Chapter 3
Esmie covered her mouth. Young adults around their age, sat on the ground munching on the glass, the glittering pieces sticking to their clutched hands and lips.
Bloodshot eyes gleamed unseeing at their surroundings, the glass shimmering against their grayish-colored skin.
Tattered clothes hung from their skeletal frames.
Esmie reached for them. Mindy grabbed her arm.
“Esmie don’t. Just leave them.”
“We can’t just leave them.” Esmie argued.
Mindy shook her head, her long blonde hair cascading from side to side, catching the reflected colors off its tendrils. “We can’t help them.”
“I refuse to leave them here. They need help. We need to call an ambulance, or the police. Someone.” Even as she said it, Esmie couldn’t think of anything else they could do.
Calling anyone would put them at risk of being taken in, and she didn’t want her mother to show up at any hospital or police station.
“What is this stuff? It looks like glass.” Tessa shivered then wrapped her cardigan tighter around her.
“It is glass.” Mindy’s hair whipped around as she glared back at Tessa and Esmie.
“At least that’s what they call it at school, but it’s not actual glass.
They’re more like candy, and I’ve heard they taste like pop rocks almost, but they definitely aren’t candy.
” She used the toe of her black pump to shove some pieces around on the pavement.
“They’re drugs. They trick college kids into taking them, making the glass appear harmless and innocent.
Once it enters your body, it does things to you. ”
“I think I’ve heard of it.” Tessa stopped shivering, her eyes lighting up. “The different colors do different things. Blue makes you high…or was it red?”
Mindy rolled her eyes. “No dummy. Red makes you high so you can see far distances and through walls. Blue brings you so low you can teleport through objects to different locations. Yellow makes you hyper and you can do everything faster than humanly possible. Green gives you a nice buzz and supposedly you can manipulate water and swim underwater for long periods of time. Orange makes you strong and invincible. Pink lets you change into anyone or anything else. At least that’s what I’ve heard. I don’t know how true it is.”
“Well, if they are drugs, the ones using them are probably so high, they think they have powers but don’t. I’m surprised we haven’t heard about this on the news or in school. I’m assuming a lot of kids have died.” Esmie couldn’t take her eyes off the kids lost to the world.
“Maybe. The thing is it only lasts for a short amount of time. Sometimes for several days. Other times only for a few hours. But the more you take it, the less it works, and then the glass eats away at your body, slowly killing you.” Mindy leaned in close, her blue eyes shining.
“And if you eat all of them at once, you hallucinate.”
“What about purple?” The girls jumped at an unfamiliar voice behind them.
A handsome young man with messy jet-black hair watched them from the edge of the scattered glass.
He had an easy smile that matched his messy hair.
His partially buttoned collared black shirt and skinny jeans were laid back but neat.
He laughed at their expressions. “What, you never knew there was a purple one?”
He sauntered up to each girl, locking eyes with them.
Tessa giggled and lowered her big brown eyes.
Mindy smirked and twisted a lock of her hair.
Esmie glared back, her lips in a tight line.
He ran a hand through his black hair, pushing it away from his forehead.
His gaze roved over her lingering on her full lips, then he leaned forward and whispered, “The purple ones give you access to all of the magic in the world.” He roared with laughter as he ambled toward the club.
At the threshold he turned and called over his shoulder “Are you going to stand there like lost puppies or are you coming in?”
The girls glanced at each other. Mindy squared her shoulders and swiveled her hips as she strutted forward, acting as if they had not just seen the horrifying scene behind her.
Tessa shrugged her shoulders and traipsed after Mindy.
Esmie paused and stared longingly at the forlorn figures across the alley.
Their shadows loomed against the building casting eerie shapes along the red bricks.
Esmie could hear her friends calling to her and with a deep sorrowful sigh, she lifted her head to the bright neon sign before her.
The uneasy feeling in her stomach didn’t go away as she pulled her jean jacket tighter around her and passed through toward the dark doorway.
Stepping through the club entrance was like being transported to another world.
Loud music, flashing lights, and the smell of sweaty bodies invaded Esmie’s space.
Her brother’s words echoed in her ears to always be aware of her surroundings.
Esmie noted the foyer was only a few feet wide, with the club beyond to the left of an open doorway.
Despite the haze in the room, she noted it wasn’t a big space.
It was crowded with what appeared to be a small platform of a stage on the other side of the dance floor.
Lining the dance floor were semi-circular booths only a few inches off the ground.
She could hear a DJ close by, which was most likely positioned on the other side of the wall.
Her friends were already at a desk being attended by an annoyed woman in a bustier and mini skirt who chomped on a piece of gum, while her eyes roved up and down the girls. Esmie hoped they didn’t ask for ID as neither of them would be twenty-one for a few more months.
“Are you girls twenty-one?” The woman’s nasally voice shouted over the music as Esmie approached the desk.
“Of course we are.” Mindy huffed, turning her nose up.
The woman’s face twisted into a sneer. Esmie bit her lip, hoping her friend’s bravado would get them in.
The annoyed woman seemed not to care or didn’t want to deal with Mindy’s attitude.
She snatched the tickets from Mindy and slammed a black stamp on each of their hands.
As soon as the woman set the stamp down, she crossed her legs, and went back to filing her nails, snapping her gum while perching precariously on her stool.
Mindy whirled around, a broad smile on her ruby red lips.
She held her head high, strolling into the club like she owned it.
Tessa and Esmie followed close behind. The actual club was even darker than the entrance.
The flashing lights blinded Esmie as she tried to maneuver her way around the crowd while keeping up with her friends.
People of all types swayed with the music, their eyes glazed over, and their mouths pasted with half smiles.
The girls popped into a semi-circular booth near the low stage that jutted out from the back of the club onto the dance floor.
Mindy picked one end of the booth, with Tessa in the middle and Esmie on the other edge.
Esmie spotted a napkin with the club logo on it.
She picked it up and twisted it in her hands as she surveyed the rest of the room.
Mindy scowled at Esmie’s hands before she also perused the club.
“Are you looking for that cute guy we saw outside?” Tessa teased Mindy, whose porcelain cheeks-tinged red.
“Yuck, no,” she shot back. “I’m trying to find a waitress so I can get my drink on. I need something to pass the time before the band plays.” Mindy smirked at the other girls’ open mouths. After a few minutes a brunette woman in a low-cut tank top and tight black shorts paused at their booth.
“What do you want?” Her bored expression stared at her notepad.
“I’ll have a rum and diet coke.” Mindy gestured to Esmie and Tessa. When neither answered she sighed. “Make that three rum and diet cokes.” The waitress rolled her eyes and wove her way back through the crowd to the bar at the front of the club.
“Why did you order drinks? We are pushing our luck as it is!” Esmie hissed at Mindy, leaning over the table to avoid raising her voice.
Mindy laughed and waved Esmie off. “We’re here. Might as well live it up. Look around, no one cares. As long as we pay, they won’t bother us.”
Esmie pressed her back against the booth’s taut maroon cushions.
While Esmie still felt uncomfortable about ordering drinks, Mindy had a point.
No one was paying attention to them. Everyone seemed to be having a good time without a care in the world, gyrating to the music with their heads rolled back.
Then why couldn’t she shake the feeling something was wrong?
Was it because of the others they found strung out in the alleyway?
Their munching filled her ears. Her heart raced at remembering their eyes, glazed over and dead to the world.
Esmie’s breathing turned ragged. Her heart raced.
Mindy glanced her way. If Esmie hyperventilated, Mindy would never let her live it down.
She needed to get a hold of herself and her emotions.
Listening to the beat of the music, Esmie slowed her breaths, taking several deep ones to calm herself.
A song Esmie liked came on. She swayed along to the beat in her seat to distract herself from her thoughts.
The waitress dropped off their drinks. Mindy tossed back half her drink.
Tessa followed suit but only drank a quarter.
Esmie held back from scrunching up her face in disgust at the dark liquid she took a sip from.
After a few more forced sips, she finally started to loosen up, laughing as she and her friends danced in their seats.
An hour later with Mindy on her third drink and Tessa on her second, Esmie noticed the man with the messy black hair they had seen earlier outside, pushing his way through the crowd.
“Hey, what he is doing?” Esmie partially stood, peering through the crowd.
“What?” Tessa yelled.
“That guy we met outside. He’s pushing through the crowd to the stage.” Esmie pointed. Mindy and Tessa squinted their eyes.
Mindy shrugged. “Who cares? He’s probably tweaking or something.” Esmie was going to argue with her when he jumped on the stage.
“Cut the music, we need to stop this party now!” he signaled to the DJ in the back.
The music cut off with a screech. The hair on Esmie’s arms stood up and she straightened, pushing away her drink, her eyes swiveling for a way out.
It was the worst possible scenario. They were the furthest away from any exit with a crowd of people between them.