Addicts

Viv was on a 10 minute break from her voluntary work at the local charity shop. She'd been gasping for a nicotine hit for the

last half hour, and more importantly, it was her turn in the Scrabble game she was playing on her phone against her younger

sister. She had an excellent 7 letter word and was itching to play it. In her self induced frustration, Viv had cruelly snapped

at a customer earlier. She hoped she wouldn't get another complaint or they'd be asking her to leave. It was only because

they were so short staffed that Viv stayed. Volunteers were thin on the ground, everyone knew that. Still, she didn't want to

push her luck. Viv lit a cigarette and took a long hard drag whilst the Scrabble game loaded up onto the smart phone screen.

Finally, the familiar board game appeared, and Viv smugly arranged her letters on her tile rack, into the 7 letter word

arrangement she'd previously spotted, and looked for an outlet on the board, to play her letters. Nothing! She was certain

that she must have missed something, but her fears were confirmed when no outlet was to be found on the board. Another

drag of her cigarette didn't quite hit the spot, and she longed for a joint to soothe her nerves. Now that would definitely get

her the sack! Instead, she thought about her forthcoming trip to Glastonbury where she could smoke as many joints as she

liked, without fear of reprisal. She looked at her 7 letter word again. There was definitely nowhere on the screen that she

could placed ADDICTS. She looked at her watch, realised annoyingly that she had to get back to work, and stubbed out her

half smoked cigarette with aplomb.

Three weeks later, Viv was at Glastonbury, in her minute tent, which she was sharing with her best mate Jo. They'd been

to Glastonbury together for the past six years and it was the place she felt most relaxed. After the festival, they would take

their usual route home via Stonehenge to top up their Chi with some much needed energy from the sacred stones. Viv

was in heaven!

As Viv had the tent to herself, she was getting changed out of the 3 day old clothes she was wearing. She wrestled out of

her dirty attire, and was changing her top when a girl crawled into their tent. "What do you want?" immediately challenged

Viv, feeling slightly vulnerable in her state of half-undress.

"Got any dope?" muttered the stranger, shiftily. Viv noticed the girl was younger than her, and was nervous, clearly

agitated by another "chemical "enhancement". Beads of sweat had formed on the girl's upper lip and she was glancing

over her shoulder, as if she was expecting someone else to enter the tent behind her Viv, who was now cornered in her

own tent, considered her options. "Piss off and get your own" she retorted. She was damned if this slip of a girl was

going to take her stash. Just then, the girl reached inside her jacket and produced a flick knife. Viv froze, uncertain of

what to do next, however with sustained bravado she repeated herself. "Go on, just piss off!" To emphasis her point,

Viv shoved the girl who took the hint, and skuttled out of the tent as quickly as she'd entered it. No doubt to terrorise

another poor victim to feed her habit.