Chapter 05: Breathe Easy

Josie nearly leapt to the ceiling after seeing the cigarette man’s card trick. Josie had a love hate relationship with magic tricks, being unable to explain how they work but fascinated all the same. When the wool is pulled over her eyes she screams about how badly she wants to punch the magician but is grinning ear to ear and begging for ‘one more trick.’

The man with sleight of hand, who introduced himself as Willie to Josie, had spent the greater half of an hour showing Josie trick after trick. Everything from cards to optical illusions he happily performed for his captivated audience of one. 

“Alright, last one kiddo.” 

Willie took a drag from his cigarette, waving and snapping his hand a few times. Josie watched with intensity, trying to follow the hands until they stopped abruptly. Both palms were open flat in Josie’s face. She was confused trying to understand the trick until Willie lightly tapped her on her newscap. He lifted it up and revealed a large wad of bills in an envelope and held them in front of Josie.

“It’s your lucky day kid,” he said as the cigarette bobbed out the side of his mouth. “You just hit the jackpot. All you gotta do is go home?”

“I don’t think I get this trick Willie.” Josie replied.

Willie shook his head while shaking the bills in her face. “Not a joke, I’m paying you to forget about the race and head on home. You can buy any toys you want for the rest of your life, you just have to go home.”

Josie stood to her feet frowning. “I don’t like this game anymore Willie, I’m going back to check on ‘M.C.”

She turned to walk away but Willie yelled after her.

“Really? But your friend already took the money!” The words made Josie stop walking but not turn around, Willie smirked as he stepped closer. “See? Your buddy had the right idea and is ready to go home, my friend spoke to her and they sent me to come get you. We have all the arrangements ready and-”

“Shut up.” Josie replied coldly.

She turned her head only slightly enough to reveal a glare filled with deep disgust and anger. It nearly made Willie’s knees buckle, even with it coming from a tiny girl.

“Peg would never do that, we made a promise. Now go away, I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”

“Well you caught me kid.” Willie replied, his hands up in the air. “We didn’t convince your friend to go home. So we had to kill her.”

Those last words caused something to snap inside of Josie. She whipped around, launching herself directly at Willie ready to tear him to shreds. His hands were still up and he smiled, as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Moments before her fist could connect with his face Josie slammed hard into the ground.

“Ow!” she groaned, rubbing her face.

She was even more confused when she realized that somehow she had been turned around. Instead of facing Willie she was now facing Midnite Cruiser. 

“As fun as this all is,” Willie spoke, “My job would be alot easier if you’d just take the money and go home.”

Josie was still in shock, barely listening to Willie's bargaining. She tried standing on her feet but began to cough and noticed a deep smokey smell surrounding her.

“It’s half a million Leos kid, what’s it gonna’ be?”

Josie tried to curse out Willie but her words were barely audible between her coughing. Willie scoffed in annoyance.

“Well, can’t say I didn’t try.”

Willie took a long drag from his cigarette before blowing a huge plume of smoke in Josie’s direction. The smoke twisted and snaked around her body, tying itself to her like rope. The smoke lifted her from the ground, spun around before tossing her into the far corner of the garage, slamming her into a stack of tools and miscellaneous supplies. Josie tried to stand again but the thick smoke surrounded her head making it hard for her to keep her balance.

“Don’t throw your life away kid.” Willie spoke, walking towards Josie while lighting a cigarette. “That woman you’re working for? She’s crazy just like her parents. She isn’t interested in winning, she’s on a course that only leads to death.”

The smoke around Josie’s head began to dissipate and after a few moments she could speak again.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Josie spat, beating her tiny chest before grinning. “besides, who cares if she’s leading me to die if you’re trying to kill me anyway.”

Willie frowned, taking another long drag of his cigarette before bellowing another cloud of smoke in Josie’s direction. Josie held her breath tight and lunged at the cigarette man doing her best not to breathe in any of the smoke. She got closer than she did before but in the thick smog Willie was able to dodge causing Josie to land a few feet away from him, missing her mark.

“Damn it!” She swore, opening her mouth to breathe again.

The smoke cleared and Willie stood unbothered, hands in his pocket staring at Josie. He didn’t have a cigarette in his mouth and didn’t seem ready to light another one. Josie took a deep breath before lunging at him for another punch but when she tried to move intense pain surged through her entire body. She screamed in agony dropping to her knees and curling into a ball on the floor. Willie walked back towards Josie, sucking his teeth and shaking his head.

“That wasn’t just my normal cigarette smoke kid.” Willie spoke, kneeling down to Josie’s level. “That was rolled with ‘cruel orchid', and the smoke it makes is not just poisonous if you inhale it but even if it touches your skin. Lucky for me I’m special so I don’t have to worry about that. You on the other hand…”

Every inch of Josie’s skin felt like she’d been dipped into the surface of the sun. The pain was so intense it seeped through her skin, affecting her muscles and joints. She could barely move and it took everything to focus her eyes to glare at Willie.

“I bet you never thought you’d run into something like this.” Willie said with a smile. “This whole world is filled with things you won’t understand.”

He reached into his pockets and pulled out a wad of cash and waved it in Josie’s face.

“I can make this all go away, just give the word.”

Josie kept up her intense glare but at the same time tightly gripped her fist. Willie continued to speak and explain all the great things she could do if she just took the money and ran but her rage continued to boil over.

“You got your whole life ahead of you why waste it on-”

Willie didn’t finish his sentence as a loud cracking sound filled the air. The envelope he waved was pressed against his face due to Josie’s fist connecting the two together. With as much strength as she could muster, Josie drove her fist into Willie’s face. He flew across the room with the money he held scattering all over the garage. Moments later, with labored breath, Josie stood looking at Willie who landed across the building holding his bloody nose with crumbled up bills.

“I don’t need you to sell me a new life, I’m already living the one I want.”

Willie looked her up and down, her skin still had rashes from his smoke earlier but they were less intense and seemed to heal away. He also noticed that her right ring finger was bent far backwards.

“Oh this?” Josie said, noticing his eyes on her hand. “I just needed something to forget about the burning long enough to punch you. When I used to get hurt at the factory I’d just hurt myself somewhere else and forget about it!”

‍“Is this kid insane?!” Willie thought to himself.

“You got lucky kid.” he spoke, slowly standing to his feet and tossing away the bloody bills. “But I’m gonna’ make you wish you took the money and ran.”

He grabbed another cigarette but instead of lighting at his leisurely pace from earlier, lit it faster than Josie could register. Once he exhaled, the smoke billowed around him, filling up the entire garage and every inch of Josie’s eyesight.

Willie’s clothes fell to the ground and his body dissipated, melting into the smoke filling the space. Josie coughed and wavered her hands wildly trying to keep herself from choking to death. She was overwhelmed by the irritation of her skin, her cough and her eyes were starting to burn. All she wanted to do was punch something but no matter how hard she swung nothing changed.

The smoke grew thicker, and it got harder and harder for her to breathe. The smog began twirling quickly around her and soon a rush of smoke filled her lungs. She gasped and gasped but eventually her body gave in and she fell to the floor like a sack of rocks.

Minutes later Willie’s body reformed and he got dressed. The smoke cleared the empty room and he walked over to Josie’s body, lying motionless on the floor. He gave her an ‘Is she dead?’ kick before nodding assuredly.

“Well that’s one little dead bitch.” He said to himself. “I’ll dump her somewhere and go meet up with Babs, she should’ve killed that other one by now. Shit!”

He reached into his jacket for a pack of smokes but realized they were empty. All that work and not even the reward of a post murder smoke. His eyes scanned the room, no longer worried about Josie, and he noticed a lone cigarette had rolled out the pack during all the commotion. It traveled towards one of the walls and somehow remained unharmed from the action. He reached down to grab it but then felt a tight grip on his shoulder. He turned and to his surprise Josie stood above him, glaring and breathing heavily.

“How the Hell!?”

Josie’s fist connected to the familiar spot on his face, but this time there wasn’t an envelope of cash to protect it. After the punch she didn’t let him go flying. Instead she gripped his collar and continued punching him repeatedly. While Josie’s knuckles connected over and over with his bloody face all Willie could think about is how she could be alive, let alone beating the life out of him.

“But…” he stammered through jagged, blood soaked teeth. “You should be dead…”

Josie stopped mid punch and gave her trademark huge grin.

“Oh that? Back at the factory I breathed in smoke all the time, all types too. You caught me off guard a bit but that wasn’t enough to put me down!”

‍“This kid IS insane.”

Is the last thought that passed Willie’s mind before the next punch knocked him unconscious. Josie didn’t realize till half a dozen punches late but once she did she dragged him to the side of Midnite Cruiser and propped his unconscious body against it. Josie then slid down and sat next to Willie.

Ten minutes later Peg hobbled into the garage, a little worse for wear from her own skirmish, to find Josie and Willie against Midnite Cruiser. Once she walked in they both locked eyes after looking each other up and down before saying in unison;

“What the Hell happened to you?”

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To Be Continued

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