The Edge

Tyson

“Hey babe, you done with this.”
Tyson turned to see what Ajack was talking about. They were in an old building that had once been a nice family home, but now it was an empty shell flourished in moss. Ajack stood behind Tyson, who was cutting off chunks of the moss. He was holding out the knife that Tyson had been using to cut the moss.
“Uh, yeah, i think so.”
“Cool.”
Ajack walked over to the remains of a staircase and started to collect more moss. Tyson collected what he had gathered and put it into a black container. Behind him, he could hear Ajack gagging.
“Agh, this stuff stinks.”
Tyaon giggled but went over to help Ajack collect the moss. He, too, did gag a bit as the moss released its horrid smell once they cut into it. After they had collected a reasonable amount, they put it into containers and headed back to the camp. They stopped afew times to search houses for any scrap they could find. By the time the clouds started to gather overhead, they had enough scrap for a week of extra rations. Once at camp, they handed off the resources to the DustHounds and headed to the cabin. Once inside, Ajack wanted to have a shower, and Tyson sat on his bed. He pulled out his old display panel and put on an old movie. While watching, he could feel the rhythmic tick of Eris's watch against his chest. He reached into his shirt and pulled out the watch, which he had threaded a long piece of leather through the top to make it into a necklace. He palmed the watch a few times, feeling its weight. It had been three weeks now, and a lot had happened. Another person disappeared, and well, this time, they found the body. Tyson didn't know his name, but it seemed that he had been quite a liked person as a lot of people were very sad. After the second week him and Ajack had started dating, but they were trying to keep it low as it was looked down to date within the sector. When Ajack came out the shower a few minutes later and Tyson went in to clean up before dinner would be served. As he passed Ajack, he gave him a light kiss on the cheek, then closed the door behind him. He turned on the shower and let the hot water just calm his nerves.

After his shower, Tyson packed some things away and headed towards the hall. The night had come a bit earlier than usual that day, but the lights from the cabins and the hall were enough to light his way. As he headed down the path, he saw the others talking or off in small groups smoking homemade cigarettes. He knew that there were all sorts of plants around the Edge that could be used as a calming drug when smoked. He did smoke sometimes, especially recently. It was a way to escape reality, and it helped him sleep without nightmars. As he neared the hall, he saw Ajack talking to Jessica. When he got closer, he could hear that they were talking about machines. Both Jessica and Ajack grew up in the Industrial district, so they often discussed mechanics. When they saw him, they stopped talking.
“Hey b…Ty.”
“Hey Ajack.”
As him and Ajack talked, Jessica walked into the hall, stopping to talk about a group who stood by the entrance. After a bit, Ajack and Tyson walked into the hall as well. In the hall, it was quite empty but at one of the tables was one of the older runners sitting by herself. The way she was sitting made Tyson remember back to something familiar

She was strange, well, at least different. Tyson looked at the new girl. Well, she looked like a girl, but it was still hard to tell. She had come in that morning. She was obviously from a wealthy home. The way she was dressed gave that away. She had raven black hair, which reached her mid back. It was tied up into a ponytail, so it was probably a bit longer than that. She was currently sitting at one of the tables near the front. She was alone and was just staring at the table. That was normal, especially with these fancy kids. People like her only ended up in a place like this if they got kicked out, and that can be quite a hard pill to swallow. He remembered the day he came here. His mom didn't want anything to do with her unplanned son, no to mention he was a runt, so he landed up here. Tyson decided to grab an extra plate of food and walked over to her.
“Hey you're new here, aren't you?”
The girl looked up at him, and she had stormy grey eyes, which seemed to be very distant. Poor thing, he thought to himself, she probably had a good loving family, and then they just didn't want her. That generally meant one thing, she was a Runt. When she didn't take the food, he placed it in front of her and sat down next to her.
“Names Tyson, what's yours?”
He waited for her to answer. She seemed to be slightly confused, and then it changed to her thinking. She was probably trying to figure out whether or not he could trust him. That was good. That kind of attitude is what keeps you alive here.
“Uh E-Eris. My is Eris.”
She didn't seem to be too confident, but she was obviously very nervous about this interaction, so he didn't blame her.
“Nice, well welcome to Crates homeless shelter.”
He gave a smile to try and reassure Eris and was met with a small, unsure smile in return. He went back to eating his food, and Eris started to poke at hers. He had a feeling they would get along very well.

After dinner, Tyson went outside to think that those old memories were something that he hadn't really thought about in a long time. Near the makeshift fire pit was Albert. He was the one who figured out what plants could be used as a calming smoke, so he had become very popular. All the others would come to him for a smoke, and he was almost always on something. The pit had a small fire going, and its small flames dimly lit the surrounding area.
“Ay, Jackie boy.”
Albert greeted Tyson. He was quite clearly very high, so he couldn't properly identify who was in front of him.
“Yo, Albert. It's Tyson.”
“Tyson, you sure. Ay, what you want, man.”
“Just wanted to sit by the fire.”
“You sure, man.”
Tyson just nodded his head and sat down next to Albert, who shuffled over to make room for him. Albert took a huff of his cigarette and realised a large cloud of earthy smelling smoke. They sat in silence as Albert continued smoking. After a while, Tyson let out a long sigh.
“you know what. I would like a smoke.”
“Knew ye would.”
Albert pulled out a small bag from his jacket and opened it. When he did, a rich earth smell drifted out, Albert reached in and pulled out a cigarette. It was thin and wrapped in brown paper. Albert handed it to Tyson. He also handed him a lighter. Tyson lit the bottom of the cigarette and inhaled. As he took in the rich smoke, he felt his mind start to calm. The world around him started to blur a bit as he started to drift into a calming numbness.