She watched as he pulled the trigger in the empty room, filled only by the sickening fumes and the sound of their insane laughter. Thoughts were hazy, judgment contorted and conscious clear. Every worry and grave sorrow that had taken a rest upon their tired shoulders seemed to have fluttered away with the first intake of that glorious smoke. And they loved that. That's why they did it. But tonight, they would pay a deadly price.
"Pull the trigger, Max!" Ronnie shouted, voice dripping with anticipation. Max, sitting across from him in a chair held the gun to his head and closed his eyes, awaiting either pain or…nothing. With a sharp intake of breath, his finger twitched, and made a movement that could result in him…lifeless. But the after affects of his actions bore no burden on him at that moment, for the smoke, that glorious smoke, filled his mind with only air, and no reasoning, no thought. And so he pulled the trigger.
He waited a moment after he'd pulled it, as if awaiting the bullet to come hurtling at him three seconds after he'd pulled it, but it never did. And so, in both relief and in glorious inconsideration for the possibly deadly situation at hand, he began laughing. Ronnie, still sitting across from him, had no idea why his friend was laughing, but decided that laughing would be fun in that very moment, so he began cackling manically, uncontrollably, and soon, both men were on the floor, rolling, tears falling from their eyes as the smoke kept whirling through their heads.
Juliet, all along sitting adjacent to Ronnie, just stared humorlessly at them, still sitting high (pardon the pun) and mighty on her chair. And after Ronnie had stopped laughing, having forgotten what was funny, he looked up at her bored expression and felt sorrow. A wave of sorrow and pity. He didn't know why, but the drugs whirling around him most likely had something to do with it. He climbed back up onto his chair, prepared to resume the game, and pulled Juliet onto his lap. "Why the long face?" he whispered in her ear. She only looked back at him sullenly, fighting to bite back the smile that was bound to spread across her face in a matter of seconds after seeing Ronnie's pouty expression. "I love you." She said, giving him a sloppy kiss on the lips and turning back around to Max, who handed the gun to Ronnie. As he took it, he began to sing the words of his song.
Sitting in a room playing Russian roulette,
Finger on the trigger to my dear Juliet,
Out from the window see her back drop silhouette,
This blood on my hands is something I cannot forget!
Juliet laughed at this, forgetting for a moment what the song was about, and slapped Ronnie's arm playfully. "Isn't this world so God damn AWESOME!" she squealed, beginning to feel the heightening effects of the 'smoke'. Ronnie only laughed as he held lifted the gun to his head. Again he began singing, with this time Max and Juliet chiming in, to make it a medley of unrehearsed melodies and words, turning the song into a something much worse. But none of them seemed to notice.
Ronnie passed the gun to Juliet, having pulled the trigger and survived, and she gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Just in case I don't make it.' She whispered, pressing the gun against her head. Stomach twisting and turning, mind reeling, hands shaking, she pulled the trigger. And everything happened in slow motion. She saw the face of Ronnie, the man she loved more than anything else in the world. She felt his chest to her back, his legs underneath her, his arms around her. She smelled the scent of the smoke. The smoke that had lead to her death. Or the death that would soon come. She saw Ronnie's eyes, his smile, heard his laugh. And then she felt pain. Overwhelming pain. Uncontrollable pain. Incomprehensible pain. And she didn't understand why she'd brought it upon herself. And then…there was nothing. No smell, no sight, no love, no hatred, no black, no white, no pain, no…nothing.
And Ronnie and Max saw upon the floor Juliet's body slumped, lifeless, eyes wide with shock and horror, mouth open, her last moments etched forever on her features like stone. Ronnie took in the sight of her, the smell of her, and he began laughing. He began laughing the laugh of a man that had just lost everything but had not realized it. The laugh of the man that had watched his beloved kill herself and said nothing. It was insane, unceasing, unrelenting, maddening. And soon, to the melodious but harsh chorus of his laughing, Max joined in too. And soon, there was nothing to be heard but the sound of their laughter. Nothing to be seen but a dead woman, two men and a flurry of smoke. A vile, disgusting smoke that had lead to the death of that woman. But once that smoke cleared up, Ronnie would realize what had happened. Ronnie would realize what he'd done. But for now, the smoke remained and their laughter continued.