With Great Power, comes Great Responsibility.”
I groaned stretching my arms as I pushed the cover off me while getting up from the couch. Last night had been insane, a crazy ass party, and a great way to kick senior year off. I blinked my eyes a few times to clear my vision while looking around to make sure I’d made it back to my dorm, cause there was a possibility I’d just crashed at a friend’s place. By some miracle I’d got back, Yawning I tasted the usual morning breath taste mixed with remnants of alcohol and weed, yummy right? “Fuck….my head.” I just shook my head and went over to my drawer I didn’t see Jake anywhere. Either he’d gotten lucky or he’d he was still passed out somewhere.
I checked my pockets and groaned when I didn’t feel my Galaxy S3 in it. “Mother fucker..” This certainly didn’t help the ringing in my head, but whatever I could put that aside to find my cellular device. I began looking around the room and then searching through the crevices in the couch letting out a sigh of relief as my fingers wrapped around my means of communication. “Amen.” I quickly put in my password and opened it up while sitting on the table next to my couch. I quickly went to my pictures, since I usually took a lot of pictures when I was wasted. Picture of me with a big shot glass, smoking a blunt, kissing some chick at the party, a few more getting smoking drinking pics, glowing blue meteor from the cave, the sandwich I got, wait..glowing blue meteor rock?!
“This shit.” Luckily when we stumbled into the cave I’d only had a buzz so I could recall that part of my night. I probably would have been able to remember even if I was shit-faced considering that was probably the most extraordinarily experience in my twenty one years. It felt like a scene out of a sci fi movie, I almost expected Megatron or Venom to jump out and grab us. That’s right I’d went in there with Jake, and the other people I convinced to go in and investigate. I mean just in case aliens came, me and Jake could out run everyone else leaving them to get anal probed. You always gotta have a back up plan when your ass in danger, literally!
I quickly went to my recent messages, scrolling down and seeing Red. I grinned, a little ganja would help me with my head ache. Ayyy you tryna come thru and wake n bake on the balcony, I got rello’s After putting the smiley emoticon in I pressed send, and then slipped my phone in my pocket. First thing’s first I needed to brush my teeth, and then grab my weed. I made my way into the bathroom opening the door cautiously scanning it for unconscious friends, one night stands, and vomit. Again the good Lord had made it so none of that was in my room, as I walked over to my rug opening the top drawer to grab my crescent tooth paste, tooth brush, and then opened up a box I had which I kept my weed in. I opened it up and looked at the few baggies inside. “Mhmmm…White Widow, that’ll do it.” I grabbed a grab, closed the box up and put it back in. After brushing my teeth, and using mouth wash I was headed to the kitchen.
“Sdrinks and snacks..” I always grabbed my munchies before a session since I Didn’t like getting up once I was blazed. I made sure the door was open for Red when she got there, and was walking when I saw..my roommate passed out on the kitchen floor. “Jake..what the fuck…” I just stepped over him to get to the pantry opening it up to grab the box of fruit loops. I didn’t have any milk, and fruit loops tasted better dry anyway. But I still made a pit stop at the refrigerator opening it up to see what was left. Four day old Chinese Food, Orange Juice, some four loko’s, water, some..I don’t know what that green shit was. “Alright OJ it is..” I just grabbed the orange juice, closed the refrigerator and left to the balcony sliding the door open allowing me to hit with California’s sunshine.
I plopped down in one of my foldable chairs and put the baggie, fruit loop box, and orange juice on the table. I reached into my pockets retrieving the pack of rello’s I got from Quick trip the day before, I knew it was always wise to buy an extra pack. I cracked it open then take out both rello’s, while taking the gram out and breaking it down. It was only a couple minutes before I’d rolled my first gram up, the second rello was for Red and whatever strain she brought. I lit the blunt a few times before pulling in some precious cannabis smoke and exhaling. “Delicious.” I decided to take another puff, and another. Well maybe just a few more I mean she was gonna show up soon right?
…………………………………………
Well....this was different. I simply lied there, on the floor, too exhausted to simply move my head and attempt to perceive my surroundings. I could dully remember a party. I went...with my African-American roommate...whatsitface, along with a few others. I couldn't remember anything...literally anything other then that. It was all too hazy, and honestly, whenever I attempted to gouge into the other memories, I could only feel head pain. "...Ungh." I couldn't help but let out the little groan of discontent, barely rolling over on my body and feeling my shirtless arm scratch against the counter. My eyes, frozen together out of sleep, slowly peeled open and I could see that I was laid out, spread-eagle, on the kitchen floor; if the white-tiled floor was perceived correctly.
Closing my eyes once again, I rolled back over and attempted to understand why I felt so...so hot all of the sudden. I don't think that alcohol would do that for a person, despite me being terribly light-weight and easily-woozed. This was something else. That's when another memory hit me....a memory of a glowing blue meteorite, or some sort of rock. It was glowing a pale blue. Was he drunk when he remembered this? Most...most likely.
"I feel terrible..." With yet another mute grunt, I pressed my arm across my eyes and tensed the wiry muscles in my abdomen. It was time - high time to get up, and I really wanted to brush my teeth and get this disgusting feeling of alcohol out of my mouth. I attempted to motor-start the muscles, but it didn't comply, replying with a brutal feeling of fiery burning that pressed me harder against the floor. Well, obviously the world was against me today. What was today, anyways? What time was it? Did I sleep through the morning and afternoon already? I sighed and rolled onto my stomach, contemplating on calling my roommate to help.
"Jake...what the fuck.." I heard a slightly hazy voice quip from above, along with the mutterings of a roommate as James dug through the fridge. I didn't reply, too tired to come up with a sarcastic comment. Rather, once I saw him exit the kitchen I summoned all of my willpower, which was quite a lot, and struggled to stand up. It worked....for a second.
"Come on..." I whispered, before abruptly standing up and grinning victoriously. "Ye-!" Another grunt, and before I could utter a word I dashed through the dorm room, bypassing James and completely leaping into the bathroom. Head met toilet, and I retched.
Hard.
A minute later, one could hear the vomitting stop, along with the sound of an electrical toothbrush and faucet start up.
"Why does the water sting?!"
…………………………………
Well, this sucks. I could be at home studying but instead I'm here waiting around for these fucks. Can't drink, can't party, can't even enter the house without the risk of getting high off the damn chronic. Nope, just me, sitting on the porch with my jacket on. Maybe I could look on my phone and see if I can get a little research done for my English class. No, my brain isn't working well enough for that. It's too late.
At least I have my phone to keep me busy. Heh, these cats are damn adorable. Alright, maybe I'll listen to some music. Pink Floyd? Hmm... psychedelic or not? Naw, if I did any of their Syd Barett-y stuff, I might be too tempted to walk inside for a smoke. Animals is a good album... yeah. Maybe Atom Heart Mother? No, too mainstream. Let's go with Animals.
"If you didn't care... what happened to me" I vocalized quietly, lounging outside the house party. 'hey girl' I tapped down on my phone. I was texting my girl; she was probably too busy, she normally was on these kinds of nights. She's a year younger than me but also so much smarter... How'd I even get into this school? I'm glad I get to see her every once in a while. At least until next year, if she gets accepted into her dream school... Why'd she ever want to go to Portland. Well, that's just a little ways north from here... I can always spare the extra gas. There's so much downtime now that I'm in college. Maybe I'll see if I can get longer hours at work, pay for a better place to stay.
I'm glad those aspies are done with that cave... shit gave me the creeps. Though, I do feel different having seen that meteor. Stronger even. No, it's something different. It's as if someone else is inside my body. Maybe it's that alien anal probe that James kept drunkenly rambling about. Nah, it must all be in your head. At least I hope it is.
…………………………………..
As I awoke, it became quickly apparent that there was only one way I wasn't gonna just crash again, as I had the two times before, but this time the sun was out. A sacrifice of my own body to ensure that sleep didn't overtake me once more. I used all the energy I could muster I rolled off the bed, and slammed onto the floor with a loud thud. I was instantly wide awake, my left shoulder was still throbbing from the impact as I got to my feet. As I rose to my feet it hit, that light-headed, semi-high feeling I always got the morning after crashing while stoned. My balance faltered for a moment as I adjusted to the feeling, but I caught my footing without incident. As I wiped the sleep from my eyes and yawned, I looked down, examining my clothes. Red and black Shaq Attaqs, leather pants, a Run DMC shirt, and my stormtrooper hoodie. I patted down my pockets instinctively to see if I had anything interesting from the night before, lighter, knife, wallet, phone, and oddly my drivers license outside the wallet, couldn't remember why that was, but after replacing it in my wallet, I carefully placed it and everything else on my nightstand and took a deep breath. Time to start the morning ritual.
I started out with shower obviously, and while uneventful, I used the time to recall the previous night, it had been a typical party for me, I'd had a few drinks, and gotten stoned. What wasn't so typical was James dragging me out to that cave, jeesh, I followed a bunch of people to a cave, that couldn't have gone wrong or anything. There was some sort of glowy thing in it, memories were hard to come by, and I couldn't draw anything else at the time. I tried to focus on the events of the past night as I wrapped a towell around my body, and another around my head. No dice though, I continued my usual ritual undeterred however.
As I approached my dresser, I tried to figure out what to wear. Unfortunately, being as indecisive as a deer in the headlights meant that there was no way I was thinking of anything. Instead, I just grabbed the first things I saw. As it turned out, that meant, black calf high socks with rainbow stars on them, some blue jean old school bellbottoms, and an amazingly bright loose fitting tie-dye shirt. As I finished putting on the clothes, making sure the shirt absorbed as much water from my head as I could before pulling it over my head, I made my way to the bathroom. The countertop was a mess of hair products, patting my hair, I felt it was still somewhat moist, and decided it was best to not take any chances. I grabbed the toothbrush and toothpaste and got to brushing instead of dealing with the hardest hair just yet. As I brushed I took a straightening iron to my bangs.
I finished brushing my teeth, and took a deep breath, the hardest part was yet to come. As I walked into the bathroom, I grabbed the massive hair dryer off the counter, and a wide toothed comb, but I could not find my glue. Shuffling through the bottles just to make sure of it's absence I was left disappointed. Finally I took a step back and scanned the room in it's entirety, and sure enough, there it was, Elmer's clear glue, perched atop the mirror, just out of reach. I let out a grunt of disappointment concidentally, the light in the room seemed to brighten as I did so, and reached for it, of course I came short, by a lot. Five-two wasn't even close to tall enough to get it, and one futile jump later I climbed atop the counter and grabbed it easily. Finally I was able to get to work at standing up the Mohawk. I got to work with a routine that had been ingrained as almost muscle memory at this point. Comb the hair up, glue on both hands, put the hair between my hands and pull upwards, once I reached the top, grab it with my left hand, and dry the right side, then grab with my right hand, and dry the left side, and repeat further down the scalp. The process was interrupted halfway through by the sound of 'Get Lucky' from the next room signaling I had received a text message. I decided to ignore that until I finished however.
About five minutes later, it was done. I always felt like an artist who had just finished her masterpiece, this never got old. I took a moment to check for flaws. Nothing of note, to anyone who didn't style a mohawk regularly, it would look almost flawless. Finally I checked my phone, James had texted me to burn down, of course. I never missed text messages to do something stupid. Hurriedly I grabbed a pill-bottle with a fat nug of Skywalker OG in it, and threw on some shoes. A pair of Air Jordan 1s, well not actual Air Jordan 1s, because Nike is stupid and doesn't consider it's female clientele but a re-release for kids that'd fool most sneaker heads. As soon as I finished lacing the them up I darted for the door and began a hurried sprint to James' dorm.
As I got to James' dorm I ran through the door, catching it's handle just barely as it swung open. It was at that moment that I realized I hadn't thought of a witty way to introduce myself, so I just said the first thing that I could think of "WHERE ALL THA WHITE WOMEN AT!" I yelled without thinking as I entered the room. Good job Red, smooth, real smooth.
……………………
After tossing and turning for hours, Hiro finally gave up and cracked open one dark eye- an act he immediately regretted. The blinds were askew, letting in the tiniest crack of light which, of course, stuck him square in the face. He let out a sound that was halfway between a hiss and a growl and tried to roll over again, only to find his bedding had turned into prison twisted tightly around him. Muttering lazily, he tried to use his only free limb to try to wrest the sheets off of himself. The act predicatively ended with him landing on the floor and swearing so loudly that one of his neighbors banged on the wall. Either that or they were having sex again.
Finally free, he laid on the stained carpet and tried to recall everything that had happened the night before. He wasn't one for parties, but it was a hell of a time. So many people gave him shots, trying to out-drink him. He wondered how they were fairing... probably still sleeping in a porcelain bed somewhere. He remembered a lot of people passed joints and tried to get him in on it... he didn't actually puff, did he? He hoped not. Then there was the glowing rock. The glowing rock? "Fuck.. did I get roofied?" He said out loud, reaching up to rub at his eyes. No, not roofies, he didn't have enough of a headache for that. What the hell could it have been, then? Rocks don't just glow like that... he would have to ask the others, Red, James, jake and... ugh, what were their names again? Whatever. He would ask them if that actually happened, and if they don't remember, he could laugh it up like he was just that drunk. He kind of hoped that was true, but with how little of a hang over he had, he seriously doubted he gotten smashed like they did.
After another few moments of thinking, he managed to get himself to his feet and pat himself down, checking for his wallet, pocket knife and iPod. Finding all of them in the right places and accompanied with bruises from sleeping on them, he tugged off his clothing and found a fresh set to wear. Once dressed he snatched up his camels and zippo, lighting up his first of the day and giving a sigh of relief as the sweet taste of tobacco replaced the stale rum that had been clinging to his tongue. After a moment of savouring the cigarette, he reached for his phone and flicked it on. He couldn't help but give a grunt and squint as the screen lit up, but he ignored the pain and searched for the numbers of his... well, I guess you could call them friends. He then sent out a text to all of them, simple and friendly enough: "Anyone up for coffee and grease?" He knew it was just the thing for a hangover, even if his was hardly an issue. The important thing was getting them together and asking about that trippy stone. It had to have happened... he remembered it too vividly for it not to have.
………………………………………….
Ok well it wasn’t exactly just one or two puffs, it was about six so not that bad, I was feeling a bit of a buzz, but I’d managed to stop myself. I’d found a new activity to distract myself which was breaking down the rello I’d gotten for my friend. I just dumped the tobacco product over the balcony, littering wasn’t bad as long as it wasn’t on my property. “Alright that should do it..” I turned around quickly when I heard the door slam, and just laughed.
“Jake’s up, …..wait..DON’T THROW UP ON THE FUCKING FLOOR BRO!!!” I yelled that out before shaking my head, I knew Jake was an inexperienced drinker, but last night I’m sure he got shit faced quicker then all of us. Talk about not being able to hold ya liquor, he couldn’t even hold Budweiser. I just shook my head before I heard someone else.
"WHERE ALL THA WHITE WOMEN AT!"
YUP she was here, I just burst out laughing because I didn’t know how else to react. “Shiiiit only white woman here just walked in.” She sure knew how to make an introduction, this is why I loved the white women. I held up my blunt and took a quick puff signaling it was time to burn. “Come on I’m ready to smoke gorgeous.” I flashed a smile and set my blunt down again, no more hits until the skywalker was rolled and ready. Plus I wanted to talk to her about last night, particularly the rock to see if she remembered because I had my doubts Jake did.
My phone buzzed and the bird like ring tone I was use too that accompanied every text I received went off. I grabbed my phone from the table putting the pass code in once more, and seeing it was from my buddy..well acquaintance Hiro. "Anyone up for coffee and grease?" Mhmm I'mma be hella hungry after I smoke. I decided to respond. Yeah soon as I finish my morning ritual, how yall feel about mcdonalds? I made sure I Was texting the whole group then clicked send.
……………….
"What the Hell..."
I was a smart and healthy young man - athletic even, but I was not a doctor. Even so, I knew that this wasn't normal. Glancing up into the squeaky-clean mirror, I stared at my reflection hard. Tanned, light brown skin, wet, curly black hair...and multi-colored eyes? What in the absolute Hell? My eyes were normally a light blue; a sky blue, even...but this was odd. My right iris was this weird muddy brown and regular sky blue, but my left eye was a fiery red and lightning-strike silver. I had forced myself to calm down; I had been freaking out for the past five minutes, so with an obsolete sigh I slipped on some black, slim-looking Agent Zero shades I kept in the mirror compartment and turned away from my reflection. It wasn't a cause for concern. Calm...distance your thoughts.
'"Ugh..." I couldn't help the disgusted snort that escaped my mouth at the sight of the vomit-filled toilet water. Mentally snarling at the smell, I flipped the lid and pressed down - hard - on the lever, immediately flushing down my liquids. I had rinsed and washed out my mouth, repeatedly, with soap earlier so I was confident that I didn't smell like some sort of dirty hobo. I hurried to dry my curly hair, keeping it in it's usual style, and slipped out of the bathroom, heading to my dresser.
"Used, used, dirty, clean....hn." I threw the clothes over my shoulder as I dug through the remnants of clothing and outfits, until I found something to my satisfaction. Just a red and white-collared Polo shirt, the one with the little golf-and-horse-man, slim khaki pants, and some random blue and white sneakers that may or may not have been Nike. I have no idea. "Clean at last..." I whispered, straightening my shades before checking my phone. Two messages, one from Hiro, another friend, and one from James. Coffee? Yes. Grease? What was that?
'Sure. Just...I cant eat straight-up grease. Sounds fat.' I texted back with nimble ease, flipping my phone back into my pocket and jogging towards the door, just in time to hear someone's announcement - Red's, most likely. Very, very loud...but not obnoxious. I was used to loud and noisy noises by now. I passed by James on my way into the living room, before simply collapsing on a lounge chair and flicking digging into my phone.
"Morning, everyone." I spoke without looking up.
……………………..
After sending the text, Hiro had poured himself a glass of ice water and completed the first part of is morning ritual by sipping it between lung-fulls of smoke. He always enjoyed the contrast of fire and water, the heat and the cold that his throat felt. Letting out another sigh, he rubbed at his eyes again. Every light seemed so much brighter today... maybe he got more drunk than he thought. He was contemplating crawling back into bed when his phone buzzed. Flicking it open again he found he had two messages from the party crew. His lips quirked up into half a smile as he read them. Thin fingers deftly flew over the digital keyboard as he responded to both of them. To James he sent: "Fuck McDonalds. Denny's has better shit for half the price. Meet me there in half an hour- or will you be too blazed?" He seemed to be constantly stoned, something Hiro didn't exactly appreciate, but he was still a good guy. Perhaps now that a party wasn't the focal point, James would have a bit more to talk about with the older man.
Having sent the first message, he quickly typed up a response to Jake. "I meant some good old bacon and eggs. Best thing after a hard night. If you're in, meet me at Denny's in about half an hour." His phone gave a small 'da-dink'- message sent. He honestly hoped the less outgoing man would join the outing... so far it seemed he was the only one Hiro had much in common with. Setting down his phone, he decided to take a quick shower. Finishing off his cigarette, he mashed the butt into the make-shift ashtray and got up, wandering over to the bathroom. He flicked on the light, only to give a sound of surprise and mild pain. Hastily, he shut it off and fell back against the door. What in the hell was that? It felt like not only his eyes, but his entire head was burning from the lights. He knew he wasn't that hung over! Hesitantly, he glanced up to the mirror and reached for the switch again. He fell still for a few moments, staring into his dark reflection. Was it just his imagination, or could he see better in the dimness than before?
He shook his head, sleek hair falling about his shoulders. His mind must be playing tricks on him again. Rolling his neck to pop his spine, he let out yet another sigh. Something in him did not want to hit the switch again, but he shrugged it off and flicked the little plastic nob upwards. Wincing, he closed his eyes and brought his hands up to his face, but it hardly helped. He could almost... feel the light on his skin. Was he going crazy? It... it had to be nothing. Taking a deep breath, he lowered his hands and opened his eyes, though he could not help but keep his lids mostly lowered. Slowly, he made his way to the shower and turned it on, the noise of water hitting the tile floor immediately waking him up more. Unfortunately, that also seemed to make him more sensitive to the lights. For some reason, he turned and tried to glance up at them. He gave a low sound of pain and threw his hands up to block it all while lowering his gaze to the floor. It worked- the lights were softened by the shadows of his hands. At least, he thought they were. Looking at the cream-coloured tile, he found his entire shadow was softened, like the light was dimmer. Slowly, he looked back up and lowered his hands, then panicked. Around the lights was a fog... a barely discernible dark cloud.
Eyes wide, he nearly fell out of the bathroom, catching himself on the door frame and stumbling out into the hall. He backed up into the wall and closed his eyes tight. "Achi kaere, achi kaere, achi kaere." He repeated, telling the bizarre sight to go away. When he got up the courage to crack open an eye, he found that it had worked- the dark fog had lifted and the light was back to normal, even a bit less obnoxious than before. Opening both eyes, he stared at the bathroom lights for a bit longer, then moved in to shut off the faucet. A shower could wait.
……………………………..
t was with more of a snort than a snore that I woke up with. Coughing dryly, I went to rub my eyes, finding that was pretty much impossible – one arm was pinned underneath me, and the other against a wall.
Oh. Well then.
It wasn’t unusual that I end up in places like this when I’d been drinking – under beds, behind couches. Usually somewhere hidden or tucked away so I wouldn’t take up space. So, the issue for me wasn’t where I woke up. It was the fact I don’t remember what happened before that. I didn’t get black-out drunk – normally I couldn’t.
None the less, I decided that it was time for me to get out of here. Shimmying and trying my best to ignore whatever junk was lying around me in the dark, I managed to make for the small sliver of light not too far away from me.
With a final push, I spilled out from underneath…a bed? It was my bed. Made all the trouble to come back to my room in my dorm only to pass out underneath a perfectly comfortable bed. I’m not even shocked. I rolled onto my back once I felt the light buzzing from my front pocket – Oh good, I hadn’t destroyed or lost my iPhone, and my wallet was still there too in my other pocket. Messages from the others were lined up on the screen -
Coffee. Grease. Denny’s. God yes.
I’ll meet you there guys. Does anyone else feel like they fell ass-first off a roof?
Moments later, I’d peeled off the liquor-stained clothes from the night before, jumped in the shower and then made a beeline for the jumper and jeans I’d set aside on the basin. I only bothered to give my hair a quick comb-through with my fingers – my hair did what it wanted at the best of times, so I wasn’t going to fight it. Especially with the ache I was feeling in my neck, shoulders and head.
Burger and fries should fix that. Definitely.
As I locked the door and walked away, my thoughts turned towards the night before. The party was unforgettable to say the least – but what happened afterwards.
It was harder to piece together, my memories faltering and at this point, only capable of producing a single image. Something light blue and glowing. A cave.
I shook my head and pushed my glasses further up my nose, deciding that this could all wait until I was with everyone else.
…………………….
I could feel my cheeks turn just a little bit red with the word 'gorgeous' I never have been able to take compliments well. I dismissed the remark and took a seat next to James. As I reached down into my pockets, I realized I'd forgotten everything in my haste, my lighter, wallet, phone, every darn thing! Disturbed by this revelation, I still continued undeterred, tearing the end of the wrap, and pouring out the tobacco inside. I took a moment to figure out what to do with the tobacco, after a short contemplation I decided to just put it in my pocket. I despised putting things so messy in my pocket, but I didn't want to get up and actually do something with it. I'd just turn out my pocket at the next opportunity city to get rid of it.
Finally I got to breaking up the weed, making a mental note to get a grinder for the thousandth time, I never would, every time I had the money I ended up just dismissing it as a waste of money that could be spent on weed. I can always just break it up with my hands. I began tearing apart the weed, my fingers getting stickier and stickier as I did so. I hated that part of the process, can't stand getting my hands sticky. Still, it wasn't long before I completed my endeavor, it wasn't amazingly broken up by any means, but it'd serve my purposes fine.
Finally I poorer it into the empty wrap, the nug had a bit more than I needed for a blunt, so I just left it there for now. I made sure my tongue wasn't dry as I licked the inside of the wrap and closed it. It wasn't a pretty blunt, but it'd serve my purpose just fine. "Gotta light? Kinda sorta maybe might have somewhat left mine."
……………………..
Jake looked up from his phone, momentarily exiting the most rousing game of Candy Crush just in time to see Red, the mohawk-wearing chick, enter the living room and plop onto the couch next to James. He paused, watching her began to do...something with whatever she had in her pocket, and naturally he took this as his cue to leave. While Jake wasn't a stranger to second-hand smoking and whatnot, he wanted to keep his system clean and healthy. Staying in the apartment while two of your friends smoke was a pretty bad idea.
"Heading out." he said to the two, scratching a tanned cheek before jogging over to his room to get his keys. Once he entered the threshold of his room, Jake headed over to his bed-side desk immediately and dug into the drawers, grabbing the silver keys with a small whistle and pocketing them in his khaki pants. Just as he was about to exit his room once more, a subtle vibrating sensation came from his pockets, the pocket opposite to the pocket his keys were in.
"I meant some good old bacon and eggs. Best thing after a hard night. If you're in, meet me at Denny's in about half an hour."
Jake flipped open his phone, quickly noticing the few text messages that had transpired in only a few minutes. Bacon and eggs were a good breakfast...weren't they? ANd Denny's was a nice store. He...he really needed to get out more.
'Alright, I'm on my way. See ya there.' Jake texted quickly, slowing down only when he saw another message pop up - this one from another acquaintance. Ass-first off a roof? 'And no, no I don't. It seems fun, though.'
Slipping his phone back into his pocket, Jake swiftly exited the dorm room, jogging down the stairs with a bit of energy that he hadn't felt earlier that day. Once he managed to clear the landing from the flight of concrete stairs and poles, the young man landed on top of his sleek Speedster, a bike mostly made for people who liked going fast. Jake just so happened to like going fast.
With a smirk, he burned rubber as he pressed hard on the bike's pedal and began speeding down the pathway that lead from the dorms, and right out the gate that blocked campus from the outside world. Curiously enough, he didn't feel tired. The wind whipping at his face, the light drizzle he felt from leftover dew...Plus, the borderline hot feeling he felt somewhere in his pores. It felt...comforting, somehow.
"This day isn't as crappy as I thought it would be..." Jake grinned as he turned a corner with a loud screeching/sizzling sound, causing sparks of friction and fire to rise from his Speedster's tires due to the drifting.
………………………….
Hiro half jumped when his phone went off again, ratting across the table. Cursing under his breath once more, he stalked across the room and grabbed it, squinting again as the bright screen assaulted his eyes. Another couple of responses awaited him, one from Jake saying he'd be at Denny's and one from KT, the cute girl with glasses. He gave a dry chuckle at her message, but gave up on tapping up a response when his head gave a painful throb. All these lights were really messing him up- how could he even think about going out into the sunlight like this? Letting out what must have been the tenth heavy sigh that morning and rubbing at his eyes, he decided to give up on trying to work out the bizarre situation and went about cleaning himself up. He ended up brushing his teeth and washing his face at the kitchen sink, as he was not quite ready to brave the bathroom again. Once he felt a bit more refreshed and awake, he went back up to his bedroom to tend to Mephistopheles, his red corn snake. "Hey Meph." He said, talking to the half-asleep serpent as he lifted the top off the aquarium. The snake lazily slithered towards the hand that reached in to grab the water dish and bumped against it, tongue flicking out to investigate the thin fingers of his owner. This got a genuine smile from the pale Japanese man, who slipped his other hand under the reptile and lifted him to his shoulders. The snake happily wrapped about his neck, seeking warmth.
Once having taken care of the cage and returning its inhabitant, Hiro donned his coat and boots, and grabbed his essentials: wallet, keys, phone, a four inch lock-blade pocketknife and a mini hard-bound notebook. With everything in order and a helmet under his arm, he made his way out of the duplex to the driveway, where his Kawasaki Versys sat, glistening in the bright sunlight. Muttering to himself again, he set down the helmet to tug on his gloves. He could barely see, it was like someone fucked with the world's gamma... good thing his helmet would be nice and dark.
After another few moments of gritting his teeth and checking over his motorcycle, he pulled on his helmet and was off, the rumble of his vehicle echoing off the houses as he tore down the street. It did not take long to get to the restaurant, despite the typical California traffic. He eased into a parking spot and killed the engine with a bit of reluctance. He loved riding almost as much as he loved running around the city and was sorely tempted to take a round or two around the block while he waited for the others to show. However, the sunlight was making him uncomfortable, even if his eyes were protected from it. For a brief moment he wondered if he was turning into a vampire, then broke out laughing at himself and tugged off his helmet, shaking his head to make his long hair fall flat again. He hopped off the Versys and went into the Denny's, picking a table that could seat all five of his friends, should they show up. He ordered a coffee and settled back, dark eyes cast downward in an attempt to block out some of the lights.
…………………………………………..
My android buzzed again as Rebecca sat down next to me. "Fuck McDonalds. Denny's has better shit for half the price. Meet me there in half an hour- or will you be too blazed?" I just laughed seeing the text people always seemed to think that if your stoned out of your mind you couldn’t function. But I was a professional anything you can do sober I could do even better high. Well except cook dinner only because I’d probably eat it before I served it to anyone. “Hell yea you right and me blazed whaaaat you know Ion smoke! :P But yeah I’mma be there.” I looked over the message with a grin as I pressed send. Of course he knew about my recreational activities most of my friends did, but I denied it from time to time just to be funny.
My phone buzzed again and I once again went to see it was while casting a glance to the pretty girl beside me breaking down and rolling reefer.
“I’ll meet you there guys. Does anyone else feel like they fell ass-first off a roof?”
Again I was laughing, I swear everything this morning or well afternoon had me laughing. I could already tell this strain was gonna give me the giggles. "Ass-first? Mhmmm sounds like someone got too turnt last night." I sent the text as Red asked me for a lighter, and Jake said he was going out. “Alright cya at Denny’s man.” I pressed down sparking my own blunt and pulling until it was burning before passing my bic to my friend. It wasn’t but about fifteen or so minutes before both blunts had been consumed, and what was left was tossed into my ash tray. I would have stuffed them into the bong so we could up the ante of her high a little, however I was letting a friend borrow my glass. Speaking of glass I’d poured myself a cup of OJ, and one for Red as well, sliding it over to her.
“Kush and Orange Juice, .” I gulped down a good bit of the refreshing juice, and leaned back in my chair. Breathing in the precious cannabis smoke everywhere in the room, I just felt so good, so alive. I loved everything about being high, to me being high was nature’s version of high definition. I took another sip before getting up from my chair. “Hey you wanna go on an adventure with me, I’m about to go to Denny’s with everyone else, I can give you a riiide, and I know you got the munchies too” I checked my pockets making sure I had all the essentials. Phone, Wallet, keys inside my wallet, ear-buds, orbit gum, and most importantly my eye drops….as if..if the herb wanted my eyes red who was I to argue with it?
……………………………………..
"Hey, man, fuck you too!"
Jake frowned internally, yet kept up his calm, grinning facade as he turned his bike to the side, narrowly dodging the fucktard who thought that it was cool to take up the complete street. He was currently on his way to Denny's, taking a little detour down a rather raggedy, shady street, and already it was starting problems. He wasn't a stranger to violence - Hell, he did a bunch of things in his past life, but trying to wreck someone who was riding an admittedly sweet bike? The 'people' in question were a bunch of drunkards who had too much booze and weed most-likely, three in total with two on the back of the broken down Ford truck, and one in the driver's seat.
His internal narration was broken by the feeling of a broken beer bottle being thrown at him from behind. Somehow, he had managed to completely out-ride the truck, which was, admittedly, pretty fast all in itself despite being a bit beaten. He could hear drunken laughter from behind him, and Jake could feel his happy/careless attitude slightly dampen at the douches. "What, you thin' yoush can outrun us?!" one of the hillbillies from the back laughed, accompanied by the shrill chuckling coming from his bum-buddies. Jake growled, but kept his torso pressed forward as he pedaled as hard as he could. He could feel his tires melting due to the obscene amount of fiery sparks blasting from both wheels, and mentally sighed. What in the Hell was going on?
"That's fuckin' it...!" the African-American growled, feeling a heavily burning sensation feel his body as rage, something he didn't really feel that much anymore, bubbled at the surface of his body. Calm, peaceful wisps of common-sense forced it's way on top of the burning rage, to keep his mind clear, and Jake capitalized on the amount of energy he could feel forming in his body.
"Wat tha fu-" the driver began drunkenly, only for Jake to abruptly swerve to the side in a surprising shower of embers. The drunken gang, mind too clouded over to react properly, could only watch as the athletic young man speed up behind the truck and popped an impossible wheelie, causing the front, still smoking, tires of his Speedster to hook onto the tailgate. The two guys on the back attempted to get up off of their Budweiser-engraved cooler, but Jake was faster, angrier, and smarter. With a grunt, he leaped off of his bike, and through willpower managed to land safely on the back of the truck, despite gravity pushing against him. He did, however, feel the wind somehow soothing, and helping his movements.
By now, the drunken driver had drunk almost more cans than the truck could hold, and passed out from alcohol poisoning, causing the truck to go sailing to the side of the country-road, and right into the ditch. The impact caused the two drunkards to stumble forward in a daze, whereas Jake was completely stable due to not inhaling dozens of alcohol-related products. Fist met groin, and the first drunkard could only fall forward due to pure, confusing pain, only for a rough knee to pop up and completely cave in his nose and mouth. Jake pushed the bastard off of the truck and turned to his left, just in time to catch the drunken punch the other man attempted to give him.
"Bastard." Jake growled with an, admittedly, sadistic grin, twisting his wrist and bringing the man to his knees, causing him to cry out in pain. "You can antagonize me on the streets, throwing dangerous shit, but have someone hold your hand and you cry like a bitch." he frowned, feeling his hand become almost unbearably hot. A warm red glow came off his skin, something he could hardly believe, just as the air became thick with the smell of burning, charred flesh. His mind refocused, Jake looked down once he heard the ongoing, absolute agony-filled scream of his antagonizer. The man's hand was nothing more then a broken, melting lump, along with his forearm and arm. Jake paused, but oddly enough he wasn't too bothered by the disgusting wound, nor the unbearable screaming. With a grunt, he abruptly kneed the man in the temple, viciously ending his screams of help and pain.
"Ugh. Just...just what in the Hell happened? What was the heat? Why is his arm meltin-...nevermind. I can't deal with this shit alone." he growled, kicking the bodies off of the truck and into the ditch, along with the driver's body and all of the damned beer cans. Except one. With his tanned, relaxed face in a tight, yet confused grimace, Jake started up the ignition and headed along his way. The journey to Denny's, paved with bullshit.
'Surprised no one heard this crap. Eh, this is a country road after all...
…………………………..
Sarah woke with a groan, feeling quite a few static shocks from her bedding. Somehow they seemed to make her wide awake as if they were invigorating. She sat up and instantly was aware of the crippling migraine. She held her head for a moment before getting out of bed the rest of the way. She didn't really remember the night before. She remembered a cave and a bunch of people from school. Sarah wasn't sure what even made her agree to go. She wasn't the partying type, but she remembered going. The rest is hazy.
She rubbed her eyes as she walked to the bathroom to take a shower, idly looking in the mirror at her reflection. She froze and slowly reached up to touch her hair, which was standing up in all sorts of crazy directions. It was like she'd been hit by lightning. As her fingers touched her long hair, she felt more shocks, and actually saw a spark or two fly off. "...What the heck?!" she said.
She shrugged and hopped in the shower, hoping to fix her hair. Nothing unusual....except for the jolts of lightning that popped out of the water on occasion. She was scared at first, but then realized it didn't hurt at all, which she found pretty strange. She finished up quickly, and brushed her hair out until it was picture perfect. She never considered herself pretty, despite what anyone said otherwise, but Sarah loved her hair...
She threw on some clothes from her dresser, grabbed her purse, Andriod, and headed to the Denny's close by. Sarah loved pancakes. She didn't bother to check her phone. She rarely got messages or phone calls anyway. Sometimes she wondered why the heck she even had it.
……………….
The walk to Denny's was pleasant enough - well, after I'd stopped by a gas station just outside the campus for an energy drink. After gulping down about half of it to quench my post-drinking thirst, and I continued to sip it as I moved along the sidewalk.
No doubt for economic reasons, there was a Denny's only about 15 minutes walk from the University campus - a godsend to all of the hungover and zombie-esque masses that appeared nearly every Saturday morning. Today was no different naturally, so I was infinitely pleased when I noticed Hiro had taken up base in one of the larger corner booths. Squeezing through a less than friendly group of people standing inside the doorway, I made my way over and slid into the booth on the opposite side of Hiro.
"G'morning." I greeted casually, taking another drink from my can of Red Bull before placing it on the table.
I pulled out my phone, scrolling through Facebook until I realized that there was only the same shit there normally was. I lifted up my glasses and rubbed the bridge of my nose gently before turning towards the window, keeping an eye out for any of my friends that may be approaching.
...................
Hiro realized he probably looked miserable, hunched over his coffee with his head down, long hair obscuring his face from the yellow lights within the restaurant. He knew he wasn't hung over, but it was clear the waitress thought he was with the way she brought him water and slipped him a couple of Tylenol. He managed a muttered and heavily accented "Thanks Paige." before the brunette wandered off to cater to a loud old man and his wrinkled, dour looking wife. Raising his head just a touch, he lifted his dark eyes to glance out the window, where the sunlight was growing in intensity by the minute. He was having second thoughts about setting up this rendezvous, but it was a bit late to back out now. Still, all he wanted to do was crawl back into bed, or perhaps under it, hiding in the darkness of lost shoes and empty rum bottles. Then there was that unsettled feeling that stemmed from the memory of that glowing rock, and the cave it was in. Intuition told him it had something to do with his enhanced sensitivity to light. He already had a natural aversion to the day time, with it's scorching heat and blinding brightness, but this was extreme even to him. And then there was that... that fog. That shadow that had covered the lights in his bathroom like a swarm of tiny insects, all moving as one entity. Gods, even in his head that sounded crazy.
Movement out of the corner of his eye brought his attention back to the present, and he turned to see KT walking up to the half-circle booth he had claimed. Trying not to squint too much, he gave a half-hearted smile and a nod. "Morning." He said, giving the bespectacled young woman a short but hopefully not brusque-sounding greeting. He lowered his gaze again and lifted the ceramic mug before him to his lips, sipping at its hot, bitter contents. A moment of silence fell between them before he mustered up the motivation to start a conversation. "So, falling off roofs is your drunk thing?" he said dryly, already regretting the words that left his mouth. He never claimed to be a smooth talker when he was half awake. Rolling his eyes at himself internally, he quickly followed up his comment with another. "Sounds safer than the shit the others get into." He said, giving a bit of a laugh, which sounded genuine despite being the opposite. "But seriously, how are you? Stuff got pretty crazy last night... I am hoping everyone got home, or at least someplace other than an alley." his voice got stronger as he spoke, even if his accent refused to go away just yet. If the others showed up as quickly as KT did, he might be able to keep up an alert and moderately coherent front for a while, then slink back home to sleep the rest of the day away.
The sound of automatic doors rushing open caused his eyes to flick over to the entrance. His hopes were fed as Sarah, the quiet blonde girl, walked in. So far so good- two out of seven had arrived. When the waitress, Paige, grabbed a menu and started to show Sarah to a booth, He raised one hand off the table, lifting it to about shoulder height and giving a slight wave to get her attention. The blue bracelet that adorned his wrist chimed softly as the fine silver chain tassels on either end knocked about. He always forgot how soothing that sound was to him.
I groaned stretching my arms as I pushed the cover off me while getting up from the couch. Last night had been insane, a crazy ass party, and a great way to kick senior year off. I blinked my eyes a few times to clear my vision while looking around to make sure I’d made it back to my dorm, cause there was a possibility I’d just crashed at a friend’s place. By some miracle I’d got back, Yawning I tasted the usual morning breath taste mixed with remnants of alcohol and weed, yummy right? “Fuck….my head.” I just shook my head and went over to my drawer I didn’t see Jake anywhere. Either he’d gotten lucky or he’d he was still passed out somewhere.
I checked my pockets and groaned when I didn’t feel my Galaxy S3 in it. “Mother fucker..” This certainly didn’t help the ringing in my head, but whatever I could put that aside to find my cellular device. I began looking around the room and then searching through the crevices in the couch letting out a sigh of relief as my fingers wrapped around my means of communication. “Amen.” I quickly put in my password and opened it up while sitting on the table next to my couch. I quickly went to my pictures, since I usually took a lot of pictures when I was wasted. Picture of me with a big shot glass, smoking a blunt, kissing some chick at the party, a few more getting smoking drinking pics, glowing blue meteor from the cave, the sandwich I got, wait..glowing blue meteor rock?!
“This shit.” Luckily when we stumbled into the cave I’d only had a buzz so I could recall that part of my night. I probably would have been able to remember even if I was shit-faced considering that was probably the most extraordinarily experience in my twenty one years. It felt like a scene out of a sci fi movie, I almost expected Megatron or Venom to jump out and grab us. That’s right I’d went in there with Jake, and the other people I convinced to go in and investigate. I mean just in case aliens came, me and Jake could out run everyone else leaving them to get anal probed. You always gotta have a back up plan when your ass in danger, literally!
I quickly went to my recent messages, scrolling down and seeing Red. I grinned, a little ganja would help me with my head ache. Ayyy you tryna come thru and wake n bake on the balcony, I got rello’s After putting the smiley emoticon in I pressed send, and then slipped my phone in my pocket. First thing’s first I needed to brush my teeth, and then grab my weed. I made my way into the bathroom opening the door cautiously scanning it for unconscious friends, one night stands, and vomit. Again the good Lord had made it so none of that was in my room, as I walked over to my rug opening the top drawer to grab my crescent tooth paste, tooth brush, and then opened up a box I had which I kept my weed in. I opened it up and looked at the few baggies inside. “Mhmmm…White Widow, that’ll do it.” I grabbed a grab, closed the box up and put it back in. After brushing my teeth, and using mouth wash I was headed to the kitchen.
“Sdrinks and snacks..” I always grabbed my munchies before a session since I Didn’t like getting up once I was blazed. I made sure the door was open for Red when she got there, and was walking when I saw..my roommate passed out on the kitchen floor. “Jake..what the fuck…” I just stepped over him to get to the pantry opening it up to grab the box of fruit loops. I didn’t have any milk, and fruit loops tasted better dry anyway. But I still made a pit stop at the refrigerator opening it up to see what was left. Four day old Chinese Food, Orange Juice, some four loko’s, water, some..I don’t know what that green shit was. “Alright OJ it is..” I just grabbed the orange juice, closed the refrigerator and left to the balcony sliding the door open allowing me to hit with California’s sunshine.
I plopped down in one of my foldable chairs and put the baggie, fruit loop box, and orange juice on the table. I reached into my pockets retrieving the pack of rello’s I got from Quick trip the day before, I knew it was always wise to buy an extra pack. I cracked it open then take out both rello’s, while taking the gram out and breaking it down. It was only a couple minutes before I’d rolled my first gram up, the second rello was for Red and whatever strain she brought. I lit the blunt a few times before pulling in some precious cannabis smoke and exhaling. “Delicious.” I decided to take another puff, and another. Well maybe just a few more I mean she was gonna show up soon right?
…………………………………………
Well....this was different. I simply lied there, on the floor, too exhausted to simply move my head and attempt to perceive my surroundings. I could dully remember a party. I went...with my African-American roommate...whatsitface, along with a few others. I couldn't remember anything...literally anything other then that. It was all too hazy, and honestly, whenever I attempted to gouge into the other memories, I could only feel head pain. "...Ungh." I couldn't help but let out the little groan of discontent, barely rolling over on my body and feeling my shirtless arm scratch against the counter. My eyes, frozen together out of sleep, slowly peeled open and I could see that I was laid out, spread-eagle, on the kitchen floor; if the white-tiled floor was perceived correctly.
Closing my eyes once again, I rolled back over and attempted to understand why I felt so...so hot all of the sudden. I don't think that alcohol would do that for a person, despite me being terribly light-weight and easily-woozed. This was something else. That's when another memory hit me....a memory of a glowing blue meteorite, or some sort of rock. It was glowing a pale blue. Was he drunk when he remembered this? Most...most likely.
"I feel terrible..." With yet another mute grunt, I pressed my arm across my eyes and tensed the wiry muscles in my abdomen. It was time - high time to get up, and I really wanted to brush my teeth and get this disgusting feeling of alcohol out of my mouth. I attempted to motor-start the muscles, but it didn't comply, replying with a brutal feeling of fiery burning that pressed me harder against the floor. Well, obviously the world was against me today. What was today, anyways? What time was it? Did I sleep through the morning and afternoon already? I sighed and rolled onto my stomach, contemplating on calling my roommate to help.
"Jake...what the fuck.." I heard a slightly hazy voice quip from above, along with the mutterings of a roommate as James dug through the fridge. I didn't reply, too tired to come up with a sarcastic comment. Rather, once I saw him exit the kitchen I summoned all of my willpower, which was quite a lot, and struggled to stand up. It worked....for a second.
"Come on..." I whispered, before abruptly standing up and grinning victoriously. "Ye-!" Another grunt, and before I could utter a word I dashed through the dorm room, bypassing James and completely leaping into the bathroom. Head met toilet, and I retched.
Hard.
A minute later, one could hear the vomitting stop, along with the sound of an electrical toothbrush and faucet start up.
"Why does the water sting?!"
…………………………………
Well, this sucks. I could be at home studying but instead I'm here waiting around for these fucks. Can't drink, can't party, can't even enter the house without the risk of getting high off the damn chronic. Nope, just me, sitting on the porch with my jacket on. Maybe I could look on my phone and see if I can get a little research done for my English class. No, my brain isn't working well enough for that. It's too late.
At least I have my phone to keep me busy. Heh, these cats are damn adorable. Alright, maybe I'll listen to some music. Pink Floyd? Hmm... psychedelic or not? Naw, if I did any of their Syd Barett-y stuff, I might be too tempted to walk inside for a smoke. Animals is a good album... yeah. Maybe Atom Heart Mother? No, too mainstream. Let's go with Animals.
"If you didn't care... what happened to me" I vocalized quietly, lounging outside the house party. 'hey girl' I tapped down on my phone. I was texting my girl; she was probably too busy, she normally was on these kinds of nights. She's a year younger than me but also so much smarter... How'd I even get into this school? I'm glad I get to see her every once in a while. At least until next year, if she gets accepted into her dream school... Why'd she ever want to go to Portland. Well, that's just a little ways north from here... I can always spare the extra gas. There's so much downtime now that I'm in college. Maybe I'll see if I can get longer hours at work, pay for a better place to stay.
I'm glad those aspies are done with that cave... shit gave me the creeps. Though, I do feel different having seen that meteor. Stronger even. No, it's something different. It's as if someone else is inside my body. Maybe it's that alien anal probe that James kept drunkenly rambling about. Nah, it must all be in your head. At least I hope it is.
…………………………………..
As I awoke, it became quickly apparent that there was only one way I wasn't gonna just crash again, as I had the two times before, but this time the sun was out. A sacrifice of my own body to ensure that sleep didn't overtake me once more. I used all the energy I could muster I rolled off the bed, and slammed onto the floor with a loud thud. I was instantly wide awake, my left shoulder was still throbbing from the impact as I got to my feet. As I rose to my feet it hit, that light-headed, semi-high feeling I always got the morning after crashing while stoned. My balance faltered for a moment as I adjusted to the feeling, but I caught my footing without incident. As I wiped the sleep from my eyes and yawned, I looked down, examining my clothes. Red and black Shaq Attaqs, leather pants, a Run DMC shirt, and my stormtrooper hoodie. I patted down my pockets instinctively to see if I had anything interesting from the night before, lighter, knife, wallet, phone, and oddly my drivers license outside the wallet, couldn't remember why that was, but after replacing it in my wallet, I carefully placed it and everything else on my nightstand and took a deep breath. Time to start the morning ritual.
I started out with shower obviously, and while uneventful, I used the time to recall the previous night, it had been a typical party for me, I'd had a few drinks, and gotten stoned. What wasn't so typical was James dragging me out to that cave, jeesh, I followed a bunch of people to a cave, that couldn't have gone wrong or anything. There was some sort of glowy thing in it, memories were hard to come by, and I couldn't draw anything else at the time. I tried to focus on the events of the past night as I wrapped a towell around my body, and another around my head. No dice though, I continued my usual ritual undeterred however.
As I approached my dresser, I tried to figure out what to wear. Unfortunately, being as indecisive as a deer in the headlights meant that there was no way I was thinking of anything. Instead, I just grabbed the first things I saw. As it turned out, that meant, black calf high socks with rainbow stars on them, some blue jean old school bellbottoms, and an amazingly bright loose fitting tie-dye shirt. As I finished putting on the clothes, making sure the shirt absorbed as much water from my head as I could before pulling it over my head, I made my way to the bathroom. The countertop was a mess of hair products, patting my hair, I felt it was still somewhat moist, and decided it was best to not take any chances. I grabbed the toothbrush and toothpaste and got to brushing instead of dealing with the hardest hair just yet. As I brushed I took a straightening iron to my bangs.
I finished brushing my teeth, and took a deep breath, the hardest part was yet to come. As I walked into the bathroom, I grabbed the massive hair dryer off the counter, and a wide toothed comb, but I could not find my glue. Shuffling through the bottles just to make sure of it's absence I was left disappointed. Finally I took a step back and scanned the room in it's entirety, and sure enough, there it was, Elmer's clear glue, perched atop the mirror, just out of reach. I let out a grunt of disappointment concidentally, the light in the room seemed to brighten as I did so, and reached for it, of course I came short, by a lot. Five-two wasn't even close to tall enough to get it, and one futile jump later I climbed atop the counter and grabbed it easily. Finally I was able to get to work at standing up the Mohawk. I got to work with a routine that had been ingrained as almost muscle memory at this point. Comb the hair up, glue on both hands, put the hair between my hands and pull upwards, once I reached the top, grab it with my left hand, and dry the right side, then grab with my right hand, and dry the left side, and repeat further down the scalp. The process was interrupted halfway through by the sound of 'Get Lucky' from the next room signaling I had received a text message. I decided to ignore that until I finished however.
About five minutes later, it was done. I always felt like an artist who had just finished her masterpiece, this never got old. I took a moment to check for flaws. Nothing of note, to anyone who didn't style a mohawk regularly, it would look almost flawless. Finally I checked my phone, James had texted me to burn down, of course. I never missed text messages to do something stupid. Hurriedly I grabbed a pill-bottle with a fat nug of Skywalker OG in it, and threw on some shoes. A pair of Air Jordan 1s, well not actual Air Jordan 1s, because Nike is stupid and doesn't consider it's female clientele but a re-release for kids that'd fool most sneaker heads. As soon as I finished lacing the them up I darted for the door and began a hurried sprint to James' dorm.
As I got to James' dorm I ran through the door, catching it's handle just barely as it swung open. It was at that moment that I realized I hadn't thought of a witty way to introduce myself, so I just said the first thing that I could think of "WHERE ALL THA WHITE WOMEN AT!" I yelled without thinking as I entered the room. Good job Red, smooth, real smooth.
……………………
After tossing and turning for hours, Hiro finally gave up and cracked open one dark eye- an act he immediately regretted. The blinds were askew, letting in the tiniest crack of light which, of course, stuck him square in the face. He let out a sound that was halfway between a hiss and a growl and tried to roll over again, only to find his bedding had turned into prison twisted tightly around him. Muttering lazily, he tried to use his only free limb to try to wrest the sheets off of himself. The act predicatively ended with him landing on the floor and swearing so loudly that one of his neighbors banged on the wall. Either that or they were having sex again.
Finally free, he laid on the stained carpet and tried to recall everything that had happened the night before. He wasn't one for parties, but it was a hell of a time. So many people gave him shots, trying to out-drink him. He wondered how they were fairing... probably still sleeping in a porcelain bed somewhere. He remembered a lot of people passed joints and tried to get him in on it... he didn't actually puff, did he? He hoped not. Then there was the glowing rock. The glowing rock? "Fuck.. did I get roofied?" He said out loud, reaching up to rub at his eyes. No, not roofies, he didn't have enough of a headache for that. What the hell could it have been, then? Rocks don't just glow like that... he would have to ask the others, Red, James, jake and... ugh, what were their names again? Whatever. He would ask them if that actually happened, and if they don't remember, he could laugh it up like he was just that drunk. He kind of hoped that was true, but with how little of a hang over he had, he seriously doubted he gotten smashed like they did.
After another few moments of thinking, he managed to get himself to his feet and pat himself down, checking for his wallet, pocket knife and iPod. Finding all of them in the right places and accompanied with bruises from sleeping on them, he tugged off his clothing and found a fresh set to wear. Once dressed he snatched up his camels and zippo, lighting up his first of the day and giving a sigh of relief as the sweet taste of tobacco replaced the stale rum that had been clinging to his tongue. After a moment of savouring the cigarette, he reached for his phone and flicked it on. He couldn't help but give a grunt and squint as the screen lit up, but he ignored the pain and searched for the numbers of his... well, I guess you could call them friends. He then sent out a text to all of them, simple and friendly enough: "Anyone up for coffee and grease?" He knew it was just the thing for a hangover, even if his was hardly an issue. The important thing was getting them together and asking about that trippy stone. It had to have happened... he remembered it too vividly for it not to have.
………………………………………….
Ok well it wasn’t exactly just one or two puffs, it was about six so not that bad, I was feeling a bit of a buzz, but I’d managed to stop myself. I’d found a new activity to distract myself which was breaking down the rello I’d gotten for my friend. I just dumped the tobacco product over the balcony, littering wasn’t bad as long as it wasn’t on my property. “Alright that should do it..” I turned around quickly when I heard the door slam, and just laughed.
“Jake’s up, …..wait..DON’T THROW UP ON THE FUCKING FLOOR BRO!!!” I yelled that out before shaking my head, I knew Jake was an inexperienced drinker, but last night I’m sure he got shit faced quicker then all of us. Talk about not being able to hold ya liquor, he couldn’t even hold Budweiser. I just shook my head before I heard someone else.
"WHERE ALL THA WHITE WOMEN AT!"
YUP she was here, I just burst out laughing because I didn’t know how else to react. “Shiiiit only white woman here just walked in.” She sure knew how to make an introduction, this is why I loved the white women. I held up my blunt and took a quick puff signaling it was time to burn. “Come on I’m ready to smoke gorgeous.” I flashed a smile and set my blunt down again, no more hits until the skywalker was rolled and ready. Plus I wanted to talk to her about last night, particularly the rock to see if she remembered because I had my doubts Jake did.
My phone buzzed and the bird like ring tone I was use too that accompanied every text I received went off. I grabbed my phone from the table putting the pass code in once more, and seeing it was from my buddy..well acquaintance Hiro. "Anyone up for coffee and grease?" Mhmm I'mma be hella hungry after I smoke. I decided to respond. Yeah soon as I finish my morning ritual, how yall feel about mcdonalds? I made sure I Was texting the whole group then clicked send.
……………….
"What the Hell..."
I was a smart and healthy young man - athletic even, but I was not a doctor. Even so, I knew that this wasn't normal. Glancing up into the squeaky-clean mirror, I stared at my reflection hard. Tanned, light brown skin, wet, curly black hair...and multi-colored eyes? What in the absolute Hell? My eyes were normally a light blue; a sky blue, even...but this was odd. My right iris was this weird muddy brown and regular sky blue, but my left eye was a fiery red and lightning-strike silver. I had forced myself to calm down; I had been freaking out for the past five minutes, so with an obsolete sigh I slipped on some black, slim-looking Agent Zero shades I kept in the mirror compartment and turned away from my reflection. It wasn't a cause for concern. Calm...distance your thoughts.
'"Ugh..." I couldn't help the disgusted snort that escaped my mouth at the sight of the vomit-filled toilet water. Mentally snarling at the smell, I flipped the lid and pressed down - hard - on the lever, immediately flushing down my liquids. I had rinsed and washed out my mouth, repeatedly, with soap earlier so I was confident that I didn't smell like some sort of dirty hobo. I hurried to dry my curly hair, keeping it in it's usual style, and slipped out of the bathroom, heading to my dresser.
"Used, used, dirty, clean....hn." I threw the clothes over my shoulder as I dug through the remnants of clothing and outfits, until I found something to my satisfaction. Just a red and white-collared Polo shirt, the one with the little golf-and-horse-man, slim khaki pants, and some random blue and white sneakers that may or may not have been Nike. I have no idea. "Clean at last..." I whispered, straightening my shades before checking my phone. Two messages, one from Hiro, another friend, and one from James. Coffee? Yes. Grease? What was that?
'Sure. Just...I cant eat straight-up grease. Sounds fat.' I texted back with nimble ease, flipping my phone back into my pocket and jogging towards the door, just in time to hear someone's announcement - Red's, most likely. Very, very loud...but not obnoxious. I was used to loud and noisy noises by now. I passed by James on my way into the living room, before simply collapsing on a lounge chair and flicking digging into my phone.
"Morning, everyone." I spoke without looking up.
……………………..
After sending the text, Hiro had poured himself a glass of ice water and completed the first part of is morning ritual by sipping it between lung-fulls of smoke. He always enjoyed the contrast of fire and water, the heat and the cold that his throat felt. Letting out another sigh, he rubbed at his eyes again. Every light seemed so much brighter today... maybe he got more drunk than he thought. He was contemplating crawling back into bed when his phone buzzed. Flicking it open again he found he had two messages from the party crew. His lips quirked up into half a smile as he read them. Thin fingers deftly flew over the digital keyboard as he responded to both of them. To James he sent: "Fuck McDonalds. Denny's has better shit for half the price. Meet me there in half an hour- or will you be too blazed?" He seemed to be constantly stoned, something Hiro didn't exactly appreciate, but he was still a good guy. Perhaps now that a party wasn't the focal point, James would have a bit more to talk about with the older man.
Having sent the first message, he quickly typed up a response to Jake. "I meant some good old bacon and eggs. Best thing after a hard night. If you're in, meet me at Denny's in about half an hour." His phone gave a small 'da-dink'- message sent. He honestly hoped the less outgoing man would join the outing... so far it seemed he was the only one Hiro had much in common with. Setting down his phone, he decided to take a quick shower. Finishing off his cigarette, he mashed the butt into the make-shift ashtray and got up, wandering over to the bathroom. He flicked on the light, only to give a sound of surprise and mild pain. Hastily, he shut it off and fell back against the door. What in the hell was that? It felt like not only his eyes, but his entire head was burning from the lights. He knew he wasn't that hung over! Hesitantly, he glanced up to the mirror and reached for the switch again. He fell still for a few moments, staring into his dark reflection. Was it just his imagination, or could he see better in the dimness than before?
He shook his head, sleek hair falling about his shoulders. His mind must be playing tricks on him again. Rolling his neck to pop his spine, he let out yet another sigh. Something in him did not want to hit the switch again, but he shrugged it off and flicked the little plastic nob upwards. Wincing, he closed his eyes and brought his hands up to his face, but it hardly helped. He could almost... feel the light on his skin. Was he going crazy? It... it had to be nothing. Taking a deep breath, he lowered his hands and opened his eyes, though he could not help but keep his lids mostly lowered. Slowly, he made his way to the shower and turned it on, the noise of water hitting the tile floor immediately waking him up more. Unfortunately, that also seemed to make him more sensitive to the lights. For some reason, he turned and tried to glance up at them. He gave a low sound of pain and threw his hands up to block it all while lowering his gaze to the floor. It worked- the lights were softened by the shadows of his hands. At least, he thought they were. Looking at the cream-coloured tile, he found his entire shadow was softened, like the light was dimmer. Slowly, he looked back up and lowered his hands, then panicked. Around the lights was a fog... a barely discernible dark cloud.
Eyes wide, he nearly fell out of the bathroom, catching himself on the door frame and stumbling out into the hall. He backed up into the wall and closed his eyes tight. "Achi kaere, achi kaere, achi kaere." He repeated, telling the bizarre sight to go away. When he got up the courage to crack open an eye, he found that it had worked- the dark fog had lifted and the light was back to normal, even a bit less obnoxious than before. Opening both eyes, he stared at the bathroom lights for a bit longer, then moved in to shut off the faucet. A shower could wait.
……………………………..
t was with more of a snort than a snore that I woke up with. Coughing dryly, I went to rub my eyes, finding that was pretty much impossible – one arm was pinned underneath me, and the other against a wall.
Oh. Well then.
It wasn’t unusual that I end up in places like this when I’d been drinking – under beds, behind couches. Usually somewhere hidden or tucked away so I wouldn’t take up space. So, the issue for me wasn’t where I woke up. It was the fact I don’t remember what happened before that. I didn’t get black-out drunk – normally I couldn’t.
None the less, I decided that it was time for me to get out of here. Shimmying and trying my best to ignore whatever junk was lying around me in the dark, I managed to make for the small sliver of light not too far away from me.
With a final push, I spilled out from underneath…a bed? It was my bed. Made all the trouble to come back to my room in my dorm only to pass out underneath a perfectly comfortable bed. I’m not even shocked. I rolled onto my back once I felt the light buzzing from my front pocket – Oh good, I hadn’t destroyed or lost my iPhone, and my wallet was still there too in my other pocket. Messages from the others were lined up on the screen -
Coffee. Grease. Denny’s. God yes.
I’ll meet you there guys. Does anyone else feel like they fell ass-first off a roof?
Moments later, I’d peeled off the liquor-stained clothes from the night before, jumped in the shower and then made a beeline for the jumper and jeans I’d set aside on the basin. I only bothered to give my hair a quick comb-through with my fingers – my hair did what it wanted at the best of times, so I wasn’t going to fight it. Especially with the ache I was feeling in my neck, shoulders and head.
Burger and fries should fix that. Definitely.
As I locked the door and walked away, my thoughts turned towards the night before. The party was unforgettable to say the least – but what happened afterwards.
It was harder to piece together, my memories faltering and at this point, only capable of producing a single image. Something light blue and glowing. A cave.
I shook my head and pushed my glasses further up my nose, deciding that this could all wait until I was with everyone else.
…………………….
I could feel my cheeks turn just a little bit red with the word 'gorgeous' I never have been able to take compliments well. I dismissed the remark and took a seat next to James. As I reached down into my pockets, I realized I'd forgotten everything in my haste, my lighter, wallet, phone, every darn thing! Disturbed by this revelation, I still continued undeterred, tearing the end of the wrap, and pouring out the tobacco inside. I took a moment to figure out what to do with the tobacco, after a short contemplation I decided to just put it in my pocket. I despised putting things so messy in my pocket, but I didn't want to get up and actually do something with it. I'd just turn out my pocket at the next opportunity city to get rid of it.
Finally I got to breaking up the weed, making a mental note to get a grinder for the thousandth time, I never would, every time I had the money I ended up just dismissing it as a waste of money that could be spent on weed. I can always just break it up with my hands. I began tearing apart the weed, my fingers getting stickier and stickier as I did so. I hated that part of the process, can't stand getting my hands sticky. Still, it wasn't long before I completed my endeavor, it wasn't amazingly broken up by any means, but it'd serve my purposes fine.
Finally I poorer it into the empty wrap, the nug had a bit more than I needed for a blunt, so I just left it there for now. I made sure my tongue wasn't dry as I licked the inside of the wrap and closed it. It wasn't a pretty blunt, but it'd serve my purpose just fine. "Gotta light? Kinda sorta maybe might have somewhat left mine."
……………………..
Jake looked up from his phone, momentarily exiting the most rousing game of Candy Crush just in time to see Red, the mohawk-wearing chick, enter the living room and plop onto the couch next to James. He paused, watching her began to do...something with whatever she had in her pocket, and naturally he took this as his cue to leave. While Jake wasn't a stranger to second-hand smoking and whatnot, he wanted to keep his system clean and healthy. Staying in the apartment while two of your friends smoke was a pretty bad idea.
"Heading out." he said to the two, scratching a tanned cheek before jogging over to his room to get his keys. Once he entered the threshold of his room, Jake headed over to his bed-side desk immediately and dug into the drawers, grabbing the silver keys with a small whistle and pocketing them in his khaki pants. Just as he was about to exit his room once more, a subtle vibrating sensation came from his pockets, the pocket opposite to the pocket his keys were in.
"I meant some good old bacon and eggs. Best thing after a hard night. If you're in, meet me at Denny's in about half an hour."
Jake flipped open his phone, quickly noticing the few text messages that had transpired in only a few minutes. Bacon and eggs were a good breakfast...weren't they? ANd Denny's was a nice store. He...he really needed to get out more.
'Alright, I'm on my way. See ya there.' Jake texted quickly, slowing down only when he saw another message pop up - this one from another acquaintance. Ass-first off a roof? 'And no, no I don't. It seems fun, though.'
Slipping his phone back into his pocket, Jake swiftly exited the dorm room, jogging down the stairs with a bit of energy that he hadn't felt earlier that day. Once he managed to clear the landing from the flight of concrete stairs and poles, the young man landed on top of his sleek Speedster, a bike mostly made for people who liked going fast. Jake just so happened to like going fast.
With a smirk, he burned rubber as he pressed hard on the bike's pedal and began speeding down the pathway that lead from the dorms, and right out the gate that blocked campus from the outside world. Curiously enough, he didn't feel tired. The wind whipping at his face, the light drizzle he felt from leftover dew...Plus, the borderline hot feeling he felt somewhere in his pores. It felt...comforting, somehow.
"This day isn't as crappy as I thought it would be..." Jake grinned as he turned a corner with a loud screeching/sizzling sound, causing sparks of friction and fire to rise from his Speedster's tires due to the drifting.
………………………….
Hiro half jumped when his phone went off again, ratting across the table. Cursing under his breath once more, he stalked across the room and grabbed it, squinting again as the bright screen assaulted his eyes. Another couple of responses awaited him, one from Jake saying he'd be at Denny's and one from KT, the cute girl with glasses. He gave a dry chuckle at her message, but gave up on tapping up a response when his head gave a painful throb. All these lights were really messing him up- how could he even think about going out into the sunlight like this? Letting out what must have been the tenth heavy sigh that morning and rubbing at his eyes, he decided to give up on trying to work out the bizarre situation and went about cleaning himself up. He ended up brushing his teeth and washing his face at the kitchen sink, as he was not quite ready to brave the bathroom again. Once he felt a bit more refreshed and awake, he went back up to his bedroom to tend to Mephistopheles, his red corn snake. "Hey Meph." He said, talking to the half-asleep serpent as he lifted the top off the aquarium. The snake lazily slithered towards the hand that reached in to grab the water dish and bumped against it, tongue flicking out to investigate the thin fingers of his owner. This got a genuine smile from the pale Japanese man, who slipped his other hand under the reptile and lifted him to his shoulders. The snake happily wrapped about his neck, seeking warmth.
Once having taken care of the cage and returning its inhabitant, Hiro donned his coat and boots, and grabbed his essentials: wallet, keys, phone, a four inch lock-blade pocketknife and a mini hard-bound notebook. With everything in order and a helmet under his arm, he made his way out of the duplex to the driveway, where his Kawasaki Versys sat, glistening in the bright sunlight. Muttering to himself again, he set down the helmet to tug on his gloves. He could barely see, it was like someone fucked with the world's gamma... good thing his helmet would be nice and dark.
After another few moments of gritting his teeth and checking over his motorcycle, he pulled on his helmet and was off, the rumble of his vehicle echoing off the houses as he tore down the street. It did not take long to get to the restaurant, despite the typical California traffic. He eased into a parking spot and killed the engine with a bit of reluctance. He loved riding almost as much as he loved running around the city and was sorely tempted to take a round or two around the block while he waited for the others to show. However, the sunlight was making him uncomfortable, even if his eyes were protected from it. For a brief moment he wondered if he was turning into a vampire, then broke out laughing at himself and tugged off his helmet, shaking his head to make his long hair fall flat again. He hopped off the Versys and went into the Denny's, picking a table that could seat all five of his friends, should they show up. He ordered a coffee and settled back, dark eyes cast downward in an attempt to block out some of the lights.
…………………………………………..
My android buzzed again as Rebecca sat down next to me. "Fuck McDonalds. Denny's has better shit for half the price. Meet me there in half an hour- or will you be too blazed?" I just laughed seeing the text people always seemed to think that if your stoned out of your mind you couldn’t function. But I was a professional anything you can do sober I could do even better high. Well except cook dinner only because I’d probably eat it before I served it to anyone. “Hell yea you right and me blazed whaaaat you know Ion smoke! :P But yeah I’mma be there.” I looked over the message with a grin as I pressed send. Of course he knew about my recreational activities most of my friends did, but I denied it from time to time just to be funny.
My phone buzzed again and I once again went to see it was while casting a glance to the pretty girl beside me breaking down and rolling reefer.
“I’ll meet you there guys. Does anyone else feel like they fell ass-first off a roof?”
Again I was laughing, I swear everything this morning or well afternoon had me laughing. I could already tell this strain was gonna give me the giggles. "Ass-first? Mhmmm sounds like someone got too turnt last night." I sent the text as Red asked me for a lighter, and Jake said he was going out. “Alright cya at Denny’s man.” I pressed down sparking my own blunt and pulling until it was burning before passing my bic to my friend. It wasn’t but about fifteen or so minutes before both blunts had been consumed, and what was left was tossed into my ash tray. I would have stuffed them into the bong so we could up the ante of her high a little, however I was letting a friend borrow my glass. Speaking of glass I’d poured myself a cup of OJ, and one for Red as well, sliding it over to her.
“Kush and Orange Juice, .” I gulped down a good bit of the refreshing juice, and leaned back in my chair. Breathing in the precious cannabis smoke everywhere in the room, I just felt so good, so alive. I loved everything about being high, to me being high was nature’s version of high definition. I took another sip before getting up from my chair. “Hey you wanna go on an adventure with me, I’m about to go to Denny’s with everyone else, I can give you a riiide, and I know you got the munchies too” I checked my pockets making sure I had all the essentials. Phone, Wallet, keys inside my wallet, ear-buds, orbit gum, and most importantly my eye drops….as if..if the herb wanted my eyes red who was I to argue with it?
……………………………………..
"Hey, man, fuck you too!"
Jake frowned internally, yet kept up his calm, grinning facade as he turned his bike to the side, narrowly dodging the fucktard who thought that it was cool to take up the complete street. He was currently on his way to Denny's, taking a little detour down a rather raggedy, shady street, and already it was starting problems. He wasn't a stranger to violence - Hell, he did a bunch of things in his past life, but trying to wreck someone who was riding an admittedly sweet bike? The 'people' in question were a bunch of drunkards who had too much booze and weed most-likely, three in total with two on the back of the broken down Ford truck, and one in the driver's seat.
His internal narration was broken by the feeling of a broken beer bottle being thrown at him from behind. Somehow, he had managed to completely out-ride the truck, which was, admittedly, pretty fast all in itself despite being a bit beaten. He could hear drunken laughter from behind him, and Jake could feel his happy/careless attitude slightly dampen at the douches. "What, you thin' yoush can outrun us?!" one of the hillbillies from the back laughed, accompanied by the shrill chuckling coming from his bum-buddies. Jake growled, but kept his torso pressed forward as he pedaled as hard as he could. He could feel his tires melting due to the obscene amount of fiery sparks blasting from both wheels, and mentally sighed. What in the Hell was going on?
"That's fuckin' it...!" the African-American growled, feeling a heavily burning sensation feel his body as rage, something he didn't really feel that much anymore, bubbled at the surface of his body. Calm, peaceful wisps of common-sense forced it's way on top of the burning rage, to keep his mind clear, and Jake capitalized on the amount of energy he could feel forming in his body.
"Wat tha fu-" the driver began drunkenly, only for Jake to abruptly swerve to the side in a surprising shower of embers. The drunken gang, mind too clouded over to react properly, could only watch as the athletic young man speed up behind the truck and popped an impossible wheelie, causing the front, still smoking, tires of his Speedster to hook onto the tailgate. The two guys on the back attempted to get up off of their Budweiser-engraved cooler, but Jake was faster, angrier, and smarter. With a grunt, he leaped off of his bike, and through willpower managed to land safely on the back of the truck, despite gravity pushing against him. He did, however, feel the wind somehow soothing, and helping his movements.
By now, the drunken driver had drunk almost more cans than the truck could hold, and passed out from alcohol poisoning, causing the truck to go sailing to the side of the country-road, and right into the ditch. The impact caused the two drunkards to stumble forward in a daze, whereas Jake was completely stable due to not inhaling dozens of alcohol-related products. Fist met groin, and the first drunkard could only fall forward due to pure, confusing pain, only for a rough knee to pop up and completely cave in his nose and mouth. Jake pushed the bastard off of the truck and turned to his left, just in time to catch the drunken punch the other man attempted to give him.
"Bastard." Jake growled with an, admittedly, sadistic grin, twisting his wrist and bringing the man to his knees, causing him to cry out in pain. "You can antagonize me on the streets, throwing dangerous shit, but have someone hold your hand and you cry like a bitch." he frowned, feeling his hand become almost unbearably hot. A warm red glow came off his skin, something he could hardly believe, just as the air became thick with the smell of burning, charred flesh. His mind refocused, Jake looked down once he heard the ongoing, absolute agony-filled scream of his antagonizer. The man's hand was nothing more then a broken, melting lump, along with his forearm and arm. Jake paused, but oddly enough he wasn't too bothered by the disgusting wound, nor the unbearable screaming. With a grunt, he abruptly kneed the man in the temple, viciously ending his screams of help and pain.
"Ugh. Just...just what in the Hell happened? What was the heat? Why is his arm meltin-...nevermind. I can't deal with this shit alone." he growled, kicking the bodies off of the truck and into the ditch, along with the driver's body and all of the damned beer cans. Except one. With his tanned, relaxed face in a tight, yet confused grimace, Jake started up the ignition and headed along his way. The journey to Denny's, paved with bullshit.
'Surprised no one heard this crap. Eh, this is a country road after all...
…………………………..
Sarah woke with a groan, feeling quite a few static shocks from her bedding. Somehow they seemed to make her wide awake as if they were invigorating. She sat up and instantly was aware of the crippling migraine. She held her head for a moment before getting out of bed the rest of the way. She didn't really remember the night before. She remembered a cave and a bunch of people from school. Sarah wasn't sure what even made her agree to go. She wasn't the partying type, but she remembered going. The rest is hazy.
She rubbed her eyes as she walked to the bathroom to take a shower, idly looking in the mirror at her reflection. She froze and slowly reached up to touch her hair, which was standing up in all sorts of crazy directions. It was like she'd been hit by lightning. As her fingers touched her long hair, she felt more shocks, and actually saw a spark or two fly off. "...What the heck?!" she said.
She shrugged and hopped in the shower, hoping to fix her hair. Nothing unusual....except for the jolts of lightning that popped out of the water on occasion. She was scared at first, but then realized it didn't hurt at all, which she found pretty strange. She finished up quickly, and brushed her hair out until it was picture perfect. She never considered herself pretty, despite what anyone said otherwise, but Sarah loved her hair...
She threw on some clothes from her dresser, grabbed her purse, Andriod, and headed to the Denny's close by. Sarah loved pancakes. She didn't bother to check her phone. She rarely got messages or phone calls anyway. Sometimes she wondered why the heck she even had it.
……………….
The walk to Denny's was pleasant enough - well, after I'd stopped by a gas station just outside the campus for an energy drink. After gulping down about half of it to quench my post-drinking thirst, and I continued to sip it as I moved along the sidewalk.
No doubt for economic reasons, there was a Denny's only about 15 minutes walk from the University campus - a godsend to all of the hungover and zombie-esque masses that appeared nearly every Saturday morning. Today was no different naturally, so I was infinitely pleased when I noticed Hiro had taken up base in one of the larger corner booths. Squeezing through a less than friendly group of people standing inside the doorway, I made my way over and slid into the booth on the opposite side of Hiro.
"G'morning." I greeted casually, taking another drink from my can of Red Bull before placing it on the table.
I pulled out my phone, scrolling through Facebook until I realized that there was only the same shit there normally was. I lifted up my glasses and rubbed the bridge of my nose gently before turning towards the window, keeping an eye out for any of my friends that may be approaching.
...................
Hiro realized he probably looked miserable, hunched over his coffee with his head down, long hair obscuring his face from the yellow lights within the restaurant. He knew he wasn't hung over, but it was clear the waitress thought he was with the way she brought him water and slipped him a couple of Tylenol. He managed a muttered and heavily accented "Thanks Paige." before the brunette wandered off to cater to a loud old man and his wrinkled, dour looking wife. Raising his head just a touch, he lifted his dark eyes to glance out the window, where the sunlight was growing in intensity by the minute. He was having second thoughts about setting up this rendezvous, but it was a bit late to back out now. Still, all he wanted to do was crawl back into bed, or perhaps under it, hiding in the darkness of lost shoes and empty rum bottles. Then there was that unsettled feeling that stemmed from the memory of that glowing rock, and the cave it was in. Intuition told him it had something to do with his enhanced sensitivity to light. He already had a natural aversion to the day time, with it's scorching heat and blinding brightness, but this was extreme even to him. And then there was that... that fog. That shadow that had covered the lights in his bathroom like a swarm of tiny insects, all moving as one entity. Gods, even in his head that sounded crazy.
Movement out of the corner of his eye brought his attention back to the present, and he turned to see KT walking up to the half-circle booth he had claimed. Trying not to squint too much, he gave a half-hearted smile and a nod. "Morning." He said, giving the bespectacled young woman a short but hopefully not brusque-sounding greeting. He lowered his gaze again and lifted the ceramic mug before him to his lips, sipping at its hot, bitter contents. A moment of silence fell between them before he mustered up the motivation to start a conversation. "So, falling off roofs is your drunk thing?" he said dryly, already regretting the words that left his mouth. He never claimed to be a smooth talker when he was half awake. Rolling his eyes at himself internally, he quickly followed up his comment with another. "Sounds safer than the shit the others get into." He said, giving a bit of a laugh, which sounded genuine despite being the opposite. "But seriously, how are you? Stuff got pretty crazy last night... I am hoping everyone got home, or at least someplace other than an alley." his voice got stronger as he spoke, even if his accent refused to go away just yet. If the others showed up as quickly as KT did, he might be able to keep up an alert and moderately coherent front for a while, then slink back home to sleep the rest of the day away.
The sound of automatic doors rushing open caused his eyes to flick over to the entrance. His hopes were fed as Sarah, the quiet blonde girl, walked in. So far so good- two out of seven had arrived. When the waitress, Paige, grabbed a menu and started to show Sarah to a booth, He raised one hand off the table, lifting it to about shoulder height and giving a slight wave to get her attention. The blue bracelet that adorned his wrist chimed softly as the fine silver chain tassels on either end knocked about. He always forgot how soothing that sound was to him.