Zedric's Hotel

transaction complete

I struggle to open my eyes because of the sleep dust pulling down on my eyelids. I fight the urge to close my eyes and go back to sleep, a fight which I win when I feel light on my face. I turn around to look at the clock. It's 10 AM. Vaggie let me sleep in. Or she finally decided to respect my privacy and knock on the door first. Although whether I was awake or asleep, I wouldn't answer.

Well, I missed my pancakes. But I still have weed. I lean over and reach in my drawer, where I pull out my box. I open it to find... one bud. Well, shit, I gotta go see my dealer today, I think to myself as I light the last one and take a puff. I quickly get dressed and head to the lobby. Hopefully everyone's in goodness school and it's a free dash to the door. I start heading there quickly when I hear a voice behind me.

"Where the fuck are you going?" I turn around to see Husk at the bar, I can already tell just by looking in his eyes that he is already slightly inebriated. Way to fix a hangover by drinking, Husk. I trust him enough not to tell Charlie where I'm going. "Gotta go see my dealer. Stash is low." I answer, showing him the empty box. I turn to head back out the door but I hear a noise. I turn back and Husk's booze came back up all over the bar. It's a sick brown color and I'm getting nauseous just looking at it. Husk immediately starts wiping down the bar. "Um, this is a little embarrassing to ask, but can you pick me up some booze? We're running low back here." He asks. I'm really trying to go, so I say the answer that can get me going. "Yeah, sure, man." I say, then head out.

Obviously I'm not heading out without my tunes so I quickly pull out my phone and play my favorite song from Nimrod.

"Hey mister, where you headed? Are you in a hurry? I need a lift to happy hour, say, oh, no..."

Just as the song finishes, I find my dealer in our usual place. It's ironic, the fact that I feel more comfortable around this guy more than my own family and the people I live with, and I don't even know his fucking name (he won't tell me, I guess it's an anonymous dealer thing). When he sees me he gives me some dap. "'Sup, dude! You're still not dead!" He says. "No, I'm not, but that fucking Hotel is killing me." I reply. "You gonna get the usual? Just to let you know, I got a supply of coke now." He tells me. "Shit, you're in both of the big business now!" I give him a pat on the back and congratulate him. "How many?" he asks me. I go with the usual. "20 sticks, bud." I reply. I start to pull out my cash. "Oh, um, it's uh, $240 for that." He tells me. I look up at him and put the cash back. "Two hundred fucking forty, dude! Did the fucking stock market crash or something?" I say. He quickly gets defensive. "Look dude, I'm behind on my expected profit. I'm still being supplied by the gang and if they notice their pay going down even one fucking penny, they'll have my head. And yours, too, man. I gotta get this money, and I gotta get it now." He tells me. I'm flipping out. "$240, man? That's more than half of everything I got! You know our usual deal is $60. You fucking quadrupled it, man?" I say to him. "I'm sorry, man. $240, or I can't give you any. I wish I could help you out, man, but like I said, if I show up to the gang for my next shipment with less money than expected, we're both in hot water." He tells me.

Unfortunately, I know exactly what he means when he tells me that we'll both be in trouble if he doesn't get this money. The dealers are required to give the sales information of everyone who buys, and the gang can find out exactly who you are just based on that information. They probably already know who I am. My dealer has been cutting me some slack, I pay whatever I can for some weed, more often than not the gang's target price. If he's a dollar short, I'm a part of the hit list the gang is gonna make. They could get me, and I don't know if they can kill me, but I know for sure I'll be wishing I was dead. I've said this before, one of the benefits of living at the Hotel is protection from the streets, but I don't trust the princess enough to keep me safe from this gang. Oh, if she was in my position, they would chew her up and spit her right back out.  And the worst part of all, is she would still try to offer them rehab at the Hotel. Ugh, now I'm shivering at the thought of Charlie letting the gang into the Hotel, literally throwing me into the belly of the beast. Or beasts, in this case.

Anyway, back to my decision. I'm not going anywhere without my weed. I turn to my dealer. "Fine, I'll go get the money. I'll be back soon." I tell him, and head back to the Hotel to get the rest of the cash. The second I walk in, there's Vaggie. "Where have you been?" She asks me. "Nunya." I reply without stopping to look at her. I head up to my room, and grab the money. I head back towards the door. Vaggie's still standing there. "I don't know where you think you're going, but-" She starts, but I interrupt her. "Go choke on your girlfriend's dick." I say and continue on out the door.

Just as I get in the alley, my dealer finishes up a sale with another customer. I give him the money and he gives me the weed. Just like that, transaction complete. "Alright, man, I'll try to get back to our original deal ASAP, but it's gonna be like this for awhile." He tells me. "Alright man, stay safe." I tell him as we nod at each other and leave. I stop by a liquor store where there's a whole lot of drunkards getting their shit. Hey, I'm in no position to say anything. We all have our guilty pleasures, because we want to forget about pain. If you want drown yourself in whiskey, or snort coke until you can't smell nothing anymore, or suck dick and eat pussy, or eat your weight, it's what you do. Hell, some people go to Starbucks everyday because a frappucino is the only thing keeping them sane.

Anyway, I left the store because I can't afford to get Husk's booze. There's only one place I can get some.

I'm knocking on the door for a while before my mother finally answers.

"Hey, mom, can I get some booze?"