[ WP ] A sentient lighter that gets passed around by a group of friends and it 's perspective on their lives .

I belonged to Sarah. A beautiful young woman, as I so often heard, that suffered from depression. She often smoked to take her mind off of the world around her, the grey smoke that lined her body taking her to a place I could n't even imagine. I was hers, and she used me for every cigarette, every blunt, everything she ever smoked. And she seemed to enjoy it. Even if it was killing her. 
 
 She went to a party one night, the two of us did, I was bouncing along next to her pack of Camels in her purse. It was loud. She often went to places that were loud. 
 
 `` I'm going to head out for a smoke,'' she muttered to a few of her friends, people who had picked me up and used me to bum a cigarette off of her now and then. Then she bounced away, seemingly to the music that I never understood, and headed into the bitter cold. 
 
 Her hand gripped the pack first, and I felt her pull a cigarette from it and place it between her lips. Then she grabbed me, her cool hands running against my metal exterior. She flicked me once and I lit for her, letting her take a deep inhale of death. I always wondered why she started smoking, what caused her to take her first drag and why she kept doing it. But by the time I was bought, she was deep into her smoking. She was a pro, and I had my purpose in life. 
 
 `` Sarah, can I bum one,'' her friend Jake shouted from the window. 
 
 `` Sure,'' she murmured with the cigarette still between her lips. 
 
 Jake came out a moment later and grabbed a cigarette from the pack, sticking it between his already filthy teeth. Sarah may have been a smoker, but she had perfect teeth. 
 
 `` You got a light?'' 
 
 Sarah nodded and handed me off to her friend. I always hated this part, leaving Sarah's hands and ownership, if even for a brief moment, made me become increasingly aware of the other persons; life. I had been handed to Jake many times, and his life was always the same. 
 
 He was a bum, I felt as his hands gripped my metal exterior. Dropped out of high school a few years ago, and hung out with his friends, like Sarah, who were in college and trying to better their lives. They went to parties, as many college kids did, but they were trying. Unlike Jake, he had stopped trying long ago. 
 
 A few other friends came while Jake used me to light his cigarette. I did n't give him the flame a few times and grew happy at how upset he got. But within a few minutes, I was being passed around from person to person in the group. 
 
 `` Just give me the light back, okay?'' Sarah said, `` I bought that two years ago and have never lost it.'' 
 
 Jake laughed, `` Little attached?'' 
 
 I tried to burn him, but I could not. 
 
 `` A little bit,'' she laughed as she took a drag. 
 
 Trent grabbed me next, his sticky fingers grazing my cold metal. It took me a moment to understand his life, but soon I figured him out. He was in college, like Sarah, and was enjoying his time. He talked loudly, which I placed on his anxiety he had. I could tell almost instantly, the faint shake of the hand as he grabbed me, the interest in what everyone had to say and his loud voice when he spoke. It was n't something I looked down upon, of course, college was hard from what I learned from Sarah. 
 
 The amount of times she left class, or study sessions, or stopped during homework, for a study break were profound. But I enjoyed my time with her, she often talked to herself out there in the night and I learned a great deal of her life. I missed her touch. 
 
 Evelyn grabbed me next, a quiet, young woman who appreciated the more subtle things in life. She smoked though, like the rest of the group, although I could tell she was more of a social smoker, using my flame for a brief moment before taking a short drag. I tried to keep the flame going, to give her a kick, but she shut my top quicker than I could help. But her life, I felt, was one looking for friends. 
 
 She was shy, always had been, but she was looking for something more. I think she just wanted another person to talk to, maybe smoke with, maybe let the other person speak more than her. I thought of Sarah and how she was always looking to talk, they would probably get along well. 
 
 `` I like this lighter,'' she murmured to herself as she rubbed her fingers across my design. 
 
 `` Thanks,'' Sarah said as she reached for me, `` I found it in the mall a couple years ago and just fell in love with it.'' 
 
 Evelyn smiled, I could tell as their hands touched and their lives intertwined in my mind. They would be good friends, I thought. `` I can see why,'' she said as she let me slip into Sarah's hands. 
 
 I felt warm again in her hands, even against the cold breeze of the outside. I was home with her. And as her cigarette drained and she placed another one in her lips, I was needed once again. 
 ______ 
 /r/BlankPagesEmptyMugs for more stories about people.
