Being high in a familiar and safe environment is one thing, being high when you have no clue where you are is another thing. I had a good feeling the high wouldn't last as long as it should have, being as I only had the thing in my mouth for three minutes, five tops. Still, that is a good three to four hours of being trapped in a weird world.

By the time Riff and I walked clumsily down the street the police were already gone. It was pretty chilly outside and we had no car and nowhere to go. We were just sort of walking. Riff held my hand for some reason, I let her.

"What's it like being homeless?" I asked her.

"It's as sucky as it sounds." She laughs.

"Yeah?"

"Yep. It's like when you stay out a little late and want to go home and crash, but then you realize you have nothing to go back to. So you are this constant state of being tired and wanting to go home. You can't relax or do what you want to do because you are always on edge. Always wondering where you are going to sleep that night."

"Sounds awful." I frowned.

It was like we were walking in a kaleidoscope all sorts of shapes and colors all around us looking awesome like some painted glass window with light peeking through. Except the more Riff talked about darker things, the weirder and wilder the colors got.

"Well, there is a bright side. You get to meet tons of interesting people and see a lot of cool places." She gave me a sly smile.

"You like that?"

She laughed.

Which made me laugh.

"I don't know, I guess. I mean... I met you tonight, didn't I?"

"I don't know, did you?"

We both laughed.

"Tell me a crazy story," I said as we crossed the road and walked onto a different street.

"Hmm, Well I once got mugged, kidnapped, and nearly killed all in one night before." She says as if it is no big deal.

My eyes got wide and I stare at her.

"I had just started out on my homeless adventure. If you want to call it that."

"Do you want to call it that?" I asked.

She thought about it and her face seemed to scrunch in concentration. I tugged her along and we crossed another street and passed a convenience store. She was silent for a good minute and I got distracted from the conversation as I watched the world around me shift between colors and shapes. I felt like a Picasso painting.

I guess I was leading the way, which was not good because we were just walking aimlessly towards whatever I was distracted by.

"I'll call it, an experience!" she declared out of nowhere which made me jump.

"Oh." Was all I said.

"What were we talking about?" she laughed.

"Something about a one-night horror show." I shrugged.

"Oh yeah! My experience as a homeless girl. I remember now." She laughed which made me laugh.

Then for a good moment, we just stood there and laughed. Seeing her smile made me happy, I felt connected to her. To be honest I think this was the most I've ever made an effort to try and get to know someone as well as let them get to know me a bit.

I never had many friends in high school. I never got to experience anything others did, I didn't go to parties or hang out at the movies. I never got invited over to a friends house or had a sleepover. I never really had anyone to talk to or be close to, Riff was the closet thing to letting me experience all that I missed out on before.

She was growing on me by the second. The more I was around her, the more I thought of her as my friend. Which wasn't good because the more I thought of her as my friend, the more attached I became. The more attached I became the more I wanted to do something to help her with her situation. And so on and so on.

I wanted to give her a big ol' hug and tell her life was going to be okay, that fate would find a way for her. But I didn't know if it would, or could. I didn't know what would happen to her after this one night, I didn't know if she was going to make it in the big scary world, and that scared me most of all. Because for some reason, I really wanted her to make it. I want her to be something, someone. A person the world will never forget.

"Okay, okay, okay. I got mugged! I fell asleep on a park bench and woke up to someone trying to steal my guitar and my backpack." She finally began her story.

We continued to walk hand in hand aimlessly.

"What did you do?" I asked.

"I fought back! Obviously." She puffed her chest out and I laughed.

"I got up and I kicked him in the face. He dropped my guitar but got my backpack and ran off. I chased after him. My whole life was in that bag! My clothes, food, money. I tackled him down and we wrestled on the floor. He smelt like stale vomit." She stuck out her tongue in disgust.

"Ew!"

"I know right. So I kicked him in the balls, and he pulled my hair really hard. We were like animals! I was crying out for help but no one came. I was screaming, like as loud as I could, still, no one came."

"Oh no." I squeezed her hand.

"Yeah, well he was a lot tougher than me, so he punched me in the face and spat on me. I bit his hand, tasted awful. He slammed my head against the cement so hard that I blacked out for a bit, he was able to get up and run off before I could get up and run off after him. he took everything!"

"Then what happened?" I asked as we walked over multicolored stones.

"Then I went back for my guitar. But as I was walking back, I got kidnapped! For real, for real. Like some guys just came out of a van and pulled me inside. I screamed again, but it was too late they started driving off. One was trying to tie me up, another held a gun to my head and told me to shut up. It was really scary. I still get nightmares..." she trailed off.

I saw her staring off into the distance, I don't know what she was staring at because I saw nothing but ripples in the air, as if it was hot outside even though it was the opposite. She sort of clung to me and almost looked petrified.

"Hey, it's okay, I'm here," I assured her.

She looked at me, her multicolored eyes reflecting back my own reflection. She looked as if she was wondering if I was really there or not. So I kissed her on the forehead. I saw her cheeks turn pink, but I don't if that was the trip, or they actually did.

"Will you protect me tonight?" she asked.

"I'm not that strong but sure." I shrugged.

She giggled softly.

I smiled at her.

"Finish the story." I urged.

"Okay, you asked for it. I was in panic mode. I sort of flipped out. I trashed around like crazy as they tried to hold me down I clawed one dudes face off! The gun wasn't actually loaded I think because they never actually tried to shoot me, they just hit me with it. I was able to get in the front seat. The driver stopped at a red light and I kicked the passenger and ran out the side door. I ran into the street and got hit by a car. Lucky for me the light had just turned green and they weren't going that fast. Still hurt though. The bad guys got away as they ran the red light. The person got out to see if I was okay, but I just got up and limped away. I walked back to the park, grabbed my guitar and stayed awake for the rest of the night and the night after. It was awful. I'll never forget it."

"Riff, it sounds terrible." I pouted.

"It was! Were you listening? Keep up Solo," She laughed.

She tugged me ahead and we found ourselves at a train yard. She pulled into an open empty train cart and we sat down and kicked our legs over the edge.

"It sucks being a girl without a home." She sighed and fell back on her back, resting her head on her arms.

"I don't think I could make it." I laid next to her.

"A wuss like you, definitely not." She snorted in amusement.

"Riff?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think we are like, friends now?" I asked.

"Hell if I know, you confuse me. You are hot and cold." She turned her head to look at me.

"You confuse me too." I turned my head to look at her.

Her butterfly wings were gone, and for some reason, I was only barely noticing. I frowned.

"How do I confuse you?" she asked.

"You make me feel all funny inside. Like I want to hold you."

"Then hold me," she said.

"Can I?"

She nodded then moved closer to me. I moved into a more comfortable position and held my arms open. She got into them and snuggled up close to me.

"How do you feel now?"

"I feel warm."

"Me too." She said.

"So are we friends now?" I asked.

"Do you want us to be?"

"I think so."

"Then I guess we are." She took a deep breath and curled up into me.

"I've never had any friends before," I admitted.

"I don't believe that,"

"Not any close friends I can just talk to like this. Not anyone who ever tried to actually get to know me. No one who checked up on me and asked me questions or told me personal stories like you do. Sometimes, I get lonely too."

"I think everyone gets lonely every once in a while." She said.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, sometimes you can't do anything about it, and sometimes you can. You just have to roll with the punches as they come."

"Emm."

I stared around the train cart, it was dark but I felt like we were in a lava lamp as bubbles of color would slowly rise and hit the ceiling and bounce back down before hitting the floor and rising back up again. I stared at them for a long time.

It took me a hot minute to realize Riff was crying silently. I only noticed when I heard her sniffle and she buried her head deeper into my jacket.

I rubbed her back and held her tighter.

"Why are you crying?"

"Everyone has to cry every once in a while." She said.

I felt sad too, seeing her sad made all these repressed feelings of loneliness and worthlessness float up inside of me. Things I hadn't thought about in a while. Like how I felt invisible, or how no one really understood me. No one thought I was worth the time to get to know. No one cared that I was out right now with a total stranger, no one was looking for me. Things I didn't want to think about, feelings I didn't want to feel. Yet I couldn't stop them from coming up.

I felt my own tears well up and slide down my cheeks.

Even though I was sad, it felt good to let it out through tears. Like each tear held one sad thought and letting it out was letting it out of my head. I couldn't remember the last time I cried if there even was such a time, and I am sure there was. I felt like I was letting out a part of me that I pretended didn't exist, the girl who was hurting, the girl who didn't want to spend the rest of her life alone. I felt relieved in acknowledging she existed because it reminded me that I could feel things, that I wasn't just dead inside. Something I hadn't even known I thought about myself up until that moment.

"I forgot how to cry until now," I said out loud.

"What a silly thing to forget." She said.

"What's something silly that you've forgotten?" I asked.

"I forgot I could laugh..."