blurring_the_edges___prologue birdmad You wake up on the floor of a strange apartment to find yourself half-dressed among a number of people you only have the faintest recall of. Getting up off the floor and stepping gingerly over the pretty girl who appears to be wearing little else other than your shirt, you roam in your half dazed state to find your coat and the cigarette case in the inside breast pocket. It's a Saturday morning in February, and you're old enough to know better. You can't claim that you're young enough to get away with it anymore. So with that rationalization out of the way, boy, you have only the warning in your heart and your head to guide you. 'Alex... How much longer do you plan on keeping this up?' Third floor apartment, by the view you can guess that you are way the hell on the other side of town. Man, do you even remember how you got here? Christ, when Zoe isn't around to keep you occupied you are just a dog off the chain. Of course, jesus only knows how many notches she'll add to her bedpost between now and the time she gets back from Detroit. Yeah, you two are quite the pair. "Ahh, Alex, good to see i'm not the only one to make it back from sleepy-town." Eric, who is the source of most of your chemical amusements these days - breaking the cardinal rule of the dealer and fixing himself for breakfast. "Yeah. Quite the nap i seem to have taken. Didn't plan on staying the night," you answer, rubbing your eyes and fumbling to put your coat on even though you are still shirtless. "Sure didn't stop you from staying," he laughs, "or from having a really good time, by the looks of things - dude, whoever said the pretty ones aren't so pretty the morning after never saw this girl. You two nearly tore the house down, didn't care who saw you, and while you look like what the cat dragged in, she still looks as cute as the day is long sleeping there." You look back at the blonde, who you now remember a little better, one of Zoe's girlfriends. Tricia? Smiling slightly, you chuckle. "We actually did all that? god, i though it was just the shrooms. I remember it, just didn't think it was real." "You're a real piece of work, Alex...anyway, there's a fresh batch of your smokes in the kitchen." "Rock and roll." you say, stepping over another half-naked couple passed out on the living room floor Wincing, you watch as Eric slides the needle home and that look of bliss overtakes him. He's right, you know, you are a piece of work. You can slash yourself silly with one of your ever-handy blades, but you get all squeamish at watching the needle find the vein and deliver its cargo. You pay a tiny bit extra to him and he doctors up some cigarettes for you and the monkey are happy for a while. Keep your head, boy. Keep your head. Greg and Tony have work for you tonight. Now go outside and have a smoke, anyone can see that you need one. Slide open the glass door to the balcony. Feel the chill on the air against your skin. Lighter? Check. Smoke? Check. Lighting it up, you take a deep drag and within a few seconds you feel the extra ingredient seeping into you, in your heart and in your brain a wave of tranquility washes over you. Sound of the door sliding open. It's her. Sleepy-eyed and biting her lower lip to prevent her teeth from chattering in the cold. You take off your coat. Standing there in pants and socks, you wrap the coat around her, both to keep her warm and to avoid the prospect of some nosy neighbor creating any undue troubl by complaining about the practically naked girl parading around on the balcony. As you do this, you spot the one thing that could mar your opinion of her perfection, the beginning signs of those conspicuous marks in the crook of her arm. Once inside the coat, she reaches for the cigarette dangling from your mouth. You let her take a drag, and as she begins to exhale, you move to kiss her, breathing in any of the stray opiate vapors that didn't make it into her body. She slides her hands in your back pockets and lays her head on your chest. She has not said a word, except to utter a soft "mmmm" sound as the drug takes effect. You can't help but notice how warm her face is against your chest. The contrast of her warmth to the frosty air is remarkable. "Did you know you're as cold as a statue, Alex?" She says, not realizing that there is more truth to that statement than just the observation of the body heat you've lost to the morning chill. 030405 ... fyngula very cool. 030406 ... cube Good writing. Looking forward to chapter 2 ... 030406 ... User24 very nice. 030410 ... User24 is there a bte_contents page? 030813 ... User24 hmm. guess not.. mind if I make one? 030813 what's it to you? who go blather from