Paradise 69

55

I ENTER THE BLOCK where Lexy said that I would find Vittoria. Music immediately reaches my ears. There are at least two hundred people inside. Most of them are dancing. Others are standing at a bar, drinking, or talking to someone while holding a bottle of beer.

Everything is done quite nicely. A very beautiful set up. Things are decorated in a good manner, and all the guests are being asked and offered sweets and drinks. Above the DJ, there is a pink neon sign that reads: The Collectives.

"Is that your friend that are you looking for?" Lexy points to an aerial dance cage in the middle of the dance floor.

There are about six other girls dancing inside of an aerial dance cages throughout the nightclub. One of the cages is completely empty.

Are they planning on putting me in there?

I focus on the one that Lexy is pointing at. I squint my eyes, as a laser beam flashes across my face. The DJ presses a button, and smoke rises in the air.

Is this place even legal to be operating?

The music is really loud, and I can't hear what Lexy is saying. I just follow the direction she is pointing at. I focus my attention to a female wearing only a thong, and leggings mid-thigh highs. She is facing away from us. She has one hand over her head, while the other is hanging to the chains from a swing. Her butt cheeks wobble as she twerks to the beat of a song.

Then she turns around, and in that milli-second our eyes meet. She stops dancing, and a smile fades from her face. A spotlight illuminated her entire body, and...

It's Vittoria!

It's definitely Vittoria!

I lean forward. I'm about to make my way into the crowd. I want to get closer to the cage she is in. But, Lexy grabs my arm, and stop me.

"You can't go there right now."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because she is currently working!"

I glance at her again.

She starts moving to a new beat of the song. She moves around the swing...but always managing to find me in the crowd. I point at myself, and point at the floor, and then I move my index gesturing 'no.'

I hope she understands what I'm trying to tell her!

She nods.

She understood it!

I meant to say that I am not going to leave here without her.

Lexy taps on my shoulder, and gestures for me to take a seat at a nearby table. I glance at the table, and I see that Mijan is already sitting there. He waves at me to come over.

They chose a table with a perfect view of Vittoria's aerial dance cage!

So considerate of them!

I smile and join Mijan. I wait for Lexy to take a seat, before leaning across the table and speak loudly over the music.

"Thank you for clarifying the situation and allowing me to see that she is alive!"

"Scarlett. Whatever was the situation that happened to her, it was simply for the fact that she was refusing to do what we asked her to do!"

I return my attention to Vittoria.

What is the big deal about being inside of a suspended cage?

Now that I have Vittoria in my sight...I'm wondering where my other friends are...

Adrianna, and Giuliana?

I catch a well-dressed male, blonde curly hair approaching the DJ and whispering something on his ear. The DJ nods, and hands him a microphone.

"Good evening, everyone! Put your hands up in the air if you're having a good tiiiimmmmeee?"

The crowd roars.

"Who is that guy?" I lean over towards Mijan's right ear.

"He is just a bid caller."

"Announcer." Lexy adds.

"He is an auctioneer? Like a car auction?"

"That is correct."

I return my attention to him. He is speaking really fast.

"All right folks...I have up for auction..."

"What in the name of all that holy is this guy saying? I can't understand a word of it!"

"This is a real auctioneer chant!"

Mijan leans towards me.

"You're not alone. A lot of the time, newcomers to these auctions are utterly baffled by the rapid speech of the auctioneer."

"But once you know what he's trying to communicate and how he is doing it, you'll get the hang of it. For instance...this is what he is saying."

I glance back at the auctioneer as Lexy repeats his words.

"...Cherry cage number five...who'll give me four large? Four thousand, four, now who gimme four fiddy, got four fiddy, got four fiddy from the man in the back. Now who gonna go five?"

The crowd roars again. Supposedly. Cage number five found an owner. I watch Vittoria's suspended cage lowering to the floor, and the door swinging open. An overhead spotlight reflects the number on the door.

5.