A pitch black night hung over the town; heavy rain pattering against the window, the occasional thunder going off in the distance.
She trembled lightly as she stretched out her hand, reaching into the crevice between her bed and wall, searching for the one thing her parents must never know of. A few moments of fidgeting, then she bit her lip as her fingers finally wrapped themselves around the small paper box. Without hesitation she pulled it out, her eyes briefly going over the letters imprinted on the outer packaging, barely visible in the darkness of her room, then she shook her head and flipped open the package.
Her fingers didn’t need to be guided as she reached into the small box, pulling out a single cigarette and a slim plastic lighter. Her hands still shaking, breathing heavily, she plugged the cigarette into her readily waiting lips. Moments later, her hands fidgeted with the lighter, struggling to light it up, before finally, a small, flickering flame burst from the top of the lighter, the dim fire lighting up her dark brown coat.
Atom Bit closed her eyes with bliss as she took in a deep breath; the cigarette’s tip glowed a bright orange, and she could feel how the hot smoke filled her lungs, releasing a pressure she didn’t know she had had on her back.
Keeping the smoke in her lungs for a moment or two, then slowly letting it seep out through her mouth and nose, she leaned back on her bed, her back resting against the wall as a thin trail of smoke rose up from the cigarette held in her left hand.
A moment of blissful silence passed, the very world around her seeming to come to a standstill, before the events of the past minutes caught up with her again, and she felt herself grimace.
“Stupid Pixel.” she growled under her breath, her teeth clenching, inner pain overwhelming her as she quickly led the cigarette to her mouth again, taking in a second long breath, and feeling the heat warm her up from the inside out.
Bitterness overcame her heart as the past events flashed past her mind’s eye again; how Pixel Bite, her big sister had… had confronted her. She couldn’t quite recall how exactly it had started; a brief smalltalk about school had soon begun to evolve, the topic of Atom’s growing circle of friends coming up before long.
The tone had gone from light chit-chat to passive-aggressive commentary, then to accusations, until finally the two sisters had been outright yelling at each other; shouting with tears in their eyes; passing accusations with neither thought nor reason.
Atom flinched noticeably as her sister’s accusations resounded in her mind; her cigarette silently burning away in her hand; shrinking with every second.
She felt bad for her sister; she really did. Atom never meant to ‘leave’ her like this; she cared about her big sister; loved her even, but…
But Pixel didn’t see it. What she saw -and had made unmistakably clear in the heated argument earlier- was that Atom had betrayed her; had left her unpopular sister behind in her dust in order to boost her own fame; be one of the popular girls.
And no matter how Atom had tried to explain to her sister that this was in no way the case, Pixel, stubborn and hotheaded as she was, had been having none of it; continuing to talk herself into a rage, her mouth spitting out accusations that, Atom was sure, her sister would have never said under normal circumstances.
But her sister was hurting; she was hurting badly.
And as much as Atom hated herself over it, after a long, exhausting day -being a ‘popular’ students was by no means a walk in the park- and being accused of the worst things by her own sister, the normally so cheerful and easy-going mare had lost her temper. It had been a small outburst; nothing major; nothing big, even.
But it had been enough. Oh how it had been enough.
Following her younger sister’s brief but energetic retaliation, there had been no holding back for Pixel - crying, shouting; pouring out her heart in the most dramatic ways, she had soon had enough and furiously retreated into her room, almost running over Atom in the process.
Atom shivered as the memory resurfaced. Quickly, the cigarette was led to her mouth again, and she took another long drag.
Atom let her head drop against her wall, ashes falling from the cigarette and onto her sheets, her body falling back against the wall behind her.
Smoke was once again pouring from her mouth, and she felt her ears hold back as she… she heard her sister. The wall that separated their rooms was fairly thin, and it was dead silent in the house, so that even now, Atom could hear the distant sounds of sobs coming from the room next to her.
Her… her big sister was crying. Because of her.
Atom felt these thoughts weigh heavy on her mind for a moment or two, her face turning into a pained grimace as she bared her teeth. The cigarette was raised again, finished in one long drag, then listlessly flicked across the room.
The young mare sighed heavily, her hands reaching for the pack of cigarettes again and pulling out a second one. The butt was already in her mouth as she felt another surge of tears well up within her, and felt her head drop forward into her hands, her fingers digging into her short mane as she grimaced again, the cigarette falling out of her mouth, sobs breaking forth.
She let her eyes drift shut, the faint sounds of her sister in her room still the only thing that broke the nightly silence.
All in all it were but a few inches of drywall that separated the two.
… and yet, Atom was sure she had never felt further away from her beloved sister.
