Howard didn't know how he put up with it. The house reeked of vomit, piss, and alcohol. The windows were always closed because you couldn't run a black market with open windows, but God, how the stuffy, musty air stank of cigarette smoke. Howard figured he was dying every minute he spent in here.
Orc slept atop a pile of plastic-wrapped mattresses that barely held him. His snores, occasionally punctuated by a loud, drunken burp, reverberated across the house they shared.
So in short, sleep was uncommon. Howard lit a cigarette, which tasted like shit and made him hack a little. But it was the closest thing to a meal he could get. He was no addict, it didn't look good for business to be addicted to what you were selling. But his stomach just felt unpleasant and tight and he needed to taste something, have something going down his throat.
He shut his eyes for a second, breathing in the burn the cig created in the back of his throat. He thought for a second he might be able to sleep. But then there was a knock on the door.
Orc didn't wake. He just kept snoring along. The knock had to have been made by a pretty strong hand for it to be even at all audible above Orc.
Howard wondered if it was some twelve year old who was lost and just knew him as the booze guy or something. He'd direct them to Mother Mary. And then try to go to sleep. He spit out his cigarette into the garbage, which looked considerably less cool than he thought it would. And the garbage can was full of paper towels covered in Orc's vomit and urine. Not something you particularly wanted to look at.
Whoever it was had stopped knocking. Howard half-expected to not see anyone when he opened the door.
"What's crackin'. You lo-" Then he stopped and nearly swore. An exhausted, bedraggled Edilio Escobar stood in front of him. Edilio had a kind of stoic tiredness to him. He always looked like absolute shit but he never looked upset or sad. Before Zil's fires he'd even been able to manage a smile, but now Howard supposed a neutral expression was a heroic feat.
"Hey, Howard," Edilio said, like it was no big deal showing up in the middle of the night.
"If it isn't the Perdido Beach sheriff. Not that I'm not touched, Deely-O, but what the hell are you doing here?"
Edilio looked at him with his sullen, hollow soldier eyes. Howard had never noticed his eyes before. They were deep, bottomless brown. He imagined they must have been full of life before. He hadn't been paying attention. All Edilio seemed to be able to muster was a shrug. "I'm tired. Can't sleep. I figured I'd go to the person who Astrid would least expect me to crash with."
That would have been funny if people hadn't been dead because of fucking Astrid the Genius. Howard couldn't help but be sympathetic to everyone under her command. "It's practically impossible to sleep here, so you didn't exactly make a great choice. And besides, I'm Howard the jerk. Nobody comes here unless they want to smoke or get drunk. And if you're interested in that I can-"
"Please just let me sleep, Howard," Edilio said. "I don't want any booze. I just want a bed. Please."
"Fine. Come on in, Deely-O. Orc sleeps like...well, a rock, but try to be quiet." Howard had not yet had a chance to use that pun and was fairly proud of it, but didn't fault Edilio for not laughing. "There's my room upstairs. You can have it all to yourself if you want, the most sleep I get is usually passing out against the wall next to Orc's bed."
Edilio gave him that sad-eyed look again. "No. No, don't let me take your room from you. You sleep in there too."
"I almost never go in there anymore. It's fine. Honest."
"You're a lot of things, Howard, but I don't think 'honest' is a word many people would use to describe you." He cracked a smile. "Just sleep in there too. It'll make my conscience feel better."
"Anything for your conscience, Deely-O," Howard said, and lead the way up the stairs. It was strange to think that this had once been a nice, two bedroom California house. It hadn't been a mansion but it had been his family's home. And now it was a home for Orc and Howard and their booze and their cigarettes and their problems.
Edilio walked into Howard's room and practically faceplanted on his bed. He scooted onto the edge of the bed closest to the wall, presumably to make room for Howard. Edilio made Howard a little sad sometimes. He was so depressed he came to crash with Howard of all people just to get away from it all and he still was trying to accommodate others. Backing himself into the corner for Howard to be able to sleep better even though the bed was queen-size.
"Oh my God," Edilio said. "Oh my God. It's just you, me, and Orc here. There are no crying children. Oh my God." He looked like he was about to cry.
"Yeah. Great, isn't it?" Howard said with a touch of sarcasm. "You can sleep wherever you want, my bed's huge. You don't have to be all in the corner."
"I like sleeping in the corner. It feels...safe."
Howard stepped into bed and pulled the sheet over himself and Edilio. It was too hot for blankets but somehow chilly enough that he needed to cover himself with something. Orc's snores were as loud as ever, but Edilio didn't seem to mind. He was breathing evenly, his eyes shut and his facial expression the face of a man who's gone to heaven.
"It's safe here," he said, not opening his eyes. Howard would've begged to differ, but not with Edilio here. With Edilio here it felt normal.
He scooted in close to Edilio, to the point where he could feel Edilio's sweat-soaked legs with the tip of his toe. It was a little awkward sure, but being close to Edilio made him focus on Edilio's breathing and Edilio's peaceful sleeping face, and not the snores and the stink and the world that was ending around them.
i'm joining aurora as one of the like two people who has written howdilio