High

Date: 1/14/2020

Hanging out with my brother in a street level dwelling, getting high and talking shit. At some point a group of bros shows up outside, being drunk and boisterous and apparently just cruising down the walk looking into peoples windows and yelling into their homes. Our front windows are barred but they’re open to let in the breeze. The couch is back against the wall, just under the windows. I rise up and turn around and immediately realize that I am too high to people. A bro yells, “yo these dudes are fuckin wasted (or some similar word)” My brother though also high is much more active and mobile. The front door is left of the couch, he laughs and goes outside on the stoop to investigate, though the bros seem to be already moving on down the street. A few minutes later, you can see the red and blues flashing through the curtain. Brother, still cheerful, whips back inside and locks the door. Panic adrenaline from cop lights has given me a momentary burst of energy; we go around turning down the lights so as not to draw attention and retire to our respective bedrooms. The bros are briefly audible at the front window banging on the door and asking to come in, but we ain’t stupid. My room is messy but I’m too high to clean. I’m shoving stuff off the bed, stepping through and breaking chunks of a partially assembled jigsaw puzzle that I swear I’ll fix tomorrow. Out the back window there’s a connected deck visible, looks more like the second story of a hotel. The clouds above in the night sky are alight with color, magenta lime green and blue ripples that might be projected from the residential building (or hotel) across the street. Over there, I can see a man and a woman through a window on the next floor up, and possibly other silhouettes through other curtained windows in the same building. They seem to notice me almost as soon as I see them, and move to shut the curtains. I feel self conscious, or absurdly like I should shut my own curtains in response, but I still keep looking out the window, fascinated by the view.