bearable was appearing intolerable to Dave. It wasn’t so much what he could see, but how he felt. The power coursing through him was like electricity. He felt as if he was like one of those 20,000 volt cables you always see sparking, and flashing around in James Bond movies that the baddies always get themselves electrocuted with – that’s what he felt like – as if he was being electrocuted – like he was a live wire, pure energy coursing through him. It was an indescribable feeling. He’d never felt like this before.

However had Dave at this time thought rationally and adopted the 15 minute rule everything would probably turned out differently. But he didn’t, and now the events of the mushroom pushed him onto another path.

In a rash of judgement, Dave decided he had to get help. He went down the stairs to the lower of the two floors in John’s apartment, and opened the door. Before him was the main staircase of the building. Dave moved down the stairs fast, reaching the lobby. He didn’t even notice at this time that he wasn’t wearing shoes or socks. He opened the large solid door, stepping out into the street. The door clicked shut behind him, locking him out. It was late now, well into the early hours of the morning, and the City had settled down into sleep. Dave crumpled into a pile on the doorstep, trying to gain a modicum of control back. Due to the experience washing over him Dave found his mind difficult to process. The kaleidoscopic, cinematic visions he could see simply commanded his attention. He stood up. He had to get someone to help him.

Had anyone seen Dave at this point, he would’ve looked a sight. Barefoot and almost staggering down the street in his work clothes it would have been easy to correctly assume he was high on drugs. A shape of a person walked in Dave’s direction shadowy and silhouetted before him. A street light sparkled around the figure like a halo.

“Excuse me, can you help me” Dave pleaded. He’d reached the junction of the Euston road. At any time of night it was a busy road, 3 lanes deep, and packed with traffic. Whoever was in front of Dave simply arced round him and carried on going completely confused by what to make of him. Dave feeling disorientated and panicky almost had the idea that he needed to run into the road and stop the traffic, an incredibly reckless and dangerous thing to do. Despite how he felt at the time, he still had enough sense to ignore this. Instead, the feeling simply overtook Dave now.

He collapsed to the ground face down on the pavement. He was simply not aware of anything now – not even the buzz. Time had simply ceased. Even the drum of cars that passed by not more then six feet to Dave’s right could be heard. Dave had gone well past Ego Loss. He simply ceased to be.

Quite how long Dave had lay by that road he would never know. Nor how many cars drove by, and people walked past. Eventually the lights dancing behind his eyes jogged Dave into awareness. The sounds his ears heard were distorted and confused. Through his eyelids he could see colours dancing in a pulsating rhythm, cool and blue. But there was sound - no voices – people talking. People talking to him. Dave opened his eyes.

Staring down at Dave were at least five faces, but his eyes were drawn to a girl – a blonde girl with a pretty smile. They were all looking at Dave. Above their heads the night flashed blue in a pulsating rhythm. Dave blinked not sure where he was.

“What’s your name” the girl said. Dave’s eyes were focussing now taking in the scene before him. He was lying on his back, and tried to move his head up. He was still in the street and could see the traffic driving by. The people in the cars peered to see what the commotion was. A police car was stopped in the left lane, forcing traffic to go round it. The blue and white lights on top of it were spinning, but there was no alarm.

“What’s your name” the lady said. Dave focussed on her. His thoughts were still spinning and confused.
“Dave” he said. The girl smiled. It was progress to her. Dave realised that she was wearing a black uniform. The others that also looked down on Dave were also in uniform. The others were all men. Around Dave, looking down on him were five uniformed police officers.
“What’s up mate” said one, a young male, sounding distinctly Australian.
“Can you get me an Ambulance” Dave said. “Why do you need an ambulance” the policeman continued “have you been taking any drugs”?
Dave looked at him. “Yeah, I took some magic mushrooms” he said coming clean straight away. “Can you get me an ambulance now please”? Dave could still feel the intense power coursing through him, but now the feeling was calmer, almost ebbing in and out with its intensity.

“So where did you do the mushrooms” the girl asked?
“With my friend” Dave replied.
“Where’s your friend live” the girl responded.
Dave was singing like a canary now. “In the flat in this street” he said.
“Which flat” said the younger male police man?

“The top floor flat – number 69” Dave said completely selling his mate out. He couldn’t help but be truthful. He heard one of the officers say “Go check it out” and noticed a couple of the police officers drifted away. A powerful wave swept over Dave, causing him to close his eyes. The mushroom trip was only just beginning now. His mind had become a vista stretching as far as the eye could see. Hieroglyphic symbols and laser lights burst like fireworks in his thoughts. Vivid, amazingly vivid shapes drifted into his thoughts, and he felt like he was on rails, on some kind of theme park ride. Dave did not hear the policeman talking to him now. He’d drifted to another place. The thoughts were sucking him deeper into a magical dreamland. A beautiful dragon trailed across the distant far reaches of his inner vision. It turned banking towards him trailing glittering star like trails behind it. It was a marvellous Chinese looking dragon. Dave could see the scales glinting on its skin. He almost went wow. It was fantastic. A smile creased his lips.

The policeman woman distracted him back from his vision. “Dave, open your eyes” she said. Dave obliged opening his eyes.

The story continues here