4lit

The room was not entirely dark, in his eagerness he had pulled the blinds to reveal the night outside the window. He lay on his back and in his bed, next to him his cousin laid on the mattress on the floor. The both of them were staring outside at whatever drew their interest. They spoke arbitrarily to pass the time, they were impatient in mind but in action they were otherwise; there was no room for risk or error, so they waited.
“What’s it like when you’re drunk?” he asked
“It’s hard to describe to anyone, I used to ask Dad all the time and he’d tell me all sorts of stuff but it wasn’t until I actually got drunk that I knew.”
“That’s like when I first kissed a girl.”
“What do you mean?”
“I used to always look up on Google how to kiss right. It would tell me all sorts of shit but none of it made much sense to me. Then when I finally kissed a girl - like a proper pash - I didn’t have to know anything, I just knew what to do.”
“Yeah it’s just like that.”
“Cool.”
He took a deep breath and it brought his unease to light, he could feel it in his stomach.
“What’s the time?” he asked
His cousin flipped open his phone and said “midnight.”
“On the dot?”
“Yeah, right on it.”
 “Should we go then?”
“Dunno, they’re your parents. Do you think they’ve been asleep for long enough?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
It was a long time before his cousin said anything and finally,
“Alright, let’s get ready.”
As his cousin threw the blanket off of himself and stood up off the mattress, the moment came over him. All at once he could feel the nerves surge through his body, it felt like nausea – there was no threat of vomiting, but it was more than just butterflies. It was the feeling he would always get when an adrenaline rush went unutilized, it would make his legs feel weak like the fortitude in his body had disappeared. He rolled out of bed and drew another deep breath and he imagined that with his exhalation he would rid himself of doubt and that only will would remain. They both got dressed, removing their silk boxer shorts and putting on their best clothes. When they were both dressed they stood in front of the mirror and used the moonlight to judge themselves.
“Looking good?”
“Yeah, we’re good, you ready?”
“Yeah I’m ready, let’s just go” he said.
His cousin bent to pick up his shoes and he stopped him.
“No way man, no shoes.”
“What, why not?”
“The kitchen is creaky as hell, if we wear shoes it’s gunna be too loud. Mum said she listens out for the floorboards since she busted us last time.”
“Fuck, okay, alright then no shoes.”
“It won’t matter anyway, right? The party’s down in the river, they’ll all probably have their shoes off too.”
“Yeah, yeah I just thought of that, it’s okay let’s just go.”
They crept down the hall with no trouble; the matt that was laid down the length of the floor was thick and absorbed any sound made by footsteps. When they came to kitchen they kept to plan and walked the permitter of the room, shimmying along the wall at the edge of the floorboards until they could see the front door. But that way was too dangerous; his parent’s room was directly through the wall right next to it. They kept to the wall some more and went through the dining room, down into the back of the house and through the laundry, there were tiles in the laundry and he was thankful; as long as you stood on the balls of your feet there was no risk of sound. They left through the back door and came into the backyard.
“Make sure that door’s not locked before you close it.”
“Yeah, I know” said his cousin and he closed the door gently with the knob turned already so that the latch wouldn’t click as the door passed the frame. He twisted the knob left and right and felt no resistance.
“All good.”
“Okay.”
He made for the shed and his cousin grabbed him.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting the bikes.”
“No way, we can’t take the bikes.”
“Why not? It’ll take hours if we don’t.”
“They’ll get stolen, trust me, the kids at my school have no problem taking other people’s shit.”
“We’re not going to get there until like three o’clock you know?”
“No we will, I know a quick way.”
“Which way?”
“Let’s just get on the road already and I’ll tell you as we’re walking.”
He agreed and they made their way around the side of the house and onto the street, they crushed the gravel between the footpath and the bitumen as they walked and in the street it could be heard some houses down.
2.
His house was in the distance now but his mind compulsively replayed scenarios in which his Father came to check on them and found the room empty. He kept turning around to check the street behind them and each time it was silent and lifeless.
“Want a cigarette?” His cousin asked him.
“Yeah, sure.”
“They’re reds.”
“Oh man, really? How strong are they?”
“They’re pretty strong but just take small drags and you’ll get used to it.”
He handed him one and he lit the smoke, he didn’t draw and instead left the flame to light the cigarette on its own. As they walked he smoked, but he didn’t inhale, he only let the smoke go so far as his mouth. His cousin had called it bum puffing and he wasn’t supposed to do it, if his cousin was to be believed it gave you mouth cancer. He had asked at the time why that mattered, didn’t inhaling give you lung cancer?
“Yeah,” he told him “but you get mouth cancer way easier than you get lung cancer. So it’s just better to smoke properly.”
It sounded credible enough, but it hadn’t stopped him from bum puffing when his throat got sore. They heard the tearing of gravel beneath car tyres and the blare of headlights crossed their backs and cast their shadows for metres in front of them. He threw the cigarette away in a panic and turned desperately to his cousin.
“Oh fuck, dude, that’s Dad.”
“No just be chilled man, it’s not. But don’t turn around! Just walk.”
“Dude, yes it is, they look just like our headlights.”
“No they don’t man, just fucking walk straight and stop freaking out”
Their shadows morphed unpredictably as the light came closer to their backs, against every command of his conscience he turned to look at the car and when he did he felt immediate relief. The car passed them and its colour was a deep red, not white like his parent’s. In the dark he could see no one through the windows but the car moved as if they hadn’t been there and he knew that whoever drove had better things to attend to than them. It came to the turn off at the end of his street and disappeared.
“John, there’s nothing to worry about. Your parents are asleep, man.”
“Yeah I know I just keep imagining Dad finding us out of the house and coming after us.”
“I know I used to think that all the time, but let me ask you - what do you do when you go to sleep?”
“What do you mean?”
“When you fall asleep, what happens next?”
“I wake up.”
“In the morning?”
“Yeah.”
“See, people don’t just wake up for whatever reason. We’re out of the house and everyone is asleep, there’s not going to be anything to wake them. They’re asleep and they’ll wake up tomorrow morning just like you would, it just seems scary to you because you’re awake. But they’re not even conscious, man.”
He pulled out another cigarette and gave it to him.
“Don’t be throwing these away every car you see, they’re fucking expensive”
John took the cigarette, drawing on the smoke this time, the rush of adrenaline had come and gone again and left him feeling weak, he needed something in his body. They arrived at the end of the street, barefoot and both excited at their first milestone.
“Okay” his cousin said “From here, we’re going to follow this street toward the skate park. Then we’ll get on Juliette Street and that will take us straight into town, once we get to the showgrounds we’ll go around them and we’ll be at the bridge. It’ll take us about an hour.”
“Alright, let’s go – do you wanna jog and we’ll get their quicker?”
“Yeah I do, but it’ll look way too suss plus we’ll get to the party all sweaty.”
“Yeah, true.”
3.
They had been on Juliette Street for a while and his panic had returned, he felt completely exposed under the light of the city. So far they had moved in darkness, they had come from the suburbs and there was no need for light; but now they followed one of the main veins of the city’s heart. The town was different at night; it looked decrepit for some reason. It reminded him of the run down suburbs he would see in movies about American hip hop gangs. The road, the footpaths, the buildings; they all seemed run down under the weak yellow of the street lights, the place needed a renovation. Cars drove past them sometimes but for the most part the town was at rest and he thought it strange, he had always pictured a Friday night to be filled with life.
“Why’s it so quiet?” he asked
“I dunno, we’re still kind of on the outside of town I guess. If we went onto the main street near the night clubs I think we’d probably see heaps of people, we’re not going that far though. It should hopefully be like this the whole way along where we’re going.”
As they kept walking the left side of the footpath became occupied and they walked alongside a maroon fence and across the road on their right was the skate park. Behind the fence was the pool to a hotel; they could reach it if they wanted to via the street on their next left, but their path would take them a few kilometres straight yet. Two shadows came running around the bend, it was two men and he could feel their steps through the vibrations in the footpath. They made haste in their direction and John reflexively seized his cousin’s arm.
“Oh fuck – Jake!”
His cousin shook his wrist violently and rejected his grip.
“Stop freaking out!” he hissed “It’s just some guys, fucking act natural.”
The two men reached them and they stopped to engage them.
“What are you lads up to?” one of them asked.
Neither of the men wore shoes either and John understood why their footsteps had been telegraphed through the cement from so far away. Their clothes were not tattered but they were old, something he would wear in the yard. They were both somewhat overweight, mostly in their faces which seemed to hang low. They breathed laboriously through their lulling mouths and like a switch in his mind; he realized that he now fully understood the term “slack jawed.”
“Not much, just heading to a party, what are you guys up to?” Jake replied.
They stank, he noticed, it was a repulsive mix of body odour and some chemical smell that he guessed was alcohol in their sweat.
“We’ve just been stealing shit down the way” the man laughed.
“Oh sweet.”
“Yeah, lads, we’ve got some good shit, we just chucked it in his backyard and we’re going out again to see what else we can get” he motioned to his friend.
“Fuck dude, let’s roll” the other man said, pointing through the skate park and to the street behind it. For a second there had been a police car, but it was now gone.
“Yeah, let’s keep moving.”
“Hey can you guys do us a favour and not hit Ugarte or Smith Street?”
“Sure thing, lads” they kept on down the path the boys had just taken and had soon enough become unknown to them.
“Dude, those two were fucking grubs” Jake said.
“Yeah man, I couldn’t stand either of them.”
They kept down the path and came to the street which the men had emerged from when John stopped.
“Hey Jake, I don’t think we should keep going down this street.”
“What’s the matter?”
“You know there’s a curfew for kids under 18, right? If we see any cops along this road they’ll take us home and wake up Mum and Dad.”
“Shit, are you sure?”
“Yeah man, one of the Grade 11s at school told me.”
“Man, it’s gunna take us ages to get there if we have to follow the residential streets.”
“Yeah I know, but I was thinking when I seen those cops. You know the Toyota car sales place?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s right across from the showgrounds.”
“Yeah but on the other side of where we want to go and plus that road is even busier than this one.”
“No I know, but last month when the show was here, I was on top of the ferris wheel with Matt and we could see the edge of the showgrounds near Toyota. He showed me the fence that ran along the road and there’s no streetlights on that side and heaps of trees growing, its pitch black. He said that’s where his brother and his friends go to smoke weed.”
“Do you think they’d give us any if we ran into them?”
“Nah, it’s pitch black along the whole road. They smoke weed at the end opposite of Toyota, but we’ll still be hidden.”
“Alright, I’m with you so far but how are we gunna get through Toyota? I only know one way and that’s turning left ages up this same street.”
“That’s the easiest part. I went there with Mum and Dad when we bought our car, the back of the car yard backs on to this street those guys came out of. You know that park with the basketball court? The fence behind it is the back fence of Toyota.”
“Holy shit, that’s just down the road too. Sounds good to me, let’s go.”
The park was not far; they crossed the basketball court and made their way to the fence. It was made of wire in the pattern diamonds and on the other side green mesh hung to conceal the contents of the yard. The top of the fence was barbed; climbing would not be an option. They deliberated sneaking into someone’s shed and hopefully finding a pair of pipe cutters, but neither dared to follow through with the idea.
“Here, look” Jake said.
He leaned down to the corner of a post and grabbed the fence at its base and reefed it upward. The noise was loud and the high tone of wire against hollow metal rang through the fence’s length, the night offered nothing to mask the sound.
“No way, that’s way too loud” he told his cousin.
“Yeah I know it’s loud as fuck but look.” He gestured to where he had pulled fence, it had done little but the wire pattern had been disturbed. “It’s going to be loud, but if we both just pull this thing as hard as we can we’ll break it off the pole and just crawl under quickly.”
He agreed and they both grabbed the fence at the pole’s base. They ripped it as hard as they could and the wire rattled frantically, the frame of the fence shook back and forth for a long way. They found a rhythm and their slow progress gave them cause to commit, it was louder than either of them had expected but gradually the wire detached from the pole and they assessed that the risk was worth taking.
“Okay, look I can pull it up to my waist now; I’ll hold it and you crawl under.”
 John got to his stomach and crawled under the wire. The green mesh that hung scratched his face as he crawled under. It was an irritating feeling that left a lingering itch deep in his skin but he was soon enough through the hole and he lay on his back on the concrete in the car yard.
4.
The two of them surveyed the yard, through the cars and across the road they could see the black shelter they both hoped for beneath the trees. They walked through the yard, taking their time and breathing heavily. In their myopic fashion they had already forgotten the urgency of their crime now that the mesh concealed them.
“Do you wanna flatten some of their tyres?” Jake asked him.
“I do,” he laughed “but there’s camera’s here and if they just see us walking through, they’ll probably look the other way. But if we break shit, they’ll try looking for us.”
“Yeah true, let’s just get to the showgrounds already.”
“What’s the time say?”
“It’s twelve-fifty.”
“We’re doing alright then.”
“Yeah I know, I think going through the car yard might actually be quicker.”
They walked past the cars and came to the permitter of the yard, there was no fence on this side, this was where the people were supposed to come in. There was only a loosely hung chain across the drive way to make sure the cars couldn’t go anywhere. Cars drove up and down the street and they waited in the yard beside a Landcruiser for an opportunity to cross. When there were no cars coming from either side they made their dash across the road. They sprinted madly across the smooth bitumen of the main road, springing forward from the tops of their feet and they made it across the road and into the shadows along the fence of the showgrounds. When they turned back all was silent and the street light’s yellow glow still gave the town the neglected atmosphere he had almost grown used to.
They followed the shadow of the showgrounds, first north and then west as the fence began to turn. They came to the bridge they sought, they would soon have to cross the road again to get there and they remained in the shadows to plot their next move.
“Okay, we’re not going to cross the bridge. We’re going to go under from this side and go through the path in the mangroves, on the left side there, do you remember?”
“No, Jake I don’t want to go that way”
“Come on it won’t be like last time, bats are nocturnal man they’ll all be gone now.”
“Dude, I don’t care I know they’re still gunna be in there.”
“They’re all gone, listen can you hear them screeching?”
They listened and they could hear the screeching, admittedly quieter than the last time they had come.
“Yes, see there’s still some in there”
“Dude, it takes like twenty minutes to cross this bridge. Plus the party is under bridge, so we’ll get to the other side and then have to back track along the river bed, plus the cops could drive past us at any time. If we just run through the mangrove path and keep our heads down we’ll come out at the other side in like five minutes.”
“No, Jake I’m not going down there.”
“Don’t be such a pussy, man.”
“No I can’t go there, please let’s just cross the bridge and go back – what’s the time now?”
“It’s one-fifteen, and it’ll be like one-fourty when we get there, I bet.”
“Yeah and the party started at twelve o’clock, right? You said they’ll be going to like four or five, one-fourty is like the best time to arrive. We won’t miss much.”
Jake put his hands in his face and drew a loud breath of frustration through his nose; he pulled his hands down his face and his skin came with the motion, showing the red flesh hidden behind his eye lids.
“Fucking hell” he said, resigned. “Alright then, we’ll cross this fucking bridge. But if the cops drive past we’re busted straight away, you know that?”
“I know, but I’d rather get busted by the cops then get bitten by the bats. They swooped us last time man and now they’re awake.”
“Yes, yes, whatever let’s just go.”
They ran across the road not bothering to check for cars this time, they would be on the bridge with nowhere else to go in just a few moments and it wouldn’t matter one way or another. It was a long bridge that crossed a wide river bed which never held any water. They walked along the side in the bike lane and the cars drove back and forth, when they had come to the last quarter of the bridge they looked over the side and they could see the fire and the cars parked around it.
“Let’s hurry!” Jake said and they began jogging, no longer caring about inconspicuity. When they had come to the end of the bridge they made their way down the decent of the earth into the river bed. They trudged through soft sand and it made for a slow walk, they came to a long spread of rocks and they guessed that this was where the water ran when it managed to fill.
5.
They stepped cautiously, holding their breath hoping that they might reduce the weight of each step. The rocks underfoot were sharp and ran many layers deep; their stubborn edges dug into the soles of his feet and made every step a painful thing. He wished bitterly that they had taken shoes. Not only were the rocks agony but they were also cold. He watched Jake walking much the same as he did, blindly navigating across the landscape trying to find the safest place to land his feet. It was clear that he was feeling the same pain he was and that there was no need to ask, but he did anyway.
“Is this killing your feet?” he asked
“Yeah.”
“I just realized we could have brought shoes with us, we just had to hold them in our hands on our way out of the house.”
He only shushed him. They were close to their destination now and this was the way he would get when his stoic reputation was involved, he would turn himself from any kind of play as though they hadn’t just cluelessly made their way across half the town.  At the other end of the rocks he could see the bonfire again and against its light he could see the shapes of boys and girls, all of them indiscriminately throwing whatever they could into the fire. Now that he was finally here he realized that he was entirely out of his element. But when Jake was involved there was no turning back, each time he showed some kind vulnerability John could relate to he would exalt, hoping that his cousin would turn them around and that they’d go home and get into bed and swap stories until early in the morning. But that was never in Jake’s nature, he was compelled to do these things no matter what the risks or whatever his fears were, it was always admirable in hindsight but maddening during the moment.
“We’re here now” he would always say “it would be a waste of time to turn back.”
So he made no attempt to persuade him and they pressed on across the rocks making little progress until they had made it to the edge. He sunk his feet into the sand and relished the way it gave way for his weight, he ran his feet through the sand without lifting them and let the sensation caress his tender soles. But despite its comforts he realized that now nothing stood between them and the bridge and Jake was eager to arrive.
“Hurry up” he said pushing his way forward.
“What’s the time now?”
“Two o’clock.”
He chased after him but remained in his background, letting him represent their party when they arrived amongst the gathering. The firelight shifted beneath the bridge sporadically and its orange glow turned the graffiti on the concrete into a mural of ill-intent, a mess of brown and grey markings that spoke to him and told him that he had guessed correctly, that he was very much unwelcome. They were in the middle of the gathering and around them were what seemed like a thousand conversations at once, the girls were loud, drawing whatever attention they could and the boys were laughing in accentuated accents, an unpractised version of the way his Father’s friends would laugh at their parties. They stood in the middle, John looking at Jake and Jake with his hands in his pockets, bobbing his head to the music that played from the car stereo and gazing around the scene as if this was his crowd. He thought that they might simply blend in; he hoped that no one would say anything and that after a few hours they could say to each other “this party sucks, let’s go” and they would walk away undefeated and safe. But before long a voice halted the revelry and all attention turned to them.
“Who are you guys?” the voice asked loudly for the benefit of the crowd.
He made no effort to say a word and guiltlessly let the responsibility fall on Jake, if this was all his idea it could be his responsibility to do the talking.
“Ben?” he said “it’s me, Jake; remember this afternoon you told me if I could make it to the bridge I could come to the party?”
Ben faked enlightenment; John knew that he had not forgotten. “Oh right, Jake! Sorry man I’m way too shitfaced. Who’s this with you?” He exuded charisma, his voice was accommodating and yet it was clear that he expected full attention.
Jake turned to him and caught his gaze, his eyes were earnest and he could hear him in his head. Go ahead, man.
“I’m John, Jake’s cousin.”
“Jake and John, alright; where do you go?”
“Mercy College.”
“Catholic school boy, aye? Does this mean you don’t drink or what?”
“I drink” he told him.
“Sure you do, buddy” he said “What about you, Jake?”
“Of course man!” He said with an emphasized incredulity.
“Alright, alright, cool. Well you’re both welcome to the esky, we’ve got plenty of beers, boys.”
And all at once the party resumed, from all sides the wave of gaiety ran through the crowd and they were once again two unseen boys in the middle of the crowd. Ben approached them and laid both of his arms over their shoulders, guiding them to wherever. It was all too clear who he was, there were others just like him at his school – unabashed, presumptuous and completely of their own will. He led them to the esky and from the ice he drew two tins of Bundaberg Rum and handed one to each of them.
“Drink up, lads” he told them.
John cracked his and took a mouthful; he thought that things weren’t as bad as he had begun to fear. He had always wanted to see what getting drunk was like and Ben had welcomed them whole heartedly, for a moment he felt at peace there under the bridge. But after his own swig he turned to watch Jake drink his, Jake tilted his head backward and in a smooth motion he let the rum fall down his throat. Ben seized his opportunity and placed a crooked forefinger beneath the can and tilted it further, forcing Jake’s wrist to make a vertical angle. He watched Jake as he unsuccessfully concealed his struggle, he was unwilling to part the can from his mouth and he knew Ben wouldn’t have allowed it either. There was an interest in the face of the leader boy, his satisfied smirk was enough to see his intention, he was about to indulge his whim of curiosity without any kind of experimental ethic. His face spoke to John as Jake’s had earlier, it asked - what would it be like to get two kids absolutely smashed? Jake crushed the empty can and moved backwards, falling forward with his hands on his knees and breathing loudly. He could hear the oxygen catching the skin of Jake’s throat with each desperate breathe; it was a haggard sound that begged for relief.
“Your turn, buddy.”
He felt Ben’s hand catch his wrist, like with Jake he applied no effort but beneath his motion he could feel the intent of force. He had no choice and he watched as the can disappeared under his nose. He closed his eyes and he felt Ben guide him, his hand was persuasive and he found himself leaning backward then all he could taste was rum. He felt it fall uninhibited down his throat and his stomach stirred with nausea almost immediately. He was utterly overwhelmed and in his hand he could feel the weight of the drink shifting against the aluminium and he knew that it would not be over soon. But these were not his peers he decided, he knew no one and they were all much older than he was and in that moment he realized that these were not his seniors to impress, so he opted for failure. He pushed the rum in his mouth forward and it sprayed out from all sides of the can, he felt Ben’s hand withdraw and the flow from the can relented. He fell to the ground and feigned vomiting, letting what remained in his mouth hit the sand as he forced guttural heaves. He let them see his unwillingness as incapability and their laughter told him that he had become a lost cause to them; He had abandoned Jake to their complete attention. He watched as Ben approached him with a fresh can, still wiping his right hand of John’s spillage against his pants. Jake took the can and this time he found the vertical position himself and Ben simply held a fingertip against the can, and his fate of the night was sealed.
The group circled Jake and left him on the outskirts, he could hear them chanting and spurring him forward. He knew that Jake had been drunk only once and that tonight would likely end horribly for the both of them, oddly enough he found comfort in his certain doom. He would have to call his parents he guessed or if things got too out of hand he would have to call the police and they could take them home. It was a daunting thought but a year from now it would be in the past and there would be some other problem that occupied his mind, so he abandoned his fears of the bridge and made his way to the esky. He took another rum to replace that one he had spilled and he sat on the back of the tray of a ute that had been reversed toward the fire. He had been staring into the blaze without much thought when he felt the ute compress into the sand and raise a little with the suspension; a girl had taken a seat next to him, she was okay looking and a little overweight.
“What are you doing on your own, Hun?” she asked him.
“I came here with my cousin” he said “he’s over there” and he pointed to Jake who could be seen in the middle of a loosely formed circle, still drinking rum at an alarming rate.
She grunted in disgust.
“That’s Ben; he carries on like that all the time and all the boys do their best to crawl up his ass. I recognize your cousin, he goes to our school - he’s just doing what everyone else is.”
“Yeah I know” he said “we just have to get back home before the sun rises and I’m afraid we won’t make it.”
“Did you guys sneak out?”
“Yeah we did.”
“That’s cute” she laughed “I remember when I had to do that, I used to put pillows and stuff under my blanket and pretend it was me.”
She was patronizing, but he didn’t care. He didn’t want to be on his own and he was too young for her anyway, he wanted to be patronized if it meant she’d stay.
“Yeah we used to do that too.”
“Do you smoke?” she asked him.
“Yeah.”
She gave him a cigarette; he was relieved to see that it was a light blue. She asked him how they had gotten here and he told her about their night. When he told her where he lived she told him they had gone the wrong way and that if they had taken the dirt road behind the cemetery they could have been here in under an hour. He knew exactly where the cemetery was but he was unaware there was any kind of road that led under the bridge.
“It leads you through the cane-fields; I’m guessing it’s some farmer’s road so he can come down to keep an eye on his cane. The road ends at the other side of the mangroves near the showgrounds and from there it’s only a short walk to here.”
“I live just a few minutes away from the cemetery.”
“Take that way on your way back and you’ll make it home in time.”
“Thanks a lot” he told her.
She gave him another drink and showed him to her group of friends. It was clear to him that the group was low on the social hierarchy, but he didn’t care, these people weren’t from his school. He didn’t have to worry about any of that. He spent the hours that followed in their group and while none of them took him seriously, they gave him drinks and they let him stay in their group and he was happy for it. Jake found him and he was drunk, John thought probably drunker than anyone at the party. He told John that he wanted to go home and since it was four o’clock he said they would need to get a move on if they were going to make it home in time.
“I agree, we should go but I know a quick way of getting home.”
Jake’s head hung low and his arms swung freely, he was completely at the whim of gravity and he fell against John, draping a long arm over his shoulders.
“Sorry I left you” he said, barely understandable.
“It’s okay I made friends, let’s just go, we do have to get home.”
6.
He watched as Jake crawled on all fours along the dirt path, rambling and laughing maniacally, caught in his own monologue that was partly spoken and partly within his own head. The front of his shirt was stained with vomit; he had thrown up twice since they had begun the walk home. John was thankful that he was getting rid of it this early at least. He was walking and Jake was crawling, the mangroves were to the side of them and deep within the labyrinth he could hear the bats screeching and he watched as flocks of them returned to the trees.
“Lucky we didn’t go that way” Jake yelled, pronouncing lucky as luggy.
“I told you so.”
Jake stopped his crawl and began retching again. Before he had spewed black liquid and it came freely, but this time it was a struggle and it was a sickening thing to watch. At last a small stream of bile came forth and its remnants hung from his mouth for a while before hitting the ground and staining the orange dirt brown.
“Wow, that made me feel a lot better.” Jake said “That must have been all the alcohol that separated from the cola.”
“Can you stand?”
“Barely.”
“Well I wish you would, it’s four-thirty and we really need to get home.”
“Fuck, let’s just run.”
“You really think you can?”
“No way, but I definitely don’t wanna get busted, it’s my fault for getting so smashed I’ll just deal with it, come on.”
They ran the rest of the dirt road and cut through the cemetery. The tender saw them and yelled at them to stay off the plots but they ignored him and ran faster. There were only residential streets left now and the sun was rising, the town seemed back to normal and though everyone still slept its youth seemed to return with the day time and it felt like home again.
They crept through the yard of his next door neighbour and climbed the fence into his backyard rather than risk being seen walking up the driveway. The door was still unlocked and when they closed it behind them they stood in the laundry saying nothing, waiting for any sounds of the morning but it was five o’clock on a Saturday and everyone in the house still slept. They crept through the kitchen and through the hall into his room. Once in there they removed their clothes and put their boxer shorts back on and they were safe.
“Do you wanna go to sleep or just go and play the Xbox?” He asked.
“Dude I am way too fucked to do anything but sleep; I might even need a bucket man.”
“That’s alright I’ll get you one, I’ll just say you felt sick in the night. I’ll get you water too.”
“Thanks man, are you gunna sleep as well?”
“Yeah I could easily sleep; I was just seeing what you wanted to do.”
When he had tended to his cousin he turned the air-conditioner on and fell into his bed and they slept until the afternoon.