The Initials | Nanowrimo 2023

9| The Awakening

Cloud is dropped through the decorative hole in the ceiling of a nightclub, landing on a perfectly placed pile of soft cushions like a starfish, feeling way too stunned to speak.

He stares up at a sky that is not his own, trying to calm his heart rate down so that he isn't at risk of having a heart attack whilst trying to wrap his head around what he just did.

Picking up his hands, he inspects his palms, noting nothing different about them, just his regular looking eight fingers and two thumbs.

"Do you need some assistance?"

Cloud glances up at the woman standing over him wearing a white collared shirt and a leather suspender brace, wondering how weird he must look to her.

"No, I'm good." he replies, sounding breathless after dropping what could easily be thirty feet from the sky.

"If you're sure." she utters, sighing as she walks away, her flat leather shoes tapping against the shiny black tiles on her way to the island in the centre of the room.

Cloud struggles to sit up with the cushions constantly shifting but once he does he takes a look around the room.

It's mostly empty, the only pieces of furniture being the other two circular sofas like the one surrounding him, along with the extravagant island bar with a giant glass disco ball hanging overhead and roughly twenty standing tables, presumably for guests to place their beverages.

Red spotlights attached to the ceiling bathe the room in red, looking like the bars of a cage made from lasers, and even the oval bar has lights installed inside the shelves, accenting the black counters that look freshly waxed.

There are several others in the room who appear to work here, busying themselves with mopping, sweeping, and restocking the bar.

None of them attempt to detain Cloud as he walks around the place, which disturbs him until he discovers that all of the exits are locked from the outside.

"You look thirsty. Want something to drink?"

With very few options, Cloud decides to indulge the woman who even when appearing busy has her eyes on him, recognising the authority she seems to hold amongst the other workers as they tiptoe around her.

"Is it poisoned?" Cloud only half jokes, trying his best to remain calm by picking out little details like how she dyed the front strips of her hair blonde, leaving the rest jet black.

She simply rolls her eyes, sliding a coaster across the counter and lazily discarding the cloth laying on her shoulder. "Trust me kid. If he wanted you dead you'd be dead."

"Then why am I here?" he asks, leaning against the side of the bar as she prepares his beverage in plain sight for him to see.

The lights of the bar add definition to the plains of Cloud's face as he looks down at the drink being placed before him, eventually taking a sip of the neon blue beverage after deciding that her responses are way too blunt for her to be deceiving him.

"You'll find out soon enough."

A tiny smile creeps on Cloud's lips as he locks eyes with the bartender. "So you don't know either, huh?"

"We used to be close...but these days...I don't know. Mortelix does what Mortelix wants." she bats her eyes, regaining her cool composure. "Delainey."

"What?"

"My name. Don't forget it, I only give it once."

Cloud nods his head, lowering his eyes to his drink, unable to deny his liking of the drink she made for him. "You're pretty good at your job." he mutters, lightly tapping the glass with his index finger.