Afterlife (Afterlife Saga) (13 page)

We finally got served after about twenty minutes of trying to push our way to the front, well RJ pushed and I followed.  Now, once again, I was following RJ back to where her friends were waiting for us. This was the theme of the night, me tracking RJ's every move. I felt like the sheep following its owner, my only hope was that it wasn’t to the slaughter.

I was starting to get sweaty palms again at the thought of meeting new people, like it was my first day of school all over again. Something caught her eye as we walked towards the back of the club and then I saw it too. A guy was waving at us trying to get our attention. He smiled when he saw me and carried on waving us over turning slightly as if to say something to his friends.

“Oh cool, they got a seat. Nice one! And the spot couldn't be more perfect.” RJ said with a quick satisfied smile at me. They were situated near to the mezzanine level and the staircase that led up to it. There was another one that mirrored it on the other side opposite. It was next to the stage area that was a raised platform high enough for everyone lower than it to have a clear view. The layout of the place was perfect for the purpose it served. It was the classiest night club I had ever seen, one that you would have expected to find in a big cosmopolitan city not a remote little town in the middle of the wilderness.

“What’s up there?” I asked as we passed the staircase that had two enormous men guarding it as if it held the crown jewels up there. I thought the two guys at the front entrance were big, but these guys put them to shame. The story of David and Goliath popped into my head.

“Ah, now that’s the VIP area,” she whispered as she eyed the giants, as though not wanting them to hear.

“That’s where the Dravens spend all their time, it goes all the way over, further back,” she continued motioning her hand backwards.

“Not that I have ever been up there,” she continued with a bitter tone.

“But my dad has his own building company and one of his guys went there last year to do a job, which is strange ‘cause they usually get their own people in to do stuff like that. I guess they got desperate or something, but anyway, I got my dad to explain it in every little detail to me and then of course passed the information on like any good town gossip,” she said smiling proudly. I laughed back, not being in the least bit surprised and also making a mental note never to tell her anything that I didn’t want ending up on the town’s bulletin board. 

By this time we had managed to make it through the alternative looking crowd to the booth that housed all of RJ's “Goth gang” as Libby had called them. There were three of them in total. Two guys and one more girl all sat round a massive half
oval seat covered in red velvet. There was a table in the middle with already empty glasses and bottles waiting to be collected. As soon as they saw us they budged round to make room for two more bodies.

“That was a nightmare, I think next time I would rather die of thirst!” RJ complained as she sat down putting her bottle of Bud on the table ready for the introductions.

“Everyone this is Keira!” She announced to the gang, and I suddenly felt like I was being introduced to one of those “
self-help
” groups.

“Umm… Kaz is fine.” I said in a pathetically weak voice. It didn’t help when I had all eight eyes studying me. I sat down and rested my bottle on the table as my hand had started to go numb with holding it so long.

“Hi, I’m Lanie.” I smiled in reply to a pretty girl with short bobbed hair. She had a kind face and small oval glasses that sat upon a small delicate nose. She got up to shake my hand and I leaned forward to reciprocate.

“Nice gloves, not used to the weather yet uh?” She said as I sat back down replying with a nervous laugh.

One by one they all introduced themselves and I started to relax once I wasn’t the main topic of conversation any more. I was relieved to be chatting about starting college. They all lived local apart from one, Charles, or Chaz as he liked to be called, had just moved here to live with his aunt while he was studying at the local college. His single mum of three couldn’t afford to pay for college accommodation so her sister offered to help out. He moved here in the summer to “get a feel for the place” and he had met RJ through her brother as they both worked at the same sports store called Airtime. RJ’s brother was running a little late due to work but he’d text to say he was on his way.

Chaz was cute looking with a baby face that looked like it still hadn’t fully matured. He paid a lot of attention to RJ but she didn’t seem to notice. Every now and again he would stare at her and smile to himself, a hidden smile. The other guy was Andrew or Drew as he also preferred. He confessed himself to be a bit of a Geek. He was studying computer engineering and loved to play World of Warcraft. He started to go into detail about the game or “community” but he could have been speaking Japanese for all I knew.

“Leave it out Drew cap!” RJ said throwing a piece of the paper label she had been playing with. She was a good shot as it landed on his head and rolled down only to rest on his glasses. Everyone laughed including Drew. I learned that he and RJ had grown up together as neighbours and had been best friends forever. The nickname Drew Cap continued throughout the night. The banter between them reminded me of Libby and myself. I couldn’t help but smile at the thought.

Drew was tall and very thin with a face to match but he had the most amazing deep eyes, they were brown with hints of toffee in them. They were big and very expressive and they seemed to like what they saw in Lanie as they kept diverting towards her general direction. They all made me feel very welcome and I felt at ease telling them about myself (well to a point) but they all had a laugh with the different things that I said and started with all the “say this…say that” malarkey.

Libby was
right;
my English accent had gone down well with them all. I didn’t
think it would be long before they had me doing impressions of the Royal family! But I took it all in good fun and was having so much of a good time that I didn’t realise when RJ’s brother turned up. It was very embarrassing to find that he was behind me the whole time I had been slightly snorting like pig with laughter. I didn’t realise until RJ looked up.

“Hey, there you are, I thought you were going to miss the band starting but they’re not on for another ten.” My face went bright red with embarrassment as I could feel his eyes on the back of my head. I turned round sheepishly to see a very handsome face smiling down at me.

“Well hello there giggles, I’m Jack. You must be our English rose, Keira.” He said in a very confident smooth textured voice. I blushed again like a nun in a nudist colony. I hated receiving compliments, I never knew how to react, not wanting to be rude but most of all not wanting to be the centre of anyone’s attention.

“Jack, don’t be a freak, you’re embarrassing her!” RJ said coming to my rescue, well sort of.

“I apologise for my brother, he was dropped on his head a lot as a child.” I lowered my head to hide my grin.

“Don’t you mean hit in the head, by you!” Drew said now joining in the debate.

Jack leaned down to my face and with a cheeky grin, that would make any heart melt he said,

“Sorry about these two, there’s no stopping them when they get going, let’s start over, I'm Jack and I don’t have any problems with my head.” He smiled at the end of this, replacing the cheekiness with a charming wink.

There was something so likeable about him it was hard to keep from smiling to myself. He looked a bit like a rough catwalk model. One you would see in an advert for a Gillette shaving product, as he had the stubble and messy hair for it. His hair was brown but with streaks of gold cast lightly through it. It flopped around in every direction as he moved, his streaks getting caught in the warm glow of the club's lighting. His eyes were a warm hazel that matched his hair and they were framed with long lashes. But none of these were his best f
eatures. No
it was his very
heart-warming
smile. The kind
of smile that when it appeared
would light up his face
,
transforming it entirely.

He sat down next to me as we all budged up once more. Drew and Chaz seemed happy about the close proximity that Jack had created. But now we all looked more like couples, there being three girls and three boys, but as for the girls, myself included, we didn't think the same as the guys did.

“So how do you like our cold little town?” Jack asked with a crooked grin, as his arm rested slightly on the back of the velvet seat behind me.

“Umm, to be honest I haven't really seen much of it, but what I have seen I like. My sister and I went hiking the other day, which I loved.” This made his eyes react as though I had said something to spark his interest.

“Oh you like to hike? I do too, well growing up here, there's not that much more to do. Until this place opened that is.” I wondered how long this place had been open
for
.
RJ
had said the Dravens came here every year.

“I know all the best spots, if you would ever like an expert guide,” he continued
nudging me at this last part.

“Best spots of what?” RJ said with an abrupt manner.

But before she could get her answer the crowd started to shift and people that were sitting were starting to rise to try and get a better view of something. I found myself thinking that considering the band wasn't that well
known,
they sure were getting a lot of excited faces looking their way. I thought out loud and said “So I'm guessing the band’s here” directed more at RJ as she was now stood like the rest of them. Jack and I were the only ones still sitting.

“You guessed wrong,” she said through a wide black lipped grin, now nearly standing on the seat to get a better view. I noticed Lanie was doing the same only with her height she didn't have the same problem as RJ.

“It's a lot more exciting than that!” And with that her hands went to her face in what looked like pure joy!

“Is she like this at Christmas?” I asked Jack who wasn't looking as thrilled as everyone else.

“Sadly no, nothing gets her this excited. I really don't understand what it is about them!” He said in a bored tone.

“Them?” Was I missing something? I thought we were here to see a band, or had some celebrity just walked in. It wouldn't have surprised me in this place.

“The Dravens,” she squeaked. She went so high pitched I could just imagine all dogs within a ten miles radius howling in pain.

“Ah,” was all I could say as I was trying to sink further down in my seat and angle myself away from where everyone was straining their necks to see. Jack seemed to notice my movement.

“Well it's nice to see not everyone here is Draven Crazy!” He said smiling down at me but receiving a middle finger from his sister for the comment.

“Nice and very lady like sis,” he said
, his
voice laced with sarcasm. Then the whispers started, which indicated they were here. I don't think that anyone had even noticed that the band was already on the stage and ready to start their first song. Heads turned towards the front entrance where I had not long since walked through. Then it was strange, like something from a Godfather movie when the Don walked in. Everyone that had been
staring
was now trying not to look directly at them. From what I could make out they were now passing through the crowd, a lot easier than when we did it, as the people were parting as if Moses was leading the way.

The music had started right on cue, as though trying to divert some of the attention. If anything it just enhanced their entrance making it more dramatic. I tried not to look but found myself glancing up every now and again, wishing the commotion would soon be over. I don't know why but I was embarrassed for them, I would have hated to have all those eyes watching me. I didn't want to conform, like somehow it would make it easier for them if one less person wasn't acting that way.

But there was also another set of feelings that were coursing through my body and mind. Ones I couldn't understand. I felt nervous again and my arms began to itch, as though the “well concealed” scars beneath my gloves were burning. I sat on my hands trying not to fidget too much. My heart raced uncontrollably and I was thankful the music had started, as I was sure you could hear my every
heartbeat
. I tried to
concentrate on my breathing, slowing my inhaling down, the way the doctor had shown me to control my panic attacks, which I hadn’t had for a while until tonight. Why was I acting so crazy, so it was just some rich family that had a bit of mystery to them, they probably just wanted to be left alone. And that was about all the mystery to it.