Snuff to Boon

Aaron could feel mucus building up at the top if his nose. It felt as though sinus pressure was welling up inch by inch, centimeter by centimeter, millimeter by millimeter.

He felt life happen in jagged spurts of time. One moment he was studying the chipped paint on the wall with hexagonal edges. Its off white was out of place with the blood red of the hallway, and yet there it was. In a flash, he was distinctly aware of the warmth that seemed to extend past his toes and stretch up and down the hands into the periphery of eternity. He felt as though thousands of pins were innocuously placed at the edge of his fingers, their tiny and barely perceptible pricks both foreboding and ticklish.

Aaron looked at the ancient light fixture that stood in the stairwell, and marveled at the height of the ceiling. He imagined rich white people used to live here in this east Harlem Building in a distant lifetime before,  and he wondered if the high ceilings had one been a selling point for the building.

It seemed to take him an hour to turn his head to the sound of Junior next to him.

“Yoooooo," Junior said, his eyes glassy and his pupils consuming his entire eye, “ u look crazy right now son!"

Aaron's mind flashed a witty response that decimated his little brother, but when he blinked again, he realized that he hadn't spoken at all. He could here the screeching of laughter somewhere, and it took him a long moment to locate Bookie and Boon across the hall.

Aaron racked his slow moving brain. Bookie. Used to be called Cookie. Cuz he loved eatin that raw cookie dough outta the can. Used to eat them right in the store and leave'em on the shelf... he didn't give a fuck. ... but last summer... Yea, last summer he began cracking open biscuit cans and mixing them with raw cookie dough.... Cookie and biscuits.... BOOKIE had been born. Was chased outta the store when one of the managers at Pathmark finally caught the boy at his in-store snacking...

Lethargically, Aaron turned to Boon. He didn't know Boon. He didn't know how he knew Boon's name. The boy had a loud orange, purple and yellow hoodie on, and his blue eyes seemed to twinkle at some joke untold. He was the only one of the group standing. Aaron hated him on sight.

“ Who's the white boy," Aaron inquired struggling mightily to sound cogent.

The boy on his feet chuckled, and addressed Junior.

“This nigga FUCKED UP!!!"

A burst of furious laughter emerged from the boys, and they all gasped for air. All except for Aaron, who had clumsily climbed to his feet.

He felt the air had taken on a danger of an electric quality, and he could feel the very walls contracting and expanding in mirth, jesting at him. He was determined to snuff out the light of this white boy.

A large strong hand placed itself on his shoulder, and the laughter only increased. His brother was guiding him to the ground and Aaron did not possess the faculty to resist. He did, however observe the condescending look of white boy and felt his blood boil.

“Aaron, my dude," Junior gasped through spasms of laughter once Aaron had hit the ground, "ur gonna 'snuff out his light?"  The fuck does that even mean?!"

BAHAHAHAAAHAAAHAHAHAAHAHAAAHAHAAAAAA

The high ceilings were now chortling at  him now. The white patch on the wall was wiping its eyes in mirth, and the ancient light fixture was bobbing up in down, unable to control itself.

Aaron tried to focus and then shook his head. Maybe he SHOULD'T try to think. It seemed that he was saying what he was thinking and thinking what he was saying. Or perhaps it was the other way around.

Aaron coughed. Then he began to chuckle. Soon, he was doing everything he could to keep from pissing himself. Suddenly, as though a switch had been pulled, Aaron felt the weight of the Universe came crashing down on his shoulders and tears formed in his eyes. He was losing his grip. He'd never allowed ANYONE to laugh at him the way that these niggas were laughing. They were YOUNGER than him!

And had he really said the word "snuff" out loud? Had Xavier Academy so infiltrated his subconscious that the staid academic way of speaking that was required of every Xavier man had wrapped itself in his blazed ramblings.

Aaron swayed back and forth and allowed himself to float above the talking of the others. Boon.  The white boy. Right.  They HAD met. Briefly over the summer once...he was some sorta spanish or somethin'....maybe puerto-rican....or....or....

He felt the mucus in his nose tingle again. It had been awhile since Aaron had been so utterly powerless. At Xavier, his academics had been absolutely stellar and his cocksure attitude had allowed him to be Ace Coon. Even in his last hours, as he'd been escorted off campus, the other boys had looked at him with immense respect. After all, he'd run a small cooperation up at that school. He was a captain of INDUSTRY. He was a Bill Gates, a Steve Jobs, an innovator. 

"Whatchu thinkin' 'bout Snuff" called the easy voice of Boon. "That's your new name, Snuff. You like it?"

So that was it. Boon was king. He could see that from the blazed guffaw of Bookie and Junior. This must have been a recent development, for in the summer it'd been Junior  who had tacitly run their little gang. However this transfer of power had happened, Aaron didn't like it. To be honest, he didn't like bowing to power in general. And he CERTAINLY wasn't about to shuck and jive to some white boy, spanish or otherwise. That's what he'd be doing the REST of his life out in the real world; he CERTAINLY didn't intend on kissing up to whitey in his own NEIGHBORHOOD.

 Aaron smiled at Boon, and nodded his head. He knew that if he meant to hang around his brother Junior, he was gonna have to DESTROY this kid....

 He'd have to wait to be sober first though.