Chapter 3
"Ok you're going to have to excuse the mess" Jess says as she turns the key to her third floor apartment that she shares with her boyfriend.
The shift at the bird had gone by surprisingly fast. After Jess had closed and locked up they had made their way to her apartment which was only a twenty minute walk from the shop. Located not too far from the clubbing district ARK where the majority of youth hostels and student accommodations were nearby. They had managed to pick up two bottles of vodka and two large bottles of coke, they had a deal going two bottles of vodka for fifteen bucks and had decided to go half's, for there pre drinks.
"Don't worry" John smiles taking a step through the open door and having a look around, "I'm sure it's not as bad as my place".
Jess snort's closing the door behind her "I don't believe that" she says as she moves past him in the small hallway to the open door at the end of the hall.
Fallowing her down the shot hallway and passing by two doors on either side of the hall until he came into the lounge. The room was painted in a lime green with stained black wooden flooring. The last rays of the sun were pouring in through two large windows directly in front of him, which overlooked the streets below and he could glimpse the outline of the harbour in the distance. There were two dark green sofas, one pushed against the left wall and another stretched out under the windows. A large black rectangle coffee table was located in the centre of the room and against the right wall stood a black metal media stand, completed with a TV and music system.
"So, what do you think?" Jess askes as she makes her way through an arched doorway to the right had corner of the room.
"I think you were lying about the mess" John says as he follows her through the archway to a small kitchen, again painted lime green yet with light blue tiles around the sink.
Jess turns around still grasping the handle to the open white fridge in the corner of the room with a mock shocked expression on her face, "Sweet I wouldn't lie to you" she gasps.
John lets out a small laugh, handing her the two bottles of coke that he had stored in his rucksack and placing the bottles of vodka on the side. Leaning his hip against the kitchen side as he looked around the small room until his eyes landed on a photo pasted on the wall next to the fridge. His heart gave a painful squeeze in his chest as he took in all the happy faces in the picture. The smiling face of Jess looking at him with, who must be, her boyfriend Matt with his arm around her waist and what appeared to their parents standing on either side of them, a small boy, about the age of ten with Jess's blond hair was standing in front of what must have been their mother. The people in the pitcher looked so happy and he could feel the love they had with each other just by looking at this one pitcher.
Scowling John rivets his gaze to the bare wall opposite him; there was no reason why he should be angry, but that thought didn't stop the feeling from growing in his chest. Why couldn't he have a family like that?
"Sweet are you alright?" Jess's voice brings him out of his thoughts.
"I'm fine" he offered her a small tight smile. There was no point in getting down on things that he couldn't change, and tonight was meant to be about having fun and a chance to forget how shitty his life had turned out. "Do you have anything we could drink while the coke chills?" He asks as a way to change the subject.
She looks at him for a moment before giving him a warm smile, even though he could see the concern in her eyes, she wouldn't push it and ask any more questions. Reaching into the fridge she pulls out two cans of XXXX handing one to John. Pulling open a cupboard next the sink and picking out a stubby holder which she throws at him as she picks one out for herself. "So you don't get rings on the table, there's no way I'm losing our security deposit" Jess says as they place there cans in the foam stubby holders, hers had a picture of a blue kangaroo while his had a red wombat.
"C'mon lets go pick out something for you to wear shall we" She says after taking a sip of her drink and making her way out of the kitchen, with John right behind her.
"Are you sure your boyfriend won't mind me borrowing his clothes" John asks a bit sceptical that her boyfriend would really appreciate a stranger wearing his clothes. He was currently wearing the old jeans and top that he had washed at the hostel.
"It's fine I promise, we've lived in hostels and camp sites for the past year and a half where we traded garments all the time. There's only so much you can carry when your backpacking, as you know, and people get sick of wearing the same thing all the time." Jess explains as she walks down the hall to the door on the right "It's only since we decided to stay in Cairns for the last few months that we've had the chance to buy more clothes, and Matt went a little crazy with that fact." She laughs as she pushes open the door and stops dead.
Looking over her shoulder John smirks letting out an amused laugh "I take it back, you weren't lying" he says to her.
The room had a large metal bed, a wooden wardrobe, two sets of draws along the wall opposite the bed and a small window with the blinds drawn. However the cause of his amusement was the state the room was in. Clothes were scattered across the bed and floor, two pizza boxes were on top of one set of draws and a stack of dirty plates was on the other.
"I'm going to kill him" Jess says with deadly seriousness, yet John could do nothing but laugh, this was at complete odds to what he had thought about her. She had always seemed like the kind of person who was a neat freak, which was what she was like at work, but clearly he had been wrong.
Making their way over the mess in the room, Jess pulls open the wooden wardrobe door's, after a few moments of consideration she pulls out a black long sleeve shirt with a blood red flower embroidered over the left breast pocket and a pair of light grey chino trousers. Turning around she hands the garments to him.
"Here, these will do for the night. Why don't you go get a shower first and get ready while I find something to wear? Matt should be back by eight so we should be ready by the time they get here." Jess explains turning back to the wardrobe. "The bathroom is just across the hall, spare towels are underneath the sink" she adds, chowing on her bottom lip, trying to decide what she was going to wear tonight.
Retreating back to the kitchen, placing his drink on the side, John grabs his bag off the floor and moves to the bathroom.
After showering and dressing in the borrowed clothes, John takes his wash bag out of his bag, cramming his own clothes in its place. Retrieving his toothbrush and paste he preceded to brush his teeth when he caught his reflection in the mirror that was mounted on the wall above the sink. His sandy blond hair was now all one length and almost reached down to his chin, framing his face and highlighting his much more sharper cheek bones, and under his light snowflake blue eyes he could clearly make out the dark bags that had become a permanent fixture due to not always getting enough sleep, however his sun kissed skin made them not so prominent unless one was looking for them.
Washing out his mouth and packing his wash gear back into his bag, he takes a step back to admire the clothes he now wore. The shirt was slightly too long for his arms and so he had ended up rolling up the sleeves just above his elbow. The trousers were a perfect length but were slightly too big around the waist yet nothing that his belt couldn't hold up, he had lost weight over the past few months, yet he still retained his strong trim body even if his muscle definition had gone down slightly due to missing a few meals.
Picking up his bag and making his way out of the bathroom and into the living room where Jess was sat on one of the couch playing with her phone. Music was now playing from two silver speakers on either side of the media station in the right of the room. Throwing his bag by the door he spooks Jess by saying "bathrooms free".
Jess jumps up from her seat and her eyes rove over him "Told you that you were Matt's size" Jess says with a smile on her face, "Just texted him, says that he'll be here in half an hour with Jamie, Emma and Rich. So I'm going to jump in for a quick shower and then we can start drinking." With that said she moves past him and he heard the bathroom door close before going into the kitchen and retrieving his bear, than back into the lounge to take a seat on the sofa below the window, taking a deep gulp of his bear, settling in to wait for Jess to finish in the shower.
Twenty minutes later Jess came back into the room and he drops his head from staring at the celling. Looking over her in her navy blue frilly dress that dropped just below her knees and had small picture of white doves scattered across. Her blond hair was flowing freely down her back and she wore a matching set of silver hooped earrings, necklace and bracelet.
"You look nice" John complements her with a grin on his face as a blush creeps across her cheeks.
"Thank you" she replies with a large smile on her face "let's open up the vodka shall we."
Fallowing her to the kitchen, Jess takes one of the bottles of coke out of the fridge before going in the same cupboard as before and retrieving two tall glasses before she opens another cupboard, this one under the sink, and removes a white table cloth.
"Sweet grab the vodka will you" she tells him as she moves back into the lounge. Following her with one of the bottles of vodka clutched in his right hand and places it on the now white covered coffee table and reclaiming his seat next to her.
Jess opens the bottle "let's get drunk shall we" she says grinning at John as she pours each of them two fingers and half fills the rest of the glasses with coke.
"First drink down in one sweet" Jess explains as she takes her glass, clicking it with his and proceeding to down the liquid. Placing the glass back onto the table and looking at John who hadn't reached for his drink yet. "C'mon sweet, you wanted a cheap night, might as well get hammered here than having to pay for drinks out" she explains.
John shakes his head as he reaches for his glass and bringing it to his lips saying "I didn't realize that you were such a drinker" before downing his drink just as Jess had done.
"Everyone deserves to let go every now and then" she laughs out as she pours another drink for each of them and handing him back his glass as she picks up her own "to a great night" she cheers clinking there glasses together again.
Not long after Jess pored there next drink the sound of the front door opening and voices coming down the hallway drew their attention.
"Hey Jess, sorry were late. Rich had to pick up some bears" a male voice said before the owner of the voice, a tall dark haired six foot guy, came into the lounge with two dark haired women and a brunet man following behind.
"That's fine" Jess assures the man "John this is Matt" she indicates the man that had spoken as both she and John stand from the sofa.
"Hi" John says holding out his right hand to Matt, "Jess said that you wouldn't mind me borrowing these" indicating the cloths he was wearing with a wave of his left hand.
"Course mate, no worries" Matt smiles as he shakes John's hand. Releasing his hand Matt turns and kisses Jess on the cheek before saying "I'm going to grab a quick shower" and leaving the room.
"John this is Jamie" Jess introduces him to the slightly taller of the two dark haired women wearing a short black dress.
"Hi" John says as they both shakes hands.
"And this is Emma and Rich" Jess finishes first pointing to the other girl wearing a short dark green dress with orange flowers around the neck line, and then the guy slightly taller than him wearing a white long sleeved shirt with light blue stripes running down it and dark blue jeans.
John smiles as he shakes their hands.
"Jess can we get some glasses hun?" Jamie askes Jess holding up a clear carrier bag containing two bottle of wine.
"Sure" Jess answers as the three women make their way into the kitchen.
"So how do you know Jess?" the guy, Rich, askes as he puts down the case of beer from under his left arm and taking a seat on the other couch just to John's right
"We work together" John says as he sits back down and reaching for his drink. "What about you?" he asks after taking a drink.
"I work with Matt at the restraint Sea Coast with Jamie and Emma" Rich explains as he opens a can from the box.
John hand's him his now empty red wombat stubby holder, which Rich takes with a laugh and says "rings" causing John to smirk around his glass.
"Ok boys" Jamie says as the three girls come back from the kitchen, her and Emma now holding a full glass of white wine in their hands, the two girls take a seat on the same sofa as Rich and Jess reclaims her seat next to him, placing a pack of cards and a pint glass in the centre of the table before picking up her glass. "You know how to play Ring of Fire John?" Jamie askes looking at him over the rim of her wine glass.
John looks at her raising a dark blond eye brow "No" he states.
"Really, you've never played it? Emma asks dubiously.
Moving his eyes to the green dressed girl, trying to keep a sneer off his lips not wanting to alienate Jesse's friends, "No" he repeats.
"That's fine hun" Jamie reassures him tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear "the rules are simple but it takes a bit of time to get used to them" she says with a smile and turns to Jess and askes "do you have a pen and paper handy?"
"Sure" Jess says going into the kitchen and bringing back a yellow notebook and pen before sitting back down.
Placing her glass on the coffee table, Jamie flips open the note book and in the margin writes down the names of the cards from Ace to King.
"Ok hun, firstly the pack of cards are set in a small circle around a pint glass over lapping one another" she starts to explain as Jess opens the pack of cards and does what Jamie had just described. "Each player takes a turn in picking a card and they have to do whatever the rules responding to that card says" she carries on as she continues to write in the note book "If you pick a card from Ace to four you have to drink the number in fingers of your drink. Five means that all the guys have to drink and six means all the girls in the game have to drink. Seven is a fun one, it's called 'I've never' where the owner of the card say's something that they've never done and if you've done it you have to take a drink."
Jess and Emma let out a giggle at this and Emma says "it's a good way to see how dirty someone is in the bedroom."
"You have to answer honestly" Jamie says in a firm voice "we won't judge" she winks at him before continuing. "Eight, you have to nominate a mate to take a drink. Nine you have to bust a rhyme and then we vote whether you need to take a drink if it's truly awful. Ten you get to make a new rule that stays in place until the next Ten comes up. Jack is snake eyes where we can't look you in the eyes or else we have to take a drink, but once someone looks at you, you no longer have snake eyes. Queen is waterfall where you pick a direction and start drinking your drink and the person in that direction can't stop drinking until you have and it goes on like that round the circle. If you get a King card you have to poor some of your drink into the pint glass and the last person to get a King has to down the glass." Jamie finishes writing and hands the note pad over to him.
"Ahhh I always get the king" Rich moans.
"No you don't" Jess laughs "Last time it was Matt and he ended up throwing up". Everyone laughs at that as John takes a look at the list in his hand.
"Oh and if you pick up a card that brakes the circle of cards you have to down the rest of your drink" Emma adds.
"Ok. I think I get it" John says.
"It's ok sweet, we'll go slow the first game so you get used to it" Jess reassures him stroking his arm.
After playing a few games, with Matt having joined them half way through the first, John was feeling quite buzzed. He and Jess had made their way through the first bottle of vodka and were making decent progress on their second. He had picked the fourth King in the last game, which meant he had had to down a vile mixture of vodka, coke, wine and beer. It was nice just letting go and not worrying about anything. There was a moment in the second game where Rich got the seven and asked "I've never swallowed after giving head" that had gotten their attention after he had taken a drink and then was bombarded with questions and had told them that he was bi.
The guys and Emma had been a little surprised but Jess had screamed "I know it" whilst Jamie had laughed and called it hot. The game had continued without any more questions or difference in attitude towards him.
"Ok" Jess calls swaying as she stands up from the couch, "It's half eleven now, shall we make a move to Shell?" she asks everyone before downing the last of her drink.
"That sounds like a plan" Jamie answers as she places her empty glass on the table.
Downing the rest of his drink John gives Matt a hand removing the empty glass's and cans to the kitchen. Once all evidence of the drinks had been removed from the lounge Matt came back from the bedroom with a dark purple throw.
"Sorry mate but we don't have any spare quilts" Matt tells John as he puts the throw on the cough under the window. Matt had offered him to stay the night, once John told him that he was staying in a hostel just outside the centre, which John had readily accepted.
"Na that will be great" John assures him, it had been a long while since he had slept on anything more than newspapers on a hard floor.
"Let's make a move people" Jamie calls out as she links her arm with Emma and starts walking down the corridor and out of the flat with the other following closely behind.
Trekking down the three flights of stairs was slow, yet filled with laughter and amusement due to the fact that both Jamie and Emma were in front and looking as though they might fall at any moment in their high heels.
The walk to Shell took only ten minutes, in which time John had the opportunity to smoke thanks to the fact that both Rich and Jamie smoked, he didn't smoke as much as he used to as they simply cost too much but it was nice to have one once in a while.
After having their id checked at the door by one of the bouncers, John thanked the gods for having had got the fake id yet again, they made their way inside.
Once the door closed behind them, John looked around at the first club that he had ever been into. In Sydney he had never gone to a club before. He had only used his id for getting smokes and sometimes the occasional drink from the local shop, not for going out on the town; it wasn't like he had had any close friends to go with.
Already the club looked busy. The bar, which stretched along the left side of the room, had people crowded around for drinks. Long black leather sofas occupied half of the room near them and the window. The dance floor took up the remainder of the room, with a DJ booth, which was buzzing with people and loud music filling the room.
John followed the others as they made their way around the dance floor to the back of the room through two black double doors which Matt push open to reveal toilets to the left and a flight of stairs leading upstairs.
"Upstairs opened at half eleven" Matt explains over his shoulder as the group of six make their way up the stairs "Doubt it's that busy yet".
Opening another set of doors to reveal a much larger dance floor that was centred in the middle of the room. Two small bars were located on either side of the floor and small black leather sofas, chairs and tables were on the other two sides against the walls allowing people to walk around the floor and not disturbed the people in their seats.
Matt was right, John thought, the upstairs was practically empty with only a few people at the closest bar and a small group of guys at a table across the room.
As they made their way over to the bar on the other side of the room Emma calls out "Twelve lemon drop's please" to the dark haired man behind the bar.
"What's a lemon drop" John askes Rich as the bar tender sets out two trays of six shot glasses on the bar.
"There Emma's favourite and this is the only place that make them right apparently" Rich tells him rolling his eyes. "It's basically vodka, lemon juice and sugar".
"There great and you know it Rich" Emma says as she pays the bar tender and slides one of the trays down the bar to where John, Rich and Matt were standing.
Once everyone had a shot in hand Matt cheered before they all downed the shot. John could still vaguely taste the vodka but it was concealed with the taste of lemon and sweet sugar.
After downing there second shot Jess orders six vodka and cokes. Once everyone had a drink in hand the six of them make their way over to a table on the side of the room surrounded by two sofas. Matt and Jess taking one sofa, Emma and Jamie the other, leaving Rich and John to drag two chairs from the next table to join them.
As the night progressed each of them took it in turns to buy rounds, Matt bought Tequila slammers, and Jamie bought Jager-bombs. Rich decided on Flatliner which consisted of Sambuca, Tequila and hot sauce. Matt, Jess and Emma had refused to drink their second shot as they had been on the edge of throwing the first one up, which left three of the vile concoctions too the other three. John finished up the rounds with Rum and coke as they all had had enough of shots by that time and needed to get the vile taste of Rich's Flatliner out of their mouths.
It was about half an hour later, all six of them were on the now packed dance floor in a small circle, when John felt a burning sensation inside him. Firstly he thought that the burn was due to the alcohol, yet he had never felt this kind of burn before, it reminded him of the sensation he had when he was dreaming, yet slightly different at the same time.
The burning inside his chest felt as though it was trying to reach something at the back of the room by the fire escape near the bar. Yet looking over John couldn't see anything. As a minuet passed the heat in his chest had only increased, the pulling sensation had gotten stronger. Having had unknowingly stopped dancing he starts to massage the source of the burn, just below his heart, and staring in the direction of the black double fire doors across the room, until Jess grabs him by his elbow.
"Are you alright sweet" Jess yells at him over the loud music.
John looks at her before turning back to fire doors. There was something behind them doors that belongs to him. He didn't know how he knew that but he did. Whatever was behind there was his, the burning inside told him so. It was as if a piece of him was behind them doors calling to him and he needed to find out what that piece was.
"Hmmm" John hums before turning away from the door to shout near her ear "I'm going to get a drink".
"I'll come with you" Jess states releasing his elbow in favour of taking his hand as they start to make their way through the packed dance floor to the back bar.
The burning and pulling sensation inside of his chest was getting stronger the closer they got to the door. As they neared the edge of the dance floor John stops dead in his tracks, liquid fire running through every vein in his body.
Jess releases his hand and moves in front of him, turning round to look him in the eyes. She opens her mouth to say something yet at that moment John could feel a sudden change with the essence behind the fire doors. As his eyes snap in its direction, the sound of stretching wood fills the room, louder than the beating music coursing throughout the dance floor. Everyone on the floor stops dancing, looking around trying to discover where the ungodly sound was coming from.
Another almighty groan slams through the air. Everyone's eyes now locked on the same doors that were holding John's entire attention.
He could feel it moving against the doors. With one final barrage the doors were blown outwards, wooden shrapnel flying over the room.
Screams of pure panic and fear fill the air as golden waves of fire crashes over them. Clawing from floor to ceiling, as it sped through the doors at a prolific rate, consuming everything within its path.