As she stood outside, she heard the bustling traffic in the distance. It sounded as if the highway were breathing, save for a horn honk here and there on a nearby busy street which sort of reminded her of the coughing audience members at the concert hall a few nights before.
She opened her purse and shoved her car keys and makeup aside. After finally unearthing her pack of cigarettes, she carefully removed one from the box and maneuvered it past the purse's walls and its contents as to not bend it. She examined the cigarette closely for loose tobacco shards on the filter end and tapped it on the wall to pack it down some more.
She put it into her mouth and felt the filter stick to her lips ever so slightly. *click* went her lighter, and she held the flame to the end of her cigarette to get it started.
The breathing of the highway suddenly became non-existent as her ears focused on the tip of her cigarette beginning to burn. She pulled a nice long drag off of it to ensure that it was lit. She could hear the tobacco and paper fizzle as the filter gave off a barely audible high pitched whistling noise from the air passing through it.
She exhaled slowly as she put her lighter back in her purse. Taking another drag from her cigarette, she did with intentional sex appeal this time, as if she were a sultry 1950s film actress right about to blow smoke in the lead actor's face telling him to take a hike.
She exhaled and watched the smoke float up towards the sky and disappear. The nicotine was starting to work its magic and the inside of her head began to swirl. It was a long day at work and she had been looking forward to this break for almost 5 hours.
She took another drag.
BAM!
Suddenly all she could hear was the ringing in her ears. She stood there like a dead tree and felt her chest pounding. She was convinced that if her heart was beating any harder that it would burst out of her and bounce down the street to run away from the ruckus that had just ensued.
The cigarette was still dangling in her mouth, but it was no longer lit and the end was split into about 10 strands. Her face was covered in a layer of black soot. She opened her mouth slightly and let the smoldering remains of her cigarette fall to the ground.
That's it, she thought. Never again am I buying my cigarettes from a Magic Shop.
