I opened my eyes slowly and lifted myself up. My entire body felt like it was hit by a car. I stood up and limped to the bathroom to wash up. I closed the door gently behind me because I was unsure if the others were asleep or not. I looked in the mirror and tilted my head up. I ran my fingers softly along the bruises that were starting to form on my neck and winced at the pain. Tears started to rise in the corners of my eyes, but I instantly blinked them away. No. I am a big girl and I can handle this. Everything will be alright, it'll all be okay.
I turned the faucet on and splashed cold water on my face. A little splashed against my neck, but it felt good. Shaking my hands dry, I turned the faucet off. I opened the door and tiptoed out into the room. Angel's night stand had her lamp on, while Nia's was off and her figure under the sheet was fast asleep.
I walked to my bed and sat facing Angel. I couldn't tell what she was doing because she had her head hanging down above her lap and she was sitting with her legs crossed on her bed. I touched her shoulder gently and she jolted up. Her eyes filled with different emotions before settling on reassurance when she saw me. I gave her a small smile and released my hand.
"How are you?" She asked her voice filling with concern. "We weren't sure if you were ever going to wake up again."
I peered at Nia's sleeping figure before settling my eyes on Angel and I shrugged. "I'm okay. I'll be fine."
"She fell asleep, don't judge her."
"Where were you before you got here? There must be some kind of connection to how we all got here."
She uncrossed her legs and waved toward her outfit. She had on a white crop top that came over her flat chest with high waist blue jean pants covering her belly button and red and white converse shoes that were tossed aside near her bed.
"I was at a club enjoying the night out with my friends," She smiled at the thought of it. "I can't remember now why we went, but we were having a blast at Club Seltzer!"
I frowned. "Club Seltzer? I think I was there too!"
She turned and scrunched up her nose a little in disgust. "Are you sure? I mean no offense, but people of your skin color are not usually there."
I crossed my brown arms over my brown chest and rolled my brown eyes. "Now is not the time to discuss racial issues and equality. What did you drink? Did you drink anything that made you feel any different? How did you feel when you woke up today?"
"I woke up feeling a little sick. I don't think I had that much to drink though," She scratched her head. "There was this one drink that I drunk though that my friends made me drink."
I watched her bite her lip in concentration and she tapped her fingers against her mouth. All of a sudden, she snapped her fingers. "Heaven! That was the name of the drink."
"That's a weird name for a drink," I said. "I didn't drink that at all, so how did I get here?"
Her eyes widened. "Do you think he could have poisoned me?"
I shrugged. "Possibly. Do you remember what you did afterwards?"
"I remember feeling off, but I didn't want to disappoint my friends. So I left and went for a walk to walk it off, then I woke up here."
"You must have passed out," I said lost in thought.
She nodded.
I leaned back and stared at the ceiling as I remembered that night.
Different colors of neon lights were blinking on and off flashing all different bodies and unfamiliar faces. There were many people dancing and grinding on the dance floor to some song that had an incredible beat. Not too many people were at the bar, so that's where my friend and I started our evening there.
"Are you glad you finally got out of the house?" She asked shouting as we sat on the stools.
"Yeah, this is a pretty cool place!" I replied actually smiling that I agreed to come.
I didn't go out that much, so I didn't have much party clothing. My best friend, Silvia, let me borrow a tight black v-necked dress that fell short above my knees and black heels to top it off. I curled my hair that day and did my makeup light.
"Anything I can get for you, gorgeous ladies?" The bartender asked leaning over the counter.
I started to say water, but Silvia ordered something for us both before I could answer. She elbowed me in the side. "Come on, Celia. Be spontaneous for once!"
I opened my mouth to argue, but she was always right. I nodded. "Okay."
After drinking whatever she ordered me, I was beginning to feel a little dizzy. The room kept tilting every once and a while, but my body was still functioning. I shook my head and stood up.
"Lets dance!" I shouted at my friend. I should just dance it off and it'll go away eventually. I never been drunk, so I wasn't quite sure on how to feel.
I grabbed her hand and pulled her to the dance floor as another song started to play. I began snapping my fingers to the beat and swaying my hips side to side.
Silvia cheered me on and started to do her own thing. Soon we were dancing our butts off doing all types of dances there was! I never had that much fun since I turned 18 and the feeling I had earlier pretty much was forgotten. Two guys danced their way towards us and started to dance with each of us. Our bodies was pressed together as we started to dance as one. I could fill the heat and his high energy radiate off of his body and unto mine. His hot breath was on my skin and I could smell the slight scent of cologne he had on. He ran his hands all over my body and I leaned back into his gentle touch.
Soon we all grew pretty tired of dancing, so we all went to the bar for a couple of shots. We kept egging one another on to do more and more. It didn't take me long to get drunk. The room was definitely spinning now. The guy that I was dancing with turned into two of the same guy and I smiled all goofy thinking to myself more fun for me. Silvia disappeared off somewhere with the other guy back onto the dance floor and the guy I had ditched me. I couldn't see as clearly as before, so I wanted to sit it out.
I sat there all alone tapping my fingers along my empty glass. I stared at my fingers and wiggled them. Huh. Never knew that I had more than ten fingers! Oh there's so much I can do with these bad boys. I can have more power to conquer the world and gain equality for everyone in the world! I threw my hands up in success and almost fell off my seat. I looked around the club at all the blurry dancing people. There must be something or someone that can help me.
The bartender placed a drink in front of me. "Here, it'll help you to "conquer the world" and it's already paid for by that guy over there."
He pointed then chuckled as he walked away and I frowned not even knowing I was speaking my plan aloud. I turned my head to look and see who brought me a drink. Mysterious, blue eyes met mine and I rubbed my eyes to see more clearly, but it didn't work. He was still blurry, but I could make out that he was sitting at the bar in the corner all alone. He raised his drink at me and gulped it down before getting up and disappearing into the crowd of people.
I blinked and looked back at my drink. The liquid inside was moving to the sound of the music and I laughed at it's ridiculous dance moves. I picked it up and promised myself that this was my last drink, before chugging the sweet bitter liquid down my throat. I smacked my lips and licked them dry. That was the best drink I ever had! It was better than all of the bitter tasting drinks I consumed while I was here. This one had a bitter taste at first almost like lemons, then it turned into a sweet savory flavor. However, all the drinks that I drunk burned my throat.
I stood up and stumbled. I grasped the bar tightly hanging onto it to regain my balance. I couldn't feel my legs anymore and I was beginning to lose feeling in my fingers. I tried to frown, but by then I didn't know how to make correct facial expressions anymore. I looked around to see if I could get a glimpse of Silvia, but I couldn't make her out from the world of people.
The bartender eyebrows creased as he looked at me concerned. "Hey, are you okay?"
He started to walk towards me to help me, but the same guy I saw earlier strolled up and placed my arm around his neck. "I got her. Thank you."
He nodded to the bartender as he whisked me away to the exit. I smelt his forest scent as my nose bumped into him numerous amounts of times. My stomach started to feel uneasy and I groaned. We walked outside and I immediately pulled away from him puking next to the building. The dress Silvia gave me was ruined and I was in big trouble for messing it up.
After puking my entire guts out, I stumbled back from it and breathed in the sweet oxygen of the night. The beat could still be heard from out here and everything was still. Something went over my head and I giggled trying to see. The guy put my arms through two holes, then he tried to get me to step into another pair of holes. I tickled his neck as he put the jeans on me and he slapped my hand away. He grabbed my hand tightly and walked me to his car.
"W-where are we going?" I asked clapping my hands to the beat of the Dora theme song.
He didn't answer. I laid down in the back of his car smelling the fresh scent of a new car. I sung the theme songs to tv shows that I used to watch all the time when I was a child for the rest of the night as he drove. Soon a black monster was trying to overcome me and I fought it for as long as I could before eventually passing out.
I gasped and looked at Angel. "H-he kidnapped me."