veda henderson

          The sunlight seeping in through my open window hit the white substance perfectly. My neck was free from my hair as I lay upside down on my bed, my feet held up by the window seal situated just above my pillows, my arms in the air holding up a small bag of my poison as if it were my child. 

   Looking at it like this, its small size and quantity, it seems silly how my happiness and sanity depend on such a small thing. 

   "Veda!" I hear Dustin's voice dragging out my name, his footsteps somehow pounding on the carpeted floor as he neared my door. My heart dropped, realising I had about three seconds before he burst through my door without any further warning. 

   Quickly, I spin around on my bed, diving towards my pillows and tucking my stash away under the freshly washed linen. With my socks in the air, face in my pillows and hands stretched out underneath them, I hear the sound of my door swinging open. "What are you doing?" He giggled.

   "Lounging around in my own bed," I reply, turning around on my back and pushing myself to sit up on my blanket covers, crossing my legs as I met his eyes. He was standing still in the doorway, now wearing a new hat on his head with the words 'thinking cap' on and a lightning bolt. It was pretty cool, I can't lie. "Why are you bursting into my room on a Saturday morning, dusty-bun?"

   "It's three in the afternoon," He informs, pressing his lips together in a straight line. Veryfying this, I turn to my alarm clock neatly placed on my nightstand to see it was, in fact, the afternoon. "It's also Sunday,"

   "Okay, smarty pants. It's Saturday still in some parts of the world," I defend, turning my attention away from the mini clock and back to my brother. 

   "Actually-"

   "Dustin," I warn, growing annoyed with his constant corrections. He always made me so frustrated, especially since every little thing I said he'd correct. Sometimes, I hated having a nerd for a brother.

   "Yep, sorry," He agrees, inviting himself to walk on over to my desk chair, situated right in front of my vanity. "I was wondering if you wanted to come with me to our big d&d game on Friday two weeks from now. It's gonna be the Cult of Vecna-"

   "I'm flattered, Dustin. But, I have therapy then, remember?" I remind, looking at him with a raised eyebrow and small smile. I'm surprised he forgot considering he made such a big deal about me going in the first place. Personally, I think I'm medicating my symptoms quite well and don't need another doctor telling me about how I have 'PTSD' as if they know the whole story apart from what I let them know. I saw his bright smile dim every so slightly, the sight making me feel guilty as if I had just thrown a shoe at him. "I can try to stop by afterwards?"

   And just like that, the light in his smile returns. "You better. I want to see the look on your face when I destroy those punks!"

   "Wow, what team spirit you have," I mock sarcastically, watching him as he stands up from my chair and walks out of my bedroom, leaving my door wide open. Typical. 

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          "Eddie!" I shout, banging on his trailer door without a care in the world. I'm proud of myself for figuring out the way to his home myself, nothing but a bike and backpack on my body. Usually, when I come here it's in Eddie's car while I'm still high so the fact that I retained any directional information is impressive. 

   Moments before my fist hits the door, it's quickly ripped open away from my reach. The sudden loss of contact caused me to fall forward slightly, my closed fist colliding with something much softer and much more fragile. My jaw drops significantly, so far that I swear I almost felt it dislocate, my eyes opening so wide my eyelids hurt. 

   Slowly, I reach my hands up to cover my mouth in shock, watching as the slightly older man raised his hand and gently placed it on the cheek I just assaulted. 

   How humiliating.

   "I am, so so sorry-"

   "It's fine," The older man waves off my apologies, rubbing his cheek ever so slightly before dropping his hand altogether. The cheek didn't look red or like it was going to bruise, but nonetheless I still practically punched this old man. "Anything I can help you with?"

   "I was looking for Eddie? Eddie Munson?" I question sheepishly, wondering if I had gotten the wrong trailer somehow and attacked a poor innocent man by mistake. He smiles knowingly, easing my worries about being at the wrong place. 

   "I'm his Uncle. You can call me Wayne," He introduces, reaching his hand out to shake my own. I hesitantly grab his palm, fearing my hands might somehow do something to embarrass me further. "Eddie's asleep and I'm just bout to head to work but feel free to wake him up if it's urgent,"

   "Oh, okay. Thank you, Wayne," I reply, stepping to the side of the mini wooden steps so that he could get out of the doorway. "So sorry about your face,"

   "No harm done," Wayne Munson waves me off one last time, descending down the three steps and making his way towards his car. It was completely dark outside, the time being somewhere between 7:30-8:00. A little early for me to be sneaking out, but mum is usually asleep by now and Dustin spends an hour in his room doing god knows what before going to sleep so I think I'm safe. 

   Wayne must work the night shift or something.

   What a great first impression, Veda.

   Shaking my head, I toss the thoughts of humiliation from my mind and invite myself into the open trailer door, silently shutting it behind me. For a small home on wheels, Eddie's house looked cozy, lived in. 

   The floor creaks under my chuck taylors as I slowly walk down the hallway and towards the bedroom that I hope was Eddie's. Despite being here a few times now, I had never been past the lounge room. I guess that's because Eddie and I aren't what you would consider friends so there was so no need to play board games and gossip with each other. 

   As my feet bring me closer to the bedroom at the end of the short hallway, my ears pick up the sound of slight snoring that could almost be confused for simple heavy breathing. I pause in the doorway, seeing him face down on his a double bed, the blankets up to his shoulder blades and hi arms under the pillow as if he were reaching out to hug them. 

   I walk over to his mini vanity, dropping the video onto it. A red object just at my eye line catches my attention, making me look up and come face to face with a funky shaped guitar. I almost wanted to reach out and touch it, but by the way it was displayed on his wall like a trophe I don't think he would want me to. 

   Instead, I turn to his bed just as he begins to shift in his sleep and flip over to his back. An idea creeps into my head, making an evil smile spread across my face as I begin to tip toe towards his bed. He mutters in his sleep something I cant hear, smacking his lips as he does so. Laughter almost erupts from me, but I press it down so that I don't wake him up just yet.

   Then, I reach the end of his bed. I stay still for only a moment before I jump up onto his bed, a childish 'Boo' escaping me as I land on his bed. His eyes snap open the minute he feels me land on his legs, my hands slapping down onto the parts of the blanket beside him.

   He lets out the most girly scream I've ever heard in my life as he sits up quickly, gripping my shoulders and throwing me to the side of the bed so that I land flat on the floor. The air gets punched out of my lungs the moment I hit the hard floors, the last bit of oxygen I had leaving my body in the form of a gasp.

   "Veda?" I hear him shriek, his head slowly leaning over the side of the bed to see me lying on my side on the floor, cradling my stomach and trying to breathe in. I notice his eyes widened, hands moving to throw the blankets off of him so that it's easier for him to leave the bed and fall down to the floor beside my head.

   He looked really worried, weirdly worried considering all I do is take his shit from him. 

   That was, until he sees me start laughing the minute I get enough air to do so "You should have seen your face, Munson. Who taught you to scream like that?"

   "Who taught you to be an idiot!" He snaps back, his voice raising a few octaves as he calls me an idiot. I cant help but smile, feeling satisfied with how I woke him up. "Wait, what day is it? Did I miss hellfire?"

   I turn onto my stomach, lifting my palms up to hold my head as I looked up at him, his back pressed against the side of his mattress. "No, muffin. There was no nerd gathering tonight,"

   "I'm confused, why are you here?" He asked, looking up to the roof presumably to try and recollect his thoughts, wondering why I had just given him the fright of his life. He meets my eyes again, concern lacing his brown eyes as he opens his mouth to speak, "You didn't finish the stuff I gave you three days ago did you?"

   "Have some faith in me," I fake gasp, pretending to be offended over his assumption that I finished my stash in 72 hours. "Okay, I do have like one hit left--two if we're lucky. But, that's not why I'm here,"

   He narrows his eyes in my direction for a bit longer, looking as if he were trying to find a hint of a lie on my face or a clue to my thoughts through my eyes. He can search in them for as long as he likes, he's never going to find anything but a dull reflection of light. Then, he turns and stands to his feet, my own body soon following his until we were both standing in the middle of his room, a cheeky smile taking over his face "Why have you graced me with your presence then, little lady?"

   I smile, "Up for a little movie night?"