Stall

Red Lights / The Beginning

Red lights flood the thick air in the room around the small dingy club, music vibrating the dim walls and the smell of alcohol, sweat and sin fills my nostrils.

I grimace slightly, looking down at my boot and lifting it off the floor before placing it back down again. The floor is slick, and sticky from the array of drinks the people dancing and stumbling around have spilt throughout the night.

I look around anxiously at the couches littered all around against the walls, mostly covered with people trying to suck the air from each others lungs, or probably having sex, who am I kidding.

It's too dark to tell anyway, there's only a dark red neon glow that makes it to the edges of the room, with the brighter lighting focused over the bar.

Placebo is a notorious club in this part of Melbourne, it's the one everyone crawls to when the rest of the bars shut for the night. It's known for being filled with sex, drugs and rock and roll and that seems to be it's appeal to everyone.

It's deviant, dirty and sinister.

In my entire 19 years of being alive, I've never been to a place like this.

I grip tighter on the drink in my hand, scanning the room anxiously and fiddling with the end of my t-shirt, constantly side stepping and apologising to the drunk people staggering past. I can't believe Sophie managed to talk me into coming here.

There's a nudge to my shoulder and I look to my left to see Sophie rolling her eyes at me. She leans down to my ear, yelling over the thundering music.

"Loosen up Abby, drink this" she pushes another drink into my hand, and I look down at it then to my other drink I've barely had a sip of.

"Down both of them, you'll feel better" she yells again.

I need to calm my nerves, I'm horrible in social situations and I can only see this getting worse without some more liquid courage.

I look over to Sophie, dressed in a tight black dress, fishnets and choker, towering over me in her heels, her red painted lips wrapped around the straw of her drink as she nods at me encouragingly.

Sophie and I are polar opposites, she's loud, confident, vivacious and extremely social. I am none of those things, and right now I couldn't be more like a fish out of water.

I let out a heavy breath, closing my eyes and bringing the glass to my lips, tilting my head back and gulping the first drink back in one hit, cringing at the fire the coats down my throat from it.

Fuck that's strong.

I cough slightly, dragging my hand across my mouth before taking in another breath and repeating the same action with the next drink.

I can already feel the warmth spreading through my body, and I squeeze my eyes closed waiting for the burning in my throat to die down.

When I open my eyes, my whole body stills as my eyes focus on the figure coming down the stairs that lead to the top floor.