The Extinct

CHAPTER

20





The effects of the H hadn’t worn off when Eric woke up but he felt alert enough to go out. He dressed and walked outside as the sun was going down, a red globe in the distant horizon, painting the surrounding clouds pink and purple. The hostel was close to the business district and he walked the streets, stopping every once in awhile in some alley or doorway to smoke.

He walked past a large glass and chrome hotel, golden lights shooting out from the front and giving it a sun-colored hue. Tourists in shorts and cotton shirts poured in and out, a few eating at the restaurant on top of the hotel’s roof, laughing and drinking. The sidewalks were as packed as the roads and people bumped into him every couple seconds, though he didn’t notice.

As darkness fell he walked to a public park across the street from a large stadium where Muay Thai fights were held and he could hear the roar of the crowd and the twangy high-pitched music that accompanied the fights. The park was essentially one large circle with a pond in its center. Just off center, a few dozen feet from the playground, were benches. They were covered with youth from all over the world who’d come to Thailand in search of something that they would never find.

There were at least fifty people at the park, smoking pot and getting drunk. Most of them were Americans who’d come over expecting the easy money and low cost of living that a tourist based economy could sometimes provide, only to find that the Thai people reserved the good jobs for other Thais.

Eric walked to a small group of about ten, no one noticing him. Some of the kids were rambling on about stories that may or may not have happened, meth in their veins robbing them of sleep for five or six days at a time. Seated on a bench, not really speaking with anyone, was a slim American boy with long brown hair pulled into a ponytail. He was smoking and staring with green, savage eyes at the people before him.

Eric sat next to him. “I need more H, Ray.”

Ray blew smoke out of his nostrils and looked over to him, a large metal piercing through the bridge of his nose. “How much you need?”

“Just a dime bag.”



“That’s all?”



“I don’t have any more money,” Eric said, nearly nodding off, his eyes half-closed.



Ray reached into his pocket and pulled out a small vile of cocaine. He laid a line out on a small mirror and handed that and a Thai baht—the equivalent of a dollar bill— to Eric. Eric rolled up the baht and snorted the coke, his senses awakening and being overtaken with a general jitteriness.

“I got a way you can make money,” Ray said.

“No,” Eric said. He’d been approached by Ray several times before about prostituting himself, young American boys being highly prized.

“Not that,” Ray said before snorting a line. “We’re takin’ down a bank. You in?”



“How much?”



“There’ll be three of us, so three ways.”



The coke made him antsy and he couldn’t think clearly, but Eric knew he had to do something. His money would be gone and the H would be gone. Though she was a whore, he’d come to rely on Lily for companionship. He knew she only came around because he gave her money and drugs, but at night, even her icy embrace was better than sleeping alone. Once the money and H were gone, she would be too.

“When?” Eric said.



“Tomorrow.”



“Okay.”



Ray put the coke away and stood up. He motioned to a young Thai boy with a shaved head. Eric had seen him around before; his name was Dak and he’d been a Thai fighter until he did some time in prison. Now, he was just a junkie like everyone else here.

“Eric’s coming,” Ray said, “go find a car for tomorrow night.”