It was Halloween, and I couldn’t be happier. The weather had finally cooled down enough that clothes weren’t unbearable but not enough to wear real shoes. Actually, I’m not sure if anyone in Florida actually wore shoes. It was flip-flops most of the time or heels if you were going out. And tonight was time for heels.
The doorbell rang with excited trick-or-theaters. The sun was setting. It was their turn to have fun. Ours would come later. As I refilled the bowl with more candy, someone drilled into the doorbell. I gritted my teeth, reminding myself it’s Halloween. They are allowed to be brats to an extent.
“TRICK OR TREAT!”
I opened the door slowly when all I wanted to do was rip it off its hinges and scare the crap out of them. But, alas, no children to scare, just giggling girlfriends weaseling their way into the doorway.
“Did you all forget how the doorknob works?” I must have been a mess because they all kept laughing.
“Seems you forgot how to put on your makeup.” Goldilocks laughed as she opened up her makeup kit. “What’s going to happen when I move away, and there is no one to fix everything?”
“Hire someone to make me look pretty.” I gave her the sweetest smile. But she was right. I had no clue how to tame my hair.
The doorbell rang again. “It’s already past ten. When do these little brats go to bed?” Muffet got the eye from Red as she went to answer the door. “What? I’m just saying we’ve got to get ready too.”
By “ready,” she meant pre-gaming and mixing drinks. Ever since her scare with the spider, Muffet wouldn’t drink a drink at the bar. She was far too skeptical of it being slipped into her drink again.
Red found the perfect tunes on the radio, though Goldi and I would have been far happier with a scary movie as background noise. I don’t think Red and Muffet knew they couldn’t sing.
“Bo, where is your curling iron? Mine at home was broken.” Red had her head already under the sink. “Never mind, found it.”
“What’s the point in curling your hair when you wear that hood all the time?” Goldi twisted my head forward. Apparently, I was making my curls lopsided.
It took another hour for us to get ready. Then again, who wanted to be out on Halloween before midnight anyway? When we got downtown, the place was packed. We parked so far away it was almost fifteen minutes of walking. But that partially had to be blamed on skyscrapers, the heels we were wearing, and Muffet running back to the car to grab her flask.
“Before we get into the swarm of people, let’s get pictures.” The brilliant idea came from me, of course. I didn’t think it was fair to have all our hard work go undocumented.
I swear sometimes pictures perform magic. Red’s dark black hair was shining off of her sparkling red cape while Muffet’s blue eyes twinkled back at us. Goldi and I looked like sisters with our cute plaid dress – hers being yellow and mine a light blue. Each dress we wore showed off just the right amount of skin. But then again, with all the layers we added to the dress, it was going to take a while to get them off.
It was also going to take a while to get into the club we wanted to go into. Royalty was our spot. It was connected to a few other clubs, so even if we had to pay a cover, it was worth the price of admission. The mass of people we had to squeeze through was hell. Even in my skyscraper heels, I was tiny, making it hard to get a fresh breath of air. Once we got to the front, the cover had been upped to an astronomical amount.
Goldi disappeared behind the velvet rope, giving me a bit of a panic attack. But when she returned with her Spartan, I felt a little better.
“Could you tell us before you disappear next time?” Red was quick to be the mommy of the group. Always the watchful eye. Goldi mouthed sorry as her bouncer boyfriend led us all into the club. With a quick kiss, he was off to guard the doors from whatever big bads were trying to sneak their way in.
The music was pounding, filling us was vibrations that controlled our bodies. I eyed a Warrior from across the bar. In a matter of seconds, he was in front of me dancing. The strobe light made dancing a bit more exciting when after every black moment, the bodies would return in a different spot.
The Warrior caught Red’s attention, and she called dibs, even though I was dancing with him. I step back and let her have him. She did just get out of a shitty relationship. Besides, there were plenty more fish in this sea. “My feet hurt!” I wasn’t sure who I yelled it to, but Goldi thought it was a great idea for shots.
The bar was packed tight with bodies. One angel’s wings took up enough space for three people. Guess she wasn’t that considerate of an angel. Being the smallest one, I ducked under and made it to the bar. I return with our flight of Tullamore dew, redheaded sluts, lemon drops, and the last shot meant to be sure we officially don’t remember the night, the four horsemen.
“First shot to kill the pain,” I shout as we down it.
“Second shot to kill our brain,” Goldi giggles as it goes down the hatch.
“Third shot to help us wonder,” Red pays for our third set.
“Will that guy be good down under.” Muffet even takes the last shot with us.
“OH MY GOD! What was that?” The Warrior lost a lot of points with me after that.
“Awwww, how cute.” I squeezed his cheeks. “ It was Jim, Jack, Johnnie, and Jameson. Only the four best men around.”
We ventured into the next part of the club. Water was needed, and we weren’t going to try and weasel our way back to that bar. Red propped herself up on the pool table.
“Hey, don’t post that picture of me double fisting those drinks. I don’t need people seeing them!” She shouted after Muffet.
“Like any of these are going to make it online.” The music from downstairs was playing the best out of all three clubs, and it seemed that Red and her Warrior already had made it down the stairs. We always kind of awwed at the two of them. He blushed – guess he wasn’t a hardass. Red whispered something, and she darted off. Goldi grabbed her arm.
“Hey, just going to the bathroom. Be right back.” Red looked towards the door about twenty feet away.
Since the dance floor was in eyesight of the bathroom, we thought, what’s the big deal. Only fifteen minutes go by. The Warrior is talking to one of his buddies, where we left him on the stairs. I asked if he’s seen Red. He shakes his head. Goldi pulls out her phone and starts texting.
No answer.
Fuck. This was not the night for this to happen. So many people filled the club and the streets.
“Bo, go check the bathroom.” Muffet was frantic, calling Red’s phone. “Goldi, go ask your Spartan if he has seen her.”
I come out of the bathroom with her purse. Holy shit, what has happened to Red? We couldn’t move quick enough around all three clubs. We searched every dark corner and showed every bartender her picture. Then finally someone answered her phone.
“Who the fuck are you, and where is Red?” I couldn’t keep my cool.
“I found the phone near the exit. Meet me at the bar, and I’ll give it to you.” The voice said.
When we get to the bar, the barback who found the phone is there. He looks annoyed that he even had to wait for us to get there.
“Where is Red?” Muffet, who usually keeps her cool, lost it too.
“I don’t know who Red is. I just found this outside the exit door.”
“Which door?” Seriously, did I need to ask him that?
“The one next to the bathrooms on the first floor.” With that, he walked away with an empty keg.
Oh, this was just great. What if she got pushed outside and couldn’t get in? She was pretty hammered. We were all standing in the middle of the dance floor, trying to figure out what to do when the lights came on and the music faded out. We were the last people in the bar.
When we walked out to where the cops were standing, Muffet kept trying to get the attention of any one of them. But they were too busy flirting with the half-naked girls. Goldi’s boyfriend met up with us. Neither he nor anyone he worked with saw her. But he said he would keep his eyes up.
“Excuse me.” I finally got one of the cop’s attention. “My friend is missing, and I was wondering if you could help us find her.”
“Does it look like I can? And even if there weren’t a million people on the streets tonight, I’m supposed to stay here in case people are too drunk to drive home.”
Oh, I wanted to scream at him. He wasn’t doing that. He looked like he was about to get his dick wet right here if he had it his way.
But that is when Goldi started yelling. Down the street, staggering, was Red. Spartan ran up and caught her before she fell to the ground. When we finally got to her, we saw the damage. Her thigh-high boots were sliced up. Her stockings had holes in them everywhere. Her petticoat was missing, and her legs were bloodied.
I screamed for the cop to help, and he told us we had to take her to the hospital.
“Are you fucking kidding me? You are some sick joke of a public servant!” I shouted at him as we got into the car.
Red kept muttering about how there were two of them, and they wore masks. She didn’t mean to get lost, but someone pushed her. We pulled into the ambulance entrance of the ER, and a few nurses came out. At first, they were mad, but with one look at Red, they grabbed the wheelchair and wheeled her in.
“Looks like the night is just getting started.” One of the nurses muttered to the other.
“Rape kit needed in room three.”
