Untitled

Ol’ Qwerty Bastard · 06-01-2016, 01:03 PM

I woke up in a fury. Unsure of my surroundings and with only three quarters left in my jacket pocket, I began searching the dimly lit concrete floor for my phone. I couldn’t remember how I got here, but I knew I had to have had my phone on me as I never leave home without it. As I crawled across the seemingly never ending confines of the room, I finally came to a door. I had still yet to find my phone, but I wasn’t too worried, I could always buy a new one later, right now my priority was simply figuring out where I was.

As I opened the door, I felt a push from behind and before I knew it the door behind me slammed shut with a loud thud.

“Hello?” I spoke aloud, despite knowing deep down inside that I was still alone.

Suddenly, the lights above me lit up. I had to squint in order to keep the tears from rolling down my face as the bright fluorescent lights beamed down on me.

“Guess I should have brought my sunglasses” I mumbled to myself. Humour always was my escape from uncomfortable situations, and it appears that’s what this was destined to be.

As I peered ahead, I noticed a wooden table set up in the middle of the room. On top, sat only a pair of headphones. I walked the surrounding walls, feeling for a knob or a window, anything that would allow me to leave, but my search came up empty. I decided to approach the table, surely it was there for a reason, right? I pulled the chair out and plopped myself down on top of it before convincing myself to slide the headphones over my head. The room went dark, and before I knew it, music started to play.

"Oh my god, what the fuck is this?" I shouted, prying the headphones off of my ears. Yet when I tried to remove them, a shock was sent through my body. I quickly tried again, but with the same painful result. I sat back down, the raw, guttural vocals echoing in my ear as the drums boomed in the background and the guitars played some of the most hellacious music I had ever heard. Then, finally, the moment I had been waiting for came along as the song came to it's conclusion. I stayed seated for a few moments, waiting for another song, or for someone to greet me. Instead, I was met with silence and darkness. I tried again to remove the headphones from my head, and this time, it worked. As I sat them back on the table, the light began to shine overhead, and I noticed an open door straight head.

I jumped up, and half-sprinted towards it, eagerly anticipating making my exit and returning to civilization. That's far from what I walked into though. I had arrived in a smokey, cabaret club with one table placed in the middle yet again. There was no door within my view, and so I took the initiative to once again take a seat. At the very least, this chair was a little bit more comfortable than the previous one.

I heard footsteps on the floor behind me, and as I turned I was shocked to see a small man, maybe 4 feet tall standing to my left.

"Where am I!?" I shouted in his direction.

He didn't answer, and refused to even acknowledge that I had just screamed in his face. He did however, hold a tray up high in his arms, and after removing the cover, presented me with a pair of headphones.

"Is this some sort of joke? Who are you?" I barked, jumping from my chair towards his direction.

Immediately, the room drained of oxygen, and I fell back down into the seat with a shortness of breath. I felt the little man place the headphones over my head, and within seconds I was sitting upright, gasping in breath after breath of fresh air. I spun around, but just as he arrived out of nowhere, he had disappeared in a similar fashion.

Just like the previous time, music began to play. This time however, I could see the shadow of a man on the stage that sat in front of me. He took a drink from his shot-glass (or so it appeared, it was hard to tell from the smoke filled air and only being able to see his shadow) and then propped his guitar up onto his knee.

What a weird song, I thought to myself, but it's certainly more pleasent than the last, that's for sure. The mannerisms of the shadow on stage matched perfectly with the song I was hearing, as he tapped his foot along with the beat and seemed to be mouthing the exact same words that the darkly voiced singer-songwriter was spouting through my headphones.

"Screw this, I'm getting out of here." I decided, as I abruptly stood up and tried to remove the hearing device. Just like the last time however, I was hit with a big electrical shock and dropped back down to my chair.

"God damnit!" I shouted.

I sat back down, and within a few seconds the song wrapped up. Once again, I was free to remove the headphones, and up on stage the curtains were now pried open, showing a door for me to exit through, which I swiftly did.

This time, the room I entered had an orange tint to it. There was no chair or table in the middle, but I could see a pair of headphones pushed into the far corner. I walked over and promptly grabbed them, knowing I had no choice but to put them on. I sat down and crossed my legs, resting my back against the cold, hard wall.

The audio began, and this time it sounded like a band rehearsing in their garage. I chuckled to myself, as it reminded me quite a bit of a few years prior when I had formed my first rock band with a couple of my friends. I didn't have much time to think however, as seconds later a group of five people dressed head to toe in cheaply made t shirts and skeleton face paint came into my view. They began jumping around to the music, moshing back and forth, thrusting their body in the strangest of ways. I stood up and tried to approach them, but I ran face first into some sort of clear plastic wall.

I began banging my fist against it, doing anything and everything I could to get their attention.

"Let me out of here! Please? Come on guys, this isn't funny!"

They approached me, and just as soon as I though they were going to let me leave, they began bumping up against the plastic. They licked it, they kicked it, they rubbed their backs against, these were arguebly the strangest individuals I had ever encountered. They continued to taunt me as the song moved on, the frantic pacing clearly working as their motive as they started to smash their heads against the wall. I put my hands against my forehead, and stressfully began pacing back and forth in my small little box until the song came to end.

The freak show was over, and the room now sat empty. I dropped the headphones onto the floor, and the box had seemingly disappeared, as I was now free to walk around. There was a door to my right this time, and I already knew what was waiting for me as I made my way towards it.

"Let's just get this thing over with" I whispered under my breath before entering. Despite how willing I had become to endure whatever it was that was being thrown at me, I was not prepared for what awaited me in this next room. It was dingy, dark, and stunk of sweat, and the music, oh god, the music...

To be continued