I thought to give space for my life. My parents didn't follow me or even look for me. But the timing is unpredictable. My unusual feeling is: why should I trust this guy named Kurt Urdanzo?
He took my arm, and he led me outside to a luxury red car that was parked on the second floor. This is a good way to make a new friend. While walking around, the city was alive with throngs of people, honking horns, and car exhaust. He opened the door, I slipped inside, and he got into the driver's seat. Once the doors were closed, the interior was as quiet as a tomb. The whole world could have been in the middle of a nuclear war, and we wouldn't have known. I'd never been in anything half as luxurious as this Almond hotel on wheels, and I squirmed in my seat.
"Do you mind to say something?" He asked me as the car jumped forward into the busy two-lane traffic.
"I think your car's monthly insurance bill costs as much as my apartment," I commented. He chuckled.
"Probably," he agreed.
"So what do you do for a living?" I wondered.
"Oh, I'm an errand boy. But I spend a lot of my time at home." I turned to him and raised an eyebrow.
"I'm living in the forest," he added. I don't think he tells me the truth. But his face seems to be serious this time.
"What are you doing here? Are you a drug dealer?" I joked.
"Not exactly. I'm sort of an on-call man for the people I'm taking care of. That's why I'm here in the city for some parting time while I am looking for my soul mate."
"Well, that's nice," I replied. He smiled.
We drove several blocks through fancy boutiques and shops that dazzled the tourists and partygoers. The mini-parks behind the crowded streets gave way to office buildings and hotels that towered over us like imperious overlords. Few of the buildings had garages beneath them. The garage sat below street level and was lit with sickly fluorescent lights.
There were two dozen other cars around the main stairs into the building above us. Many of them were long, black cars with chauffeurs at the wheel reading large books to pass the long wait. There were a few other flashy vehicles, and a group of men stood at the bottom of the stairwell, laughing and talking. Kurt helped me out of the low vehicle and led me over to the stairs.
"That's a nice one you have there," one of the men yelled to us. Kurt glared at him.
"Hold your tongue, you idiot," he snapped. He hurried us past and into the stairwell that led us up into the building.
"I have to apologize for my friend. He's a little drunk around this time of night," he told me.
"Is he one of the people I'm supposed to meet?" I asked him. Kurt smiled and shook his head.
"No, not at all. The people you're going to meet are near the top floor partying as we speak."
We climbed the stairs to the lobby of the building. It was a tiled-floor, echoing kind of lobby with a glass front and doors. Kurt led me to the elevators at the back, and we climbed in. Just as he said, there were fifty floors to the building, and he pushed the button for the forty-fifth. The elevator climbed the floors, and when the doors opened again, we were in a different world.
Before us was a large room with a little strobe of lights and flickering colors that encompassed all the colors in the rainbow. On the left side was a long table filled with food of all kinds, and in the back was a small stage with a door. On the right side was a DJ playing loud, fast music, and in the center of the room were round columns spaced evenly apart that supported the tiled roof.
The rest of the floor was taken up with people dressed in sleek red dresses with their hair done up in the latest fashions.
They occupied all ages, from the old couple who sat in chairs placed beside the columns to the young teenagers who danced to the music provided by the DJ. Among the dancers and those at the table were others like myself who were dressed in street clothes and other less formal attire. The room was unnaturally warm, and I immediately began to perspire. Kurt put his arm around me, held my left arm tightly, and guided me out onto the floor.
"Do you want to dance?" he asked,
"No, i just want to set in the corner and watched." I replied.
"Ok fine, how about drinks, any brand?"
"I don't drink alcohol." I said. That's only an excuse for me to return to my apartment sober; the place is new to me, and I'm not used to this type of expensive bar. I'm much more cautious because I don't know anyone here, including Kurt.
"What do you think of this party?" he wondered.
"It's certainly." I stopped when my eyes caught sight of a brilliant pair of blue eyes. They belonged to a handsome man of about thirty who was dressed in a fine suit. His beautiful eyes scrutinized me with such a strong mix of interest and fear that my heart picked up its tempo.
"I'm going to pee, Is it okay with you if I leave you here for the time being being?"
"Yes, take your time," I said. Then he left me at the table. I saw him talking to someone. I didn't pay attention, and I just took my time with the people around me and how beautiful the place is. It seems that only rich people can afford to enter this place.
Kurt places his arms again on my shoulders when he came back to me.
"Is something wrong?" he wondered.I shook myself and turned away.
"Nothing. I just thought I saw somebody I knew, but I was wrong."
"Good." Kurt glanced at his watch and frowned.
"I just remembered there was a call I needed to make. Would you excuse me for a few minutes?"
I glanced at the time. It's already a few minutes before midnight.
"Sure, we've got time to kill," I agreed. Kurt smiled, bowed his head, and left me again going to the elevator. I noticed a burly man standing on one side, and Kurt showed the man his coin. The man nodded and jerked his thumb at the open elevator doors. Kurt stepped into the machine with a few others, and the doors closed behind them. I was alone and feeling slightly nervous about being around of so many strangers.
My eyes inadvertently returned to the young man. He still watched me, and I noticed an older woman standing beside him. She stood regally at his side in a blue dress with frills on the modest collar. Her white hair was short and permed, and she glanced from the man to me and back at the stranger. Her lips moved, but I couldn't hear any sound over the noise of the music and laughter. The man pursed his lips and turned his head away, but his eyes stared at me out of their corners. I wandered over to the refreshments, and a woman of about forty in a smart business suit came up to me.
"You must be new here," she commented.
"Um, yeah, I guess I am," I replied. She smiled and looped her arm through one of mine.
"The real party's about to start. Are you alone?"
"No, my friend had an important call this time, he is in the outside now." I said. Then she told me,
"Alright, you will not be regretful that this was the best place to spend your final moments."
"Final moments?" I looked around the room and saw that the other people in their normal attire were being led to the stage.
"Why not join them? to experience the life of a beast."
What she said made me feel uneasy. When I heard the word "beasts," I thought about my parents, and I know what kind of beasts they are. So I asked
"What kind of beasts?"
"You will see..." the woman smiles. It appears to express hunger and enthusiasm at the dinner table with a good meal.
"Now let's get you up there so we don't miss you," she encouraged me. She guided me to the stage and up the short flight to the top. The others and myself were lined up at the back of the stage, and our handlers stepped down to join the crowd congregating at the base.
The DJ stopped the music and joined the partygoers as they pressed against the front of the stage. The people were packed in a tight group that stretched from one side of the floor to the other. I saw the man there with his older escort. He had a tense stance as though about to jump onto the stage, but the woman held his arm to keep him from giving in to the impulse.
The room quieted when the door beside the stage opened. Two men stepped out. One was a bespectacled older gentleman who wore a black suit and led his companion up the stairs. His friend was a young man of about thirty-five with long black hair tied back in a low tail that cascaded down his back. He had dark eyes and pale lips that smiled at each of us as they passed by a podium at the front center of the stage.
The bespectacled man took the podium first and cleared his throat.
"This is our yearly gathering. A meeting of the wolves to welcome our guests, The race is looking for a new Luna for the pack and each female on here will be identified for which one is the lucky chosen" he announced.
Mentioning "Luna" what is it all about? caused a ripple of nervousness to pass through my little line. One of the men in our group stepped forward.
"What the hell is this about Luna, and wolves?" he asked the bespectacled fellow.
"He is right, we are not an animals here." A woman said. Then all laughed. Obviously she's drunked but she is still aware of what happened around her.
"As you chose to come here is a paradise. I assure you of this, you have been chosen for a very important task " the younger man said. He strode back down our line to the man who stood out.