Cherry.

(Scott, Janet.)

Suck in, hold for a bit, let it out. If there was anything better than a well-rolled, fat jay, Cherry didn’t know what it was. After a couple of puffs she passed it to Greg on her left (“Always pass to the left”, her brother had taught her) and pulled the cheap blankets they had found at an abandoned dorm room closer. That was nice. Those weekly meetings were the only thing she had to look forward to lately. All her close friends were gone, the café she used to work at closed and no professors were teaching anymore, so life was nothing but smoke weed and take care of Sheena, Meena, and Laveena, her three pot plants. Feeling the tingle in her fingertips that always started her high, she sighed and turned to Janet.
- So, Jay, what’s up with your life?
- Nothing, really. – answered Janet, taking the joint from Greg’s shivering hand. – Still living with Scott, watching loads of tv and going out every now and then.
- Is anything still open? – asked Michael, his eyes as red as the Flash t-shirt he was wearing.
- A couple of clubs. One or two bars. Joe’s Brewery is open 24/7 now, but it’s a shithole. Scott usually takes me to Feel, the gay club a couple of blocks from here, but the place is just a meat-market.
- What, a bunch of gay dudes trying to fuck the pain away all night? Sounds like a blast – said Cherry, with no sarcasm whatsoever. She made a mental note to ask Janet if they could go there later that night, and then promptly forgot about it.
- Yeah, it can be fun, but it gets creepy sometimes. Some boy got raped in the bathroom last week and nobody knows who did it. Don’t think anyone cares really.
- Well why should they? Consequences don’t matter when we’re all days away of dying. People only attain to the restrictions of society for fear of retribution. There is no retribution now. It’s a free world out there, in the worst sense possible. – Greg used to study Philosophy, before the university shut down.
- At least we’re better off than those fuckers over at Peru. I was watching the news yesterday and apparently the entire country is fucked now. People getting killed left and right and all that shit.
- You still watch the news Cherry? I thought no one bothered anymore.
- Meh, tragedy makes me laugh when I’m high.
- So what, if I tell you that my grandmother died when she was 32 leaving 3 children behind and a good for nothing alcoholic husband to raise my mum and her sisters you’re just gonna start giggling?
And sure enough, Cherry started giggling. And before long, they were all laughing wildly, most of them having no idea what they were laughing about.