The butler pushes Heidi into a small room, even smaller than the wake up room. It also seems much darker, although I'm sure they're around the same.
The door has a small flap at the bottom which is where I assume the food is slid through. It's probably wide enough for an arm to fit through, but not much else.
The walls are made of metal, possibly aluminium, as is the floor, the bed in the corner, the sink and the toilet. There's no rug, no pillow or blankets on the bed and no light bulb. Once the door is shut she's going to be in complete darkness.
"Please," she whimpers, trying to pick herself up, "please don't do this."
The master nods to the butler, who then shuts the door and triple locks it with a set of keys he pulled from a pocket on the inside of his green blazer.
Heidi's pleading face before the door shut will never be gone from my mind. It was so full of self-pity, sadness and no hope at all. It's like she's officially given up.
"Kyle, please return to the party," The master orders, "today is meant to be fun."
Then he walks away before I can respond. Rude much?
The butler offers me a sympathetic smile, but unless he's letting Heidi out of the isolation room I don't want anything from him.
I storm back to the party room, not watching where I'm going. Because of this I bump into a tall, muscular, dark skinned man.
I'd say he's at least 6'0 and looks as if he lives at the gym. If we got into a fight I know who'd beat the other into a bloody pulp.
"Oh, sorry." He apologises, stepping out of the way of the door.
"It's fine." I mutter.
I look up at the stranger, but something in my brain tells me he's not a stranger.
His deep brown eyes have definitely met mine before, his large hands have definitely patted me on the back or stolen my green hat back when I owned it.
He seems to recognise me too as he looks around shiftily whilst biting his lip and scratching the back of his neck.
"Kyle, hi," he says hesitantly, "I didn't know you'd be here."
"Neither did I," I joke, despite this not being the time for jokes, "I've seen you before. Who are you?"
Before he can answer, Nicole walks out of the party room and wraps her arms around the guy's waist. She starts kissing the back of his neck and pulling him into her.
She doesn't seem to notice me as she starts sliding her hands lower in the direction of his belt.
"God, Token, I've tried to get out of there for so long," she whispers, "Stan's other friends are so creepy."
Token.
Somehow, something clicks inside my brain and little pieces of information come back to me, like jigsaw pieces being pressed together.
<<Flashback because everyone loves a good flashback>>
"I can't believe we're finally invited to a Token party!" Scott grinned, practically fizzing with excitement as we arrived at Token Black's house.
"I know," I agreed, "usually we're not cool enough to go."
"I wonder what changed." David frowned.
He was never on board with the party idea since we've never been invited to a party before, but all of a sudden Token seemed really interested in us.
He'd been suspicious of Token since day one, even before he decided to invite us.
"What kind of douchebag invites a whole school to a dumb party and misses out three guys?" He muttered to himself, "inviting us now just proves he knows we're onto him."
David parked his car on the sidewalk close to Token's house since the driveway and the sidewalk for almost two blocks were taken up by cars, trucks, taxis, bikes and even a limousine, so there was no way we could park closer.
"Okay guys, this is it," I took a deep breath to prepare myself for the best damn party I've probably ever been to, "don't do anything dumb, don't fuck with anyone and don't fuck anyone. That could be a really bad idea."
"And don't get too shit faced." A passing student added.
David rolled his eyes and I saw his lips moving as he muttered angrily to himself, most likely cursing Token and his family.
"Listen guys, please don't get too drunk. I'm borrowing my dad's car and he's gonna kill me if one of you throws up or tries to have sex in it." He pleaded, although he knew full well either me or Scott were going to be drunk out of our minds; it happened every time we went out despite our age.
"No promises." Scott joked.
Later on that evening, the three of us were socialising confidently with the rest of the party guests, drinking punch from the punch bowl in the kitchen, which was most likely spiked before we got there.
Loud music blasted from hidden speakers, coloured lights flashed from big light boxes in the corners of most rooms, and smoke was emitted from smoke machines located beside each door leading outside.
There was barely any space to move, the amount of people probably wasn't safe, but everyone was so excited and drunk that nobody cared.
"Hey, guys!" Token popped up out of nowhere and slapped David on the back like he did after he won a track event at school competitions, or if he was just being friendly to his close mates, "glad you could make it!"
David glared at Token with a look of annoyance I'd never seen on him before. It was almost as if he knew something was going to happen tonight and he'd been informed beforehand.
"So, are you guys enjoying yourselves?" Token asked.
"We sure are!" Scott grinned, his drink sloshing around in his cup as he moved wildly to the upbeat music, "this is the best party I've been to."
"I'm flattered," token grinned back, unaware that was the only party Scott had been to, except from his shitty birthday parties his mom had, "my buddy Stan's here so you might wanna say hi. He's pretty popular and might help you guys stop being such rejects. It's quite pathetic how lonely you guys are, you're ruining the school."
Token winked at us before disappearing back into the crowd of people, leaving us slightly confused.
Token had invited us to try and boost our popularity so we didn't 'ruin the school', not because he liked us.
I looked around to try and spot anyone we knew, but each face was one I'd never seen and everyone was moving around so much it was hard to tell whether I'd already looked at.
"Oh shit there's a fight between Jenny and Red!" Someone yelled, which made everyone head towards the entrance room to watch it.
The room was slightly emptier, but still just as loud. The walls were practically vibrating from all the noise and I wonder how the neighbours were coping.
Most of Scott's drink had been spilled on the floor and I'd finished mine before token turned up.
"Hey Scott, how's your blood sugar?" David asked, arms folded, but a caring look on his face.
"Shit, I don't know." Scott shrugged, "can you come to the bathroom with me whilst I check?"
David nodded and the two of them went in search for a bathroom to check Scott's blood sugar levels, leaving me on my own in this room filled to the brim with people I've never spoken to.
I headed over to the drinks table for another drink, only to find a tall, dark haired guy stood there already.
When he turned around, his eyes were icy blue and seemed to stare right through me even though he was looking right at me.
"Here," he smiled, handing me a red cup full of spiked punch, "I'm handling drinks since most of the animals here are trying to slip in vodka and chilli sauce. I've been nicknamed the Fun Police."
I thought he was choking about the chilli sauce, but at least three bottles of strong sauce were on the table having been confiscated by this guy.
"What's your name?" I asked, thinking tonight was the night I'd finally hook up with someone.
"Stan," he replied with another smile, "can you come with me for a second, Kyle? It's important."
<<End Of Flashback>>
At the time I didn't question why he knew my name, or why I hadn't seen him giving and drinks out to anyone else that night, but I know I should've. I went with him and look where it got me.
If simply hearing Token's name unlocks a memory, I wonder what else will help me remember things.