Outcast

The music was so loud the girls could already hear it from a block and a half away from the bar. While it made a rush of adrenaline shoot through Laura’s blood – doubts and regrets began to fill Christina’s mind at the sound of that distant bass. It made her insides twist and turn so much. Oh, how she longed for those history text books and her warm bed right now.

Laura’s little bubble of ecstasy burst suddenly as she began sensing Christina’s growing discomfort. She grasped her hand tightly, making the blonde’s head turn around. With a reassuring smile she was able to make the tense disappear almost completely, and with a nod they continued on walking.

They were greeted by no more than forty teenagers and young adults at the small bar which took place in some kind of basement in the very core of that huge, busy and loud city. This already made Christina feel better, even if she barely knew anybody in the crowd and even if the booming music made her eardrums ache.

"Let’s dance!" she managed to read Laura’s lips as they shouted words at her as loud as possible.

She hesitated a little bit before taking her hand and following her to the dancefloor.

Maybe it was time for her to finally have some fun.



"We were having such a good time" she whispered and bowed her head slightly, hair falling onto her face to hide it “she was finally letting go. She was finally loosening up. I thought it’d be the best night of our lives, that we’d remember it forever… And I do, but for all the wrong reasons"

The tears threatened to spill and her heart was about to burst or wither away from the sorrow the memory was causing her. She wanted to yell, sob, leave everything and run away - but she couldn’t. Not now. She was elbow deep right now, if she let go she’d keep on suffering until the end of times. And that pain was worse than any pain she'd ever felt; it was destroying her soul and infecting her mind, longing for her to finally lose all sanity and will to live.

The woman handed her a glass of cold water, seeing her struggle. She wanted to let that poor girl go instead of torturing her with questions that did nothing but make the memory of that awful night more vivid.

"Thank you" she mumbled and took the glass with a shaky hand.

"What went so terribly wrong that you can't seem to forget that night for all the wrong reasons?" the woman asked, even though both knew the answer to that question.

"I think it was around 22:40 when I heard the first one"

"The first what?"

Laura took one long and last drag of her cigarette, inhaling with closed eyes as if the toxic smoke would somehow fill her with the courage to speak up and with calming thoughts.

"The first gunshot"