High

 “So, basically, I asked Jen out...guess what she said?”

My friend rolled his eyes. “We were all high that night, Jason. Yes?”

“ ‘Hell, YES!’, to quote her exact words. Does it matter, though? We’re in a relationship now, Aaron, a freakin’ relationship!” I twisted the laptop around to prove my point.

Aaron stared at it. “Tell me you didn’t just update your relationship status on Facebook.”

“Heck yeah I did.”

Aaron sighed. “Listen, Jason, she’s already dating someone.”

I was rendered speechless for ten seconds straight.

“No way.”

“Yes way, Jason. Look, everyone was high that night. You seriously expect to believe a high person in a party?”

“Well, at least it’s a start. Hey, did I tell you about the stuff I saw that night?”

“Shit?”

An old man sitting across from us looked up to greet the waiter that brought his meal. His eyes then shifted to us. Looking back at his food, he mumbled the stuff an old guy would mumble to ‘those college guys’, then promptly picked up his fork, and stabbed the steak.

“Jason?”

I shifted my attention back to Aaron. “You want to hear the story?”

“Sure.”

“So, basically, when we were alone in the dining room, cleaning up after everyone got knocked out, I heard some scratching from the front door. Then a pair of red eyes staring through the window. Then a triple rainbow. Just kidding.”

I saw Aaron’s shoulders, which had been hunched up before, loosen up a little. I went on.

“But, the eyes? Personal experience, man,” I thumped my chest, studying the forehead of Aaron, which was glistening with sweat all of a sudden. “Personal experience. Nice story, huh?”

Aaron looked scared. He usually wasn’t scared. I looked behind him again, at the old man. He was almost done gobbling up his steak.

“Jason?” Aaron stammered.

“ ‘Scuse me?”

<span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(243,243,243); font-style: normal; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none">“Did you take lots of crack?”

<span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(243,243,243); font-style: normal; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none">“Well, not reall-”

<span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(243,243,243); font-style: normal; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none">“I don’t think you were high, man.”

<span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(243,243,243); font-style: normal; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none">“What are you saying?”

<span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(243,243,243); font-style: normal; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none">As Aaron went on his rant about the hallucinations of crack, my vision just seemed to float back to the old man. He waved for the bill, his red eyes glistening under the chandelier that was hanging above him. After he paid the bill, he got up and left.

<span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(243,243,243); font-style: normal; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none">“Jason, I’m scared.”

<span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(243,243,243); font-style: normal; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none">Aaron was shaking real bad. My vision rested back to Aaron, but not until noticing the peculiarly sharp fingernails of the old man. <span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0,0,0); font-style: normal; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none"> <span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0,0,0); font-style: normal; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none"><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(243,243,243); font-style: normal; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none">41488p 15:47, December 19, 2011 (UTC)