Black Jack

7. One Red Rose 🥀

"Damn foo," One of the guys shake their heads, "Why were you out there?"

He lets out an exasperated sigh, thinking over his words. Aaronzé shrugs, "I had a hunch, I guess."

"A hunch?"

The blunt is passed back to him, "Yeah. I skipped practice that day because I heard they were going to go hang in the woods and I wanted to hang too, but I wasn't right there with them. I'd come just in time to see the aftermath."

"You saw the bear leaving the scene?" TJ sits forward in his chair.

Aaronzé nods, taking a hit.

"You're lucky it was already full," He says, "You could've died out there.

"Yeah, guess so."

He blows the smoke out, sighing deeply. There was a long pause between everybody, he passes the blunt, "You think the school's gonna do an assembly for them?"

"Sh—t man, I hope so," TJ says, "Maybe it'll wake everybody up and we'll actually start hunting the f—cker."

My Grandad is already on it.. But maybe if other people were looking, he wouldn't be in as much danger. He's hunted plenty of animals before, plenty of bears, but none that were capable of murdering so many people.

"I wonder what those other guys in the hospital have to say about it," His friend chimes, "Y'know they said it wasn't a bear."

"Well I dunno what else it could've been," TJ shrugs, "Any animal that size is unnatural."

And then the doubt settles right back in. Aaronzé nods, "Yeah.. Well to be fair I didn't exactly get a good look at it either."

He confirms my doubt now. That right there, confirms my doubt. But for him to go on TV and be so confident—

"Well. I'm gonna head out, I gotta take Mae back home before it's late."

One of TJ's friends shrug, "That's cool with us homie, take another puff before you head out."

Aaronzé gets up and takes the blunt between his fingers, pressing it to his lips once more. I lift myself off of the couch, "Was nice chilling with you guys."

They all wave or say goodbye. Ronzé exhales and hands the blunt to someone before grabbing his keys off of the counter.

We leave the house, the sun starting to edge downward, creating a nice stream of colors in the sky. I look up at the clouds.

"How does it feel to be high?"

Aaronzé chuckles, "Like the clouds that you stare at.. But I've been smoking so long I need six grams in my system before I feel anything remotely close."

"Ah.."

"You don't smoke?" He asks, unlocking his car.

"No, I see no reason to," I tell him, "I have before, I don't like how it feels."

He nods, "I see.." He opens the door for me and waits for me to get in before closing. He then walks to the drivers side.

   "Do you drink?"

  "Sometimes," I say honestly, "I haven't really been drunk though.. I like the tipsy feeling."

I buckle up while he starts the car. When it cuts on, I peak at the time on the radio. It's nearly five.

"Relax Mae, we won't be late."

I stare off out of the window, looking at the trees against the sky. He pulls onto the road and turns some music on; it isn't very loud though.