Le Chat Noir

My first task in creative writing was to write a story with an unreliable narrator, or and ambiguous ending, or both. I think i did quite well. :)

Tonight will be my first time at “Le Chat Noir”.  Alex and James introduced me. I ask them what it’s like but all they say is it’s like losing your virginity, you never forget your first time.

Under long coats, scarves and hats, Alex and James are topless; no guy goes to “Le Chat Noir” fully clothed. Despite my layers of protection the wind is a bitter chill whipping around my ears, it makes it hard to hear what Alex is saying, but he’s making gestures with his hands that suggests he is telling a joke, a gust of wind scours my ears and I miss the punch line, but as Alex and James burst into laughter I smile too, none the less, it felt warmer then.

We walk past a pub that has closed down since the last trip, and one which looks empty but inviting. I motion to Alex that we could go inside, but he takes me by the arm, cups my face in his frozen hands and tells me that I need to forget drinking. James leans in abruptly and kisses me, he tells me to stop being nostalgic and kisses me again. He seems to bounce of me and returns to his place on the other side of Alex. I’m a little stunned. I swallow hard and I feel a wonderful fizzing in my stomach, we’re only friends, yet he kissed me so deep. I struggle in a sudden gust, pulling my coat closer to me and my fairy wings cut into my sides.

We’ve reached the end of the sea front and we’re outside the “Le Chat Noir” building, a neon cat hovers over the entrance, each of its whiskers are also neon colours, they seem to blur in the breeze, it makes me vomit.

Alex holds my long hair back, whilst James stands in front, I can hear him saying that the whiskers got him first time too, his voice is swaying in my ears, I’m still reeling from the kiss.

From behind me I can hear Alex telling James to kiss me again, I feel like I’m glowing, I probably shouldn’t have heard that. James says that he will when I’m inside. I hurriedly ask Alex if he has a breath mint, instead of just me he gives each of us one from a dispenser box which tastes nothing like mint, and when I tell him this he gives me a Polo, James doesn’t seem to care.

I stand up and compose myself; I can see the bouncer is moving about jaggedly. He’s checking eyes , Alex says as he hands four tiny discs to James, he pops one of them into each eye, they are now dull blue; he pushes my hair back out of my eyes and holds it behind my head. His hand is warm at the back of my skull. I now sport a disc in each eye, I don’t understand why, perhaps this is just part of the “Le Chat Noir” experience.

The discs are horrible, they give you the impression that there is an upside down goldfish bowl on top of your head, and it’s filled with condensation, you also feel like your feet are moving through treacle, but at least they let you get in.

I see the bulbous head of the bouncer move up the side of the bowl, he’s searching my eyes, I make it in and I remove the discs, contact lenses.

Alex strips the contacts from my palm in one swift movement and places them in his coat pocket. We are in the lobby, as James calls it. People are filing past us and on through a set of double doors, which when they are closed seem to emanate lasting vibrations, and when open blasts moaning long voices out.

In my left eye I see black shapes, I peer harder, closing my right eye to focus better, each time they move I feel a pain in my eye, I can see tails, I can see wires, I shake my head, perhaps I am daydreaming, I open my eyes and the shapes are gone. This place is strange.

James is staring intently as I remove my coat, I move it slowly down my body, I’m wearing a tight T-shirt, not quite topless like him, but he seems impressed none the less. There are cats and mice playing in the wallpaper behind Alex, it’s a freeze. In the section, the cat is about to pounce.

He asks me how I’m feeling. I tell him I feel really hot. He hugs me and rubs my arms and shoulders, he must have misheard. James kisses me again; I get a lump in my throat. He hugs me even tighter, I’m shaking uncontrollably, and he must be able to feel it. I’m so nervous, I laugh to myself in my head, and it’s hilarious. Two years, best friends at University and now he’s kissed me twice. I feel a pain in my stomach and I bend over, I realise I’ve been laughing the whole time. James pulls me up and he’s laughing to, but whether it’s at or with me I can’t tell.

We triumphantly pass through the double doors, and then I am conscious of the fact that everyone else is really short, and I am really tall, I wish James and Alex had said. I step over several people, trying not to squash them. We reach the centre of the floor, and people are more my size again. Music is blasting my hair every which way, James is dancing behind me, grinding. Alex is dancing nearby; they are now mimicking me, till I can’t tell us apart, despite our un-coordination we are having fun.

I pull off the fairy wings that have been digging into me for hours and throw them into the air, they vanish and I think good riddance. Alex and James have kept disappearing, and reappearing next to me. James is so close to me that his eyes have merged and he resembles a Cyclops, I can feel something in my mouth, running over my lips, when he moves away it’s gone.

All around me people are shrinking, becoming smaller all of a sudden, the group of tall people in the middle has become just me, Alex and James. James has me by the hips and he kisses me once again, harder and deeper than ever before. I feel great passion filling up my entire body, I’m so in love I feel like a balloon about to burst, a grenade about to explode. I feel like my throat is full of vibrant colours and I sing out like a tropical bird, painting the world around me, he has made me sing, and I long for my fairy wings back, because I know I could fly right now. This moment subsides almost immediately, and now I am shrinking, me and James together, in each other’s arms, toward the floor, we are spiralling together, so close each other. We join the masses of people sitting on the floor; they are all in love like us. I can’t hear the music anymore.

I look up at Alex; he is still standing, dancing and alone up there. He must be lonely. I cry for his loneliness, James offers no comfort, he is still happy in love, smile on his face.

Alex pulls me up; he looks from me to James, he looks so serious. He tells me he needs to show me something. I don’t want to leave James, but he looks so content, and Alex is so insistently pulling on my hand that I am forced to follow.

We part the crowd as we walk through it, I’m laughing as I step over people, they’re small and I don’t want to squash them.

He pulls me into one of the bathrooms, I’m laughing so loudly because it’s the girls, and he’s a boy.

Alex searches through each of the stalls, what does he want to show me I wonder? Whatever it is he is hiding. He pulls me into the middle of the room and then into a stall, I laugh at him, whatever he wants to show me I definitely don’t want to see if he found it in here.

He then points across at the opposite wall, I stare. A boy is kissing a girls neck, she is laughing. Alex is such a pervert; I don’t want to watch this. Alex is telling me to watch it so angrily that I guess he doesn’t want me to miss something. I look back but the girl is not laughing anymore, in fact she is staring right back at me, her wide blackened eyes searching me out, she looks such a state. I look away in embarrassment. Alex again tells me to look, I feel so uncomfortable. The boy behind the girl is lifting her skirt and unzipping his trousers. The girl is starting to cry, she is mouthing the word “stop”, I can see it clear as the nose on my face, she’s telling him to stop, but he isn’t. I look back at Alex and ask him what to do. His eyes are closed, and he’s panting, terrified, he doesn’t know what to do either. I put my arm out against the side of the stall; I’m going to help her. The girl reaches for me too, we can help each other. Alex pulls me back; I yell that I have to help her. I turn back to her and see that the boy has pulled her closer, she is yelling so much, I can’t seem to hear her, but I can feel that it is so loud. Rape, Alex. Alex! Rape! He’s raping her. With that, Alex pulled me close to him, this must be so terrorising, I struggle to get away from him and help her. Surely Alex can help, I thought he would be stronger than this, but he is frozen to the spot like me. He releases me, I feel cold away from his body. The girl has escaped too thank goodness, she is running for me, but I have the boy in my sights, he isn’t looking at me. I reach him suddenly, the girl is in my way but I punch anyway, punch him so hard, S**t his skin felt like steel, but I did it, I hit him and he fell to the floor in pieces.

 

Reviews

[unspokenguilt]

wow very interesting and creative, it really leaves you guessing...I loved it!

[EVERYTHINGyoucantelltoS..]

i love it. i am pretty sure that the ending is well, i think i may well be wrong, but i think she is looking in the mirror. and i really like the entire story line, actually. you dont have a clue what might be coming til the very end. the desriptions of the crowd were good as well, they added to the setting without really having to. i can never think of plot for stories, but maybe there is hope with this kind of thing.