Four and a half minutes

I was sitting with them, five of them, giggling, and happy faces. With A joint in one hand and a cup of tea in another, He passed it on to her and she passed it further. A large cloud of smoke gathered around our faces. We were struggling to look at each other’s faces. A couple of minutes passed by, and the, now partially smoked-up stick came to my hand. I hadn’t done this before, and I thought for a moment before taking it in my hand.  They looked at my scared face, my skeptical thought, which were evident from my expression, and looked down indifferently. She took it from my hand and breathed a puff again, as if, to teach me how to take it. She took it in inhaled it for a long time with her eyes closed, face angled upwards, enjoying whatever pleasure it gave her. I observed her delicate fingers holding the joint like she was a pro! As the smoke came out of her mouth, she opened her eyes slowly; she looked like an angel, until I looked in her eyes, which were the complete opposite. She looked at ease, her expression serene, she looked like a devil at peace. An ironical appearance! She held it out again at me and by then, I made up my mind, I want to have this little stick and see what it does to create such a beautiful devil sitting in front of me. 

I took it in my hand, held it with two fingers and y thumb, and put the and in my mouth. It was wet with moisture. I breathe the thing in, surprisingly, I did not cough my lungs out, but the strong thing hit my nose and throat badly. The smoke went in my esophagus, and I could feel every bit of smoke going in my system. I kept it in for a second as I was told, closed my eyes like my friend did, and took out all the smoke. Nothing! It did not do anything with my head, contradictory to what I was told. I was tempted, why? I tried once more, and more, and more. A cloud of smoke formed in front of me, all I could see were their faces, retrospecting, looking at me. I got up, ting-ting, I heard two droplets of water, loud enough, I looked around, felt the breeze, the leaves swaying in the air. I saw the colorful autumn leaves; I felt the breeze ruffling my hair, whispering in my ear, welcoming me. 

Everybody was chatting; they were happy, soothing expression. I took a step forward, ting, I heard again. I saw the red ant trying to climb on my leg and I tried to brush it off, ting, I look around to find, its not raining, no water source, nothing. I ignore the sound and spread my arms, as wide as I can; to capture the cool breeze in my body. I stretched my legs as far as I could and turned around, ting- ting- ting, I could hear in the rhythm of my feet, accompanied by the leaves, some of them falling from the tree, blowing away, branched cracking, hisses of some animal, snake maybe, dogs barking far away and birds chirping away to glory. In some time, the droplets increased, their frequency, its beat, everything. I could feel like I was in a crowded place with people walking. The droplets with higher notes ting-ting, with lower notes, ting-ting. People walking around, I could feel the disturbance in the continuous flow of wind. I dint want to open my eyes for I enjoyed what I felt. People walked and the droplets increased, I could feel them walking past me, ting-ting-ting-ting. Slowly and gradually, the droplets formed a tune, accompanied by an orchestra. A tune, ting- ting, played by the droplets, by the people around me, by them walking past, carrying out their regular life. It increased pace, I was swaying with it, my entire body loose, I was dancing, adding my own sound of droplets to the tune.

I twisted, turned, swayed, spread my hands. The tune got faster and faster. The frequency went higher and my body loosened up more and more. The birds, snails, crows, leaves, all added to the tune. The droplets became deeper, and whooooosh, it all started fading out. As if, the people were dispersing, the chirping birds flew afar, but the breeze was still felt, the hisses, the dogs, all still there. All that bothered me was, my droplets disappeared, and the people weren’t there anymore. I couldn’t sense any movement anymore; I put my hands down and slowly opened my eyes, the cloud of smoke still there. SHE was still there. I saw her curly hair enjoying the soft breeze the same way my entire body was. Her eyes sparkling in my direction. Smoking up in glory. I looked down at my watch, it was four and a half minutes since I held the little white stick in my hand, and I felt like I lived my entire life in those four and a half minutes. I looked at the angel sitting in front of me, thought the Smokey cloud, and smiled!