The End of Nothing

Chapter 4

There were few instances in life that were more uncomfortable than the situation Margie found herself in now.

She could smell the pungent odor as it drifted through the wall separating her and Mrs. Wu's rooms. Margie glanced at the clock by her bedside table, eleven-thirty showed in glowing red numbers. She had finally been able to escape Minnie and her Mother's teasing around ten, claiming that her mother was probably exhausted from her day's exertions. Luckily, Minnie had taken pity on her soul and they had both left her giggling mother in her room for the night.

For about an hour after she had gotten back to her room everything seemed normal, her pajamas nice and comfy, the room nice and warm. It wasn't until about half an hour ago that the smell had begun. Subtle at first, Margie had wondered if the former resident of the room had left something in the mini fridge in the corner, which was finally starting to rot; but as the smell grew, there was no denying what it was. Being from Oregon, where it was legal, Margie knew the smell well, not from personal use, but from the secondhand knowledge, such as that as a non-smoker would get about the smell of cigarette smoke.

Mrs. Wu was most definitely hot boxing her room.

The only problem was, the vents to Mrs. Wu's room and Margie's room connected, so Margie could smell all the marijuana-induced fun that Mrs. Wu was having. As she lay in her bed, Margie wondered if she should just try to wait it out, hoping that the scent drifted far enough down the hall that one of the nurses got a whiff and came to check on the situation, or if she should confront the problem herself.

Going for the path of least resistance, she snuggled into her covers, covering her nose, ready for the long haul.

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Scratch that, she was definitely not ready for the long haul.

Glancing at the clock, she saw that the time was pushing 2 o'clock in the morning, the stench of marijuana still strong in the stagnant air of her room.

With a large, drawn out sigh, Margie pulled herself out of her bed, wrapping her warm blanket around her, making the trek over to Mrs. Wu's door next door. Once she got there, pounding on the door with her fist, she could hear low music playing from inside.

The music abruptly cut at Margie's knocking. There was some stumbling around the room which she could hear through the door.

"Just a minute," Mrs. Wu sung through the door, before proceeding to sing the alphabet song in falsetto. Margie wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. Exhaustion was pulling at her bones, and in coming closer to Mrs. Wu's room, the odor of Maryjane just got stronger.

The door was flung open with excessive force, smacking against the adjacent wall. "Whoopsie," Mrs. Wu giggled looking at the handle-shaped dent now in the wall.

Margie took a moment to observe Mrs. Wu, who was obviously feeling great at the moment, if the wide smile on her face was any indication.

"Yes? What you need?" Mrs. Wu examined her nails as she asked, hoping to deflect from her red eyes. In her haze though, she forgot that her room was filled with smoke, the few lights that were on cast an eerie glow throughout the room.

"Mrs. Wu, your," Margie paused grasping for the right words, "extracurricular activities- if you will, are bothering my sleep." Margie pointed to the bags under her eyes to drive in her point.

"Our vents connect, so I can smell everything that's going on. Is there any way you could hold off tonight, and finish this all some other time, possibly not at night?" Margie knew she sounded winy, but at this point she didn't really care much, she was darn tired.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Mrs. Wu's bloodshot eyes finally met Margie's, indignation sparking within them.

"Mrs. Wu, please," Margie's plea came out as a long drawn out sigh.

"I cannot solve a problem I don't know what is," Mrs. Wu let out a giggle, seeming to recognize that her speech didn't make sense, but not really caring either way.

"Mrs. Wu, I can smell the," Margie looked both ways down the hall, then leaned into Mrs. Wu with a whisper, "marijuana."

"Who is that? Mary Jana?" Mrs. Wu tried to rearrange her face to feign innocence.

"Mrs. Wu-"

"Sorry no know what talking about." The door slammed in Margie's face, again with more force than necessary.

With another drawn out sigh, Margie decided to wander into the main living room, hoping one of the couches out there was comfortable enough for her to get at least a few more hours of sleep. Shuffling down the hallway, she found the best contender in a big lazy-boy chair, nestled by the fireplace with a fake fire glowing. Pulling her blanket across her face again, she noted with dismay that it smelled faintly of weed.

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Margie awoke with a start, wiping drips of water off of her chin. Looking around with bleary eyes, she immediately noticed Silas standing next to her, holding a water bottle, doubled over laughing, tears streaming down his face.

Boisterous laughter from her left then brought her eyes to meet those of Bernie, who was currently congratulating Silas on a great prank; the traitor.

Torn between who she wanted to yell at first, she paused when she noticed Minnie in the corner exiting the room with a pleased smile on her face, surely about to go report this to Margie's Mom in her room. Sighing, she fell back onto the chair, deciding to let Silas and Bernie enjoy their moment. She needed to plot a way to get her friend back anyway, Bernie was her friend, not Silas'. She was not going down in that battle without a fight.

Finally regaining their composure, Bernie and Silas both looked at her, biting their lips to keep more laughter from escaping.

Margie calmly got up from the chair, gathered her blankets, and started making her way out of the room, ignoring both Silas' and Bernie's confused looks. Halfway through the room she paused and turned, pointing at Bernie, "I'm telling the nurse about the cookies." Turning back around, she continued to her room with a smile.

She could hear Bernie shout a quick No, then start blubbering to Silas about getting him out of trouble with the nurses, trying to convince Silas to take the fall. Of course Margie wasn't actually going to tell the nurses about Bernie, but it helped her win this round.

Margie 1.

"Whoa, you look like a wet rat." Mrs. Wu was sitting in the middle of her room, her door open so she could see anybody passing, delicately applying makeup.

"Thanks, it was a prank." Margie shrugged, not sure what else to say after last night, not even sure if Mrs. Wu even remembered any of it.

"Wasn't a compliment."

Well, that answered that question. Mrs. Wu definitely remembered last night, probably thinking that she snitched on her. The frown on Mrs. Wu's face as she looked at Margie through the mirror confirmed that.

Deciding that she was too tired for more rounds with Mrs. Wu today, Margie shuffled into her room, flopping on the bed. She needed to make up with Mrs. Wu soon, or else the next two months would be unbearable. Maybe later, thought Margie ready to fall back asleep.

Suddenly, music started blasting from Mrs. Wu's room. With a groan, Margie reached for her headphones. This was going to be along two months.