A Celebration
“You actually pulled it off, you son of a bitch.” A scrawny yet tall boy laughed, raising his voice above the extraordinarily loud music blaring around the apartment. His ginger mop of hair was half obscured by a grey beanie. The rest of his body was covered in mismatched colors of fabric and finished off with a worn out pair of red converse. His sunken features were mostly obscured by a layer of misshapen freckles, most of which resided on the bridge of his nose. Underneath his bright green eyes were dark bags, the telltale sign of withdrawal. Iris rolled her eyes and smiled. She gave him a light punch on the shoulder. He responded with his predictable, comical way by “falling” back into the worn-out couch, clutching his shoulder.
“Of course I did, Alex” Iris boasted. “And you know me, I’ll never back away from a challenge.” Alex grinned before taking a large swig of the beer he was holding in his oversized, boney hand.
“I thought you were taking it easy tonight.” Iris continued.
“We’re celebrating!” Alex responded. “This was your biggest project yet! What’s next, the White House?”
“Lets stop thinking about that for now, I need a drink.” Iris looked around the small studio apartment before locking her eyes with a tall man with a short buzz cut. His dark eyes stared into hers before he began pushing through the crowd towards her. “Lets make that a few drinks.”
Alex noticed the tall man making his way over before turning back to Iris. She nodded and he stood up and walked towards the drink table before the man got to the couch. His eyes were a deep shade of brown, so dark they almost seemed black. A think scar ran from above his left cheek, down his tan skin to the edge of his jaw. His tall, muscular build made him especially intimidating. His entire body was clad in black cloth with nothing but his face and hands showing. A large pair of black, sports shoes covered his feet.
“So, the Avengers building.” The man motioned to the TV before plopping down next to Iris on the couch. A video shot from a drone shined from the television. The bright red devil glared through the screen.
“A few hours ago the graffiti artist only known as The Angel has vandalized the Avengers compound. How they had managed to get into the compound is still unknown and no witnesses had seen the perpetrator. We will be following up on this story later today. Back to Dave with the weather.” The reporter was barely audible over the music, even though it was full volume.
The man picked up the remote and turned off the screen.
“Who even watches the news at two in the morning.” He stated while looking down at Iris. Although they were sitting, the man’s 6 foot 3 body towered over hers.
“I don’t know.” Iris answered. “What do you want Martinez?”
“I want my money.” Martinez replied, staring down into Iris’ hollow, green eyes. “And I can tell, you aren’t going to be able to hold off much longer.”
“I’ll get it to you next week, I just need a little more time.” Iris knew the worst of the withdrawal was to come as it had only been a handful of hours. He’s right, I won’t be able to hold off for much longer. she thought to herself I need something, anything.
“That’s what you said last week, ángel…” Martinez leaned over her hoodie-clad body, his rough hand slipping under it. “But I’m sure we can work something out.”
Sure Iris had stooped pretty low for her fix which included a fair amount of times where she used of sex for payment but something had snapped. Without thinking she spat straight into his face which was hovering a few inches above hers. Martinez stared at her through dark eyes. They were filled with malicious hatred and disgust.
Within a second his fist had connected with her cheek. Iris could tell that it hadn’t been broken, but it was close. Her eyes shut instinctively, but she held her hands by her sides knowing that defending herself would result both in more pain for her and more satisfaction from Martinez.
Martinez’s other hand then gripped Iris’ neck where he began to squeeze the life out of her. Now she began defending herself. She swung her arms wildly at Martinez but he just grabbed her two, thin wrists and pressed them above her head. Her legs were trapped under his heavy body. The couch provided no leverage to Iris push him off as all attempts to move resulted in her sinking further into the worn-down cushions. Even if she could cry for help, everyone would either be too drunk or high to notice.
Iris’ vision began to fade and her fighting subsided to nothing but a few shivers. Without warning the pressure was released from her neck. She began gasping for air, falling off the couch and crawling away from Martinez who was now standing above her.
He let out a wicked laugh before stepping on her back. He kicked her onto her back, placing his foot onto her chest, pressing down just enough to make it painful. She continued to pant as he leaned down towards her face.
“Get me that money by tomorrow or its going to be a lot worse.” He released his foot before storming out the front door.
As she had predicted, no one had noticed. They all continued dancing, if you could even call it that, off tempo or passing out. A few needles were strewn across the moldy carpet. She wondered if she could get anything out of them. A single tear managed to escape Iris’ hardened eyes before she shut them tightly.
When she reopened them, the mop of ginger hair was leaning over her. Alex reached out his hand to help the still breathless Iris off the repulsive floor.
“You need to get a new dealer.” He mentioned, helping her down onto the couch. In his other hand was a bottle of cheap vodka. “You can’t keep living like this.”
Iris grabbed the bottle out of his hand and swigged a few solid shots.
“I would if you hadn’t pissed off basically every dealer in this goddamn city.” Iris took a few more swigs straight from the bottle. She hadn’t eaten anything the entire day so it all went straight to her head.
“Well, not every one.” He pulled out a small, plastic bag from his pocket. It was filled with a fine, white powder.
“You…how? Where? Who?” She grinned and put the bottle down on the floor. He beamed in return, deepening his already sunken eyes. He tucked the bag back into his pocket before pointing at the unoccupied bathroom behind him. Iris nodded before she stood up and stumbled into the cold room with Alex.