The evening seemed like any other bottles, smoke, women, laughter. And yet something in it had gone way too far. Somewhere between the fifth glass and the third joint, everything began to blur. The club was filled with fog not just regular fog, but heavy, sticky with the smell of burnt weed, sweet whiskey, and sweat. The smoke hung everywhere: over the pool table, around the bar, in the nooks of the couches. It was hard to breathe, and even harder to think.

Tig sat close, laughing to himself and trying to push you another joint that smelled like something between burnt plastic and an illegal desert plant. You only accepted him because the evening had long since lost its boundaries. Words grew heavy, bodies soft, and the walls seemed to move in time with everyone’s breathing. Happy had fallen asleep somewhere on the table, Bobby was trying to play a guitar without strings, and Juice was spreading his arms like wings, claiming he felt as light as helium.

No one was completely awake. If there had been a fire, half the club would probably be smiling at the flames, oblivious to the danger. Chibs, old as sin and even more resilient, was exceptionally soft today. So stoned that he was no longer upright, he clung to your arm with an absent gaze and a sleepy smile. Heavy, smelling of alcohol, his face buried somewhere in your neck, he was like a hot boulder unmoved, unreasonable, safe. In another life, it might have made sense. In this shattered reality, one man remained the rock.

Clay. He sat at the table like a king watching his empire fall, cigar in hand, glass in his eyes. The alcohol had no effect on him, nor had the weed. He didn't even try to relax he just watched everyone, as if he'd seen this mess a hundred times before. No emotion, no sympathy, as if he was just mentally noting the level of degeneracy of each member of the club. When someone burped, a bottle was dropped, and Tig burst out laughing,

Clay leaned back in his chair and muttered only one thing: "A bunch of fucking brats.."

Nothing more needed to be said.