Mad World

[Peregrine]

It was only 3am and already Ryan Tabanne was having a bad day. Classes were boring as usual and the work just kept piling up (maybe I should "disappear" a few of those professors....). And to make things worse his bank account was running dangerously low. After that last job, nothing had come his way in weeks. "Oh well, waste of a night anyway," he thought, as his Quake III score dropped to a new low, "might as well go check a few bars." With a flip of an internal coin, he decided to head to the Dead End. "At least I can get a decent drink, if nothing else."

 

15 minuites and a barely avoided fight later, he was standing outside the bar. As he passed Gomer on the way to the door, his hand dropped intstinctively to his gun. Then, noticing the man's lack of attention in his direction, relaxed a bit. No need to be attracting attention yet. With a flash of annoyance at his paranoia, he turned back and walked through the door.

 

Once inside, the music hit him like a shockwave. Though louder than usual, he was suprised to notice the higher than normal talent. He paused a second to give his eyes a chance to adjust to the darkness, then scanned the crowd for potential customers. "Damn, nobody's here tonight," he whispered in annoyance. "Oh well, guess I'll just have to drink away another night," he thought with a laugh. He ordered a beer from the bartender, then walked over to one of the few empty tables. He sat down, awaiting whatever the night would bring.

[ArtKing1239]

Zac had been offered jobs before, and he had turned them all down. This would be no exception. He sighed, and turned to the dance floor. His eyes scanned the crowd, looking for anyone interesting. Male, female, any interesting human being. His eyes locked on a woman standing in the front of the crowd, but not in the very front. A good way to inconspicuously enjoy the band, while not worrying about sticking out. But, she did anyways, despite her efforts. She was wearing darker clothes than most people in the bar. She also seemed to be actually enjoying the music, rather than just listening to it. Feeling it. Her eyes were closed, and she looked as if every beat of the drum, every guitar chord, every low hum of the base, and every high-pitched sound coming from the singer's mouth offered her solace in a world where there was none anywhere else. He looked around her. It seemed that her male friends had probably gone to the bathroom, or the bar. He wondered if she was involved. Engaged. Married. He wondered if she went to bed alone at night, if she turned her lights off and cried, like he had so long ago. He walked over to where she was on the dance floor, and wondered if he could break her trance. All he said, was, "Hi. I'm Zac Dragimirov."

[wesaynothin]

Leave office. Get in car. Get cup of Coffee from Peet's. Go home. Sit down. Finally...

 

Mike finished up the last of his coffee and sat down infront of his computer. Opening up his protection software, he immediatley started hacking, delving, into it. His mind went blank, the computer strokes natural. Finally, the software failed.

 

"Dammit. Got to make a better one." He mumbled to himself. After shutting dowm His computer, Mike changed from his buiness attire to his casual wear. Black pants, black long-sleeved t-shirt, black tennis shoes. Picking up his wallet and keys, he heads out for a relaxed night on the town.

 

Lock door. Get in car. Drive around. Find club. Find parking. Find Parking. Find Parking. Find Parking.

 

After finally finding parking, Mike heads to a club he hasn't been to before.

 

"Dead End Bar. That's a joyous name." He says sarcastically to himself. After tipping the bouncer, he walks in.

 

"Rum please." He tells the bartender, handing over a five. After shooting it down, he walks into the crowd and lets the music take over.

[ThetaOrionis01]

Charlotte blinked, opened her eyes when she heard the voice, turned towards the stranger.

"Hi," she said. "What do you think of the band? Pretty good, aren't they?"

 

A sudden shove from behind sent her stumbling against the guy.

 

"Sorry."

 

She turned to glare at whoever had pushed past her. "male without a father," she hissed, stared angrily at the back of the huge guy now in front of her. He was at least 7' tall, and about half as wide. He was jumping up and down, but completely out of sync with bass, drums, guitar and vocals. Not that that stopped him pogoing. Probably on something or other.

 

The second time all 300-odd lbs of him landed on her left foot she had enough. She pulled back her right foot, and kicked him as hard as she could in the back of the heel.

 

Without even looking round he brought up his arm and elbowed her in the face.

 

Charlotte staggered backwards. She tried to clutch that Zac What's-his-name guy's arm for support, but she missed. Stumbled 2 or 3 steps backwards - there was no crowd behind her, no one to catch her. Lost her balance, and fell.

 

The impact as her head connected with the hard floor, stunned her.

 

Pain. Just breathe. Breathe and wait for it to subside. Just breathe.

[HeLLL]

Gomer waited for the stranger to meet him. He never showed. "Figures. Bloody commy bastards. Probably has to tend to a labour rally."

 

Gomer got into his van. "Oh well. It happens." And with that Gomer drives off home. "Going to have to keep tas on that guy. Maybe he works for the russians?!" Gomer starts to worry a little. If that guy did have connections to the russians then things could become interesting. Gomer turns the radio on and plays a tape. "....The white man martches on....." Gomer starts to sing and contines to drive home. He finally reaches his rundown house. He parks the van in the shed and walks into to the front door, opens it and walks into the lounge. He sits down and starts to munch out on some old bacon bits sitting on the tale. The TV is turned on and Gomer drifts into olivion.

[wesaynothin]

Mike watches the fall. He runs over and picks the woman up, and drags her into his car.

 

Seatbelt. Gas. Hospital. E.R. Traffic light. E.R. Find Parking. Find Parking. Find Parking.

 

After he finally finds parking, He supports the strange woman into the Emergency room and calls to a Nurse.

[ArtKing1239]

Zac watched the weird dude grab the woman, and take her outside of the bar. "poo, poo, poo!" Zac muttered. He ran out the bar, and hailed a taxi. He told the driver to follow the man's car. He wondered who the guy was, and why he had been so quick to dart out and grab the girl.

 

Weird, weird, weird.

 

They pulled up to the hospital, and Zac got out of the taxi. He sat down on the front steps of the hospital. He lit a cigarette. All he could do now, was wait.

 

The cigarette gave Zac a nice, light buzz. The alcohol had been working on him a little, and though he was far from drunk, he was still tipsy.

 

What a night.

[Jer Cantrell]

Chris is done in the morgue. All of his work completed he sits outside in the dark a letter opener and pencil in his hands. He hears voices and hates them, the dark does a good job of making them clear and loud and rude and ignorant

-Hello Chris-

and dangerous and jesus christ someone needs to shut up those voices!

-Its you chris, you need to come and shut up the voices-

 

He walks to his small house next the morgue and once inside pours himself some Jack Daniels. Warmth spreads in his stomach with the liquid and some mild comfort begins to spread with the warmth.

 

He lifts the flannel blanket from his bed and the pillow rolls off the back of the bed as the blanket slides out from under it. He thinks how every morning he makes his bed and how every night he makes it an exercise in futility.

 

Under the blankets now. Cool air wafts to him from the open window the sounds of blackbirds singing, endless streams of automobiles and leaves rustling

-Chris-

against the side of the house. All these sounds are just a little too familiar to Chris, just

-You can't deny that you hear me Chris because I hear everything you hear-

a little too routine and it makes him tired and he begins to sleep. He begins to surrender himself to himself because Chris may be going to sleep but someone else inside of him

-Im glad you came around again-

is just awakening and this someone is a neccessary part of Chris but also a part that eats him like cancer and makes him just a little bit crazy. He is asleep deeply now and

 

Chris' body no longer belongs to him

 

He gets in his white Windstar and starts the engine. Another night he spends spinning out of control while some other part of him gains control making Chris think maybe the power was never rightfully his in the first place...

 

Dead End Bar

 

The door slams shut and chris walks in his suit and tie toward the bar. He hears loud music and thrashing and fighting from inside. Weak legs under a fine taylored suit pull him towards the entrance.

[ThetaOrionis01]

When the nurse finally appeared, Charlotte dared move again. She turned around and slapped the guy who had dragged her from the Dead End as hard as she could.

 

"You male without a father!" she screamed at him. "I thought you'd bloody kidnapped me! Did I ask you to manhandle me out of the club, bundle me into the back of your car and drive me through half the city? I don't need a bloody hospital! How DARE you just treat me like that!"

 

 

She turned to the nurse, wiped her face with one gloved hand.

"And I don't need your help. I had no intention of coming here - bringing me here was his idea. Not that he gave me any choice."

 

"Do you want me to call security, dear?" the nurse asked. "Is this guy bothering you? Did he hit you like that?"

 

"Did he what? Oh, no, that was an accident."

 

"Let me have a look at your face," the nurse suggested. "Just to make sure your nose isn't broken. And I could clean your face up a bit." She looked at Charlotte's 'rescuer' suspiciously. "How did that happen?"

 

Charlotte glared at her. "I had an accident with someone's elbow at a gig. I fell over and bumped my head. It happens in the mosh sometimes. No big deal. But before I had a chance to get up this guy grabs me and decides to play Florence Nightingale. And no, I don't need a bloody head x-ray. If you want to do anything, stop this nutter from following me out of here. I don't need a stalker."

 

With one last venomous glance at the guy Charlotte stormed out of the ER. Her gloves were covered in blood where she had wiped her face, but at least the nosebleed had stopped. Impatiently she tugged the gloves off, stuffed them into a pocket. What a fantastic night. If her luck continued like that she'd probably end up walking home, too - unless of course some other crazy decided to bundle her into his car and go for a little drive around town.

[wesaynothin]

"Uhh... It seem's like she's had a concusion." Mike tells the nurse. "Someone should probably stop her before she starts yelling at random people in the street. She was stunned on the ground. If you saw someone just fall over and get stunned, you would bring them to the Hospital too, wouldn't you?" He tells the nurse.

 

He then walks to a chair and sits down.

 

"I should just stay on the computer every night." He mumbles to himself.