Shout At The Devil
Nikki's POV
Ok, occult places. The easiest to find will be a Wiccan store. There's one not far from here so we walk cause we can't all squeeze in my two seater Corvette which Duff apparently drove over here. We have to stop because Axls Dopesick and has to puke. Duff too, but he's handling it better than Axl. I myself would love a fix but since I'm in Duff's body I don't feel the withdrawals. But Duff does. I'm sure Izzy feels like I do. But I am craving alcohol.
"Axl, it's gonna get worse, just shoot up," Izzy sighs.
"Fuck you junkie, you're getting clean and there ain't shit you can do about it is there? No there ain't so just fucking drop it."
"Fuck it," Duff shrugs, "I'll do it if it makes me stop hurting."
"See, Duff's not being a difficult asshole," Izzy says and lights a cigarette.
Axl jerks the cigarette out of his hand. "I fucking hate being you."
"Well I'm not exactly in hog heaven either," Izzy sighs pulling out another cigarette.
"I'm kinda digging being inside Duff. But your bed totally sucks."
"Your addiction sucks," Duff rolls my eyes.
So we get to the Wiccan shop and go in. A pretty little witch is behind the counter. She smiles warmly in that tree hugger kind of way. "Welcome," she smiles. I smile back and recline my elbows on the counter and look at her. "Ok, like we read this spell or something and it switched all of our souls. I'm actually that guy," I point at Duff. Then I recite what that paper said the best I can. She listens attentively. So do you know anything about that?"
"No, it's not witchcraft. I honestly don't know what it is. But I can maybe do a something with some crystals," she says to us.
"Man come on, she don't know shit. What the fuck are crystals gonna do?" Moody Axl says doubled over holding Izzy's stomach.
Duff apologizes for Axls rudeness and we leave. Fuck crystals. I agree with Axl, that won't fix shit. We walk about three miles and come across another witchcraft place. This one has insences burning and it's an odd smell. This is a middle aged witch. She smiles at us but she also looks suspicious of us. We do look like thugs. I tell her our delimma and what the paper says. She nods as she listens to me explaining things to her.
"It's certainly not witchcraft. I think it might be voo doo," she tells us.
"Where do we find a voo doo place?" Duff asks.
"Well voo doo requires a lot of things we use in witchcraft too. There's this guy that comes in and buys things sometimes. He's very much into darker magic than witches. I think he's of the highest order there is in voodoo. Anyway, he lives in Compton."
"Where at in Compton," Slash asks her.
"I don't know, I'm sorry. I can give you his name, maybe you could find him that way. His name is Orvin Garrett."
"So what, we just go door to door in fucking Compton and ask everybody if they know Orvin Garrett?" Axl shouts out.
I smile nicely at her, "Forgive him, he's not taking this very well."
So we go to Compton. I get us a cab cuz I'm the only one with cash. So we get dropped off on Crenshaw Boulevard. You hear about bad neighborhoods. Drive bys. Muggings. Murder. Compton is where this shit goes down daily. Plus it's predominantly black. And we're six white boys with long hair and leather in possibly the most dangerous neighborhood in the U.S. Fuck I feel like this might be a bad thing. But we gotta find this dude. It's fucking imperative.
"We are so gonna get killed," Duff says looking all around. My hair is flat and it looks strange seeing laying flat and straight. But nobody has managed to get my hair right.
"At this point I could give a fuck," Axl says all hunched over and still holding Izzy's stomach. Izzy's body is in full withdrawal. But Axl won't just shoot up.
"Just act like we own this motherfucker and live here," Izzy says dragging off a cigarette.
"Yeah," I nod, "they can smell fear."
"I can't smell shit. My nose... Izzy's nose is still fucked up from all that coke last night," Axl sees fit to tell us.
"Would you drop the bitching about drugs," Izzy sighs, " let's just fucking ask whoever we pass. Somebody has gotta know this dude."
"I'm cramping all over and it's your fucking fault!"
"I'm about ready to gag you fuckers," I point at them, " we're all miserable. We all need heroin, fucking deal with it.," I inform him.
So I do my best to strut Duff's body like I lived on this block. We get maybe two blocks before some guy is shouting out, "What you trying to get white boy?" He's trying to sell us drugs.
Izzy Handel's this one since his former occupation was a drug dealer. "Naw man, we lookin for Orvin."
"Oh, he stay over bout three blocks," he points behind us.
"A'ite," Izzy nods and we start heading over three blocks.
Along the way we run into more dudes asking what we wanted. Wow, it would be incredibly easy to score here. I guess there's safety in numbers. We pass by three guys standing at the curb drinking forties. One lifts his shirt to show us a gun. Izzy just sticks out Axls chest and does the same fucking thing showing them his gun. Wow, I'm curious if such a bold move is something he might be having from being in Axl's body. He was a drug dealer for several years so I assume he's dealt with his fair share of shady places and people. I thought he might have gotten us killed but the guy just gives Izzy a head nod and steps out of his way.
We catch this chick getting out of her car and I call out to her, "Where's Orvin Garrett's place?"
She rolls her eyes chewing her gum and points at the house just across the street. I turn and see what looks like a condemned house with squatters living in it. Fucking great. I'm n Compton at the shittiest house in the whole neighborhood with guys showing us guns. We so don't belong here...
