Specks of Dust

Chapter 1: Cigarettes Are Bad For Your Phone

Mark

Open your eyes. Breathe in your surroundings, and let the day take you into your next adventure.

He lowered his head, billowing smoke into the bitter air. He opened his eyes, settling his gaze unto the scene that he faced. The few trees and grass in front of him were lightly decorated with snow, glistening like white diamonds caught in the sunlight. The sky looked as blank as the snow itself, but left a gloomy feeling hanging over the world. In the distance, an endless forest proudly beamed up from the ground, as if it were trying to defy the sky's limit.

He lowered his sight to examine himself. In his right hand, he held an almost finished cigarette, dimly glowing, a small trail of smoke escaping into the air. His left was to his side, with his bony fingers gently rubbing against the thickness of his pea coat. He swung his legs back and forth, beginning to feel restless. Alright, I've had enough of my damn surroundings. He shot himself up off the bench and sunk his boots into the snow.

Bringing his cigarette to his lips, he sharply inhaled, and felt the stinging feeling of the cold outside smoothly mixing with the heat of his burning cigarette. The smoke gently rolled in, giving off a tingling sensation in the back of his throat. As he walked past the bench, a marimba ring abruptly cut through the still silence. He blew out the smoke and threw the cigarette bud onto the ground, making a faint sizzling noise, ferociously burning through snow. He lifted his phone from his coat pocket and raised it to examine it. Elise is calling. He tapped 'answer' and raised his phone to his ear.

A voice shrieking "Mark!" rang in his ear, startling Mark, and sent tingles down his spine. He involuntarily dropped his phone into the frosted grass. "Damn it, Elise!" Mark yelled at his phone, picking it up. Wiping the snow and wet grass off of the screen, he flipped his phone over to wipe off the remaining grass, when he saw a hole burning through the plastic of his case. It was the cigarette bud. He swiftly picked and threw the bud back into the snow, angrily shouting at Elise "You made me drop my fucking phone and my cigarette burned through my case!"

"My mom is looking for you, dummy! Where the hell are you?"

Did she not just hear me? "You just made me ruin my case you incompet-"

"You left the house without saying anything! Where are you?"

He lowered his tone. Fuck, I forgot. "I'm out. I'll be back in a bit, damn. Chill out." He lowered his phone, tapped 'End Call', and slid his phone back into his pocket. And to think the day barely started, he thought to himself.