I tried to quit vaping and ended up eating strangers’ food

For a while I knew the time was coming, but couldn’t tell when it would feel right. In the end it happened at about midnight on a random Sunday in February. I walked downstairs and threw my vape in the bin, making sure it touched the raw meat I’d put in there earlier. I didn’t trust myself not to fish it out again otherwise.

I stood there in front of the bin, alone and in my pyjamas, and I tried to think of a way to mark the occasion. I crossed myself solemnly, despite only being flimsily, culturally Christian. That didn’t quite do it. I raised three fingers to my mouth then held them out, like they do in The Hunger Games, for reasons