When the Party Won't Stop

www.AntonioGarciaBooks.com

Zack looked down at the piece of paper, then back at the building in front of him. Still not sure if he was at the right place, he just kept looking back down at the paper, at the building, and over at the nearby street sign.

As far as he could tell, he was at the right address, but the building looked deserted.

Not seeing anyone else come or go, he decided that the girl who had given him the address earlier that day was messing with him.
She told him that this place was a dance club that had just opened. Zack had no reason to not believe her. She seemed genuinely interested in him.

But now, as he stood there on the sidewalk, he knew if this was a new dance club, he would have seen people coming and going by now.

Deciding that she had indeed wasted his time and feeling like a fool, he turned to walk away.

Before he could take a step, the girl who had given him the address came walking around the street corner.

“Hi!” she shouted when she saw him standing there.

“Hi!” was all he could say back.

“I see you found the place,” she continued, walking towards him. Flirting with him, she said, “Were you waiting for me?”

Zack smiled. He was going to tell her that he was about to leave, but instead, he replied, “Of course.”

They smiled at each other.

Taking him by the hand, the girl led him to the front door.

She banged on it and moment later, it cracked open enough for a voice to come through.

“Can I help you?”

“We’re here to party,” the girl said.

Suddenly, the door opened and the man on the other side said, “Come on in. The party’s just beginning.”

Zack thought the whole experience was weird, but he was really attracted to the girl, so he followed her in.

Once they were through the door, he could hear music playing from down the hallway.

All of his fears dissipated when they entered the club at the end of the corridor, and he saw what must have been a hundred people.

Still curious why he hadn’t seen anyone coming or going, he was about to ask the girl when, before he could, she grabbed his hand and lead him towards the bar, saying, “Let’s get a drink.”

Once they got their drinks, Zach tried to talk to her, but the music was so loud, she only gave him the sign that she couldn’t hear him.
She wasn’t leaving his side, so he decided to just enjoy being with her and started to watch the people around him.

He had never been to a rave, but he imagined it would look a lot like this.

The beat from the music was constant, though he could tell the music was subtly changing.

Zach was impressed at how everyone was dancing and not showing any signs of slowing down, even though just watching them was wearing him out.

When they finished their drinks, the girl once again grabbed his hand and led him to the dancefloor.

He didn’t hesitate, though he was nervous. He didn’t really know how to dance, but he bounced around as much as he could, hoping he looked somewhat natural.

“Stay here! I’ll be right back!” the girl shouted into his ear. “I’m going to get us another drink!”

He nodded, and even though he didn’t want to, he stayed put, feeling like an idiot bouncing around.

A few minutes later, she returned with their drinks.

“Thank you!” he shouted and she nodded back.

They both drank and danced until their cups were once again empty, and then she grabbed his cup and went to go throw them away.

When she didn’t come immediately back, he began looking around.
‘She probably ran into a friend,’ he thought, not overly concerned.

As time when on and she didn’t return, he decided to go look for her. He was getting tired from all the dancing and wanted to just get her number before leaving.

He checked by the bar, by the bathrooms, and went to an upper level to get a better look, but she was nowhere to be found.

Zack was still impressed by how much energy everyone still seemed to have.

He looked at his watch and realized he had already been there for a couple of hours.

Not able to find her, he decided to just head out.

Nobody seemed to pay him much attention as he pushed through the crowd of dancers, making his way back to the door he had entered through.

When he got to the door, it was closed and seemed to be locked. He jiggled the handle, seeing if maybe it was just jammed, but no matter how much he pulled and pushed, the door didn’t budge.

Annoyed, but not worried, he figured there must be another way out, which is why he didn’t see anyone come or go when he had first arrived.

He found another door with an ‘Exit’ sign over it, but like the front door, it wouldn’t open.

Frustrated, he followed the wall, looking for any other exits that would lead him out, but as far as he could tell, those were the only two doors that led outside.

Zach tried to ask a couple of people if they knew how to leave, but each person he tried to talk to basically ignored him.

The music was starting to get to him. The beat never changed, just the song. It was quickly becoming a constant pounding in his head, and out of instinct, he covered his ears trying to block it out.

He walked up to the bar and tried to get the bartenders attention.

“What are you drinking?” the bartender yelled above the crowd.

“The front and back doors are locked,” Zack asked in reply.

“What are you drinking?” the bartender asked again.

Zack repeated his statement, but the bartender only seemed to get annoyed.

“What are you drinking?” the bartender asked again, noticing that there were more people waiting for drinks.

Frustrated, Zack asked, “Where is the exit?”

The bartender pointed towards the front door, and then walked away to help others that were waiting to order.

Zach walked around and tried the doors again, getting the same results.

He walked up to the higher level, hoping he could see which door people were coming and going from.

From where he was at, he could see both doors, but for a full hour, he didn’t see a single person leave or enter.

While he waited, he pulled out his phone to call a friend.

All he got was the ‘No Service’ sound.

He looked down at his phone and saw that he didn’t have a signal.

“What the hell?” he said.

Becoming angry, he stormed back down to the bar. He was determined to get some answers.

Once he got the bartender’s attention again, he said, “Where is the exit?”

The bartender pointed towards the front door like Zach knew that he would.

“That door is locked!” Zack yelled, but the bartender didn’t seem fazed.

“What do want to drink?” the bartender asked, ignoring Zack’s obvious frustration.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Zack yelled. “I want to leave, but your doors are locked!”

The bartender seemed to completely ignore what Zack was saying.

“What do you want to drink?” the bartender asked again.

Thoroughly annoyed, Zach just turned and looked for another employee. He knew that there should at least be a bouncer or two. Especially with as many people that were there.

After roughly twenty minutes of walking around, he didn’t find another single employee. It was like the bartender was the only one working.

Zach covered his ears again. The music was really adding to his stress. He couldn’t hear himself think. The crowd dancing all around him only added to his lack of ability to focus.

Everything was starting to become a blur. The music, the crowd, the inability to escape. It was all overwhelming him.

Like a rat in a cage, he went back to the doors and tried again, this time banging and kicking them. Not only did the doors not open, but no one seemed to notice or care what he was doing.

He needed a drink.

He walked over to the bar again.

“What are you drinking?” the bartender asked as if this was the first time he had ever seen Zack.

Feeling a sense of apathy, Zach ordered a Yeager Bomb and a beer.
He quickly downed the shot and drank some of the beer.

When he was almost done with his drink, anger overtook him along with an idea. Maybe he could get himself thrown out.

With all of his might, he threw his bottle behind the bar, shattering the glass along the wall as well as two shelves of liquor.

No one seemed to notice.

Zach stood shell-shocked.

His shock was interrupted when the bartender walked up to him and asked, “What are you drinking?”

Zach just stood there staring at him. He didn’t know what to do.

He slowly turned in a circle, only to find that nothing had changed. People were still dancing. No one made eye contact with him. They only kept dancing.

The dance club became a blur. He couldn’t focus on anything. Everything was spinning.

He walked away from the bar and headed towards the bathroom.
No one was in there when he busted through the door and went into a stall.

He threw up, but that only seemed to make him feel worse.

Not able to take the swirling world anymore, he sat on the toilet seat, closed the door, and passed out.

While he was unconscious, a couple of men in white lab coats walked in and started rotating the people that were in there with a fresh group.

The outgoing group were exhausted, but the incoming group were excited to earn the cash they had been offered to just dance for a few hours.

A group of workers quickly came in and replaced the mirror, sweeping up the glass on the floor too.

By the time Zach woke up, the bar had been reset, complete with a new crowd to keep the party going.

It didn’t take long before Zach remembered where he was and the predicament he was in. He shot up and immediately pulled out his phone, which was now dead.

When he walked out of the bathroom, the music was still going as before, and everyone was still dancing.

He had no idea how long he had been out. With his phone dead, he had no clock, and when he looked around, he didn’t see a clock on any of the walls, and when he tried to ask some of the people there, they just ignored him and kept dancing.

He walked back up to the bar and almost passed out when he noticed that there was a different bartender standing behind the bar.

“Where did the other guy go?” Zach asked.

Ignoring him, the bartender asked, “What are you drinking?”

Zach felt like he was going insane. He slowly stepped back, afraid that he had died, and he was really in hell.

No one seemed to notice as Zach walked away and stumbled around the room. He walked to the front door, trying to open it. He then walked back to the back door and tried to open it too.

He repeated that routine over and over again, always with the same result.

The scientists watched through the security cameras as Zack continued to try to find a way out and try to ask the crowd for help, until finally after several days he could no longer walk.

He collapsed in the hallway by the bathroom.

The lack of sleep and food had finally caught up with him.

He had no idea what time it was, or what day it was.

As he slowly drifted off, never to awake again, all he could think was, “The beat never ends.”