Red Shower

Smoke And Chambers

My eyes flickered open to see the end of feet dangling off the other armrest of the couch. The tv right across from me kept playing at full volume. My vision clears up as I arise from the couch, stretching my arms high in the air.

"Aw man." I muttered. "I'd never thought I'd sleep this long." My fingers forked themselves through my sweat coated hair. The brightness of sun slowly rose through the blinds above the couch.

How long did I sleep?

My feet shuffled across the cold floor, towards the kitchen area. My eyes widened as I took one long gaze at the clock above the stove, which currently tells me that's it's now seven in the morning. With a sigh, I start to rummage through my small cabinets for things I can cook for breakfast.

Today I'll have to check in with the woman, see if she has someplace to go, then make sure to pick my brother Greg up from Jona's house tomorrow.

The look of utter hatred from that woman's emerald eyes haunted me.

The guilt is slowly eating my up hour by hour, a part of me hoped that we hit some sort of large animal or something...even then it still wouldn't have been good.

More problems seem to be coming in as one. Vinny wasn't dead after all, Greg is in need of his IV infusion soon in less than a month and now....we have a injured stranger resting up in my bed.

I kept beating myself up as I gingerly started cracking eggs at the side of my skillet, the sound of frying food causing my stomach to growl and cramp with intense hunger. The sound of sizzling filled my ears, I drew in a deep breath.

"Last night there were ominous shootings emerging from the Oscala forest at eight pm. We recommend folks to be cautious when driving past the forests while detective Lawrence and the team continue to investigate what has went down that night...now onto the weather Jenny."

Great. Now everyone in Oscala is aware of the dangers it's in...

As the eggs finished frying, I casually slid them off the hot eye of the stove, preparing to grab a fresh bowl from the cabinet.

The sound of shattering glass rings my ears, I quickly turned around to come face to face with the woman I hit with a car last night. She was hunched over the countertop, her hair curtaining one side of her face, while the other half that wasn't covered glared at me with so much hatred. Her hand gripped around a wine bottle...which the bottom part had been shattered and now is proven a weapon that is intended to inflict pain on me.

I put my hands up in a surrendering gesture, inching my way closer to her, she curses as she makes a wild swing at me with the bottle in her left hand, I quickly dodge, grabbing her wrist, she stumbles over her own feet.

"Fuck you." She spat angrily, her chest quickly rising as her nostrils flared. Buds of sweat slowly glided down her forehead. "You're...the one who hit me with a goddamn car."

My eyebrows furrow with remorse as I gently lowered her hand. "And I'm deeply sorry, words cannot express how sorry I am." I apologized. No apology would be good enough for her but I want her to know that it was never intentional in any way.

"Heh bastard, of course you can't." She hissed through her grimace. "I never met a person who can be such a sorry piece of fucking shit."

Well, that's harsh but then again I don't expect a huge warm welcome anyway.

Within a couple of seconds I realized something: she's insanely vulgar. Cursing is almost like her fluent tongue.

There was a long bitter silence between us, she stared off into space while I tried to figure out what's appropriate to say.

I try to collect my words. "I get that you're pissed, I would be too." I took another deep breath. "Do you want money? Or do you want to sue or something?"

Her only response was an emotionless stare.

She crosses her arms as she drew in her breath, clearly annoyed at me. "There is something I may need from you." She said matter-of-factly.

"Whatever you need, I owe you."

The woman cuts me off. "Don't kiss my ass. You can repay me." My grip on my arm never loosened, she steadied her breathing as she studied my face, slowly she set the rest of the wine bottle on the ground.

I knit my eyebrows together. "How?"

The woman let a small smirk play on her lips. I let go of her arm completely. "I know you're a shit driver but I'm going to need a ride tonight."

I open my mouth to protest, realizing that fighting her will get me no where. "Fine, where to?" I ask, folding my arms across my chest.

She goes dead silent for a split second, turning around so that her back was facing me. "The Neon Lagoon, if you can get me there tonight I won't tell anyone about this fuckup." She offered with a careless shrug.

My eyes widen. The Neon Lagoon was a club where sleazeballs go to do cocaine and harass the bartenders. I honestly have no clue why she would want to go to that dump.

"Hey, before we go into that..." I begun, "What's you name?"

The woman turns back around to face me, her head tilted and her grin now spreading into a Cheshire-like smile, I was a bit moved by her sudden expression.

"Smoke."

"Are you serious?" I asked, knitting my eyebrows together, her smile slowly faded.

She shifts her weight. "Serious as a fuckin' heart attack." She answered cockily. "That's my name."

Her arms also fold across her chest, her whole look becoming more assertive. "Now unless you want to go by irresponsible shit for brains who can't drive for shit, you might want to tell me your name." She remarked snarkily, blowing a strand of hair out of her face.

"Kit. Kit Evans."