So we were smoking up under this tree when gunfire erupted ...

I am actually from Purdue, but just after school was out for me and three friends from IU, we all decided to visit one of the crew who goes to University of Chicago. For this excursion we stocked nearly three liters of everclear, a couple fifths of whiskey, and a bag of some beautiful pot.

The few times I had previously smoked, had been with some shady guys who were not my closest of friends. As a result these experiences were very paranoia-inducing. And to make matters worse, these guys lived in a dorm a stone’s throw away from the campus police headquarters. Needless to say, I was stoked to be cheifing it with of my best buddies.

After starting the night off with some shots, we mixed ourselves some drinks-to-go and made our way to a party, decent sized, but mostly kids blowing off steam two weeks before finals there. There were however two hot girls that came over and began flirting with me, playing with my hair, and dancing dirty to the shitty music they were playing. This almost convinced me to stay and convince them to come back to my friend’s room while they were all still out. But, the guy we were visiting brought a cool chick over and she said we could go smoke in her room if we wanted.

This chick also seemed to be kinda in to me, but I decided not to pursue anything. So we began smoking in her room, listening to some great tunes (I have no idea what they were) when the baggie she had taped over her smoke detector stops protecting and it starts shrieking it’s piercing siren uncontrollably. My friends and I, from colleges where one smoke detector sets off the entire building, and authorities promptly arrive, make a professional job of getting the hell out of there.

We're on the stairs down the hall with our drinks when they get it stopped, and begin following us. They suggest we go and smoke outside in what they call "the backyard." We sat beneath this tree and all proceed to get high...in my case I got really high as it was nice to smoke with my good friends and cool people who actually had conversations (the guys I had smoked with kinda sat there, then threw stuff at each other, before cueing up the pornos).

Well, this pleasant high talking to people, laughing with my friends, and admiring how awesome a tree's leaves look on a windy night was shattered suddenly by the realization that it was maybe 2am on the southside of Chicago.

Semi-automatic gunfire erupted from what had sounded like a party across the intersection from the big lawn we were on. I freaked out a bit, but the U of C kids were used to it and calmed me down ... then more gunfire. At this point I was about ready to bolt, but they kept me there, and we sat there for another hour or so. It took about forty minutes before we heard the first sirens. Needless to say, I was more than happy to go back inside.

So the lesson is: don't get high outdoors on the southside of Chicago, unless you want a freak-out fest.