“Here is where I need to stop at.” Anna finally said after an awkward silence that had lasted their walk to the housing project. “Just stay in the main room and don’t say much alright?”

“Sure thing. I won’t do anything to get you into trouble.” Frank was just curious to see exactly what she was into. Right now it all pointed to drugs of some sort. Walking to a nondescript house in the more low rent section of the projects just to the side of the campus. Not wanting him to do anything. The indicators were there.

Anna walked up the steps to the front door and hit the buzzer. She stood there with her arms wrapped around herself as if she were cold. The light shining through the peephole went dark and a feminine voice came from the other side. “Who’s that with you girl?”

“A friend of mine. He’s just walking back to the dorms with me. Don’t worry he’s okay.”

“You sure about that?”

Anna let out an aggravated sigh of which Frank knew he was the cause of, “Yes I’m sure.”

A series of locks sounded off as they were opened. Frank counted at least three. The door opens enough just for them to come in, an angry looking Latin girl watching them enter. “C’mon in. Just wait in the front here okay.”

With Anna leading the way they enter the front room of the flat. All doubts of this not being a drug house were vanquished from Franks mind as he saw a large Hookah setting in the center of the room on a round table. There were two other men setting in the large padded chairs that surrounded it, each looking quite stoned. Behind him he heard the doors being relocked.

“Come with me girl, I have what you need in the back room. This will only take a few minutes.”

“Just wait here Frank I’ll be right back.” Anna looked at him with an ice cold glance.

“Not a problem.” He uttered as they disappeared through a door into the back. “Got some great company up here.”

One of the smokers brushed the dreadlocks out of his face and looked Frank up and down. He smiled with a large teethed grin. “Hey mon. You wan a hit?”

Simply by the smell he knew that whatever they were smoking it was stout so he was thinking it best not to. “No thanks. Got things to do tonight and I need a clear head for it.”

“Aw c’mon. Just one toke.” The other smoke added. “This is some prime shit you haven’t ever felt anything like it.”

“Yah mon, we don jess offer it to anybody.” The grinning man held the filtered end of the hose towards Frank.

Frank looked at it for a second. Finally reaching out for it. “Sure just one for the night.” He put the wood end between his teeth and took a deep breath. A wave of euphoria hit him almost immediately. Followed by a dizzy spell that he hadn’t felt in quite a while that landed him on the floor.

The room was gone to him, that or he was in a different room. It was all still spinning. He could smell roast cooking and he felt like he was setting in a chair watching television, the remote was in his hand. Then he was in bed with a short brunette, her hair smelling of shampoo as his arms were wrapped around her while she slept. Suddenly he was going through a windshield of a car and he throws his arms up for protection. Than Anna’s voice was there.

“What the hell are you doing? Dammit you guys I said he was okay not in the know. Help me get him up.” The room shifts back into view as he focuses on her voice. That’s what he needed, a focus, he knew that’s how to pull out of this. Everything was still spinning a bit but he was getting to his feet.

“I need some air. Get me outside.” Was all he could utter as he heard the other two men laughing behind him. Somewhere in front the sounds of the locks went off. There was somebody helping him walk his arm was around them. They were smaller than him.

“I’m getting you outside now. Going to set you on the steps, get you some air.” Her voice again next to him just below indicating it was her helping him out. The rush of cooler air hit him as he went out into the night.

“Sit me down.” He uttered. Her leverage shifted and he slowly moved towards the ground. Taking large deep breaths his mind began to clear. “Damn I was not expecting that rush.”

“I told you not to do anything.” She snapped. “They smoke some pretty harsh shit in there. The kind of stuff that would put most users on the deck in a heart beat.”

“Coulda told me they were burning a soul. You know some kind of warning. God I wasn’t ready for that.”

She leaned away from him a bit. He turned and looked at her, straight into her eyes. “How did you know that?”

“Know what?”

Her eyes narrowed and she drew her hands further up into her sleeves. “That what you just had was a hit of a burning soul?”

“The fact that both of know that means we probably need to tell each other a few things now doesn’t it?”