A Descent into Darkness

Magic Nazis

"Oh, thank God!" Syed cries as he races across the bar from the booth he was sitting at and grabs both Veronica and I with his lengthy arms. "You two, don't scare me like that, you're all I have!"

"What about your family?" I ask, struggling to breathe with his tight grip.

"Ah. They're okay, but you two take the cake," he says before releasing us. "Seriously though, I can't believe that nearly happened. If I hadn't already had three drinks I would have gotten in my car and driven straight to Nate's when you messaged."

Of course, he's drunk already, I silently note, sadly. Syed's the partier in our group. He's the one who drinks like mad, fucks to the point where it would be a miracle if he didn't have chlamydia, and probably does cocaine, though that's just a guess. If he does use drugs, he's sensitive enough to never mention or do them around me or my family after what happened with Liza last year.

The ironic part is that his parents are considerably stricter than mine or Veronica's. And yet our lifestyles look nothing like his. But still, we love him like a brother, and always have.

"This looks like more than Three Drink Syed," Veronica notes as we head back across the empty bar to the booth.

"Oh, after I heard what happened, I downed another three," Syed admits while taking a seat in the booth and sliding in to make room for us. "But you know me, I can handle it. Oh, and Happy Birthday, Veronica."

"I think you and I have different ideas of what it means to be able to handle something," I mutter sarcastically as I slide on to the bench and look around the bar. "At least there's no one here for you to embarrass yourself in front of."

"Oh yeah, that's definitely by design," Syed says proudly. "The owner's an old friend and agreed to let us have the place for our little gathering tonight."

"When you say 'friend,'" Veronica begins.

"I mean I'm his best customer and to lose my business would mean he'd go bankrupt," Syed declares, even more proudly. "And that's quite the achievement. You know what heavy drinkers York University students are."

"I think that's every university," Veronica notes, sliding into the booth herself.

"Yeah well, tonight it's all for us," Syed says, turning to face the bar. "Yo, Allen!" he shouts. "A round for my friends!"

"Water for me!" I yell.

"Nate, you're no fun," Veronica chides while taking off her coat.

As she does, we hear the door opening and turn to face it.

"You're not the Pizza Pizza delivery woman," Syed notes.

"And good thing for you, because it would be covered in spit," Erin says, feisty as ever. "Am I late?"

"Nope, right on time," Veronica assures her. "Come join us. Syed's making a fool of himself again."

"Ooh, what's he saying?" Erin asks, hurrying over to sit at the table. "By the way, Happy Birthday, Veronica.

"Oh, just bragging about how he's gonna die at thirty from alcohol poisoning," I say, though there's a hint of regret in my tone. The truth is, I worry about that. Syed does not make healthy life choices. And the saddest part is, he wasn't always like this. It wasn't until three years ago that it started. Before that, while he was hardly a fundamentalist, he wouldn't even touch alcohol on account of his Muslim faith. Then came the tragedy with his brother, Ali...

Stop thinking about that, Nate! You're at your best friend's birthday!

But just as Syed see's Liza as a sister, Ali was a brother to me. And the way he died nearly drove my homicidal urges off the deep end. I was gonna find those basterds and-