The Ravers
Max
followed the instructions that had been given to him by the young
waitress from Kelly's Diner. He walked down an alleyway and
approached a red door with a squiggly S type symbol spray-painted on
it.
As
he approached the door he could hear the sound of techno music
emanating from behind it. Maybe a good rave would tire him out, and
he might fall asleep in the morning. He rapped hard, and was
surprised to see that a slot opened after the first knock.
"Private
function," the doorman announced from behind the slot. Max could
see his eyes and hear the beat of the music. The music seemed to be
beckoning him.
Max
fished a blank business card out of his pocket and held it up
toward the peep-slot. That's when a blacklight shined from above and
the card glowed like a enchanted item.
"Alice
sent me here," Max told him. And it was true; the waitress had
approached him and handed him the card and told him what to do.
The
peep-slot closed and then the door opened. The bouncer, a huge man,
signaled Max to come in. The trance music was blaring loud. He
stepped through the door.
He
noticed several speakers all hooked up close to the door, and the
music playing promised that this night would be a good one.
Max
was tired and he didn't want to do this, but the waitress had
approached him and told him that she had been watching him the past
couple of days and that this might be good for his soul.
And
who was Max to turn down an offer like that.
He
followed the corridor down; behind him the music was fading. And that
was odd indeed, instead of getting louder. He reached underneath his
jacket to unholster "Pain" & "Joy" - he
never left home without them; this had all the markings of a trap.
Was the waitress a baiter? Damn, he was too tired to see it unfolding
right in front of him.
He
was greeted at the end of the hallway by a girl. She
seemed to be in her late teens. "Welcome," she said. "Hank
signaled us that someone was coming. I'm Mayganne."
Max's
bloodshot eyes looked her over cautiously. He was tired and was
thinking of just getting the hell out of Dodge while the getting was
good.
"Alice
sent you so you must be one of us," Mayganne said. She pointed
her thumb behind her. "I trust her instincts. She has a knack of
finding people like us, that's why we like to call her Mother."
Mayganne
turned and went through the iron door. Max followed, still on the
cautionary approach. His mind fatigued with exhaustion, but curious
enough to find out what all this was about before pulling out the
girls and letting them sing their song.
They
were in a huge room, with over two dozen people standing about; on a
platform a man in a priest's outfit stood behind a couple of
turntables and speakers, but he was speaking out loud without a
microphone.
"...
say no this is not Hell or a version of it," he said. " I do
feel that we are alive and well, and that what happens is a result of
higher order. We are not simply dead and the devil just toying with
us..."
"Then
what is happening?" a young lad interrupted the Reverend. "Why
do we notice things that others don't?"
"I
don't have all the answers," the priest stated. "It seems
that there is something going on and that we all have noticed these
changes while others continue to live their lives as these changes
occur and are not realizing it - it's like we're shifting when
realities merge..."
