marches - victory ogunnaya

The moon shone brightly outside and crickets chirped as the 12 am melancholy set in. Mori

yawned and pushed her chair back, her dark skin reflecting off the laptop. She knew she had a

few more words to write and then she’d be done for the night. Her phone buzzed. It was from

Miguel.

Yo. It read.

You’re still up? She replied.

You’re one to talk, he said.

Haha fuck off.

My bad.

It’s fine

You ready for tomorrow?

Mori shifted her gaze from her phone to her laptop.

I guess so, she replied. I’m gonna go to bed now.

GN, he replied.

Mori smiled, put her phone down, and continued to type.

-

“Yo!” Mori waved to him as he approached her. “Holy shit man,” she said as she hugged

him, “It’s been so long since we’ve been together, hasn’t it?”

Miguel stood in front of her, taking in the sights of his old neighborhood. He smelled the

empanadas cooking from the bakery across the street, where he used to eat ceviche with his

family. He stared at the cars rolling down the streets he used to skate with Mori on the

weekends. He almost wanted to run away, into the project houses of the city, up the stairs of

his building and into his mother’s arms. But he didn’t.

Mori turned to face Miguel. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he replied.

“Ah. Well, I’m hungry. Shall we?,” Mori said, motioning towards the restaurant.

Miguel shrugged and they walked in.

“Shit, I forgot I'm low on money,” Miguel gawked, looking inside his wallet. “Sorry to

bother you, but I need at least 5 bucks.”

“Sure man, no problem,” Mori said, “Just remind me when we’re ready to pay. Today

was a horrible idea, she pondered internally. I knew this was going to happen.

Miguel attempted to break the silence.

“Remember this place?”

“Oh yeah, I got food poisoning from one of the shakes and I convinced my mom that it

was school food,” Mori said chuckling, and they both laughed at that.

“We used to skate this route too. I wanted to impress that guy in our Health class,” she

said, blushing.

“Thank God that continued right? You love skating.”

“Well, I barely do it anymore. My job requires me to go around the city, and you usually

don’t see reporters on skateboards, eh? Enough about me, how are you?”

Miguel smirked, remembering the past week he spent lounging and drinking. “Oh,

nothing special. Still looking for a job,” he said.

“I’m gonna go get our food,” Mori said, walking away. Miguel nodded, turning away

from her to go and sit down. Mori came back with the food and saw Miguel about to doze off.

“Mig?” Mori said, trying to get his attention.

He blinked. “Yeah?” He said, trying to look normal.

“You ok, man?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” she said, putting the bag down on their table.

“Ok, you got me. I’m not ok,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“Are you high, dude?”

“What?” He said, trying to playing dumb.

“I said, are you high?” She said, surprising them both with her tone.

Miguel silently looked around to see if anyone was listening or looking, and then bent

his head down close to say something.

“A little,” he said, chuckling. When he saw that Mori wasn’t amused, he went further. “I

mean I have a stash and everything. You want some?” He was about to pull some out when

Mori held her hand out.

“No, dude. I’m good. Just a little ticked off that you decided to get high while we were

eating.”

“In my opinion, it makes it better. You know about the munchies right?”

“Yes, I know about the munchies. But Jesus dude, are you serious?” She lowered her

voice to a whisper tone, looking worried.

He laughed. “I’m not gonna get caught. It’s just weed.” he said, smiling smugly. He of

course, was lying. It wasn’t just weed.

Mori, visibly annoyed, sipped her drink. “Just don’t act weird.”

Miguel smiled, unwrapped his burger and began to eat.

-

Mori paced around the train station, worried. Calling again, the dial tone dinged and she

held her breath until he finally picked up.

“Hey.”

“Dude, where the hell are you? You’ve been MIA for a few. I've been worried about you.

Can you tell me where you are?”

The line crackled.

“Ah, sorry. I got wasted and crashed at a friend's place.”

“You got wasted for almost two days? You’re insane,” she replied, in disbelief.

“I know right?” he replied, laughing.

“That’s not funny, Mig,” She stopped to look at the time. 11 am. “Where are you

exactly?”

“Still in the neighborhood, near the taco place. I’m at the train stop.”

“Good. Don’t move, or I’ll kill you.” Mori hung up and started walking towards the

station, her anger almost boiling over.

Mori caught Mig near a vendor, standing around looking bored. She grabbed his arm

and they walked up the station stairs.

“What is your problem?” She said, genuinely concerned. Mig shot a glance at her.

“Well, jeez, sorry Mom, I can’t have a little fun?”

“That’s not what I mean. Running around the city is fun and all until you get so shitfaced

that you die,” she scoffed.

Mig sighed. “Bullshit. Don’t preach to me. I’m fine,” he said, raising his arms in protest.

Mori scoffed.

“You got high at a fucking restuarant, Miguel. And it’s not the first time you’ve done it

either. I’m not preaching, I’m just warning you.”

They stood awkwardly, facing each other. The station was dead around them, with

other weekend stragglers still recovering from their hangovers.

Mori shook her head in disbelief and turned to look at Mig.

“The hell is wrong with you? You haven’t been yourself lately. Is this about your

parents?”

Miguel said nothing, red submerging his face.

“It’s not about them, they haven’t talked to me in weeks. Whatever, point is, I’m sorry

for scaring you, honestly, but,” He shook his head and raised his hands. “I’ll be fine. I’m not a

junkie, you know?”

Mori looked at him with pity.

Miguel sighed.

“Could a junkie keep it together for as long as I did? Trust me, I’m fine. I’ll text you

tomorrow?” He smiled anxiously, just wanting the conversation to be over.

Mori nodded. “Sure, or later.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“I’m trusting you.”

“I know.”

“Good. How are you gonna get home?”

“I’ll get an Uber, I was already on my way home when you showed up.”

Mori smiled. She wanted to believe he was alright.

“Hey, what's been up with you? You look like shit,” Mig said, stifling back a laugh.

“Yeah, well, my boss wants me to keep up with this one case in the town so I haven’t got

much sleep. You know, there’s this gas problem that’s been everywhere. First it was uptown,

now in-”

Miguel stopped her. “Don’t bother with the details. I know your job is really demanding,

but just like, rest for a sec. You could use it.”

“ Thanks for the concern but I’m fine. I have a career and responsibilities, and I’m an

adult.”

“And what about this? Is your career too much for our friendship?” Miguel smirked

bitterly. Mori glared at him, amazed.

“That’s obviously not what I meant. Why do you-”

“You really don't care about me, do you?”

“Jesus fucking Christ, I guess all that coke really has screwed your brain up.” Mori spat

out maliciously. “Do you think I would give up our friendship like that? Do you think I like

babying you like a damn child? Picking you back up every time you relapse, taking you out to

eat, giving you everything I have when you give me shit in return. Do you even know me

anymore?”

Miguel stared at her, blankly. “I guess I don’t.” Miguel began to walk away from her.

Mori spat on the ground, turned and walked away.

-

Chuckling to himself, Miguel scratched his neck and started to walk into the alley.

He could barely remember what had happened for the last few days, but he didn’t care.

He had begged her to call him back and take him to rehab, but all she had said was that she was

busy and would try her best to come and get him. This was between them, but their friendship

was already over. It had been over for a while, and neither wanted to face it. Mama would cry if

she knew about his pain, and Papa would disown him for the drugs, so no one knew. They

never knew.