It's Only Magic

I

"C'mon, man, just try it," Kevin attempted to persuade me for what felt like the thousandth time that day.

I shook my head, frowning at the needle he was holding out to me. "No."

He rolled his bloodshot eyes, which were heavy with lack of sleep, dark bags prominent underneath them. "Whatever, dude, you're missin' out." I watched as he injected the needle into his flesh, only a few seconds passing before he leaned back and began to breathe heavily.

"Man, you have a problem," our buddy Monte announced, strolling into the alleyway and sitting with his back against the wall opposite us.

Kevin's head lolled forward as he smacked his lips together, trying desperately to feel moisture within his mouth. "Nah... it's fine..."

Monte glanced at me before pointing almost accusingly at Kevin. "He's gon' die early." He spoke with annoyance, most likely at the fact that our friend had been severely neglecting himself, even before I became acquainted with him. Monte once informed me that Kevin's heroin addiction had begun around a year prior to my arrival, which created a total of two years in which my friend persisted in shoving needles into his skin to feel what he craved.

I nodded in solemn agreement at Monte's statement before glancing to the brighter end of the alley, where the streetlights illuminated the city. "Where's Nick?" I questioned, forcing myself to ignore the soft groans Kevin emitted while he drifted in and out of consciousness.

Monte shook his head, sniffing a little. "I dunno. I saw'im with a sign out, couple hours ago, even though we know those don't do shit." He rolled his dark eyes, biting his lip while staring out onto the busy strip of road in front of our alley.

I shrugged and sighed, cringing as it produced a foul taste in my mouth. "He gets a few bucks, sometimes."

"Yeah? And what does that do?" Monte's eyes widened in anticipation for my answer. "Huh? What does a couple bucks do when everything we actually need costs hella cash that we can't get?"

I bit my lip, glancing to the Spaniard on my right. He had drifted off completely, the needle forgotten by his limp hand. "If he didn't waste so much time looking for ways to pay for that stuff, we wouldn't have as big a problem," I voiced my thoughts,

"I know," Monte replied, sending a small, harsh glare to the sleeping figure beside me. "We could use that money for other stuff -you know, stuff we need- and this guy keeps getting tons of it from God-knows-where and wasting it on... that," he stared disgustedly at the empty needle.

Before I could open my mouth to respond, Nick himself came bounding around the corner, almost acting like an excited child. In his hand he clutched a clear, plastic cup, which inside bore various coins, and surprisingly even a few bills.

"Guys, I made, like, four bucks! There was-" he stopped short as his gaze turned to Kevin's still form. "Um, did he...?"

Ignoring the unfinished question, Monte snatched the cup out of Nick's hand, rattling it around before dumping out the contents into his hand to count how much was there.

Nick smiled widely, seeming to momentarily forget Kevin, and bobbed his head at nothing in particular. "Man, I'm like the provider of the family; like the dad in all the movies. I bring home the bacon. I-"

"We can't afford bacon," Monte huffed, dismissively shaking his head as though Nick were only an ignorant child, instead of the 'dad', as he had put it.

Nick smiled softly at our friend's retort, then turned his attention back to Kevin. "Mac, did he do it, again?" he asked again, this time finishing the inquiry. The needle was apparently out of his sight.

I paused for a minute before nodding my head in response. Nick's face fell, and he stared sadly at Kevin. He then sat down on the addict's right, and sighed while leaning into him, despite Kevin being unconscious and unable to respond to the affection.

Monte glanced up at the pair, and began to say something to Nick before seeming to think the better of it. Instead, he shook his head and spoke, "There's $4.50 here. It's not a lot, but it'll get us a little food."

Nick nodded his head, which was pressed to Kevin's chest. "Yeah, and I think we have a little saved in the bags..." he trailed off, glancing up just a bit to his companion's face. "Unless he used it."

Monte sniffed and stood up, making his way a couple paces over to the plastic grocery bags Nick spoke of. Each of us kept one that contained our few, individual belongings. Mine held only an extra pair of running shorts, and a black, long sleeved shirt that I sometimes exchanged for the plain grey t-shirt I normally wore.

He opened all four of them before pulling two dollar bills out of one, which I was fairly sure held Nick's items. "Yeah, man. Just two, though."

A small smile tugged at Nick's lips as he shrugged as well as he could in his position. "Well, its better than nothing, right?"

Monte paused and bit his lip before sighing and answering with, "Yeah, I guess."

I scrunched up my nose and shook my head. "Yeah, $6.50 for four people to live off of is super great."

Monte gave me an unhappy look as he returned to his seat across from me; one that I thought said to lay off of our friend.

Nick, however didn't seem too offended. He simply closed his eyes, still clinging to Kevin, and mumbled, "Mac, you should look on the bright side, more."

I glanced over at him and rolled my eyes before closing them and sinking a little farther down the wall. "There's nothing to look on the bright side about."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Word Count: 990

I've never really made a book based off of my own imagination, before, so I figured I would try it out and see where it goes. I (obviously) hope it goes well, for both my sake as the author's, and yours as the reader's.

Hope you enjoy it :)

-NotPop💜