It was a dark and stormy day in the city of Atlanta, clouds gathering overhead for a downpour. The storm had been gathering for days, but only now was it beginning to release it payload. The target of the drops of rain was the Naughty Ostel, a club for those who just wished to have a good time and have a few rounds doing so. Despite its seemingly suggestive name, it had a reputation of being one of the most popular clubs in the city and there were no real rooms inside, just a massive dance floor. The Naughty Ostel had just closed its doors, its dance floor empty and the speakers silent. Inside was one person, the owner of the club...
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I pulled my black iPod out of my right pocket, my finger pressing down on the screen button. I looked down at the bright screen and was surprised when the time read one fifteen. It had been fifteen minutes since everyone had left, leaving me alone in the club. "Closing time already? Dang, seems like we just opened, amazing how time flies when your sitting up here jamming along with a hundred other people. Oh well, better start preparing for tonight."
I jumped down from by station by the turntable booth, my white hoodie catching some wind and puffing it up. I patted it down before walking over to a nearby mirror, checking myself out to see if I still looked decent. My brown hair was still looked unkempt, though there was not much you could do with hair as short of mine. I was thinking growing out a bit or maybe even dying it a just a bit for a little more oomph. As for my glasses the transition lenses were already returning to their normal transparency, the dark tint gradually disappearing. I've had them for quite a while and my eyesight has gotten a bit blurrier. It was probably time to get a new pair. My Numark RED WAVE headphones were still around my neck, finishing off my DJ look.
"Not bad, not bad at all for dealing with seven drunks and a girl believing shes a magical creature.Though there's something missing, something too complete the look. Oh well, I can focus on it later when I'm laying in my recliner with a cold beer and some chips. For now I gotta clean up this place, its a mess." I plugged in my Numark headphones and music begins to blar into my ears. I sing along to the songs I know, though to must people I probably sounded like a dying cat being put through the wringer. Right now Paul Revere was playing, one of my all-time favorites songs by the Beastie Boys.
As Adam and his boys told their little tale I went over to the Supply closest to retrieve the mob and its corresponding bucket. The key to the Supply closest hung around my neck, making me fish around for it while I continued to bob my head to the music. Eventually I found the key and slide it into the lock, a reassuring click telling me that it was indeed the right one. I turned the handle and swung my hand around feeling for the chain that would turn on the lights. When I felt the cold metal I immediately grabbed hold, not wanting to make the mistake of whacking it to hard and getting it caught like last time. The light flickered on, causing me to wince as the sudden brightness seared my pupils. I blocked the light with my hand until the afterimage faded from my eyes, something I had still yet adopt to despite the strobe lights that constantly flashed on and off throughout the night. I made my way towards the bucket and mop, using my free hand to pull the chain once more as I wheeled the cleaning supplies out of the closest. I didn't bother locking it as I would just end up wasting more time fishing for the key later on.
It had been a prosperous night, the place had been filled to the brim with drunks and party-goers. Several of those drunks had made the foolish decision to take a massive swig of the imported Vodka he had bought not to long ago, a single sip being able to knock out a rhino. The paramedics had come over earlier to drag the poor guys out and helped clean up the mess, though a vast majority of it was still left. Red solo cups littered the floor along with pizza and various other kinds of food, with the cookies and punch nearly gone from their place on the serving tables next to the door. I sighed on my way over to the tables, pouring a glass and swishing it around in my mouth. It tasted strange, like someone had attempted to spike it with alcohol but instead put in sparkling grape juice or something. It left a tingling sensation on my tongue but I quickly dismissed it with a bite from a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie.
They were a surprising hit with the party-goers, something I had found out when Dave had visited one time and left a box of his favorite cookies on the table. I received compliments throughout the night on how they were different from what was normally served. Quite a few of them had asked if I would serve them again, which I replied with the universal shrug of "I don't know." Fortunately for me and the customers, Dave kept a whole stash of the things under his bed and end up taking a few packs every once in a while. It wasn't like he was going to be able to eat all thirty packs of cookies. The strangest effect the cookies had was that they made you want to do things you don’t normally do, something I had witness first hand when a regular started drinking and ended up buying everyone a drink. Needless to say, that was one the highlights of my career and one of the funniest too. I plopped the mop into the chemical bucket, scraping off the leftover pizza and puke that caked it. I dunked it a few extra times times just in case before continue cleaning, the sound of splashing of water filling the club. I repeated this process for the next few hours, gradually making my way to the western end of the building. It had taken a bit longer the unusual but the floor was now spotless. All that was left to tidy up the tables and get rid of anything that could not be salvaged. I began clearing off the tables and putting the rest of the punch into a container. Thirty minutes of cleaning off the tables and getting rid of the trash I held a bag weighing in at least ten pounds filled to the capacity with food. I'd have to remind myself later to see if we have any alcohol left in the fridge, the taste of punch still lingered in my mouth like string of meat caught between my teeth.
I walked over to the door with the bright green EXIT sign and placed a big rock in front of the door, with the door being one-way it would be very unwise for me to close it. The door itself led to an ally that was completely empty aside from the giant steel green and blue bins that sat left to the door. I hauled the black trash bag over my should and heaved with all my might, struggling to get it over the top of the blue bin. With a soft *THUNK* the bag hit the landed on last week's garbage, telling me that I would have to make a call to the trash collectors and have them pick it up in a few days... I wiped my hands on denim jeans, not caring much if they got dirty as they were pretty easy to clean. I re-entered the club and moved the rock out of the way, standing by the door until I heard it close with a click. Now it was time to check up on all the electronics and back stage and see if the still worked properly. A few weeks back one of the speakers had blown out and a band ended up playing with only half the club being able to hear it properly. I grabbed a checklist from a hook on the wall, whipping out a pen to check off everything on the list.
"Let's see what we have first... Speakers? Check.”
“Sub-woofers? Check.”
“Microphone? A bit slobbered on but check.”
As I marked off the rest of the items, the sound of something rustling caught his attention as my headphone had been silent for quite a while.. I scrolled down to the bottom of the list and saw the last thing on it, using the pen to make a exaggerated strike through the box.
“Drunk caught up in the wires? Triple Check.” It wouldn't be the first time I would be doing an inspection and wound up hauling some piss-drunk person out of the mess of cables snaking from the equipment. I tossed the pen in the air as I walked over to where I heard the rustling, watching it as it spun and caught it. I was suddenly holding it like a combat knife, a few games of Black Ops from a few years back refreshing my mind on how to properly hold the improvised weapon.
“Alright, come out slowly and follow the sound of my voice. As long as you don’t do anything stupid, you’re not ganna get hurt.” I peered around the corner of one of the larger piece of equipment, looking around it to see if any was 'drowning' in the sea of cables that covered the back of the stage. When not a limb or any other body part became visible I went back out into the open, my paranoia getting the best of me and I ended up spending the next ten minutes searching for an invisible intruder. When nothing came up then, I gave up and sat in a empty chair. I scrolled through my playlists until I settled for Avenge Seven-fold, Nightmare now playing in the background as I placed my headphones around my neck once more.
“Huh, guess it was just my imagination. But just in case someone did tamper with the equipment it could cause some issues at the up-coming Annual Summer Celebration. I'd hate to make an awesome speech and end up looking like a fool with no music playing."
The ASC, as most called it, was a huge gathering of all kinds of people. Artists, musicians, potters, and even DJs like myself all met under one roof to celebrate the glory of Summer. Not to mention it was also a great place to show of your skills and pick up a few sponsors along the way. It was also the year that I would finally revealing my masterpiece, a project that I have been working on for the last few years of my career. It had taken countless hours to carefully build and dozens of custom-made parts but it would all be worth it in the end. I yanked back the curtains covering the area marked EMPLOYEES ONLY and took a gander at one of the largest bass-generating devices ever to grace the planet. It was a combination of various bass and sub-woofers, with the dominate feature being a large speaker head taking a up a majority of the space on the front side while four regular-sized ones sat in each corner of the same face. The monstrosity stood at least eight feet tall, dwarfing me by a good foot and seven inches, filled with some of the most advance sound equipment money could buy. The specs were a bit sketchy but it could crank out an amazing 170 decibels of sound though the regulator kept it from reaching that number by limiting the max to 100 decibels, which was still loud enough to hear over a roaring crowd. Various other machines and devices related to sound quality were also hooked up to the gargantuan hybrid, dozens of red lights indicating that they were all switched off.
"Good, everything appears to be in its proper place. Now let's see if everything is fully operational." I walked over to the equipment besides the massive thing and began flicking all the switches to the 'On' position. The dials took a bit longer then expect but then again there were over thirty of them and only one of me. Few minutes later I was ready to see what this bad-boy could really instead of just reading the data from some program on my laptop. I had initially planned to have it first be used in the Celebration but it was always a good idea to have a few test runs before showing something off.
"Alright, now lets see what I should play tonight. Hmmm... Hero? Nah, played that to much. Soundtracks? Eh, forgot which songs had the most sound. Hold on, what's this? Bass cannon? Sounds cool."
I unwound the auxiliary jack and plugged it into the headphone slot, no music blaring through the speakers just yet. It took a while for the electricity to reach the subwoofer-bass hybrid due to the sheer length of the cables and their thickness. When it began to take longer then usual I decided to investigate. A quick scan of the floor revealed a stray cable originating from the back of one of the many machines.
"Hmm, guess something got disconnected. I better check the c-AHH" The electricity had finally reached the massive machine, the rims around each speaker head glowing with a neon-blue light as they powered up. I had a millisecond to notice them but it was to late, as my body was suddenly hit with a billion vibrating particles. I screamed in surprise and fear as my body sailed through the area. I felt weightless for a few moments, as if I was flying but that quickly ended when I collided with the wall. I felt something warm flow down the back of my neck, a tingly feeling taking over my body as I drifted off into unconsciousness...
----
♪ What do you see, beyond the Everfree?
Seek the castle with the wooden doors.
It is home to none, though it will soon be yours.
Then find the keys that unlock the gate
Least you meet a grisly fate
Great chaos will be unleashed
Tame the untamable, defeat the undefeatable
Only then will you be released.
That is what lays beyond the Everfree. ♪
-----
I woke up with a jolt. That song, that melody... I had heard one of the two before, but I couldn't recall. It was like an old memory, one that happened long ago or one I didn't want to remember. The words evaded my mind but one seemed to stay firmly planted- "Everfree". It sounded familiar like the tune, but again I couldn't place it.
With this strange name tucked in the recesses of my mind, I attempted to stand, only I feel pain shoot through my body like lightning as the table pinning my legs dug into my flesh. I blinked a few times to clear my eyes of the tears building up, the very notion of losing my legs sent a wave of panic through my mind. I once heard of a guy who had to saw his own arm off after having it pinned by a boulder for three days straight, almost dying from the lack of food and water. Again, this wasn't helping me in this current situation aside from making me panic even more. I opened my mouth and wanted to scream, but I didn't as the walls had been sound-proof'd due to the many complaints of the music "being to loud". Instead, I forced myself to calm down and think about this in a rational way. "Okay, my legs are pinned by a stone table. I need to get out of here. The first is to not panic, the second thing is to... to...." Damn it! I couldn't think of anything. I face-palmed, setting a similar reaction to when your press the detonator button hooked up to a ton of explosives. A furious pain ignited in my forehead, my skull nearly exploding from the intense pain and pressure I was experiencing. It was a pain unlike any other; its fury matched by none. It was like someone had poured molten lava into my head were it expanded to thirty times the capacity of my head. This time I screamed so loud I bet my ancestors could hear it in the afterlife. My voice filled the club's empty air with a piercing scream of agony, the hard walls reflecting and redirecting it right back at me tenfold. I must've scream for a good five minutes before I stopped, my breath now ragged and shallow as my lungs attempted to gather oxygen from the surrounding air. Moments passed as I laid there, tears streaming down my face as I realized just how helpless I was. I was going to die here, cold and alone just like my father....
No! I was not going to die, specially not here. The past would not be repeated.
I gritted my teeth as the headache returned tenfold, my mind racing as a sudden burst of energy began to flow throughout my entire being. I suddenly felt like I could do anything I put my mind to, and right now that was getting this damn table off of me. I placed my arms on the stone surface of the table, my hands now glowing with a ethereal energy. I felt something click in my mind and I suddenly knew what to do. I pushed with all my might, the strange glow surrounding my hands amplifying my strength to the point of being super-human. With a grunt I felt the weight of the table vanish, flying through the air like a eagle piloting a blimp before crashing to the ground with a thunderous BOOM.I felt blood beginning to flow once more through my legs as I heaved myself up off the ground. As I stood up over the shattered remains of the stone table now laying at my feet the sensation surround my hands vanished, a sudden wave of lightness filled the confines of my skull. I clutched my head, but stopped when the headache vanished. It was like the pain had completely disappeared, banished by my sudden burst of power.
"Okay, I guess I have super-strength now or something." I wiggled my legs, grinning madly as I felt my toes move in my shoes. They felt odd to move, confined to my shoes. I wanted to kick them off but thought better of it when I saw that the floor was littered with shattered glass from the over-head light bulbs. I glanced around to see if anything else was damaged, but It appeared that aside from the shattered remains of the table and the broken bulbs in front of the bass-subwoofer nothing else was destroyed even in the loosest sense of the term.
I carefully made my way around the crushed stone, my legs still a bit unresponsive from the lack blood. I took it one step at a time, gradually navigating my way over to the massive machine. Glass pierced the soles of my shoes but somehow none managed to get any father then that. I stepped lightly, not wanting to press my luck as cross the room. Eventually I reached my destination, surprised to see that the device was still active. The neon-blue lights shined as brightly as ever and looked ready to party. I looked around the area, seeking out anything that was out of place. Finally I noticed the glean of a cable's head, the reflecting light nailing me in the eye. I picked it up, remembering how I saw it earlier moments before being launched into the wall. I placed a hand where the head was, running it backwards until I found the other end. My chase led me to one of the dozen of machines linked to the hybrid device, more specifically a limiter. I had forgotten about the machine but that was due to it being one of the first machines the guys down at the sound shop recommend to install as to not end up blowing out someone's eardrums accidentally I like had almost done early.. The cable had been unplugged, and not by accident either. A closer inspection revealed that the head was a screw-on and required a special wrench to get it off.
"Great, now someone is trying to kill me." I threw my hands up in disbelief, already baffled by my bad luck and now this. I grabbed my iPod and began to make my way towards the exit, only to hear sound of a heavy metal object colliding with the stage floor. I looked down at my music player and saw that the cord was still connected. "Ugh, I need a drink...."