Heaven - ONC 2022 LONGLISTED - old version

chapter 15: a penny for luck

Purgatory was never a place Sina liked but he knew there was nowhere else to go. Leaning against the DJ booth he looked through the throng of people and saw Joni sitting on the far side of the bar talking to her husband.

When Cody looked up he caught Sina's eye.

Soon Joni followed suit. She arched her head up, her blonde ponytail swaying. When she saw it was Sina, she rolled her eyes and looked back at her husband.

Sina eyed the California-blonde hair. He remembered when it used to be blue with pink tips. Joni, though he never liked her, was actually fun back then when Sina and her were both too drunk or too high to recall that they weren't friends. Vanilla, Sina mouthed just before Cody's gaze returned to his wife. "Worse than vanilla," he grumbled to himself. "She's toast. Burnt dry toast with nothing on top. No butter. No honey. Simply dried toast." With a mocking roll of his own eyes, Sina pushed himself off the booth and decided he was going to walk up to Joni and tell her just how vanilla and toast-like she was. Yet three footsteps in, Sina saw her plant a kiss on Cody's cheek and then get up to leave. "Oh, you just wait until next time." Crossing his arms he watched her and her Cali girl hair exit Purgatory.

A flicker of the neon lights outside entered as Joni left. The rogue light sparkled momentarily on a dropped penny that Sina was able to see even at that distance. Ain't good luck to anyone who picks it up here, Sina thought. So he turned his back on the penny and headed to the bar.

Saturday night brought in quite a crowd yet Sina couldn't remember the last time he danced on a Saturday. Not since that mer-freak came to poison the place.

He needed a few drinks. Enough to forget the world. But no amount would be enough to forget that as of tomorrow he'd be homeless once again. Aunt May's bus arrived in Heaven at six AM. Cookie would be driving to the station to pick her up. It would take half an hour there and back. Sina had already packed up his stuff ready to leave at stupid o'clock before May came waltzing back home in a huff about all the money she lost. If she were to see Sina there, he'd be the one she would blame for her bad luck. I'm a penny on the floor of Purgatory. Sina frowned and stopped a few feet away from the bar to watch Cody filling beer from the tap.

Everyone sitting at the bar had their back to Cody and was watching the stage so Sina's gaze followed theirs. Ariel (or Quentin as he had once told Sina with a casual toss of his perfect hair and an arrogant brow lift as he looked Sina up and down) had clambered up the stripper's pole. Once at the top, he clasped his legs around it and arched so far back it looked unnatural. All that long mermaid hair sparkled with glitter. Under the lights he was awe-inspiring to everyone looking – everyone but one dark-haired, non-glittery, scowling Sina.

Turning his attention back to the bar, Sina scowled. He wanted to grab Ariel by the hair and personally shove him into the beer mug Cody had just filled. Jealousy gnawed at him. It began in his heart then migrated to his brain before it occupied every part of him. "I hope you fucking fall."

As he marched towards the bar, Sina wished he could erase the world. The following wish was that Cody might have some more coke on him. But just as Sina made his way through the cluster of drunks holding their lukewarm drinks, Sina spotted him.

Father Caleb Hill sat on one of the stools but Sina was able to see his profile perfectly. Underneath the pitiful fluorescent lights, the preacher looked ethereal. There was a glow to him Sina could not pinpoint. Like he was something more than human. More than man. Ain't nothing special about him you fool. You're just crushing. A vile little voice in the back of Sina's brain taunted and wouldn't let up. He's God's bitch. That's the other one you hate. Remember? Batting his palm against his head, Sina whispered, "Shut the hell up."