• Jay’s POV
    4 months previous
    At the stroke of 12:15 I closed my eyes and tried to think only of sleep and my need of it. I took slow deep breathes and tried so hard to relax. I’d been trying to fall asleep all night but the thought of him kept me awake, the vision of him getting in his car and waving good bye for the last time. Well maybe not the last time he said I wouldn’t see him for at least 3 months which is ridiculous because I don’t even have school to distract me from him not being here to talk to or see.
    Eventually because I couldn’t fall asleep I ended up going out with a few friends who like me had fake IDs so we could get into the hottest club downtown. Dawning. Dawning was the hottest place where teens who shouldn’t could smoke, drink, or just hangout and not get busted unless someone specifically ratted someone else out to the police
    At dawning I met this really cute guy who was like 18 (1 year older than me) but he was completely plastered and almost puked on me while we were dancing so while he left to go puke I slipped off the dance floor and out to the balcony. I really needed a smoke so I dug through my purse and found a pack of cigarettes but I couldn’t find my lighter “s**t I must have left it at home” I thought and was about to put the pack away when a guy came up behind me and held out a little blue canister with a small orange flame stretching out of it. I said thanks and lit the cig but when I turned around to give the lighter back he was gone. I pocketed the lighter and took a long drag on the cig. I don’t smoke a lot but when I get jumpy it’s one of the only ways to calm me down and I don’t know why but I was really jumpy.
    After extinguishing the cigarette in an already overflowing ash tray I went back inside to see whether I could find the guy who gave me the lighter but I couldn’t find him or any of my friends so I slipped over to the bar and ordered a bloody marry. I chugged the thick red drink and left the bar walking towards what I thought was the bathroom but opened to a long corridor with a locked door at the end. A tall purple haired guy with more tattoos and piercings than I’d ever seen in one person walked in with a chick with unnatural bleached white hair and enough eye liner to make her look like she hadn’t slept in centuries.
    “You forget your key?” he asked looking me up and down.
    “Yeah I left it on my desk I’m such an idiot” I lied wanting to see what was beyond the door that blocked the end of the corridor.
    “K’ I’ll let you in” he said pulling out a silver key and sliding it into the lock opening the door. The door swung open silently revealing another club within Dawning. The hidden club was a gothic’s dream everything was black, purple, red, or neon it was a huge gothic club hidden under the coolest club in town. It was my dream place. I saw a flash of spiked black with blue tipped hair across the room and recognized it as the guy who gave me the lighter earlier. I followed him into a small room of a corridor of the main room. The room was dark and completely empty except for me and him. I saw his eyes flash a deep red and saw the way his gaze followed me.
    “Hello” I said cautiously
    “Hey” his voice smooth like melted chocolate
    “Where are we exactly” I questioned timidly
    “We” he said a hint of dangerous edge creeping into his tone “are in the Under World”
    “And who are you exactly?” wanting a name and maybe a little about him or something
    “My name is Jake Hosh and you are called?”
    “My name is Jay” I said
    “Well hello Jay and welcome to the Under World where your membership is a lifetime commitment”
    “And hello Jake who helped me earlier by giving me his lighter”
    “You are greatly welcomed at least by me”
    “Can you help me I need to find ” I was cut off by Last Resort Blaring from my purse. I fumbled with the phone. It was Jon. I answered it. “hello?”
    “Hey babe what’s up? I tried your home phone and you didn’t answer. Where are you?you better not be at Dawning without me” he was obviously drunk
    “Listen I’m not in the town to talk right now I’ve got to go sorry kiss kiss love you” I hung up.
    “Boyfriend?” Jake asked
    “Ex by morning” I said exhausted
    “Oh ”
    There was a strange silence and then I asked again “Can you help me I need to get back to the surface level.”
    “Yes of course follow me” he said giving me his perfect, white, snow cold hand.
    I gave him my hand and he led me through the tunnels and hallways and corridors that led back to the main dance floor. When he led me over to the door he pulled out a sharpie and scrawled a cell # on my palm so I took the sharpie and scrawled my own # on the ice cold perfect skin of his palm