Cruel World

"Candy"

I slid open the glass door, a light smoke seeped out of the house, climbing up the side of the building like the shadow of a bird flying overhead and disappeared into the spring air. I didn't want to walk back into the building filled with the fumes of weed but I was ready to go home.

I stepped into the room, quickly being engulfed in smoke. I moved swiftly so I wouldn't get anymore high than I needed to.

I wobbled down the stairs but stopped in my tracks as my eyes caught something they shouldn't have. The green-eyed girl was doubled over, a dollar bill in her hand rolled tight enough to stick up her nose. There was only one purpose for this.

She used her other hand to press her finger to her open nostril, closing it so that when she breathed the other nostril would suck up the powder on the table. Her eyes lifted to meet mine as she wiped the excess powder off her upper lip. The glow in her eyes only burned brighter.

I blinked, hard. Squeezing my eyes shut and opening them, wishing everything would just disappear. I shouldn't be here. Something tells me she shouldn't either.

I couldn't fight the lump that formed in my throat. I wanted to scream and run away. There was only one I could do without seeming completely insane. So I ran. Wiping the tears from my eyes as fast as my feet hit the ground.

—-

I sat on the edge of the dock, my feet dangling over the edge. I knew I couldn't go back home now. I reeked of weed and my eyes were red, mostly from crying. I guess that's why Mikey was acting so weird about this "candy." It was drugs. Drugs that weren't marijuana. Drugs that could harm people.

I need to calm down. I don't know why I was freaking out so much over that one thing. I mean, yeah, it was scary but I just need to live life. It's what dad always told me to do. But I wouldn't be living long if I were doing those drugs.

The reflection of a neon light against the water caught my eye. "What the hell?" I quickly looked around, glancing to find some neon light source on one of the house boats. Nothing.

I climbed to my feet, brushing off any dirt from the back of my jeans. I started home, hoping I looked anything other than high. There it was again. The light. I saw it in the corner of my eye. I continued walking, never looking in the direction from where I had seen the light.

They continued flashing, as if something was following from the rooftops. I ran past my house and down the street to the intersection. I couldn't let them see me go home, they would know for sure where I lived and could potentially hurt me. So I continued to run. I pushed into a sprint so that I could get ahead of them, see them as they jump across the street and realize they fucked up horribly. The pink and blue mix of neon continued to flash. But completely stopped when I had reached the intersection and faced the direction from where the lights were flashing.

Nothing.

Maybe they had stopped and are sitting on top of the roof of the small convenience store at the end of the street. No one would know of this intersection unless they were familiar with this neighborhood. Meaning they, or whatever it is, could be my neighbor. Whoever they were, whatever it was, could have followed me before.