She sat in silence, her crimson lips taking a drag from her cigarette. She exhaled slowly, her eyes flitting nervously about the loud room, amidst the plume of grey smoke. On the surface she appeared at ease, sexily clad in tight leather pants and a revealing shirt. Her blue eyes however betrayed her nervousness as they darted furtively about the room, anxiously scanning the unfamiliar sea of faces.
The loud, infectious dance music assaulted her ears rendering it impossible to think. Taking a small sip from her glass she watched the writhing bodies grinding on the dance floor against one another. As she swallowed, the clear liquid burnt at her throat mercilessly and quickly she took another sip before the horrible after taste, that she had never quite become accustomed to, set in.
Jessica took a cautious look around and was momentarily entranced by the gyrating bodies of the carefree spirits surrounding her. Their movements were fluid as they danced blithely without a worry or sorrow in the world. Moving her head slightly to the hypnotic beat, she watched, completely unfazed and oblivious to sweaty onlookers who eyed her appreciatively.
A momentary pause in the electrifying beat forced her to turn away from the dance floor. As she turned, she finally noticed the lurid stares of swarthy men who gazed at her unabashedly. Quickly, she shot them all seductive yet you-don’t-want-to-mess-with-me looks which she delivered with a newly acquired confidence. She watched in sly fascination as some quickly averted their eyes to the ground and others remained staring, obviously too drunk to take notice of her expression.
Suppressing a sigh of disgust, Jessica daintily ground out her cigarette in a nearby ashtray and then fixed her gaze upon her glass and the clear liquid within it. She stared at it forlornly, itching to bring the glass to her lips, but somehow suddenly unable to move. She studied the glass in quiet contemplation, quickly losing herself in the depths of the clear liquid.
As she sat, mesmerized by the contents of her glass, the pulsating beat suddenly seemed to fade from her mind and the familiar, haunting sound of his menacing voice filled it instead. She shook her head deftly, anxiously trying to banish the horrible sound of his unmistakable voice.
Hastily, she stood up, accidentally knocking her glass over in the process. As it tumbled to the ground, the liquid escaped it soaking both her shirt and pants. Amidst the loud music, the faint tinkling of the glass as it contacted with the ground could be heard. Jessica however didn’t even notice it. Oblivious to both her wet clothes and the concerned inquiry of the bar tender, her eyes darted about rapidly. The room began to spin mercilessly around her as she searched in vain for any means of escape.
Finally spying a way out, she moved slowly, her feet uncoordinated and cumbersome. As she stumbled towards the exit, his evil voice continued to taunt her. Her breathing became laboured as she desperately tried to ignore his voice, frantically squeezing past the dancing masses.
She kept her eyes averted to the ground, vaguely aware of the bewildered looks of others. She struggled past people, wrongly assuming that the looks they shot her were ones of pity and disgust. To her it seemed as though each person she passed knew all the sordid details of the past that she had unsuccessfully been trying to hide from for the past few months.
As she stumbled blindly towards the exit, it became increasingly difficult for her to breathe. She felt as though she were suffocating; as if the walls of the spacious club were slowly closing in on her. She forged on determinedly however, certain that the moment she was out in the fresh air and away from the accusatory stares of all these strangers, she would be okay. She always was.
She lumbered on, aware only of his incessant voice and her intense determination to be free from the confines of the cramped club. Willing her rather uncooperative legs to move, she inched her way towards the door, able to feel a faint breeze as it opened and closed with the comings and goings of others. She increased her speed as much as her aching limbs would permit and bit her lip to keep from crying as his horrible voice resounded in her head.
She was so intent upon getting out that she failed to notice a tall, muscular man entering the club. It wasn’t until she collided awkwardly with him that she finally noticed his presence.
Taken by surprise, she glanced up, her eyes hesitantly sweeping over his features. She stared at him inquisitively, completely bewildered by his presence. She eyed him suspiciously but immediately remembered the relentless voice echoing throughout her mind. Quickly she tore her eyes from his face and moved away from him without even so much as the utterance of an apology.
Propelled by her intense desire to escape, she surged forward, a burst of adrenaline sending her clumsily through the doors. She furiously gulped air, inhaling and exhaling quickly. With each breath his evil voice faded, diminishing until it was but a mere whisper. And once again, Jessica was left standing completely alone, with nothing more than the crisp New York breeze sifting gently through her hair.
Rolling his eyes in mock-disgust, he watched her near hysteric exit with a bemused smile. A smirk played dangerously upon his lips as his eyes followed her curvaceous figure through the doors. Frequenting this particular club often, he had seen many such outbursts. Frankly it was beyond him that people found a smoky dance floor to be a good place for an emotionally charged conversation.
A catchy tune diverted his attention and he turned, straining to catch a glimpse of the dance floor. Amidst the bodies milling about near the entrance, he could make out the familiar lights and dancing bodies.
Inadvertently Nick cringed, suddenly eyeing his surroundings contemptuously. He knew that by entering the club, he was in a sense stepping into a whole other reality. A reality that stood for everything that in the past he had been so adamantly against.
The club’s reality was a free one, where everyone cut loose and diverged from the norm. People who came there had absolutely no recollection of the word “commitment” but were merely there to have a good time without any rules or regulations. This lack of commitment was what had originally lured him in the first place.
In the past, he would never have been caught within a 10-mile radius of a place like this. He had never been one to take pleasure in putting on pretentious airs or manipulating women for his benefit. Over the past few months though, all that had changed.
The past few weeks had been something of a tumultuous roller coaster ride of self-realization for him. He’d experimented with more than a few relationships, desperately hoping that one of them would evolve into something meaningful. None of them had however and he had quickly become sorely discouraged. He began to realize that it was only his good looks that attracted women to him. They couldn’t care less about his interests, opinions or even if he had a personality.
Spurned by his lack of success with women, he had turned to the club scene figuring that since a serious relationship wasn’t going to flourish with anyone anytime soon, he may as well have some fun. Every weekend he was at the club staring through his charismatic blue eyes at a different face and making false promises and flashing his pretentious smile. In his mind, this was the only way to forget the past.
Subconsciously Nick was aware that each time he arrived at the club, he was hoping that somehow he would meet his soul mate. He had found her once, but let her slip away. Maybe there was someone else out there for him. He doubted it but still hoped that one day amidst the sea of unfamiliar faces on the dance floor, he would find someone else who was perfect for him. Each night as he left however, a feeling of desolation would sweep over him as he realized that he had not and that he probably never would.
With a dejected sigh, Nick shook his head. It was foolish to even contemplate the issue for he knew it was a lost cause. His life was destined to be filled with one pretty face after the next, each interested in him only for his obvious assets. Keeping this realization in mind, he moved somewhat listlessly towards the dance floor, surprisingly uneager to find what or whom the night had in store for him.