House Music

A local club scene hides a strange cult

House Music

The natural light flooding in from the windows faded away as day transitioned into night, leaving Will in a dark hotel room with his laptop screen as the sole light source. His eyes burned from the piercing light and the bones of his butt ached from the hard wooden chair that they rested on. Despite the pain he was experiencing, the wormhole of the internet continued to suck him deeper and deeper.

Facebook pictures of an old acquaintance from his childhood on a beach in Greece led to a google search of the most beautiful beaches in the world, which led to an article on the five largest battles to take place on a beach. He pictured himself at war. The rushes of adrenaline overpowered his fear and the life and death environment made every meal taste better and every foreign prostitute look better. In the corner of the screen of his MacBook, a white rectangle with rounded corners appeared displaying a text message from one of his old friends from his days at Drexel. Over on the bed, his phone simultaneously let out a buzz of vibration, muffled by the course sheets of the Best Western. The message, accredited to Sarah Dulugas, read, “Hey! Bumped into Derrick yesterday and he told me you were playing at Sunrise tonight. Why didn’t you tell me you were in town?! Can’t wait to hear you spin again!” Sarah still lived in the same apartment from college. The same apartment where he had finally told her everything on a rainy day in April. With swift fingers, Will hit the tiny “x” in the corner of the message box in order to keep his trance intact.

With the glare of the screen continuing to sear his eyes in the darkness of his bedroom, he clicked links and switched tabs, surfing the internet for random facts and information. He found out about obscure locations on the planet. He watched trailers for upcoming movies that he would never see. He found out a girl he used to make out with freshman year of high school was dating a guy with the same last name as him, Green. He wondered whether she had ever mentioned this coincidence to him. Another text message. From Graham this time. “Sarah told me your spinning at Sunrise tonight. If you don’t play this song, I will literally ruin your life.” A blue, underlined SoundCloud link followed shortly after. A quick skim through the song let Will know that it wasn’t his style. Too ratchet.

After glancing at the time in the lower right hand corner, he closed his laptop and quickly packed up his equipment before hitting the road.

Approaching the entrance of the club, he passed the people waiting in line against the brick wall of the coffee shop next door. The line was made up of groups, little clusters like beads on a string leading up to the doorway, which was firmly blocked by the club’s bouncer, Derrick. Will walked towards him slowly, took deep breaths, and tried not to think about Sarah.

            Why did he have to te-, no! He stopped himself. Just don’t think about it.

Will surveyed his future crowd as they waited in line. One group contained mostly women, all dressed up in tight, black or neon onesie bathing suits with floral patterns of stick-on jewels adorning their faces, and one man, in jeans and a red shirt with white text that read, ‘Kanye West For President 2020.’ Amidst the scantily clad women, he looked like a fan brought on stage at a Cir Du Solei performance. The woman to his right tugged on his arm as she talked to him. “Ugh, this line is so long!”

               “I just need to get in there and let loose. First, I forget my shark skin laptop sleeve at the Artisanal Mayonnaise shop down on Thompson. And now, I’m standing in a line that is literally longer than the line into Auschwitz.”

               “Think about how I feel. I’m freezing dressed like this.” She tugged harder on his arm and nuzzled into him. “I would totally make like five Sophie’s Choices if we could get inside like right now.”

               “Oh, I would Soph’s Choice the s**t out of a little kid right now if I could get inside.”

               “You guys are awful.” One of the girls standing behind them spoke up. The whole group laughed.

               As he got closer to the door, he caught a glimpse of another conversation. It was a group of four guys, all wearing khaki’s and short-sleeve button-ups. One of them with blonde hair, leaning up against the brick wall, said, “F**k, man, when’s this uber getting here?”

               “Dude, you’re fucked. We’re already at the club.” He slapped his friend in the stomach with the back of his hand. Then, grabbing him by the cheeks, he attempted to make eye contact, but his friend’s inebriated gaze wandered around aimlessly. “Odds you get thrown out tonight. Hey!” He smacked him lightly. “Odds you get kicked out tonight.”

               “I’m literally fine, dude. I just need to rest in the uber.”

               The whole group erupted in laughter.

               “I hope he doesn’t think we’re taking care of him tonight. I’m tryna vibe. If I wanted to babysit, I woulda stayed at home and watched my little sister like I was supposed to.”

               Will greeted Derrick by stretching his eyebrows up his forehead, then walked past him and into the club.

            “Good luck tonight,” Derrick said, but Will was already passed him.

That night he was performing at a small club. It was not as well air-conditioned as the venue from last night, and the crowd was sweating as he tried to read the mood they were in. He stood in the shadows with his jacket zipped up to his chin as he observed the party before him. Some people danced while others just talked. He noted that the crowd was not very sexual, but there was about an equal ratio of men to women.

Every city that he had ever played in had its own unique atmosphere. In Miami, everything oozes sex. Even if you don’t get laid, you’re bound to leave with at least five peoples DNA somewhere on your body. Waitresses pull up their shirts to give body shots and the girls that aren’t paid pull off a lot more while letting out piercing woo’s that are then reciprocated by the surrounding female population. Will would play songs with lots of female vocals and high pitched synths to accommodate this environment. San Francisco was a different story. The crowd was full of hipsters and hippies, and so his set stuck to a more stripped down, minimal sound. He had spent a week in New Orleans once where the crowds were bored and disloyal. If you didn’t keep them interested, they would simply walk next door to the next venue, drink in hand. This type of crowd required more experimentalism. They liked the stuff with jazz influences, obviously, but they also responded well to funk and dancehall.

 Despite all the traveling, he still knew Philadelphia better than anywhere else from his days in college playing s****y, hole-in-the-wall clubs for $50 a night. There would be drinks spilled and men would be shoved. The dancing would be aggressive and repetitive. Several people would get over served, and, subsequently, removed by Derrick. Through it all, it was hard for him to shake the love he had for this city.

The thump of the music kept him focused. From behind the DJ Booth, he manipulated the music in order to keep the energy at a consistent level. He put on loops and changed tempos, merging songs together into a constant stream. The crowd grooved along paying more attention to each other than to the man on the stage. The dark, air-conditioned room echoed with lights on circular trajectories. With one on either side of the stage, their motions formed the shape of a Venn diagram together, traveling in separate circles before intersecting when they met in the middle. The lights were the swaying time piece and the music was the relaxing voice of the hypnotist. Together they entranced the audience fully into the moment. His face, barely peeking out from the sprawling DJ Booth, was framed by screens projecting bright, dancing colors.

He spied some of the groups that were standing in line earlier. The skin-showing women and their male friend all danced in a circle. The man stood in the middle with the women shaking their bodies around him as they screamed the lyrics at his face. For his part, he swayed and bobbed his head with pursed lips and a furrowed brow that combined into a face that said, damn, son, where’d you find this?

Over on the other side of the dance floor, two of the khaki and button down clad guys stood against the wall. Evidently, one had broken his promise and was in fact babysitting his intoxicated friend, shoving a clear plastic cup of mostly ice with a splash of water up to his lips. His drunk friend proceeded to bite down on the rim of the cup before shaking his head wildly like a dog trying to dry itself. The water splashed on his shirt and the ice cascaded to the floor.

            Just as Will was telling himself that maybe Sarah and Graham would not show up, he saw them dance-walk their way through the crowd to the front of the DJ Booth. Sarah smiled a wide, exaggerated smile revealing all her teeth and held two thumbs up on either side of her face like a field goal post. Graham bobbed his head with such aggression that his whole torso opened and closed like a flip phone. Will could vaguely hear their screams of “Yeah, Will!” over the pounding bass. Beads of sweat slid down his forehead and his heart matched the pace of the music. Boom. Boom.

            Attempting to ignore the distraction, he continued to turn his knobs and press his buttons, getting lost in the music. Once his focus was cemented, he felt comfortable looking up again. The sight that greeted him was painful. Sarah and Graham swayed around together intertwined in a tangle of each other’s limbs. Their lips locked and melted together as they stumbled around, relying on fellow crowd members for balance. It felt like college.

As early morning approached, he was alerted to wrap things up. He ended his set with the simplest song in his library. Deep, bass synths bounced on a simple boom-bap percussion with deep, pitch-altered vocals interjecting the words, “House Music,” every other line. The crowd was tired at this point and had stopped reacting with much energy.

            One woman, however, wearing deep red lipstick with short, black hair framing her face like an outline, continued to dance energetically despite the rest of the crowd’s attitude. She moved her body like a snake, slithering her arms around and caressing herself. The movements of her leather clad butt were intoxicating. Her arms were upraised with her left hand clasping her right wrist and she moved her hips in wide, roaming motions.

            The woman inhabited his thoughts long after the song had faded out and he had begun packing up his equipment. As he weaved cords out of their tangles, he watched her make her exit through the gaps in the black wire. His attention was hijacked, however, by the call of Sarah, as her and her boyfriend merged into the sea of people funneling through the door.

            “We’ll see you outside!”

            “You killed it tonight, bud!” Graham had his arm around Sarah. His feet were crossed and he lazily leaned on her for balance.

            Will responded with a thumbs-up.

Throwing his backpack over his shoulder, he made his way to the exit. His eyes were still adjusting to the bright ceiling lights that had just been turned on, so he rubbed his palm into them for comfort. When the grey fuzziness that he had rubbed into his vision faded away, he caught one last glimpse of the woman, who was one of the last people to reach the exit. Some sort of paper dropped from her hand as she crossed the threshold onto the city street.

            It was a pamphlet, Will discovered upon retrieving it, with a white background headed by a question in red letters with a silly font. “Feel like life is passing you by?” Beneath the question was a clip-art illustration of a light house. The light house was followed by the name Jeff Andross, an address, and a phone number.

            The inside of the pamphlet contained seven steps. Seven steps, which, supposedly, can bring one to ultimate freedom and self-discovery. Will rolled his eyes.

            Step One: Accept That You Do Not Have a Problem

            If you ever wish to free yourself from repression, the first thing you must do is admit that you do not have a problem. Society will try to teach you that, in order to be happy, you must change your ways. On the contrary, the true key to happiness and self-love is self-acceptance. There is nothing wrong with you. You are perfect the way you are.

            Step Two: Understand That There is No Higher Power Then Oneself

            God isn’t dead. He was never real to begin with. The path to freedom requires that you understand that you are your own God. Belief in a higher power only serves to take away your individuality and lower your self-esteem by making you believe that you are less than something else. Do not give in to this way of thinking.

            Step Three: Accept That Human Beings are Animals by Nature

            Once you accepted that there is no higher power beyond oneself, you must accept that, barring a divine creator, human beings are nothing more than animals. We are just as susceptible to our natural instincts and impulses as the rest of the animal kingdom.

            Step Four: Disregard Any Social Restrictions that are Specific to Humans

            Since human beings are animals by nature, there is no reason for us to sanction our actions any more than an animal would. You have the urges that you have for a reason, and, contrary to what society would have you believe, you should give into them. Be the animal that you were born to be.

            Step Five: Cut Ties with Anyone Who Is Offended By Your Newfound Liberty of Spirit

            If your family and friends do not like the way you act after you have shed the shackles that they still bear, the first thing you should do is attempt to convert them. However, some are too far gone, and if they do not respond to your attempts at persuasion, you must cut all ties with them. The presence of these negative influences in your life will only serve to slow down your progress. They will attempt to damage your self-esteem and make you feel guilty for realizing your true self. They will do this as an attempt to make you conform to their beliefs. Avoid them at all costs.

            Step Six: Build Relationships with Like-Minded Individuals

            Once you have cut ties with those in your life who are still brainwashed, you will need to find new people to associate with. Our meetings are a great place to meet like-minded individuals. These individuals will provide support for you throughout your journey to self-fulfillment. They will become the truest and closest friends that you have ever had.

            Step Seven: Give Into the Rhythm, Grasp the Power of the Music

The final step necessary for your journey is to accept the curative and cathartic power of House Music. Give into the Rhythm, Grasp the Power of the Music. Dance. Love. Live. Free yourself.

On the side of the pamphlet, was a picture of a man in an all-white robe with long, unwieldly hair posing with prayer hands.

Will read the pamphlet several times over. It seemed too ridiculous to actually exist. It must be some sort of weird advertising campaign for an underground rave sarcastically playing up how wild and out of control it would be. This party’s about to be so crazy that you shed all inhibitions and lose yourself to the music. It seemed like something a bunch of hipster twentysomethings would do for fun. A quick google search of the address revealed it to be a night club a few blocks down. It didn’t really sound like his scene, but the thought of running into the mystery woman there made him consider.

He walked out of the club with his face in the pamphlet.

“What took you so long?” Sarah playfully slapped him on the arm.

            Graham was holding her hand. “Yeah, Will, we almost thought you were trying to avoid us or something.”

            Will shoved the pamphlet in his back pocket before they noticed it. “Of, c�",” Will’s voice was gruff due to lack of use. He grunted to clear out the phlegm. “Of, course not. So… how have you guys been?”

            “We’ll be a lot better when we’re not standing out in the cold anymore.” Graham’s hands were shoved into his pockets and his arms were tight against his body. “Let’s get out of here.”

            “Aw, do you want me to give you my jacket,” Sarah teased. Then, turning to Will, “Come on, were going to get cheesesteaks. It’ll be just like our old study dates.”

            “Uh, I would love to, but, I already have plans. So, we’ll just have to do it another night.”

            “It’s 2 am. What could you possibly be busy doing?” Graham laughed at him.

            Will panicked trying to think of an excuse. Then, he remembered the pamphlet. “I’m going to this like underground rave kind of thing. It’s a few blocks down. Should be pretty wild if what I’ve heard is correct. Probably gonna go pretty late.”

            Sarah looked at Graham. “C’mon.”

            “Not a chance.”

            “We haven’t seen Will in over a year. It’ll be fun.”

            “It’s already 2 am. We’re not in college anymore. We can’t be doing stuff like this.”

            Will chimed in. “Yeah, maybe Graham’s right. I work nights so I’m kind of used to staying up late. Sleeping all day. You know.”

            “Yeah, maybe Graham is right,” offered Sarah, “we’re just old and boring 25 year olds now who can’t have any fun anymore. Let’s just start eating our dinners at four and calling the TV shows we watch our ‘stories’.”

            Will’s abdomen had a spasm and he cackled out a deep laugh. He had forgotten how funny she was.

            Graham, however, did not find it as funny. “Fine, f**k the both of you. We’re f*****g going.”

            Will almost swallowed his own tongue. His heart beat picked up and despite the biting wind he began to sweat beneath his shirt. “You really don’t have to.”

            “Nonsense.” Sarah hooked her arm around his. “We’re going. It’s decided. What street did you say it was on?”

            “I didn’t.” Will reluctantly walked down the sidewalk past a cocktail of crumpled leaves and scattered trash pulled along by the force of both Sarah’s arm and her determination.

The room they arrived in had bright fluorescent lights overhead and smelled of cleaning alcohol. Will couldn’t believe that it had served as a night club just one hour earlier. In the center of the room, chairs were aligned in a circle. The sounds of chair legs screeching against the tile floor as people adjusted their seats echoed off the walls and provided the only oasis from the silence that engulfed the room. Will’s face turned red as he realized the situation he had brought himself into.

“Is this some sort of meeting?” Sarah asked.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Will tried to cover for himself. “It’s kind of like a rave meeting. We talk about partying and stuff. Just kind of party with our words.”

“Sounds… fun.”

“Little weird, though,” said Graham.

Looking around the room, he eyed up the other attendees. One woman wore a long white cardigan with mesh sleeves. She held on to the edges of the sleeves with her fingers and yanked them over the palm of her hand as if she was cold as she sat with a slumped back. The bags under her eyes looked like welts from paint ball bullets.

“Wait here,” Will said to Sarah and Graham. “I need to sign you in before you sit down.” Rushing over to the woman in the cardigan, Will addressed her.

               “Hey, what exactly is going on here?”

               She cocked her head at him like a chicken. “Oh, hello there. I’m Sam.”

            “And I’m Will. But seriously what is this… gathering?”

               “Jeff prefers to explain it to first timers.”

            Will returned to Sarah and Graham with a new lie in mind. “Sorry, guys, I think I got the night wrong.”

            “Not a chance I’m leaving here until I figure out what the f**k is going on.” Sarah marched past him and took a seat in the circle. Graham shrugged and followed suit.

            Still standing away from the circle, he contemplated leaving, going home, and watching a movie. He would only be in Philly for another two weeks, before packing up and going to Seattle. It wouldn’t be hard to avoid seeing them again.

            “You found my pamphlet.”

            The voice came from behind him, startling him out of his train of thought. Jerking around, he saw the woman from earlier. The one who danced like water and looked like fire.

            “Yeah, I did. This isn’t exactly what I was expecting.”

            A smile crept up the left side of her face. “Expectations are stupid. It’s best to avoid them.” She looked over his shoulder at the circle of chairs. “You brought friends?”

            “Old friends. From college.”

            “Are you going to join them or are you just going to stand here and watch?”

               All of a sudden, the collective sound of every chair grinding the floor at once echoed through the room. The other attendees of the meeting rose to their feet as a man in a white robe with messy brown hair entered the room. He was greeted by a wall of applause. Will joined in on the cheering out of implicit peer pressure.

               “How’s everyone doing tonight?” He took a seat in the circle.

               “Wonderful, Jeff!” The mystery woman called across the room. Will watched her hypnotic strut as she walked over to the circle. He couldn’t help but follow suit, taking a seat next to Sarah and Graham.

               “Great to hear!” His fingers traced around his ears placing some stray curls in line. “I see we have some new faces today. Welcome.”

            “Great to be here. Ready to partyyyyyyy!” Sarah did a little jig in her seat. “You know, like with words and stuuuuff.”

“I guess just to get the new guys initiated let’s all tell our stories. Let them know what we’re all about here.” Jeff spoke with his hands, moving them in soft, deliberate motions. With an upraised palm, he gestured over to the man on his left. “Kevin would you get us started.”

Kevin was an older man, in his late 40s or 50s. With his frog-like double chin and the baseball cap that adorned his head, he looked like every little league baseball coach Will had ever had. His voice boomed across the room when he spoke. “Oh, god. Ya know, it’s kinda funny sort of. No matter how many times I tell the story it never gets easier. My thirties were a dark time. Emotionally. Financially. Sexually. I don’t think I had an erection from age 32 to 36. I was insecure. Ya know, very insecure. My age kept climbing, but I never really felt like an adult. I had an outlet, of course. Everyone needs an outlet. I listened to a lot of rap music.” Kevin paused to take a deep breath with wide glaring eyes. The air exited his lungs with an exaggerated woosh. “I loved everything about it. The pure self-expression. The braggadocio. They made themselves out to be gods. And I envied them.” His gaze roamed the tile floor beneath them. “I started to pretend that I was a rapper. Ya know, I would take rap songs and pretend that I wrote them. That I was performing them. Of course, I’m not a black man. So, I would have to replace the n-word when I rapped along to them. Mostly I used words like ‘homie’ or ‘people’ or sometimes ‘b***h’ or ‘p***y’ if they were dissing someone. The only problem was when they used the n-word as a rhyme. Then, I couldn’t fantasize about that song.” Another deep breath. “Anyway, I would group songs together from different artists into my albums. By the end of my obsession, I think I had seven full length LPs. Each one unique. Each one a different style.”

 “And what saved you?” Jeff interjected. “Tell it directly to the new guys.”

“The music.” He made intense eye contact with Will. “The music saved me. The house music. I still remember the first time I heard it. It blew my mind. It dug deep into my soul. It was therapeutic. It was cathartic. It was liberating. I felt freer then I ever had in my entire life.” He looked back towards Jeff. “And I can never thank you enough for that.”

Jeff nodded. “No thanks necessary. It’s my calling to spread the word. It’s my duty to free people from the chains that bind them and hold them back from happiness.”

            The next to speak was the young woman in the cardigan that he had previously spoken to.

            “I used to be very shy. When I was in high school, I felt completely invisible. Like I didn’t even have an impact on my own life. I fell into a deep depression, and to deal with it… I turned to razors.” She pulled down the sleeve of her cardigan revealing scars up and down the inside of her forearm like tally marks. “That’s when I started wearing cardigans. They covered up the marks. I spent all of my time focused on trying to be happy. Then, Jeff taught me that I was going about it all wrong. The music freed me, and now �" I- c-.” Tears streamed down her cheeks and the bags under her eyes quivered like water balloons. Through gasps of tears, she finished her statement. “Now I couldn’t be happier.”

            Sarah nudged Will on the arm. What the f**k, she mouthed to him, smiling like she had just heard some juicy gossip. She covered her mouth with her hand to stifle the giggles.

            “Fun right…”

            “I would use the word, weird.” Graham was slouched in his chair with his legs extended and his arms crossed snug across his torso.

            Next to speak was the mystery girl. Unlike the others, she rose from her chair to give her story. “Well, as most of you know, my story is a little different.” There were scattered laughs across the room, but they sounded lazy and distant. “The man that you all call Jeff, I call Dad. So, my story isn’t really a conversion story. It wasn’t until I was six that I realized I had been raised differently than the other kids. They would all make jokes about how boys are gross and stupid, while I would talk about how men and women are like yin and yang and that we complement each other and bring out the best in each other. As I got older, everyone called me a hippy. Yup, I was the weird hippy girl who would dance in the parking lot for hours after school. Completely alone. House music wasn’t quite as big at the time so I was mostly dancing to the same three songs on loop. One time at a party, when I was in high school, someone started a game of truth or dare. I chose dare. Boys, being so immature at the time, dared me to strip naked and give them a blowjob. So, I did. The boy was too shy to take his penis out in front of everyone, though, so it didn’t end up happening. The next day I told my father about it and he marched over to the boy’s house and punched his dad in the face. Then, he screamed, ‘My daughter offers to suck your son off and he refuses to even whip it out! You should be ashamed of your parenting!’ After that was when my father decided that we couldn’t coexist with these regular people anymore. I mean, the kid was afraid to show me one of his body parts. The level of repression was ridiculous. So, that’s when we started this little group. Now, we all have a place where we can be ourselves together. Completely away from all of them. I have the best father in the entire world.” She placed her hand on her father’s shoulder.

            “That was beautiful, sweetie!” Jeff placed his hand on his daughters.

            After several more stories, the attention in the room was directed to Will, Sarah, and Graham.

            “Now, who wants to go first?” Jeff addressed them.

            Sarah jumped at the opportunity. “Oh, well, for me, the first time it really clicked was when I stuck one of those Beats Audio Pills,” She formed her hands into an oval shape demonstrating the size of it and gestured around the room so everyone could see. “And then, I shoved it up my vagina, hooked my phone up on blue tooth, and just played some real gnarly bass lines.” Stifling back laughter. “It just really allowed me to experience the music in a whole new way.” Audible giggles. “I mean, seriously, the way I felt the vibrations.” Her voice gradually became more high-pitched as each sentence went on. “I felt like I transcended time and space and finally learned the true meaning of Christmas.” Her voice reached a screech and she collapsed into hysteria.

            “If you aren’t going to take this seriously, then you should just leave.” Jeff’s eyes were wide and his tone was stern.

            Sarah continued laughing.

            “Out! Get OUT!” Jeff rose to his feet and pointed towards the door.

            “Settle down, White Fang.” Graham grabbed Sarah by her arm as her body continued to convulse and pulled her towards the door. Will hesitated, but then followed them.

            “Just going to follow them, are you?” Jeff called out to him.

            “This isn’t really for me, sorry.”

            “So what is for you then? Being the third wheel? Desperately pining after a woman who doesn’t love you?”

            Sarah was still laughing in the doorway. “C’mon, Will, let’s get the f**k out of here.”

            “You don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t even know me.” Will never turned to face Sarah.

            “It wasn’t difficult to read. I can tell you’re interested in my daughter as well.”

            “That’s not true.”

            “I was like you once. I would have never been able to openly discuss those that I was interested in sexually. You need to free yourself. Let me guess, you told her how you felt once and she turned you down and now you haven’t said it to anyone else since? Yes? No?”

            Will glanced at Sarah, and then back at Jeff.

            Under the doorway, Sarah’s laughter had subsided. “Will, it was so long ago…”

            Then, Graham. “I thought we had gotten past this, man.”

            Jeff walked closer to Will and placed his hand on his shoulder. “This must be rough. Nothing feels worse than pity.” After a brief silence, he continued. “Look around you. You could belong here. You could feel connected to something. You could feel alive. Here.” Jeff handed him a key. “You’re going to go into the back office. My daughter will go with you. You can finally live for once.”

            Will hesitated.

            “I know this all seems a little crazy, but there’s nothing out there for you.”

            Jeff’s daughter approached him and grabbed him by the hand, gesturing towards the door with a tilt of her head.

            “Will, you can’t be serious!” shouted Sarah.

~

            Will emerged from the back office feeling like a new man, and he wore the stink of dry sweat like a badge of honor. His shoulders felt loose and they hung lower than he ever even knew that they could. However, they tensed back up when he felt two strange hands kneading into them.

            “There they are!” shouted Jeff from behind him.

Will couldn’t help but blush.

“Now, we shouldn’t let them have all the fun, should we? Sam, be a doll and grab the supplies from the back.”

Sam rushed up to obey, running awkwardly with spastic limbs and a hunched back.

               “You are going to love this.” Jeff’s breath felt moist against Will’s ear as he spoke from a close proximity.

            When Sam returned, she passed around tablets filled with white powder to each and every person. They gobbled them down eagerly without water to smooth it out. Sam handed one to Will with a proud smile on her ghostly face.

            “What is this exactly?” Will wrestled free of his massage and faced Jeff.

            “200 milligrams of pure happiness.” He smiled. “Take the pill. It’s time for you to have fun for once.”

            “I don’t really do drugs.”

            Jeff grabbed the pill from Will’s hand, and quickly shoved it into his mouth. “Swallow.”

            Will obeyed.

            “Now,” Jeff yelled out, “let the festivities begin!”

The moment anyone got up from their chairs, their bodies spurted to life like wind-up dolls into random, un-choreographed dance moves. Will stood and watched with Jeff to his side. They were all simply wild. Sam ripped off her cardigan, shoving her chest up to the speaker to feel its vibrations. Her screams walked the line between ecstasy and pain.

              The music thumped along. Kevin stood still in one location pumping his fist like he was hammering a nail. The force of his motions caused ripples of fat to slap out against his shirt. Following Sam’s lead, more and more people began to remove their clothes, and soon, Will found himself watching a full-on orgy. Everyone joined in except for Kevin who remained fully clothed and stationary, pumping away with his fist.

            The drugs had begun to kick in and a warm feeling rushed through Will’s brain. He watched limbs tangle into limbs. He watched men mount women and women mount men. He felt like he finally understood freedom and love. A cacophony of moans and grunts filled the dance floor, and Will was eager to contribute to it.

            As he was removing his shirt, however, Jeff stopped him. “You have to come with me.”

            “What for?”

            Jeff walked towards the exit without responding. By the time that he had made it halfway across, Will began to follow him.

            Out in the parking lot, the sun had already begun to rise. The amber hues washing over the sky looked like the most magical thing Will had ever seen, and the warm morning sun washing over his face made him feel like a baby in his mother’s arms. Jeff walked around to the back of a dumpster, and Will followed him with a smile on his face.

            As he rounded the dumpster, he heard the sound of muffled voices, and when he finished rounding the dumpster, he saw the source of those muffled voices. Sarah and Graham were tied up and gagged with socks in their mouths and dress ties around their arms and legs.

            “What the f**k?” Will yelled.

            “Was I not clear about no outsiders? We need to keep ourselves isolated.” Jeff pulled a glistening chrome gun out of his waistband and handed it to Will. “The safety’s on the right side.”

            “No!” Will handed the gun back. “Can’t we just let them go?”

            “Why? So they can go around telling about the crazy group of lunatics who worship House Music? So they can go around and spread lies about us and about our movement? So they can tell the authorities about how you became intimate with my 16 year-old daughter?”

            “She was sixteen!?”

“Yes! We live by different rules here. My daughter has had her first blood and she is a grown woman. There is nothing wrong with what you did. But outside of our group they would throw you in jail for what you did. They would throw you in jail for doing something completely natural to human nature. This is why we do not associate with outsiders.” Jeff turned off the safety. “This is a part of being in our group, and, if you can’t do this, then I will be forced to consider you an outsider yourself… The choice is yours.”