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Theres this one time, we’re out in the wasteland, in the vast sands. The ghoul, or whatever I’m supposed to call him, pulls his bag out. I pay little attention at the start, watching the stars in the sky, not a cloud in sight. I was thinking about how the constellations reminded me of lucy’s eyes. Much bigger, although that’s hard to beat. The stars shined bright, miles and miles away from us, yet they failed to shine brighter than Lucy’s. I had looked over at her, to see her looking at them too, smiling and I saw the reflections of them in her eyes and smiled at her a little, she didn’t see me. So caught up in her own little world, forgetting the traumatic event she had experienced not even a week ago.
It had only been two days since we had departed from the Observatory. The ghoul had been walking far too fast for our liking, and we both struggled to keep up. Every day the sun got hotter and hotter. Its beams would heat the sand and I swore I could feel its heat radiating off into my feet every time i took a step. The great hills of sand fascinated me, it was the only thing to look at, though. It bored me after day one. We hadn’t even made conversation since we left, besides knowing looks and small check ups.
I looked over to the ghoul, seeing him search through his bag. I wondered how old the bag was, even how old he was. How much suffering he had gone through, I thought about him before he turned into whatever he was, and I wondered if I would turn into that. I tried my hardest to picture what his face would’ve looked like with an intact nose. I bet he was handsome, I bet he had a beautiful wife too. I got distracted out of my thoughts when he pulled out some mysterious serum, that wasn’t like that other stuff he used. This one was bright blue. He looked up at me with a straight face, putting it into his inhaler or whatever it was, keeping eye contact with me.
“What is it?” I took the risk and asked him. Turning my head up slightly, nodding at the inhaler. He stayed silent for a second, i thought that I had made a mistake and felt embarrassment heat up in my face.
“You really wanna know, vaultie?” He smirked a little as he said it. I felt a bit stupid. Maybe I should’ve known not to ask.
“Yeah, I do.” My heart rate has spiked, now the conversation had Lucy’s interest, I saw her in the corner of my eye, darting her eyes between the two of us. The ghoul smiled again.
“This, my friend, is a chem. A narcotic.” He holds it up, looking at me.
“W-What does it do?” I ask, a little nervously.
He smirks again. “You wanna find out?” His voice is gritty, rough,coarse.
I look over at lucy, and she’s already looking back at me. I’m almost silently asking her if this okay. But we were in the wasteland. Who even cares.
“Okay.” I turn back to the ghoul. He throws it at me, unexpectedly. I clutch it to my chest, It light, it’s old, ancient. I bring the mouthpiece and put it in my mouth, almost ready to click the button.
“Not too much, vaultie. Your tolerance is low.” He says, slowly.
I hold in there and nod, clicking the button down. It was small but I coughed, and I clutched my chest, wheezing. Lucy puts a hand on my shoulder. It’s all a little much.
“Now, you won’t feel it just yet, just give it a little time.” He smirks. It was kinda sick how much he was enjoying this. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into.
I throw it back and he catches it, taking a drag of his own. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.
Not even 10 minutes later my head is spinning, the fire in-front of me isn’t making it much better, I watch the flames dance and my eyes close slowly and open again. I see the ghoul at the other side of it, giving me that smirk. I sigh and lie down in the sand, breathing in and out. I knew this was a huge mistake. I don’t even remember how it felt. I just know that it was something different, extraordinary, but at the same time I thought I was dying. I hyperventilated and Lucy comforted me. And he just watched.
The morning after I felt right as rain. I was energised whilst Lucy was lethargic, I don’t think she slept properly the entire way to vegas.