"You know, I noticed just now how thin you really are," I commented to Morgan while staring at a wall out of pure boredom. The place could have at least had some books to read... I was so bored; I almost wished I were hallucinating again. I mean, yeah, most of the things I saw were horrifying, but at least I felt fascination watching them.
"I don't eat a lot," he commented in a monotone voice.
You don't say, kid...
"Don't you ever get hungry?" I asked, turning my gaze over to him. Something about him captivated my attention that I couldn't quite explain. It's almost like I was drawn into the mystery of what happened to him.
"You know, I used to before... well..." he said with his voice trailing off towards the end.
"Before what? What happened?" I asked, curious as to what he was hiding.
"Look, it's a long story and, frankly, not the most interesting one. Let's just say somewhere around Sophomore year, I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life, one that still affects me to this day. It will probably kill me one day," he said, turning over to the other side.
What is he going on about?
"It's okay; you don't have to tell me. So, what's the craziest thing you've ever done?" I asked, hoping to stir up anything besides negativity. I felt strangled by the negative energy in the room.
"Me? Well, when I was around probably fifteen, I snorted a Carolina Reaper, so there's that!" he said, bursting out laughing.
"Hold on, the Carolina Reaper?" I asked in disbelief. If you're not aware, Carolina Reapers are officially the spiciest peppers on the planet.
"Yeah, like the world's spiciest pepper. So are you ready for the story?" he asked excitedly. I could tell that he'd wanted to talk to someone for a long time, and I felt good about being able to be there for him.
"Sure, let it rip," I chuckled.
"So I have this friend named Mike, but no one actually calls him that. His proper name for the past several years has been Crazy Mike 'cause he'll literally do anything you dare him to for money. So one day, Mike dares me to do something for once and get twenty dollars in exchange. I agreed to the deal, which was when he pulled out some Carolina Reaper powder, arranged it in a nice little line, and dared me to snort the entire thing. I knew right then and there that I was screwed, but I really wanted the money, so I manned up and did it. The pain was horrific. I was coughing, crying, and sneezing nonstop, and my face had actually started turning numb from the pepper. It took me around fifteen minutes before I felt normal again, but I got the twenty dollars, so I was happy. What's the craziest thing you've ever done?" he asked, turning over to face me again.
Probably time-traveled to the extent that I actually damaged my body from it. At only sixteen, I'm already having problems with my body and mind.
"You know... I actually don't really have anything crazy that I've done. But do you ever get this feeling that you're insane before meeting someone way crazier than you and realizing that you're actually sane?" I asked with the words leaving my mouth before I even consciously thought of them.
"Everyone's crazy, especially the ones who say they aren't," he muttered.
"How do you define crazy, to begin with? I mean, it can be used in both positive and negative ways. I guess we're all crazy; it just depends on what kind..." I said, blanking out all over again. For some reason, whenever I'm in deep thought, I always blank out of existence as if I'm daydreaming.
"Crazy is whatever you want it to be. Definitions only exist because people have created them. Without people, there wouldn't be any existent concepts because they wouldn't be defined," he said, staring right at the ceiling.
I never thought of it like that!
"You know, you're not as bad as I thought you were initially. I honestly thought you were a psychopath at first," I replied with the words leaving my mouth half-consciously.
Instead of getting upset, he burst out laughing as if what I said was the funniest thing ever.
"Right..." I awkwardly replied.
"You know... one day we'll all look back on this moment and laugh," he said, sighing.
The craziest part is he's probably right...
ESTÁ A LER
The October Amaryllis
Ficção científicaClive Andrews is a typical 16-year-old boy who never had anything out of the ordinary happen until May 16th, 2020, when he was struck by several feet of ball lightning and nearly killed. After being discharged from the hospital, he realizes that he...
