Together

The sizzling of barely organic materials, that is synthetic herbs meant to simulate real herbs, along with the warmth of the lighter, made Silena think of those weird ads on fake meditation she kept seeing every time she browsed for some new gear.

“Fucking rangers”

She was sick and tired of them, pathetic boys born with a real silver spoon in their mouths, calling themselves rangers, like they were some brave adventurers heading into the unknown. When all they were doing was invest in failed capital ventures and sinking their tenth company of the year. But never facing any consequences.

The new trend was meditation. That is, pretending to “commute with the universe” using their overprized V.R. headsets while you listen to the most ridiculous, bastardized lines from books the creators never read in a clearly racist accent. Because god forbid they hire the right person for the job, instead of the cheapest.

She took a long, deep breath. Drinking in the smoke. Fuck, it was bad for her but hey, you gotta die of something. And it felt so goddamn good.

She opened her eyes again, immediately being bombarded by neon signs that were hundreds of meters away. More ads that did nothing but attack the senses, scams run on the people and on the idiots who paid for them thinking they would bring in more sales.

Buy now! 10% OFF! Get a new body! Buy this new suit! Fuck over your coworkers for one more week of P.T.O.

She spit onto the ground, gritting her teeth. She was full of anger, in need to knock someone’s teeth out.

Her mind ran faster than those stupid cars on the highway, clogging the streets, bringing nothing but headaches and pollution. All she could think about was how sickening it was to think so much but do nothing.

Another deep breath, more smoke. She knew that’s what they wanted, for her to dull her senses and forget that she could do anything against them. The CEOs, the owners, the landlords.

She kept looking at it, the big tower that cut through the skyline, so far away yet always visible. All to stroke the ego of one generation of rich fuck after the other.

She wished she could just go in, guns blazing and take them down. But of course it is never that easy, and even then some of the people there were just workers like her. Janitors, office clerks, interns whose youth and money was drained away by corporate leeches.

Another deep breath, this time the cigarette was off her lips.

The important part however, and she knew this well, was that the real work, the way to take them down, was not something to be done alone.

But fuck, who would help her?

She looked around, at the people in need of everything. Food, clothes, housing. What could they do when they were hardly surviving?

“You know, cigs are bad for you”

A familiar voice knocked on her mind and brought her back to the real world.

“Marissa? What do you want?”

“Nuthin. I just see you here repressing all of your anger and come give you an excuse to be angry. How about next I tell you you should smile more?”

Ironically, that did make her smile.

“See? You’re so much prettier already”

“Fuck off”

They laughed together, and while Silena was relaxing, the anger didn’t leave her tense body.

“I’m sorry I just…what the fuck are we supposed to do? I mean, fuck”

Her shoulder jerked in a weird way, a cold reminder that the mechanical parts that made her cheap, left arm were barely holding together.

She wanted to spit on it. Marissa had a different idea.

“Here”

She pulled out a screwdriver and adjusted some of the bolts.

“This is what we do”

“Hm?”

That had caught her by surprise, Silena looked up at her much taller partner.

“We help each other out, keep each other alive. I help you find a reason to laugh, you help me by being a halfway decent partner, and when the time comes, we blow that tower to kingdom come. Together”

Silena couldn’t believe it, but she was laughing.

“Fuck, I love you girl”

“I love you too. And stop swearing so much”

“Make me”

And like that, they were both smiling.

• Something quick to take my mind off the literal book I'm writing (wow). I always like me some good working class sapphic here and there. Hope you all enjoy it!