A CIGARETTE DANGLES BETWEEN TWITCHING FINGERS as worn out black timberlands come to a slow on a bright, familiar intersection. the cigarette brushes against a pair of chapped lips before nazlie leans against a streetlight, smoking to curb the dull pangs of hunger and ( GUILT. ) the spare hand hooks into the pocket of dirty jeans; with a slow exhale of smoke, there is enough room in a tired & empty chest for warm memories. in the corner, nuba stands tall with its noise as vibrant as ever—louder, somehow. a small CHOKE; home is closer than ever… one, two, three, four, five steps away. home is close, yet it feels so f a r to nazlie.
a slow inhale of smoke into the lungs, a heart dropping into an unsettled stomach. all nazlie can do is stare longingly at nuba—at HOME—with regret. maybe, it isn’t time to come home yet.
There were certain roads that were off-limits, certain places his worn out converses no longer DARE to tread. Places often became haunted to Javier, ghosts lingering in dark corners and he can never stay too long for fear of their possession. Always running, always hiding, always escaping anything that can keep him tied down—memories, ghosts, buildings. Life is ( supposed ) to be a party and a party is never for the dead, only for the living. And NAZLIE? She is dead, or as good as dead, at the very least. Nazlie, Shantipriya, Katerina, all women and all ghosts. Unhaunted, thoughts of them are locked away and rarely is the dust that collected ever brushed off, only to have them creep into his mind whenever he feels vulnerable and exposed. A boy abandoned, by choice or otherwise, a boy not quick to FORGIVE.
Certain roads, certain places, certainly they can’t ALWAYS be avoided. He didn’t like the look of a group of survivors in an alley, the suspicious type did always seem to be hanging around bars, and it forces him to take a different route–a different one, but one many times traveled. He smells the smoke before he sees her, a brief thought to bum one off the stranger comes to mind, but all thoughts vanish once he realizes who the stranger is—because yes, she IS a stranger.
dededos
gummygunk
jacobvanloon
titsay
germansingergirl
