The room was circular. But not a circle. More of a pentagram in shape. The kitchen table nudged away in an inset corner, near windows with wooden shutters. The rest of the kitchen was right there, right in view, with finely carved shelves and a chrome refrigerator. Tommy sat in the family room, at a coffee table with junk on top. There were lighters. A bong. A pack of cigarettes almost finished.
A cigarette burned between Tommy's lips. The smoke stung at his eyes, but he was too stoned to care. The pain wasn't anything worth acknowledging. His fingers played with diaphanous, sapphire and pearl colored pills. Three in total.
"Thomas your cigarette is almost near the filter. Put it into the ciggy soda." A voice from behind him cooed.
(Ciggy soda: soda can with cigarettes in it. There have been multiple occasions where Tommy, usually under the influence, has taken sips on accident.)
Tommy placed the burning nub of his cigarette into the soda can. He looked at the girl laying on the couch. Blonde hair around the shoulders. She only showed her face. Everything else was covered by a duck feather blanket. When Tommy ran his hand over her legs, she pulled away, scrunching up into a ball.
Daisy thought of Tommy as some thirty year old on a quest to claim her virginity. He was a figment of her worst fears manifested. The record spinning in the corner, near a second couch that directly faced the television, didn't help.
It didn't play music. It's was ambient scratching noises. Buzzing that cut in every now and again. Filling the room.
It unsettled Daisy's nerves and she hid under the blanket. As Tommy lit up another cigarette, she said, "Why are you smoking again Thomas? Do you want your lungs to disintegrate?"
Disintegration wasn't good. Tommy knew that. He didn't like talking about it, and most in the gang avoided the term altogether. Because it was an easy term to get under the skin. It applied to everyone. It was their initiation.
Daisy was naïve though.
Tommy replied, "I need it right now. I swear, I don't smoke so much when I'm sober."
YOU ARE READING
The Midnight City Social Hour
Fiksi UmumThe first prank is an adult dating site to siphon money from the recruit. The third prank gives the website access to their customers' webcams. Because everyone in the gang gets hazed. Tommy watches all his past pain epitomized as he spends his days...
