Sound of symphonies pulsating

Clearly, none of this was really real.

Joey was totally exhausted. But the weed..well, it was mighty fine. The first go around, anyhow.

It was so warm for a March afternoon. He decided to take off all his clothes, except for his boxer. Evidently, that was a good thing, cause..it did get chilly, after awhile. And all he had was a puff of smoke to keep his scrawny body warm.

There was a lot of thought of doing something else with Sid, other than sharing a bong, but then he noticed he needed a lot of hits, before he could do it.

Funny, how you can find secret places to go on the river. He looked at the murky waters now, thinking how people had been dying in this river since the Indians found it and the French fur traders came along.

He put his hands to his bare winter white chest, hoping he could hear his heart beat. He waited.

What was going on?

The campsite was bare with clods of dry grass. Finally, he figured out his whole body was shaking. It was time to start running, again.

He'd ran away from Sid, into the tall grass. He'd been so numb then, he didn't know he left without his shoes.

Now he was on the move to the old neighborhoods, to the back alleys. He didn't know that much about this side of town.

What was he going to do? What if Xander and Ducky found out?

Now he made a face of disgust. Was it too late to start praying?

"Now..I lay me down to sleep.." was that how it went? He didn't think so. "Sweet Jesus, just do something..will ya?" His teeth clinched as his raw feet hit the pavement. Little pebbles made it impossible to go on.

He sighed as he came to the end of the alley. He looked for traffic, there wasn't any, this time of day, which was now early morning. He raced across and found himself in someone's front yard.

Well, it wasn't home, but the place was like an old farm house. He sighed, thinking he should ask to use the phone, but he couldn't remember anyone's phone number. If only he'd held on to his cell.

Before he could think to move on, the front door flung open and someone faintly familiar ran down the steps and looked at him as if he was a wounded animal.

"What are you doing here, Joey?" She snapped as she grabbed his wrist.

"What?" He looked blankly at her dark eyes. "You, live here, Vada?"

She sighed with a straight lip. and jerked him forward, pulling him into the house.

He faintly smiled. It was nice to see her, but she was in such a bad mood. She went to get a hot shower going and some towels and body wash to give him.

"You, are a mess." She told him.

He smiled back. It finally felt like this might be a place to stay.