The trees were beckoning icy fingers to every passerby. Cold air stole away the breath of the little boy running, head bowed, for his house. The blind was broken, hanging crooked from the window. Inside was a war zone.
Dirty clothes, scribbled drawings, bits of food, dirty plates. And butts and packs. Everywhere. A boy and a girl sat inside, in front of a TV screen.
A cigarette dangled from his lips, the end a city of poisonous chemicals dancing through the filter into his lungs. Puffs of smoke clouded the air and dissipated, leaving behind the scent of premature death.
The girl sat, hands clenched, fists balled up into the sleeves of her hoodie. The boy glanced over at her, removed the cigarette from his mouth and handed it to her.
Without explanation, she took it, holding it gingerly between two fingers. She held it as if it might spring alive and bite her.
"Take a hit."
The trees outside hissed. The wind beat the windows. Downstairs, there was a clatter of pans and a short, high pitched yell. Snowflakes began to twirl down from the air, clinging to the window to watch the show.
Warnings of peer pressure danced through her head. Logic and reasoning started screaming. Arsenic! Ammonia! Carbon Monoxide! Cancer! DEATH-
She made up her mind in the one swift movement it took to raise the cigarette to her lips. Her lip gloss stuck to the filter as she placed the Marlboro Black gently between her lips and inhaled. Immediately, an assault of smoke entered her mouth. She choked on the poison, coughed part of it down and the other part out. Her head began spinning and buzzing.
Nothing quite like that first nicotine high. Lightheaded, dizzy fogginess of pure bliss. Lungs on fire, mind lusting with desire. Heart screaming in agony-
One kiss of poison will hook you in its embrace.
