Tainted

Chapter 3

Addiction is a dangerous thing, the 9 letter word is synonymous to all things chaotic and bad. Its sneaky in the way it seems beautiful at first but that's only the illusion it likes to present.

The beauty is in the masterful way it sneaks upon its victims, promising a new experience before catching their attention again and again until it has you wrapped completely in its dark arms.

You start off by trying something then you grow to like it until you depend on it completely and you can't help yourself but wanting-no needing the pleasure it brings. You find yourself unable to function without it.

Addiction seeps into every pore, every crevasse, every fixture that encompasses your body and your soul.

There's warnings for most of them. Nicotine contaminates your lungs, sleeping around causes diseases, beer kills your liver. The ones without warnings though, are the dangerous ones. The ones that don't have a time limit on your body but your mind. You can be torn apart without any physical proof.

Love doesn't have its own kill statistics, instead even though it has the biggest body count it gets its own fucking holiday. You hear warnings about love but nothing about it being detrimental to your health because it doesn't always affect the physical, but the mental attributes. It's one of the most addictive things out there.

And sadly for me I've been told I have a very addictive personality.

I slid down the bark, feeling it's scales claw at the slit of skin my shirt revealed, as if punishing me for daring to let any sliver of my skin taint its bark. I knew later when I'd go to check angry red marks would greet me, they'd scissor around entwined with each other in many numbers and sizes. They wouldn't have a certain pattern or array they'd be disorganized welts colored with chaos.

Instead of pain my brain registered only warmth and I closed my eyes letting my feet slip from me completely as I rocketed down against the tree. With my eyes closed like this I could imagine myself as Alice, falling down the rabbit hole fast. Vibrant colors forsaking the darkness would swirl my descent, maybe it'd take me out of my madness.

With a thump my butt hit the ground and I slowly opened my eyes; almost hopeful I'd be somewhere else completely. Instead my sight was greeted by the usual disappointing scenery. The same withered grass crunched beneath me, rusty lunch tables still scattered out on the lawn, and the feet of teenagers still ate at the ground making the blades nearly nonexistent.

I frowned drawing my head against the wood and shutting my eyes trying to drown out the noise around me. Cool wisp of air caressed my skin leaving tiny prints that lasted mere seconds. The fog wasn't as present and dense as it was usually was, instead it seemed to have spread out and thinned so I could actually breath clear for once.

Maybe that's why I smelt him before any of my other senses took notice of him. The smell of smoke tinged with a distant smell of pine cones that was nearly diluted hit my nose hard. I kept my eyes closed but imagined his beautiful silhouette coming towards me surrounded by his own personal fog, created solely by the white packets in his left pocket.

I personally couldn't smoke cigs anymore they reminded me too much of old drunk people. It wasn't romantic enough for my taste. Yet it didn't bother me when he smoked, I kinda liked how it tasted on his tongue when we kissed. And I smoked other stuff just not nicotine.

A soft crunch sounded by my ear before a small thud. I could feel the warmth radiating off his body even through the clothes, and the smell became more prominent. I took a deep sniff before letting my head rest on his shoulder. He moved closer until his body was stacked next to mine; shoulder to shoulder, knee to knee. His arm traveled around me until it rested on my waist.