The narrator
The unnamed narrator is a drug addict whose life is absolutely confounded by insufferable problems, like legal issues, friendships with sketchy people, and addiction itself. The narrator's struggle pushes him to drugs, because the life he leads makes him long for escape. He often daydreams and hallucinates, and he lives in the shadowy recesses of society. He lives the life that no one wants for their loved ones as a true pariah.
The mute
A mute man enters the story for a short while, for long enough that the narrator learns he was one a famous football player whose injury led him to an opioid addiction that bottomed out into full-blown heroin dependency. He is dropped of at a house full of people that the narrator despises, sensing that they are dangerous people who might have ulterior motives.
Jack Hotel
Another minor character—this man's story is told very shortly. The narrator adds this man to the long list of addicts he met in the street who die without anyone to care. Jack Hotel takes too much of something and dies suddenly. It is clearly an overdose, and there is nothing anyone can do to help him. The story is a harsh reminder to the narrator that he needs to be careful about using indulgent amounts of drugs.
Wayne
Wayne is a petty thief who steals copper from HVAC units. This allows him to buy his drugs. He is an alcoholic who shares with the narrator after scoring copper. Wayne gets drunk and tells about all his exes. He expresses a damaged relationship to his mother, explaining that he wishes she might have loved him. He has a long list of unhealthy relationships that he can't help but long for.
