1 300 An Ounce

Random American suburbia, a random American home among the sea of other identical American homes...

Two teenage boys were currently strangling each other.

"Josh, you fucking retard, what do you mean it's 300 an ounce! Which mother fucker did you buy this from?! I have never smoked crack so expensive in my life!"

"C-chill... Man, this is an opportunity to smoke premium weed. You should be excited!"

"But it was my money, asshole!!"

They continued to strangle each other for a while, exchanging curses back and forth. They finally stopped after... five minutes, both gasping for breath.

"If I don't get my money back, you are dead...", scowled Dan, catching his breath.

Gulp!

Josh was in a cold sweat. He hadn't thought that his friend would be so crazed! He had expected him to be ecstatic!

"Dan... Look, let us just have a go at it. You know it couldn't be returned and... Where am I getting 300 bucks from? We should let the bygones be bygones!"

He said with a proud expression on his face but his back was drenched in sweat.

Dan, at this point, was teething, he plopped down on the couch holding his forehead.

"Fuck, I should never have tasked you with something. Damn it, my money... "

Josh chuckled awkwardly, staring down at the floor.

"At least we could..."

"Shut the hell up!"

And so Josh shut up. He might not look like it but he felt very guilty.

As such, he decided it was finally time to roll a joint. Dan joined him in as well after eyeing him enviously for a bit.

Let bygones be bygones!

Thought Dan, nodding to himself.

They both simultaneously forgot about their beef earlier and spent the rest of the day high. Forgetting about their troubles and their due assignments. Dan didn't get his new shoes which he had expected to buy as the money was smoked away. Soon, the night arrived.

"Dude, you really wanna go home? You could just stay for the night, it's late right now."

"Yeah, man. I just have this feeling that something ominous is going to happen if I don't go home.", replied Josh looking anxiously around the room.

"Huh? What does that even mean?"

Dan jerked his head to the side staring curiously at Josh.

"I... Don't know. I am just getting weird vibes, anyway... Gotta go. See you later."

And so Josh quickly got up and left, as if in a hurry, leaving Dan hanging. Dan was just confused. What did he even mean by 'weird vibes'? Dan thought, feeling puzzled. Josh would usually stay up for the night and sometimes Dan would do the same at Josh's place when either of their parents had night shifts. It was strange but Dan didn't think much about it.

Dan just went on with the rest of the evening, having dinner, brushing his teeth and taking a shower and finally prepared to go to bed.

But... He couldn't sleep! Even though he didn't think much of what Josh said. He suddenly recalled it and realised the strangeness he had long been feeling.

Disorienting was what he would call it. His senses were a bit muddled and the air in his house was thick. His own body felt heavy. He couldn't see the differences they're hardly appeared to be any visual changed around the place but he felt it.

"What the hell?", he muttered.

He got out of his bed and headed downstairs to lobby. His instincts were telling him to get out of the house. It was a sudden realisation which had completely overwhelmed him.

Is this what Josh was talking about? This feels worse! How did I not notice this? Is this some sort of a gas leak? I can't even smell anything!

He really couldn't smell anything, not even himself. As if his sense of smell had been taken away. His mind crazily came to their conclusions. He quickly assumed it to be a gas leak or perhaps something much worse but he didn't care. He just wanted to get out of the house.

"Fuck! Out, out, out. This is the worst feeling!"

He sprinted to the front door, held the handle, moved it, opened the door-

But alas, he couldn't. The time suddenly seemed to come to a halt. As if opening the door had invoked something. Dan couldn't move anymore. He appeared frozen in place, an expression of panic still plastered on his face. The entire place seemed to be frozen in place as well. The door rotating on its hinges, pieces of ornaments strewn around as Dan made his dash to the door. Broken pieces of vases still flying through the air.

As time was frozen, it wasn't clear how long it was but everything eventually returned to normal. The door opened to reveal an empty porch and a cold street, cars zooming by occasionally. The mess Dan had made finally settling on the floor, accepting their new place in this world as junk.

But Dan, he was nowhere to be found.