In the Absence of Light

2

Isaacs POV

I stare out the window, watching the sunset over the suburb. It's been cloudy as fuck all day, but for whatever reason, the sun's decided to show its face right now—just before sundown. Only a couple rays are peeking through the clouds, though. It's not enough to convince me it's not going to rain later, but it still manages to give the air an orange tint.

It's not a nice look. It's the kind of shit we'd bitch about in prison. In there, sunsets are the absolute fucking worst. There's nothing appealing about watching a sunset when you're watching through a 15 square inch window with metal bars blocking your vision. You can't hear anything but wailing and yelling and the thumps of whatever fight has just broken out.

It's shit.

My cellmate used to tell me to enjoy it—that you rarely find beauty in prison so when you do, you should take the time to appreciate the fact that you're still alive.

But I couldn't find anything beautiful about the sunset. I'd rather count the bricks on the wall than watch the daytime slip away. And what use is the night when it only leaves you locked in a dark cell, anyway? At least during the day, I could go outside and work out. At night, I was either stuck in the dark or beneath flickering fluorescent tube lights—if I happened to be lucky enough to get a lenient guard who would give me long bathroom breaks.

"Yo, Isaac!" Trey bangs his fist against my car window. "Are you coming, or what? We're all out of Mary Jane!"

"Yeah, bro," I quickly shove the baggies into my pocket, accidentally dropping my grinder on the floor. There's still kief in there, but I won't be selling that tonight, anyway. These assholes couldn't tell the difference between marijuana and oregano.

By the time I step out of the car, Trey's already returned to the party. There are only a few people out on the front lawn, smoking the cigarettes they aren't allowed to inside. The music is so loud, I could hear it from a block away. It only gets worse as I approach the house. I've been out on the street preparing my weed for probably fifteen minutes and I haven't heard a single good song. They all have shitty EDM beats and cliché lyrics. It makes sense, though, considering the crowd these parties draw.

I push my way through the sweaty people in the hallway, all too wasted to pay any attention to their surroundings. They don't have to, either.

This is a frat house. It's meant to be destroyed. Even I've done my part in its destruction. I swung from the chandelier in my freshman year, broke off part of the staircase railing as a sophomore, and shoved a guy through the back door a few months later. My junior year was a blur. I must've broken more things than I can count.

The boys probably saved a heap of cash while I was in prison. Their parties definitely wouldn't have been as wild, though. That's far more important to them.

The dining room is even busier than the hallway. The furniture has been replaced by a DJ and a dance floor, giving the guys a place to perv on the drunk girls shaking their sweaty bodies.

There's a crowd of people in the kitchen, too, but they're almost more annoying than the ravers. They're playing beer pong, acting as if it's the Super Bowl or some shit. They've gained an audience, each person cheering louder than the other. Do they not realise it's just a stupid fucking game? It has no purpose at all, whatsoever.

I shove a couple of dudes aside, forcing them to make room for me to enter the kitchen. One of them turns to glare at me, but he shuts his mouth when he realises who I am.

I guess he doesn't want to get his ass kicked today.

Smart.

There's a couple of girls in the kitchen, standing around the island bench. Their conversation ends when I walk in. Melissa nods her head to greet me, but I don't bother responding. Instead, I grab a beer out of the fridge, digging into the frat's personal stash. But I need something stronger than this. Beer isn't going to take the edge off unless I chug three in a row. There's nothing else in the fridge, though. They probably took all the good booze outside with the keg.