Chapter 2
Tessa and Mindy greeted her with silent squeals while they jumped up and down with open arms, waiting to hug her after she jogged down the rest of the walkway from her house to the sidewalk.
After they hugged, they made the love gesture with their fingers and placed their hands together with quiet giggles.
“You made it.” Tessa breathed, her brown wavy hair now in big curls at the end. Her equally brown round eyes were framed with long black lashes. She adjusted her tan suede jacket over her floral knee-length dress when she released Esmie from their hug.
“Girl, you took forever. We almost left your sorry behind, thinking you were going to chicken out.” Mindy smirked.
Esmie squared her shoulders. “I said I was going and I’m going. It was nothing I couldn’t handle,” she countered. “Well, I got the bus tickets in my pocket. Did you bring the tickets to get into Nightcrawler?”
Mindy rolled her eyes. “Of course, I did. Come on, let’s hurry up. We’re going to be late.” She strutted off, teetering on stilettos while pulling at the short hem of her mini dress.
“Your parents let you go in that?” Esmie pointed to the skintight red mini dress that hardly covered her firm body. Mindy’s blue eyes glimmered in the moonlight.
“Who said they saw it?” Mindy flipped her straight blonde hair over her shoulder then sauntered off, black clutch in hand as Tessa gave Esmie a knowing look.
Esmie shook her head, pulling on her jean jacket over her band themed t-shirt, before following her friend.
Mindy’s parents were hardly home and even if they were, they didn’t care what Mindy did as long as she didn’t come home pregnant or strung out.
They had enough money to cover any other trouble Mindy might get into and weren’t breathing down her neck about getting a good job.
The girls chatted as they waited for the bus.
“Are you girls allowed to be out this late at night?” The bus driver scolded the moment the doors slid open, pining each of them with a stern glare.
Mindy grabbed the bus passes from Esmie and handed them to him while she matched his stare.
“Mind your business old man. We’re old enough.
” He narrowed his eyes then snatched the passes and scanned them.
Mindy and Tessa jumped into the nearest seat while Esmie inched up the steps, thanking the driver.
He shook his head at her with that disappointed look in his eyes reminiscent of her mother.
Between the accusing eyes of the bus driver to the haughty sniffs of the other passengers, Esmie couldn’t wait to get off.
While at this time of night, the ride was only twenty minutes to the edge of downtown, to Esmie, it felt as if the bus crawled along the quiet streets of Las Afueras, now called the suburbs, neighborhoods surrounding the city of Andloor.
They were coming from Andola, now Brookshire since Andloor Capitol changed the name a year ago.
Some top politician stated the name was too “ethnic” and needed to be easier for everyone else to say.
Esmie swiped the thought from her mind, unclenching her jaw.
Adding sour memories onto an already anxious night would do her no service.
Mindy and Tessa chatted excitedly while Esmie stared at the ground willing the bus to hurry up and cross the man-made circular river separating Las Afueras—suburbs—from downtown Andloor.
Once they crossed, they would be at the edge of downtown Andloor and not far was Nightcrawler.
When the bus arrived at their stop, Mindy and Tessa scurried off beckoning Esmie to hurry.
As Esmie passed the bus driver he leaned over and said in a low voice, “You seem like you have a good head on your shoulders, unlike your friends,” he jutted his chin in their direction.
Esmie bit her lip. “While they may think this is a good time, not much good can come out of being here at this time of night, especially for pretty young girls like yourselves.”
“Come on Esmie, what’s taking you so long?” Tessa cried out.
“She probably chickened out and wants to go back home to her mommy.” Mindy teased. Esmie’s cheeks burned. The bus driver pursed his lips.
“Like I said, it’s dangerous out there, but I see I can’t convince you so, be careful and listen to your gut.
” Esmie’s legs wobbled all the way down the steps.
The whoosh of the doors closing behind her made her jump.
Tessa wrung her hands, and Mindy tapped her foot on the sidewalk as they waited for her.
“So, you didn’t chicken out. Hurry up, there might be a line.
” They walked arm in arm down the sidewalk for a couple blocks, the tall concrete and steel skyscraper buildings the city was known for, towered over them in the distance.
Bright neon lights glowed brighter than the streetlamps lining the sidewalk.
They came to a dark alley with music thumping a greeting to them as they peered down its ominous depths, the club at the other end waiting for them.
Mindy was the first to straighten up and take a few tentative steps.
This part of the city still had brick buildings, which currently flanked each side of the sidewalk obscuring the lamps from the street.
The only light guiding their way was the neon flashing sign blinking Nightcrawler Club.
A cocktail glass hung at either side of the name.
As they approached, they felt the ground become uneven.
Their shoes crunched over something. Small pieces of multicolored shattered glass scattered the floor, yet the closer they got to the club the more glass glittered beneath their feet until the ground was hidden by its shimmering light.
Tessa paused and bent to pick it up when Mindy snatched up her arm, her eyes wide.
“Don’t touch that!” Mindy’s eyes scanned the area.
“Whatever you do, don’t let your skin touch it.
” As the words fell from her lips, eerie moaning and crunching from the shadows replaced the bumping music from the club.
Esmie stepped forward, peering into the dark to find the origin of the noise.
Mindy held her arm, but Esmie shrugged her away.
The bus driver’s ominous warning rang in her head.
Her hand closed over the pepper spray in her jean jacket pocket, but her imagination could never prepare her for the horrifying scene before her.