Andrew
Lights flickered and wincing he extended a hand to shield his eyes from their brightness. There was an instant of confusion before he remembered where he was. He went to lean forward out from the shallow love seat, but the lights and voices faded into an intangible murmur. He settled back uneasily as everything sank into unsettling darkness.
“Andrew, why aren’t you dancing?”
Someone pulled feebly at his wrist. He blinked in bewilderment, and wondered how long he had been unconscious. Again he heard the voice asking him to dance. ‘I can’t dance’ registered and it took him a moment to realize he hadn’t actually said it.
Lines blurred and the light rippled across the ceiling and floor. He instantly felt nauseous and didn’t bother giving the voice an answer. He looked up and saw someone familiar staring down at him, her name dangling on the tip of his tongue.
“Andrew” she whined, swaying in drunkenness. She hiccupped and fell to the ground giggling. For the second time, he made to rise from the love seat but settled back as the room began to spin. Uneasy, he lifted his heavy head to gaze around the room.
It seemed like the other people there were living shadows, merging with each other, undulating like a colossal wave of human arms and legs. The music seemed to snake its way in and out of the sparkling lights before finally entering his ears. He lay back, reveling in the dreamlike quality of the place. His mind was strangely clear of all thoughts and he floated in the blissfulness of calm.
It won’t last.
He clutched his head in his palms, moving it side to side as a sudden wave of panic overcame him. He looked out from behind his fingers and tried desperately to find a familiar face, focusing all his attention on detangling the people’s faces, but the drugs resisted and pulled him back into the world of swirling shapes and colors.
Time began to pass, but for Andrew it seemed to pass in sporadic spurts. There would be moments of coherency followed by a burst of confusion, causing minutes to pass without registering in his brain.
The girl returned to him and sat down on his lap. Her shirt had begun slipping off one of her shoulders and her mascara was smeared from crying.
“Oh Andrew, I’m so sorry,” she wailed, climbing onto his lap.
“I don’t know you,” he gasped, noticing that his hand had begun twitching.
“I don’t even know me!” she sobbed, “I’m such a fuckup…a fuckin’ failure.”
She nodded off onto Andrew’s shoulder for a second, before snapping awake again.
“It’s Tyra…you remember me don’t you Andrew?” She stopped an inch from his face, running a scarlet fingertip across his wet lips.
As if through water, Andrew moved through his obscure memories and slowly a faint recollection of Tyra began to emerge.
Behind them a fight broke out and a sharp light broke through the darkness. It seemed like two shadows exploded into each other, as a series of shouts erupted in protest. Tyra seemed oblivious to the commotion. From Andrew’s lap, she leaned down and took him by the shirt collar.
“Maybe this’ll jog your memory,” she said as she kissed him tenderly.
Andrew kept his eyes open, watching as the shadows seemed to split at the seams, more and more yelling coming from every side. She smiled at him and slid off his lap to the floor where she began to unzip his pants.
The crowd broke as sirens erupted shrilly through the air. Through the window, Andrew could see the flashing red lights of the police. The door splintered and armed police ran into the crowded room, tossing people aside and hitting others with their batons. He heard a window shatter and he suddenly seemed to become more aware of his surroundings. He pushed Tyra out of the way as he lurched to his feet, the room spinning wildly.
A gunshot rang off, followed by three more. Disoriented, Andrew stumbled off through the kitchen, past two police men beating a man to the ground. One noticed him, and yelled at him to raise his hands but Andrew began to run, hitting the doorframe as he neared the fire escape. The police officer took after him, and looking over his shoulder, Andrew saw him draw his weapon, soundless words forming on his mouth. Andrew stumbled backwards, falling through the window as another man threw the cop aside as he tried to escape through the back door.
Time passed.
He blinked once before closing his eyes in pain. His left arm was throbbing something awful, and he winced as he touched it tenderly. His forearm was swollen and bruised right down to his elbow and the rest of his body felt like it had been run over by a truck.
He moaned as he again opened his eyes and saw himself looking up into a starless sky, and above him he saw the fire escape, broken glass glinting in the city lights.
The window; he had fallen out the window.
He lashed out wildly with his good arm and felt it come in contact with a bunch of garbage bags. He kicked out his leg and heard the thud of metal, just as it began to dawn on him where he was. Using his good arm, he pulled himself out of the dumpster and lowered himself awkwardly to the ground. He was in an alleyway, he realized as he again looked up at how far he had fallen. Remembering the police, he quickly pressed himself up against the brick wall and slid his aching body to the corner to see if they were still there. They were gone, but yellow police tape was stretched across the house entrance and the surrounding sidewalk. Strangely, the roads were all but silent now, with the occasional car passing by every couple of minutes. The sidewalks remained bare with the exception of the odd homeless person turning in his sleep.
His eyes ached, and he winced even from the soft glow from the traffic lights. No doubt the police would be patrolling for the remainder of the night. Realizing this, he turned and began limping towards the other end of the alleyway, cradling his arm as he went. Emerging from the alley he turned around the curb and saw his car still parked in the old warehouse parking lot. Smiling at his good fortune, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys and jingled them cheerily before inserting the key into the lock.
And then from behind him, he heard
“Not another move.”
