Everyone at home, warm, each with their own concerns. One wants to win his next fight so he doesn't have to deal with the gang repercussions. The other in the incomprehension, why undergo this daily lynching when we have the strength of a warrior? Why this drug her? How did this addiction start? How could she stop it?
Each fight, each way of thinking, each with fear in his belly. One with fear of losing his friend, the other with fear of losing his life.
The pariah, the rage in the soul went to his next fight, it entered the arena, emptying the spirit, clenching fists and teeth. Refocusing all her strength in her supports. She took the blows, made them stronger. It absorbed the pain and turned it into power; Like a sweaty machine using electricity to run its wheels.Each painful discharge accelerated the gear. Ever more powerful, always more insane, always more unleashed. Rabid bitch, ready to fight to the death for her piece of bone. She the vulnerable and fragile human, facing a man who was twice his size. Blood in the mouth, adrenaline in the veins. Some pleasures in pain. Madness in the head, total loss of control, hitting to break his hands, continues until seeing the enemy on the ground. David against Goliath.
The new one, lying quietly on her bed, in her small cocoon of security, tormented spirit. The heart drowned in questions and ambitions, the mind vanished under the mountain of interrogation, like an island submerged by the rising waters. A frail island nibbled, meter by meter, every week, every month, every year amputated by a new footbridge.Like a piece of his flesh that was savagely slashed. This pariah obsessed her, she no longer slept. She was reading a billion pamphlets about rehab, her mother must have thought her daughter was on drugs, but she didn't ask any questions. She was afraid to know the answer.
Two minds, two lifestyles, two bodies and yet one thought. Survive. In this world or to set foot outside is to make hostile ground. Living, obsessed reasoning in their heads, like a recurring song, survival buoy in the middle of a storm. Theatre in which the actors really die, every gesture must be reflected, every movement has its importance. The theory of reaction action. Reality has taken over the dream. They no longer control anything.
Beautiful day of summer vacation, the pariah had no reason to run into Kaat. Outside of class they had almost no information about each other. And yet one thought they were friends. The other thought she had to protect her from the world she had approached too closely.
The gang, after the fight that Kaat attended, was now asking questions about the blonde.
"So who was the chick the other night?" asked Mike in his hoarse voice. "Is she your new girlfriend? Not bad, but I liked your ex better.
-Shut up. It's far from being my girlfriend, and far from a friend. She follows me around like a dog. But I will have to be quiet for at least the time of the holidays. She thought she was helping me, she thought I was in danger.
-You in danger? Yes, she definitely doesn't know you. My little lioness doesn't need anyone. He said it with an unhealthy look and with his arm around his neck.
-If you don't want to end up like yesterday's guy, you better not touch me, asshole. You know very well why I'm doing these fights. So give me my winnings so I can get away with it. "
Mike's big, rough hand slipped his stash and money into his pocket. Reiko was furious. She knew full well that she could not go after a gang member like that. The repercussions would be too big.
She came out angry. Lit a cigarette.
"Hey. "
That voice, that blond hair, she was getting tired of always seeing them around the gang.
"- Do you want to die? I told you to stop coming here.
-I wanted to see you, and since I don't know where you live, I told myself that you would come here at some point.
- So what? You were gonna wait here all day?
- If necessary, yes.
- Well, I'm here. What do you want from me?
- I'd like to talk to you. In private. Your place if possible.
- Follow me. "
Reiko took her wrist, pulled her through darker alleys one after the other, until arriving in front of a disused hangar. They came in. Reiko had still not let her go. When Kaat realized a thrill, as if she had just touched a high voltage line, crossed her body.
"This is my home. What do you want from me?"
Kaat lost in the analysis of the place did not answer. This cold shed was where the high school pariah lived. A striking bag reigned in the middle of the room. A camp bed was pushed against a wall, next to a makeshift heater. A smell of dust and sweat surrounded them. The warm perfume of Reiko reached her. She didn't wear it. But she smelled good. Her skin smelled like caramel. On the improvised table, consisting of four pieces of wood and a board, there was a small pocket filled with small white stamps. She came to place a new one next to it. Behind this makeshift piece of furniture stood proudly a black leather sofa. Kaat stared at it, how could she live in a shed like this and have such a beautiful couch? Reiko realized this and replied as if she had heard his thoughts.
"I found it in the trash. It's crazy what rich people can throw away sometimes. It's not a big luxury, I admit, but it's enough. I even have hot water. Okay, you finished the site inspection? Can you tell me why you're here? "
Reiko sat down suddenly exhausted. Kaat did the same thinking that sitting down would help her organize her ideas.
" Why are you doing drugs? How did it start? What do you feel ?
-Okay, you're not giving up, are you? Stubborn. I like that." I started in second grade, and it was just to find life less boring and piss off my parents. Then it helps me to endure every day in this school. It helps me to endure the pain, I am more focused, it increases my senses tenfold.
- It must be wonderfull.
- Yes at the beginning. "
She took out two tablets from the bag she had just placed. She put one in front of her and put the other in the mouth which she swallowed.
"If you want to understand what I'm going through, you have to try."
Kaat opened wide eyes round as marbles.
" I don't want to end up like you.
- It's not one time that will make you "like me". Says she disdainfully."
She fixed a point that only she could see while the angel and the demon on her shoulders were fighting. Then in a rush of madness she said.
"Okay, but you give it to me."
Reiko smiles sensually with the kind of look that lets very well glimpse the sexual ideas she was making from that moment. She placed the pill between her two lips and approached Kaat. Kaat could not believe it. It may not have been what she meant by that, but she liked the idea. She approached Reiko, their lips grazed, touched and then grabbed the stamp. She swallowed it and closed her eyes. She tried to come to her senses.