AAJO (JOURNEY)

TRANSIT, THAT FOREIGN CONCEPT.

I don't remember exactly when I died but I remember how perfectly.

The how is a little bit irrelevant to me now, I would have liked to know the when, the exact time I died so that anytime the clock strikes that time, I would know what to expect, I would know that evil was lurking at that point in time. All I knew was that it was in the night, and that was not enough.

I had sneaked out of the house because my mother had commanded me not to go out, forbidden me even, and I had not listened.

Idileke, she was my closest and only friend then, had planned the perfect getaway for me. I would connive with my twin siblings, even though we did not get along much because they were eight years younger than me and they were spoilt and annoying. I will would buy their silence and cooperation with sweets and money. One of them would stay in my room, pretending to be me, while the other would be snugged up in bed with pillows. My mother would not suspect a thing and I would come out of the house quietly and before they woke up, I would slide back into the house. Everything but the last part worked like a charm.

We went to a club, the club. It was named Nemesis and for some reason, immediately I heard the name, a shiver went through my spine. I disliked the name and I remembered wanting to go elsewhere, anywhere but Club Nemesis because something about the club seemed shady, scary and I wanted to go back home, but Idileke would not let me. I think she died too, but she's not part of us, maybe she went to heaven. No, no, hell would be best for Idileke.

In Club Nemesis, Idileke's boyfriend, David, was already waiting for us. I remember him passing me a glass of tequila which I politely, I think, declined. I also remember him passing me a glance of haughtiness right after. I remember despising that glance! I remember that I despised him too, for whatever reason. Maybe it was because I did not like sharing Idileke with him, maybe it was because I did not like how I felt when I saw him and Idileke together, maybe it was because anytime I caught him staring at me, my heart thumped ten times faster. I just despised him. I thought that he too was shady with his black clothes and black facemask, everything black, he fitted well with the Club Nemesis theme.
David escaped. I think it was because he had not taken any drink and his mind was still sharp. Hmm, too bad. I thought he deserved to die, because he ran, he ran like the fucking coward he was instead of saving us.

I had not drank the tequila, I had had a soft drink instead. For the death of me, I cannot remember if it was a Pepsi or Coke but it had cola in it, sha. I do not know if all the drinks in club Nemesis were spiked but mine was because after I had drunk the glass of Pepsi/Coke, I remember feeling lightheaded and everything became blurry. David and Idileke were shoving their tongues down each other's throats, they faded into the background and everywhere and everyone I looked at was a blur of colours.

Right then, I saw the bartender's face; he was smiling! I was right about Club Nemesis, they were up to no good! I wanted to scream, to alert Idileke and maybe David, so that we could get out of the club but something, no doubt the drug, was making me calm when I was anything but. That, that was the scariest thing I had ever felt. I was pacing around, shouting and trashing in my head, but my body was paralyzed, damn-near catatonic and I prayed that I would never feel anything like that again and now, I can't feel anything; only a numbness close to sadness and failure.

I heard people starting to groan all around me, and all hell broke loose. I wanted to cry but I did not, well, maybe I did, but then I could not feel my body do anything and I tell you, that was the most frustrating and frightening thing that has ever happened to me and I had felt a lot of things before and after that day, so that should tell you something.

We had no beef with Club Nemesis. The owners did not know any of us and we did not know them, we just happened to be there on that fateful day, we were victims of circumstances. The owners were those people who used the blood of others to make their businesses prosper and felt no remorse doing so. If I had had the chance to do one thing before I died, it would be to kill all of them one by one with my bare hands, especially that bartender that had put drugs in our drinks. I wondered how much they paid him, or maybe he was part of them, part of their cult. Why had he picked me, Idileke and all those other people and spared the rest? If I had stayed home, would he have come there to drug and kill me? They needed blood, I get that, but did it have to be human blood? They couldn't find animals?