THE INTRODUCTION/INDOCTRINATION

The air was humid, but not in the way that comforts you. It was sticky and warm and swaddled around your skin like plastic wrap. Lucifer wanted a nice shower, a cold shower that could get rid of the encapsulating feeling that almost suffocated his lungs. He swayed, back and forth, to the nearest street light, to the fluorescent red coating the sidewalk. He could feel something building in his throat, as if someone shoved a burning coal in his ribcage and it was slowly crawling its way up. He coughed, drawing the attention of someone laying down across the road.He was in a city area, at around 10 pm, and though it was still early in terms of when all the shady shit happens, he wanted to be cautious. The man across from him stayed still, however. He looked straight ahead, not at Luci, but at something hanging over him. He looked obviously blissed out, his tongue lolling out and the shivering of his limbs only giving more proof. Luci scrunched his nose, not from a smell, but the idea of how the man ended up like the way he did.
Was he an ordinary student? Did he get bad grades and begin to use drugs as compensation? Did he get good grades and collapse from all of the pressure? He looked young, maybe fifteen or sixteen years old, and his face looked familiar enough to go to the high school that was near Luci’s house.A car scraping by startled him, the loud rattling of the back bumper against the gravel serving to put him even more on edge. House music was blasting from inside the car, only the moonroof being open, and the driver’s window very slightly opened. The vehicle drove way over the speed limit out of sight and the street light finally turned red – a small animated person crossing the street appeared on the nearby pedestrian sign.The strange burning sensation in his chest didn’t go away. Part of Luci wondered if some kind of a miracle drug could take it away. The other part of him knew he could never possibly go down that road. Even if it meant he would suffer forever, he would have a good future. A good life even, if he could ever even manage that. The idea of it didn’t seem that far away, like he could envision his timeline going two very different ways. One couldn’t end up well, one could be far better than he could've even dreamed of. He sauntered, almost drunkenly, clutching his chest until he reached the rotting wood and cloth he called his home.The wire door, which was patched about two days ago from an opossum sneaking in, had already been busted in again. He really hoped his dog hadn’t gotten out, but he also prayed he wouldn’t have to deal with a wild animal let loose in his house, especially when he was this exhausted. Once he stepped inside, he didn’t find anything besides his dog, Dirt. Luci called to him excitedly, holding him close to his chest. He carried Dirt to bed, his mattress covered in a thick layer of wood dust and unease, never calling to his tired head like it did right then. He pressed into the firm foam lightly, letting it hold him and move upon his bare arms. Dirt curled up by his chest; sensing pain, if anything, he whined. Lucifer sighed, comfortable even if he knew his surroundings would never fit an inner standard he had for himself, though he was only twelve years old. He had the rest of his life to fit into boxes and labels and standards.He pretended to go to sleep and floated off.

THE BEGINNING, HOPEFULLY

Lucifer woke up with a pounding headache. The frosty air blowing from his bedroom window didn’t help the nausea, or the tightness in his chest. He groaned, rolling onto his side and pulling the covers further over his shoulders.“Are you serious, dude, you drank- what? Three bottles last night?” A voice from far away said. No, not far away, just beside him. What the fuck, Luci thought, before looking over the side of his bed. On the floor, wrapped around fake Halloween spiderwebs, was his best friend Wayne. Aside from plaid boxer shorts and the cobwebs, he was completely naked and covered in weird scratches. Luci dragged the pillow from behind him and tossed it over the side of his bed. Wayne made a faint gah! sound before laughing.“What the hell, man.” Luci rasped, attempting to get out of bed and failing. He caught himself, but not before he fell partially next to Wayne. Wayne sighed, standing up and grabbing a glass of water from the nightstand that hadn’t been there anytime before yesterday. Even being a new furniture item that Luci had never seen in his life, it was already covered in more wrappers and gunk than his previous one. Wayne forced Luci to sit up and drink some of the water, walking into the hallway presumably to get some Aspirin. He heard barking in the other room, and certain memories from the day before came back. Them walking home, his dog freaking out, the neighbours yelling, more incoherent talking into the night. Without being aware, Lucifer already downed the entire glass of water. His head felt like it was echoing internally, the waves of thoughts and a pounding headache flooding inwards. He definitely couldn’t eat anything until his hangover dispersed.*

* This chapter was short. That was on purpose.

WE HAVE TO KEEP GOING? (CONTINUATION, UNFORTUNATELY)

To Be Written