Darkness in the Neon Lights (H2OVanoss)

Chapter 46

He then stops and asks me, "What do you think about staying at the club? I remember you were taking online classes and were really excited about the idea of going to college before. Do you still want to do all of that?"

I sigh and lean against the wall next to us. "I don't know anymore. Honestly, part of me loves the idea of me taking over the club, but another part of me feels like it's not for me anymore. I don't know what I should do..."

I look over to Ze and I can see the gears turning in his head as he tries to think of something to either say or do. After a few seconds, those gears click into the right slots, turning on a lightbulb in his head. He then smiles at me and tells me to wait here before he runs around the corner.

Pulling out my phone, I start messing around online, jumping from social media site to social media site. I stop, however, when I see the name of an article pop up on one of the sites.

"Six Clubs Shut Down in the Past Year"

My eyes widen and I quickly click on the link and I start reading the article.

"The club life seems to be in grave danger in this once nightlife-topia. The police have been hard at work clearing out each and every club, including the many strip clubs we have in our bustling city, and forcing them to close their doors for good, but for good reason.
In the past year, a total of six clubs have been raided and shut down by the hands of police for several horrible reasons. The first club targeted was the nightclub, Slipout. The owner of which had been caught raping unconscious women and men in the bathrooms of the club and allowing underage teenagers to walk in if they matched the dress code of "short skirts" or "lots of skin", according to a former employee for the club.
The second club targeted was the nightclub, Luxx, which was shut down for allowing their bartenders to accept bribes, allowing an unknown amount of women and men to be drugged. If you are a possibly a victim, please call in. The case against the club is still growing, and police are more than happy to help you find your way on the road to recovery.
Although those two alone were difficult to take down, they managed to do this by the fall. By winter, three more clubs were taken down. These being a third nightclub and two strip clubs. The nightclub, T, was shut down after undercover police caught the owner and manager selling illegal narcotics.
The first strip club shut down was the club, Lust, which was shut down for prostitution.  The second strip club shut down was the club, World Tails, which had become popular for the cultural diversity, however, hid a disturbing secret. The owner and manager of the club had taken women from all over the world with the promise of a wonderful life, only to have everything stolen from them. Their passports were taken from them, their families were threatened, and they were forced into stripping and prostitution for their freedom. This, unfortunately, isn't a unique story either.
This leads us to the start of this year. Although we are only three months in, it hasn't stopped them from shutting down yet another club. This most recent club, The Vanity, was shut down after the club owner was catch drugging and kidnapping women and selling them into human trafficking. This club has already been linked to the disappearance of ten women, and we fear that as the investigation into The Vanity continues, more will pop up.
This now leads us to many more questions. What will happen to each and every single one of the monsters behind these stories? We can only hope for prison, but we may not know until much later.
What will happen to these clubs that were shut down? Rumor has it that some people are looking to buy these buildings, but we also have heard that the city is planning to destroy each and every single one of them in order to give the building a fresh start. So if you're wondering where your tax dollars are going this year, we may have that answered as well.
And now, the question many of you are probably now asking, what's next? Are there any more clubs that the police have their eyes on? Are there any more horror stories to come as the year goes on. Unfortunately, we do not have the answers to that question. When asked, the chief of police refused to answer. However, time will only tell us what will happen to the rest of the bright, busy buildings that make up our city's nightlife."